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Watermelon juice has been found to reduce the recovery heart rate and muscle soreness in athletes.

Citrulline, an amino acid found in watermelon, is an excellent candidate to reduce muscle soreness. This study investigated the potential of watermelon juice as a functional drink for athletes, and found that both natural watermelon juice and watermelon juice with added L-citrulline helped to reduce athletes’ recovery heart rate and muscle soreness after 24 hours.

China’s Huai River policy provided free winter heating via the provision of coal for boilers in cities north of the Huai River. This increased total suspended particulates (TSPs) in Northern China by 55% compared to the South, reducing life expectancies by about 5½ years.

Nature quotes co-author Michael Greenstone,

“This study highlights that reducing the use of fossil fuels, especially coal, can have immediate benefits completely separate from climate. This is a good argument for reducing reliance on coal not only to appease the US and Europeans, but to improve the health and wellbeing of their citizens.”

A retrospective cohort study of more than 46000 patients in a military health care system found that musculoskeletal conditions and pain are more common among statin users than among similar non-users.

The researchers warned that statins’ musculoskeletal adverse events may not be fully explored, especially in physically active individuals.

Statins are a class of drugs used to lower cholesterol levels by inhibiting an enzyme that plays a central role in the production of cholesterol in the liver.

Results from ALSPAC show that iodine deficiency in pregnancy is associated with an adverse effect on child cognitive development.

Children of mothers who showed iodine deficiency during early pregnancy were more likely to have scores in the lowest quartile for verbal IQ, reading accuracy, and reading comprehension.

As a component of thyroid hormones, iodine is essential for fetal brain development.

A Japanese study shows that the immune system of women ages at a slower rate than that of men.

The age-related decline in the number of T cells and B cells, and in the proliferative capacity of T cells, was greater in men than in women.

Results from the German GINIplus and LISAplus birth cohorts show that long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution may increase insulin resistance in children.

Researchers said that oxidative stress caused by exposure to air pollutants may play a role in the development of insulin resistance.

A small study appears to show that electrical brain stimulation improves mental arithmetic, and that an improvement can still be seen 6 months later.

However, Nature quotes cognitive neuroscientist Daniel Ansari as saying, The training used here is highly contrived and does not resemble the way in which math skills are typically acquired.

Scientists have identified a single-nucleotide variant in the GNAQ gene responsible for Sturge-Weber syndrome and port-wine stains.

Dr Anne Comi said, Now that we know the underlying genetic mutation responsible for both conditions, we’re hopeful that we can move quickly towards targeted therapies, offering families the promise of new treatments for the first time.

Scientists studying mice were able to reverse signs of ageing in the heart by using growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF11), which is found at higher levels in the blood of young mice.

The study was published in Cell, and Nature provides more background and quotes from the authors.

“I think it’s a stunning result that, for the first time, points at a secreted protein that maintains the heart in a young state,” says cardiologist Deepak Srivastava, director of the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease in San Francisco, California, who was not involved with the research. “That’s pretty remarkable.”

The team now plans to investigate whether GDF11 effects ageing in other tissues in mice and if it could have similar effects in humans.

A long course of antibiotic treatment proved effective in reducing back pain symptoms in patients with chronic low back pain and bone oedema following a disc herniation.

Modic type 1 changes are present in 6% of the general population and 35–40% of the low back pain population. 100 days of antibiotic treatment with bioclavid was significantly more effective for this group of patients than placebo.

Eritoran, a synthetic TLR4 antagonist, has been found to prevent influenza-induced lethality in mice, reducing lung pathology, clinical symptoms, cytokine and oxidized phospholipid expression, and viral titres.

Influenza, and in particular new pandemic strains, can cause acute lung injury by provoking an extreme immune response. Using Eritoran to block TLR signalling represents a novel approach for reducing inflammation and injury associated with influenza, and possibly other infections.

Scientists have found that a mutation in the gene encoding casein kinase Iδ (CKIδ) is associated with both the presence of migraine and advanced sleep phase. The resulting alterations (T44A and H46R) caused reduced enzyme activity.

Results of experiments on mice suggest that decreases in CKIδ activity can contribute to the development of migraine.

Genetic analysis of the H7N9 influenza virus shows that the HA gene might have originated from avian influenza viruses of duck origin, and the NA gene might have transferred from migratory birds infected with avian influenza viruses along the east Asian flyway.

The six internal genes of the H7N9 virus probably originated from two different groups of H9N2 avian influenza viruses, which were isolated from chickens.

Diversity among isolates implies that the H7N9 virus has evolved into at least two different lineages.

Ageing is a result of gradual and overall functional deteriorations across the body; however, it is unknown whether an individual tissue primarily works to mediate the ageing progress and control lifespan.

Scientists studying mice found that the hypothalamus is important for the development of ageing.

Animals lived longer than normal when they were injected with a substance that inhibited the activity of NF-κB in immune cells called microglia in the hypothalamus. Mice that received a substance to stimulate the activity of NF-κB died earlier.

Data from the EPIC cohorts shows that an increase in consumption of one 33cl sweetened soft drink per day is associated with an 18% increase in risk of developing diabetes.

Juice and nectar consumption was not associated with type 2 diabetes incidence.

Striatal dopamine is increased by virtually all drugs of abuse, including alcohol. Scientists using positron emission tomography were able to show that, even without alcohol, the flavour of beer can induce dopamine release.

Forty-nine men – ranging from social to heavy drinkers, with a varied family history of alcoholism – underwent two PET scans: one while tasting beer, and one while tasting Gatorade. Relative to the control flavour of Gatorade, beer flavour increased self-reported desire to drink and induced dopamine release.

The results demonstrate that alcohol-conditioned flavour cues can provoke ventral striatal dopamine release, and that the response is strongest in subjects with a greater genetic risk for alcoholism.

The large-scale Collaborative Oncological Gene-environment Study (COGS) has published over a dozen coordinated papers detailing the genetic and environmental bases of breast, ovarian, and prostate cancers.

The papers report over 70 new susceptibility loci for these 3 hormone-related cancers, and will help clarify the underlying mechanisms of carcinogenesis and develop clinically relevant cancer prediction models.

Almost half of the 70 known loci associated with overall breast cancer risk in women of European ancestry were also associated with risk in east Asian women. In addition, certain environmental factors, specifically alcohol consumption, seem to modify the association between some common variants and breast cancer risk.

A Sweden study has found a statistically significant monotonic association between advancing grandpaternal age at the time of birth of the parent and risk of autism in grandchildren.

Men who had fathered a daughter when they were 50 or older were 1.79 times more likely to have a grandchild with autism, while men who had fathered a son when they were 50 or older were 1.67 times more likely to have a grandchild with autism, compared with men who had fathered children when they were 20 to 24 years old.

The results are consistent with mutations or epigenetic alterations associated with advancing paternal age, but the overall risk remains low.

A four year trial found that the RTS,S/AS01E malaria vaccine was only 16.8% effective.

In highly variable results, vaccine efficacy declined over time — from 43.6% in the first year to almost zero in the fourth year — and with increasing exposure to malaria.

For every 100 vaccinated children, 65 cases of clinical malaria were averted. Multiple episodes of malaria were common, with 551 cases among 118 of the 223 children who received the vaccine.

A review of records for two million patients in Canada, the UK, and USA, found that high potency statins are associated with an increased risk of acute kidney injury.

High potency statin treatment was defined as at least 10mg rosuvastatin, at least 20mg atorvastatin, or at least 40mg simvastatin; all other statin treatments were defined as having low potency.

There is growing evidence that adaptive immunity contributes to regeneration processes, for example bone fracture repair is modulated by T cells even in the absence of infection.

New research has shown a bone regeneration can be affected by T cells. Delayed fracture healing was associated with high levels of CD8+ T cells in peripheral blood.

Doctors have treated 5 patients with B cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (B-ALL) using T Cells genetically modified to target CD19, a protein found on the surface of B-cells.

Cytokine elevations directly correlated to tumor burden at the time of CAR-modified T cell infusions, with some patients requiring steroid therapy to ameliorate cytokine-mediated toxicities.

Further information is available from MSKCC on both the research results and the ongoing clinical trial.

The SERI Singapore Indian Eye Study study found that aspirin use was associated with early age-related macular degeneration in people with a history of cardiovascular disease, but not in those without.

SERI looked for signs of AMD in 3207 ethnic Indians aged 40 years or older living in Singapore. Aspirin intake overall was not associated with early AMD, but in those with a history of cardiovascular disease the association between aspirin intake and early AMD might warrant further investigation.

Previous research in Australia had found that regular use of aspirin was associated with and increased risk of AMD.

Scientists have mapped the genomes of four species of tapeworm, identifying new potential drug targets including some on which existing pharmaceuticals may act.

The genomes also offer insights into the evolution of parasitism. Tapeworms are distantly related to blood flukes and have metabolism that is finely tuned to rely on nutrients scavenged from their hosts.

Scientists have shown that it is possible to grow teeth from adult gum cells.

Cells were isolated from adult gum tissue and then combined with mouse embryonic tooth cells. Teeth with developing roots were produced, which contained dentin and enamel of human origin.

It is likely to be more than a decade before it is possible to engineer a whole tooth suitable for implantation, and adult sources of large numbers of human epithelial and mesenchymal cells need to be found.

Insufficient sleep and circadian rhythm disruption are associated with health problems including obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cognitive impairment. Analysis of blood RNA samples showed that after just one week, 711 genes are affected by insufficient sleep.

The affected genes were associated with circadian rhythms, sleep homeostasis, oxidative stress, and metabolism. Biological processes affected included chromatin modification, gene-expression regulation, macromolecular metabolism, and inflammatory, immune and stress responses.

A large study has found that caffeine intake is associated with decreased birth weight, and that coffee consumption was associated with marginally increased gestational length.

The research was based on the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study and included more than 59000 women. The main caffeine source was coffee, but tea and chocolate were the main sources in women with low caffeine intake.

Even caffeine consumption below the currently recommended maximum (200mg/day) was associated with an increased risk of the fetus being small for gestational age. Caffeine passes the placental barrier; the fetus does not express the main enzymes that inactivate it, and caffeine metabolites have been found to accumulate in the fetal brain.

Researchers studying the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 found that elevated blood pressure during pregnancy, regardless of type and even without known risk factors, signals high risk of later cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes.

Clinical monitoring, risk factor evaluation, and early intervention could benefit women with hypertension in pregnancy.

Canadian scientists used new high-throughput gene sequencing technology to
characterize the gut microbiota of 24 healthy infants from the CHILD birth cohort.

DNA sequencing allowed bacteria that are difficult to culture to be included in the survey. There were significant differences in bacterial species between infants, especially those who were formula-fed or born by cesarean delivery. Although any antibiotic use was recorded for most patients, the small sample size made it difficult to investigate how antibiotics may have influenced the differences observed.

Scientists at Caltech have used 4D electron microscopy to visualize the biomechanics of DNA.

DNA was made to vibrate with a laser pulse and then probed with electron pulses to observe the specimen in space and time, revealing the natural resonant frequency. With selective nanocutting, it was possible to determine the stiffness of the DNA filament at different points.

Pictures and a summary of the research are available from Caltech, along with details of the 4D electron microscope.

Researchers at OSU have identified a negative feedback loop that regulates innate immune function through zinc metabolism in mice.

Activation of the transcription factor NF-κB is essential for innate immune function and requires strict regulation. The micronutrient zinc modulates proper host defense, and zinc deficiency is associated with elevated inflammation and worse outcomes in response to bacterial infection and sepsis.

Daren Knoell, senior author of the study and a professor of pharmacy and internal medicine at Ohio State, said:

“Without zinc on board to begin with, it could increase vulnerability to infection. But our work is focused on what happens once you get an infection – if you are deficient in zinc you are at a disadvantage because your defense system is amplified, and inappropriately so.

The benefit to health is explicit: Zinc is beneficial because it stops the action of a protein, ultimately preventing excess inflammation.”

Meta-analyses by the CREAM identified multiple new genes associated with refractive error and myopia.

Up to 30% of Western populations and 80% of Asians are short sighted. The genome-wide meta-analyses included over 37000 people from 27 studies of European ancestry and over 8000 from 5 Asian cohorts. 16 mutations that may be responsible for myopia were identified, in genes with functions in neurotransmission, ion transport, retinoic acid metabolism, extracellular matrix remodelling, and eye development.

British scientists have created an artificial bone material that supports human bone marrow-derived STRO-1+ skeletal cells.

Professor Mark Bradley told The Telegraph that it would be five years before human trials and longer before whole replacement bones could be created. The eventual aim is to have an implantable scaffold that can support new bone growth before dissolving, leaving patients with a naturally produced replacement.

The influenza pandemic in 2009 led to the vaccination of high-risk groups with new vaccines targeting swine flu, when only limited information about the safety of the vaccines was available.

Researchers at UCL and vaccine manufacturers GSK found that Pandemrix had an acceptable safety profile in all age and risk groups studied.

The researchers analysed side effects reported within 6 months in more than 8500 people, aged 7 months to 97 years, who had received at least one dose of the adjuvanted H1N1 pandemic vaccine during the national pandemic influenza vaccination campaign in the UK.

The observed number of adverse events of special interest was below the expected number for Bell’s palsy, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and demyelination, but above the expected number for neuritis (1 case within 31 days), and convulsions (8 cases within 181 days).

Analysis of 12 years of health records for 388000 Americans in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study found that calcium supplements are associated with an excess risk of CVD death in men but not in women.

Total calcium intake had a U-shaped association with total CVD mortality in men, with increased total CVD mortality observed at calcium intakes of 1500mg/d and higher.

Commentary Are Calcium Supplements Harmful to Cardiovascular Disease? concludes, The paradigm ‘the more the better’ is invalid for calcium supplementation.

A large international study found that exposure to pollution is associated with low birth weight.

Maternal exposure to particulate pollution was associated with low birth weight at term across 3 million births in 9 countries.

Nature’s article on the research provides background and quotes.

Scientists were able to scare patients with bilateral amygdala damage using carbon dioxide.

Three rare patients, who do not normally experience fear due to damaged amygdalae, experienced fear and panic attacks when breathing 35% CO₂. The results indicate that the amygdala is not required for fear and panic, and make an important distinction between fear triggered by external threats from the environment and fear triggered internally by CO₂.

Researchers John Wemmie and Colin Buzza discussed their new study with Nature’s Kerri Smith.

A new study adds to evidence that there is a link between antidepressants and abnormal electrical activity of the heart.

Two SSRIs (citalopram and escitalopram) and one tricyclic antidepressant (amitriptyline) were associated with a prolonged QT interval, a risk factor for rare heart rhythm problems.

NHS Choices has provided an analysis of the research and explanation of the QT interval, which is electrical activity of the heart measured by an electrocardiogram (ECG).

Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy is now possible on nanoscale samples, without having to cool them to near absolute zero.

Future applications could include imaging single molecules inside living cells and examining the structure of proteins, which would help in the study of disease and development of new drugs.

A small study of 30 students found that virtual reality experiences affected behaviour after the simulation.

Participants were assigned to receive either the virtual power of flight, akin to Superman’s ability to fly, or to fly as a passenger in a helicopter in the virtual reality simulation. People in first group were more likely to help the experimenter pick up spilt pens after their virtual experience.

Women with severe morning sickness (hyperemesis gravidarum) in second trimester of pregnancy were found to be more likely to suffer placental complications.

Hyperemesis gravidarum occurs in 0.5-3% of pregnancies and is generally defined as severe illness or vomiting before 22 weeks gestation, usually requiring hospitalization for intravenous fluid. The condition is caused by high levels of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG), the pregnancy hormone, and a woman’s sensitivity to it.

A study of over 44000 Britons found that vegetarians had a 32% lower risk of hospitalization or death from ischaemic heart disease.

The EPIC Oxford study followed a total of 44561 men and women living in England and Scotland, 34% of whom consumed a vegetarian diet. After an average follow-up of 11.6 years, vegetarians had lower mean BMI, non-HDL-cholesterol concentration, and systolic blood pressure, and as a result a lower risk of ischaemic heart disease.

Scientists at Uppsala University have found that elderly obese patients have smaller brains.

292 elderly Swedish patients were examined using MRI. Those who were obese had 1.5% smaller total brain volumes and reduced total gray matter volume.

The results may provide evidence for cognitive suppression of appetite that may lower the risk of developing obesity in later life.

A study of 420 people who followed a 20-week weight-loss treatment found that late lunch eaters lost less weight.

Approximately half the people ate lunch before 3pm and half afterwards. Energy intake, dietary composition, energy expenditure, appetite hormones, and sleep duration were similar in both groups. Late eaters were more likely to be evening types, had less energetic breakfasts, and skipped breakfast more frequently that early eaters. However, neither sleep duration nor CLOCK SNPs were independently associated with weight loss.

Eating patterns have changed considerably over the last few centuries.

A meta-analysis of swine flu studies from 19 countries found that between 20% and 27% of the population showed antibodies consistent with swine flu infection within a year of the start of the pandemic in 2009.

The results varied significantly by age. The infection rates were highest in children aged 5–19 years (39% to 55%) and 0–4 years (30% to 43%), while 8% to 24% of people older than 65 had some preexisting immunity.

A new study has shown that lightning triggers headaches in people who suffer from migraines.

The researchers used daily headache diaries from 90 patients in two previous clinical trials that were conducted in Cincinnati and St Louis, combined with data from sensors that detect electromagnetic radiation and can identify cloud-to-ground lightning strikes with 90% efficiency and determine the location of lightning strikes within 500 meters.

A study that looked at Australian patients over a 15-year period found that regular use of aspirin was associated with an increased risk of age-related macular degeneration.

However a comment piece questioned whether the study had done enough to show that the association is causal.

The standard model of the sense of smell is that molecules are recognized by their shape, as odourant molecules bind to specific sites on olfactory receptors. However a controversial new study shows that trained people can distinguish between molecules that differ only in vibrational mode.

The BBC has an article on the research as part of their Quantum Biology programme.

Scientists at the University of California found that sleep disruption in the elderly contributes to age-related cognitive decline

Age-related regional brain atrophy was associated with reduced slow wave activity (SWA) during non–rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, the consequence of which is impaired long-term memory.

Researchers at the Cambridge Research Institute and University of Cambridge have found evidence for the formation of G-quadruplex structures in the genome of mammalian cells.

G-quadruplexes are capable of forming a four-stranded structure, unlike the normal two strands of DNA.

The experiments demonstrate that G-quadruplex structures are modulated during the cell cycle in a manner that is sensitive to whether or not the DNA is being replicated. It may be possible to develop drugs that trap the quadruplexes to stop cells dividing and prevent proliferation of cancer cells.

Researchers at Imperial College London analysed lifetime occupational histories for more than 9000 people born in Britain in 1958.

Adult onset asthma was associated with 18 occupations. Four were cleaning occupations and a further three occupations were likely to use cleaning agents. Others included farming, printing, metalwork, and textile production.

Risk factors included exposure to chemicals – such as cleaning and disinfecting products, metal fumes, and printing ink – as well as biological agents such as flour and enzymes.

This the conclusion of previous work that showed several job categories were associated with adult onset asthma.

Japanese scientists have found that biological clock dysfunction exacerbates contact hypersensitivity in mice.

CLOCK mutant mice showed an increased immune response that exacerbated contact hypersensitivity (CHS), suggesting that circadian rhythm might be an important factor in the regulation of CHS via corticosterone level.

Earwax type and armpit odour are genetically determined by a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) located in the ABCC11 gene. East Asians usually have a genotype that produces dry earwax and no axillary odour, while Europeans and Africans are more likely to have wet earwax and axillary osmidrosis.

Researchers at the University of Bristol found that deodorant use is influenced by genotype, however there were many people who used deodorant despite not producing armpit odour (77.8%) and some who did not despite being genetically predisposed to be odoriferous (4.7%).

People can be sensitive to deodorant chemicals which may trigger conditions such as asthma and eczema, so it is important that people do not expose themselves and their families to deodorants that are not necessary.

Scientists at Edinburgh’s Centre for Regenerative Medicine have found that the leprosy bacterium reprograms adult nerve cells to help spread the infection throughout the body.

The bacteria downregulate differentiation-associated genes in adult Schwann cells and upregulate genes of mesoderm development. The reprogrammed cells resemble stem cells and can transfer bacteria around the body, both by becoming new muscle cells and by causing the release of bacteria-laden macrophages.

As The Guardian reports, this research is of greater interest than simply understanding the disease because it may provide a way to create pluripotent stem cells without using a virus that can cause mutations.

Phase 3 of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood looked at how food affects the risk of developing allergic diseases such as asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis, and eczema.

The researchers found that children who ate fruit more than 3 times a week were less likely to suffer from severe asthma, while those who ate fast food more than 3 times a week had an increased risk of severe asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis, and eczema.

The research did not address whether the food was a cause of the increased risk or merely an interesting correlation.

Scientists at the University of Vermont found that they were able to identify lung infections by testing exhaled air.

Using secondary electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (SESI-MS) to identify volatile organic compounds in the breath of mice, the scientists were not only able to tell which mice were infected but also which strain of bacteria was involved.

Breath analysis is still at an early stage of development but offers the potential for much quicker diagnoses than culturing samples. Extensive work is required to build up a database of VOC fingerprints for different infections and to show that SESI-MS can reliably identify infections in humans.

British researchers found they could improve children’s asthma control by using drugs suited to their specific genome.

Long-acting β2 agonists are used as an alternative to increasing the dose of inhaled corticosteroids if a standard dose provides inadequate asthma control. However, LABAs are less effective in people with the Arg16 β2 receptor genotype, approximately 15% of the population.

The research found that children with the different gene who were given a LTRA instead of a LABA showed improved asthma control and missed fewer days of school.

Norovirus, the leading cause of infectious gastroenteritis (vomiting & diarrhoea), is currently showing increased activity in Australia, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Japan, and the UK.

Genetic analysis of the virus has shown that this has been caused by the emergence of a new strain of norovirus.

The new norovirus genotype II.4 variant, named Sydney 2012 after the place where it was first reported, is related to existing strains Apeldoorn 2007 and New Orleans 2009, but is different enough that there may be limited immunity in the population.

Researchers at King’s College London found that people who stop smoking are less anxious than those who remain addicted, contradicting the belief that smoking is a stress reliever.

The research did not address anxiety levels in people who want to continue smoking or those who do not smoke, as the study’s primary aim was customizing nicotine replacement therapy based on patients’ genetics.

NHS Choices published a useful analysis of the research.

If you smoke, stop.

Pandas’ innate immune systems produce an antimicrobial peptide that rapidly kills drug-resistant strains of bacteria.

Scientists at China’s Nanjing Agricultural University found the peptide, cathelicidin-AM, by mining the panda genome. The research showed that the synthesized peptide was effective against a wide spectrum of microorganisms. It killed bacteria by directly affecting the bacterial cell wall and membrane, and worked six times faster than existing antibiotic clindamycin.