MedWeed

A new study shows how our bodies try to minimize potential 'collateral damage' caused by our immune system when fighting infection. The research may also provide new clues to why cigarette smoke is a significant risk factor for developing diseases of the lung such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

People who believe that fate and chance control their lives are more likely to be superstitious -- but when faced with death they are likely to abandon superstition altogether, according to new research.

New research shows that the "gateway effect" of marijuana -- that teenagers who use marijuana are more likely to move on to harder illicit drugs as young adults -- may be overblown.

Results of a new study show a linear association between sleep durations of less than eight hours and psychological distress in young adults between 17 and 24 years of age. The risk of psychological distress increased by 14 percent for each hour of nightly sleep loss. Those sleeping less than six hours a night were twice as likely to be experiencing distress as average sleepers. Long sleep durations of more than nine hours showed no association with distress.

In Alzheimer's disease, the problem is beta-amyloid, a protein that accumulates in the brain and causes nerve cells to weaken and die. Drugs designed to eliminate plaques made of beta-amyloid have a fatal problem: they need to enter the brain and remove the plaques without attacking healthy brain cells. New research, however, suggests that treatments modeled on the blockbuster cancer drug Gleevec could be the solution.

Prior research had found an association between DNA sequence variations in a gene that encodes parts of the brain's gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA)-A receptors (the GABRA2 gene) and alcohol dependence. New research has found that the GABRA2 genotype can also affect the brain's reward responses to cues such as alcohol odors.

Ezlopitant, a compound known to suppress craving for alcohol in humans, was shown to decrease consumption of sweetened water by rodents in a new study.

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, have been called the defining moment of our time. Thousands of people died and the attacks had huge individual and collective consequences. But less is known about the immediate emotional reactions to the attacks. For a new study, researchers analyzed text messages sent on September 11, 2001 for emotional words. They found spiking anxiety and steadily increasing anger through that fateful day.

A new study may change the way clinicians make treatment decisions for their patients who smoke. The findings suggest that current treatment theories that maintain any smoking after the planned target quit day predicts treatment failure need to be expanded to take into account a more dynamic quitting process. The research points to two types of successful quitters: those who quit immediately and remain abstinent through the end of treatment and those who are "delayed" in attaining abstinence but achieve success by the end of treatment.

Men with chronic insomnia who slept for less than six hours were four times more likely to die during the 14-year follow-up period, according to a new study. Results were adjusted for potential confounders such as body mass index, smoking status, depression and obstructive sleep apnea. Further adjustments for hypertension and diabetes had little effect on the elevated mortality risk. No significant mortality risk was found in women with insomnia and a short sleep duration of less than six hours.