A study appearing in Science Translational Medicine puts scientists one step closer to clinical trials to test a gene delivery strategy to improve muscle mass and function in patients with certain degenerative muscle disorders. Severe weakness of the quadriceps is a defining feature of several neuromuscular disorders. Researchers at Nationwide Children`s Hospital have shown that a gene delivery st...

A study at Örebro University in Sweden indicates that mobile phones and other cordless telephones have a biological effect on the brain. It is still too early to say if any health risks are involved, but medical researcher Fredrik Söderqvist recommends caution in the use of these phones, above all among children and adolescents. Few children who regularly use mobile phones use a headset ...

Contrary to more conservative customs, exercising up to the end of pregnancy has no harmful effect on the weight or size of the foetus, new research suggests. This is what has been indicated in a study carried out by researchers of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Polytechnic University of Madrid), which also shows the positive relationship between the weight of sedentary mothers befo...

College athletes who use performance-enhancing substances may be at heightened risk of misusing alcohol and using recreational drugs as well, according to new research in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. The study, of 234 male athletes at one university, found that those who used performance enhancers — ranging from steroids to stimulants to weight-loss supplements — were m...

Being warm enough at home might lead to better health, according to a new review appearing online in the American Journal of Public Health. Hilary Thomson, of the Medical Research Council`s Social and Public Health Sciences Unit in Glasgow, Scotland, and her colleagues combined the results of 40 studies from the 1930s through 2007. Improvements in general, mental, and respiratory health followed i...

"There is a likely chance of tsunami waves reaching the shores of Israel," says Dr. Beverly Goodman of the Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences at the University of Haifa following an encompassing geo-archaeological study at the port of Caesarea. "Tsunami events in the Mediterranean do occur less frequently than in the Pacific Ocean, but our findings reveal a moderate rate of r...

People are unconsciously fairer and more generous when they are in clean-smelling environments, according to a soon-to-be published study led by a Brigham Young University professor. The research found a dramatic improvement in ethical behavior with just a few spritzes of citrus-scented Windex. Katie Liljenquist, assistant professor of organizational leadership at BYU`s Marriott School of Manageme...

People suffering from fibromyalgia have reduced activity in the parts of the brain that inhibit the experience of pain. Drugs that affect the CNS can be effective against the disease, and are thought to be even more so if administered early in its course, according to a new thesis from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet. "It`s a common misconception that fibromyalgia is a ma...

New animal studies suggest that memory and other cognitive problems experienced by cocaine-addicted people can result directly from the cocaine abuse in addition to pre-existing traits or lifestyle factors. The findings were presented at Neuroscience 2009, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world`s largest source of emerging news about brain science and health. "Our re...

Patients with chronic hepatitis C and advanced liver disease who drink three or more cups of coffee per day have a 53% lower risk of liver disease progression than non-coffee drinkers according to a new study led by Neal Freedman, Ph.D., MPH, from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The study found that patients with hepatitis C-related bridging fibrosis or cirrhosis who did not respond to standa...