HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

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March 28, 2013 (San Diego's East County)--Health and Science Highlights brings you news on the cutting edges in these fields. 

On the science front, have earthquakes mastered the secrets pursued by alchemists since the days of legend? The journal Nature Geoscience writes about the ability of earthquakes to vaporize water in faults, depositing gold. Plus beekeepers are suing the EPA-- and a new study shows pesticides are affecting bees memories and navigation skills.

On the health front, does aspirin reduce cancer risk? A study in the Journal Cancer this week suggests it might. The Community Asthma Initiative at Boston's Children's Hospital may provide a model for Medicare and insurance companies to keep costs down while preventing asthma. Speaking of governments involvement in health, this week the New York Superior Court struck down New York City's soda ban as "arbitrary and capricious," while the Mayor defiantly promised to challenge the decision.

In perhaps the most far reaching health development of the week, a new peer reviewed study lead right here in San Diego indicates that Down Syndrome may be caused by the lack of an important brain protein, SNX27-- and may lead to development of therapies that can reverse the syndrome if treatment is started up to as late as puberty.

For links to these stories and more, scroll down.

HEALTH AND SCIENCE STORIES

Aspirin Vs. Melanoma: Study Suggests Headache Pill Prevents Deadly Skin Cancer (NPR)

 Women who took aspirin at least a couple of times a week for five years or more cut their risk of melanoma by 30 percent. The new study adds to the mounting pile of research suggesting that cheap, common aspirin lowers the risk of many cancers, including colon, breast, esophagus, stomach, prostate, bladder and ovarian cancer.

Beekeepers sue EPA to ban pesticide, protect bees (Sacramento Bee)

Commercial beekeepers and environmental organizations filed a lawsuit Thursday against federal regulators for not banning the use of two pesticides they say harm honeybees.

Study: Pesticides scramble bees’ brains (RawStory)

 Pesticides used by farmers to protect crops or bee hives can scramble the brain circuits of honeybees, affecting memory and navigation skills needed to find food, scientists said Wednesday.This in turn threatened entire colonies of bees whose pollinating functions are vital for human food production, they wrote in the journal Nature Communications.

Judge Invalidates Bloomberg’s Soda Ban  (NY Times)

 The ruling, by Justice Milton Tingling of State Supreme Court, came the day before limits on large sugary drinks was to take effect.

To Control Asthma, Start With The Home Instead Of The Child (NPR)

( NPR) -- The Community Asthma Initiative has served more than a thousand families over the past seven years. It costs about $2,300 per family — not only for staff time, but also for things like plastic bins, a special mattress and pillow covers, and the vacuum cleaner that filters out fine dust.  It's not cheap — and it's not something hospitals typically do. But just a few visits over a year's time make a demonstrable difference.  "For every dollar spent," Elizabeth Woods tells Shots, "you save $1.46 for hospitalizations and emergency room visits." The program's performance was detailed in a report published last year by the journal Pediatrics.  "There's a 56 percent reduction in patients with any emergency room visits," Woods adds, "and an 80 percent reduction in patients with any hospitalizations."  And that doesn't include the savings from lower use of medications, or the cost of time off work for parents caring for a sick child.

Backyard Chickens: Cute, Trendy Spreaders Of Salmonella (NPR)

(NPR) -- Backyard chickens have become a hot trend, loved as a source of healthy local food and fluffy wonderfulness. But backyard birds have also sparked outbreaks of salmonella, the CDC warns.

Down syndrome's molecular cause found, therapy may be possible

Lack of brain protein causes mental disability, study finds.  Moreover, the study points the way to a possible therapy to improve brain function in children with the genetic abnormality. No such therapy now exists…

. "It's hard to say in humans (how much brain function can be repaired), but in those particular mice, the mouse model of Down syndrome, we were able to pretty much rescue all the pathology," according to cognitive tests given to the rodents, Xu said...  If the mouse model is a good guide, such therapy should work in children almost up until puberty.

Health Insurers Warn on Premiums (Wall Street Journal)

 Health insurers are privately warning brokers that premiums for many individuals and small businesses could increase sharply next year because of the health-care overhaul law, with the nation's biggest firm projecting that rates could more than double for some consumers buying their own plans.

Spring Break Alert: 'Black' Henna Tattoos May Not Be Safe (NPR)

A henna tattoo looks like a fun beach souvenir — until you break out in a rash and blisters.The dyes used for the popular temporary tattoos aren't always natural or safe, the Food and Drug Administration warned today. "Black henna" used to make the intricate designs darker often doesn't come from a plant, but from a harsh chemical that causes allergic reactions. The bad actor is p-phenylenediamine (PPD), a chemical derived from coal tar that can cause skin allergies.

Did Congress Just Give GMOs A Free Pass In The Courts? (NPR)

Congress on Thursday approved stopgap funding legislation that includes language explicitly granting the USDA authority to override a judge's ruling against genetically modified crops. Critics denounce the measure as the "Monsanto Protection Act." But it seems to be codifying powers the USDA already has exercised in the past.

Earthquake gold: Earthquake movements turn water into gold  (CS Monitor)

 Earthquake gold: Water in faults vaporizes during an earthquake, depositing gold, according to a model published in the March 17 issue of the journal Nature Geoscience.

 


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