When an object moves fast, we follow it with our eyes: our brain correspondingly calculates the speed of the object and adapts our eye movement to it. This in itself is an enormous achievement, yet our brain can do even more than that. In the real world, a car will typically accelerate or brake faster than, say, a pedestrian. But the control of eye movement in fact responds more sensitively to changes in the speed of fast moving objects than slow moving objects. "Gain control" is the name for this phenomenon, which has been known for some time now, but which has now just been recently analyzed more closely by a group working with associate professor Dr. Stefan Glasauer from the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt (LMU) Mnchen. The scientists determined the location in the brain where gain control is calculated, and what neuronal networks are behind this complex process. The results were postulated in a mathematical model and experimentally verified and could be of great help in the diagnosis of eye movement disorders........

The last decade has seen a dramatic decline in the effectiveness of antibiotics, resulting in a mounting public health crisis across the world. A new breakthrough by University of Virginia scientists provides physicians and patients a potential new approach toward the creation of less resistant and more effective antibiotics........

Patients' responses to a simple questionnaire can reliably predict whether they will adhere to physical treatment after spine surgery, Johns Hopkins scientists suggest in a new study. The findings could help physicians identify patients who might benefit from additional preoperative preparation to ensure they attend treatment sessions and follow through with prescribed exercise, a factor that can greatly affect their long-term recovery........

Study Summary: Hepatitis B could be a risk factor for pancreas cancer A new study has shown that evidence of past hepatitis B infection was twice as common in people with pancreas cancer than in healthy controls. This study is the first to report an association between past exposure to the hepatitis B virus and pancreas cancer, but scientists cautioned that more studies are necessary to evaluate the nature of the link........

UC Davis scientists who studied hospital discharge records for nearly 650,000 California women over a 13-year period have observed that complications from hysterectomies have significantly declined. The study appears in the recent issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology, published by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists........

Nearly one-quarter of women surveyed, and more than one-third of older women, report at least one pelvic floor disorder, which includes urinary and fecal incontinence and the shifting of a pelvic organ, as per a research studyin the September 17 issue of JAMA These disorders become more prevalent with increasing age and weight........

I wanted to share two new, medicine-related Youtube channels with you. The first one is managed by the Detroit Medical Center and focuses on medical animations, educational .........

A researcher at Oregon State University has used a new method of combining multiple sources of data to identify counties in Oregon with high numbers of methamphetamine-related problems per capita, giving officials a new tool in fighting the illegal drug. The study, presented today at a toxicology conference in Canada, examined statistics from four sources then identified five counties with the most meth-linked incidents per capita, such as deaths, poisonings and places where meth is made........

The American College of Physicians (ACP) today released a new clinical practice guideline on drug therapy of osteoporosis or low bone density to prevent fracture in men and women. The guideline appears in the September 16, 2008, issue of Annals of Internal Medicine ACP recommends that physicians offer drug therapy to men and women who have been diagnosed with osteoporosis or a prior fracture not caused by substantial trauma. The guideline also recommends that doctors and their patients consider drug therapy to prevent fracture for men and women who are at risk of developing osteoporosis........

Applying the hormone estradiol to skin protected from the sun appears to stimulate production of the protein collagen in older men and women, as per a report in the recent issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. However, it may not have the same effect on sun-exposed skin, such as the face or arms........

Scientists have developed a clever method to purify parasitic organisms from their host cells, which will allow for more detailed proteomic studies and a deeper insight into the biology of organisms that cause millions of cases of disease each year. A number of infectious pathogens, like those that cause Toxoplasmosis or Leishmaniases, have a complex life cycle alternating between free-living creature and cell-enclosed parasite. A thorough analysis of the proteins that help these organisms undergo this lifestyle change would be tremendously useful for drug or vaccine development; however, it's extremely difficult to separate the parasites from their host cell for detailed study........

An Indiana University study found that HIV care providers in rural Indiana report significant stigma and discrimination in the rural medical referral system surrounding issues of HIV and substance abuse. Providers felt that these factors impeded their ability to offer quality care to their patients........

Pregnant women who take high levels of daily calcium supplements show a marked reduction in lead levels in their blood, suggesting calcium could play a critical role in reducing fetal and infant exposure. A new study at the University of Michigan shows that women who take 1,200 milligrams of calcium daily have up to a 31 percent reduction in lead levels........

A new study by University of Pennsylvania sociology professor Jason Schnittker shows that, while more Americans think that mental illness has genetic causes, the nation is no more tolerant of the mentally ill than it was 10 years ago. The study published online in the journal Social Science and Medicine uses a 2006 replication of the 1996 General Social Survey Mental Health Module to explore trends in public beliefs about mental illness in America, focusing in particular on public support for genetic arguments........

Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered the earliest form of human blood stem cells and deciphered the mechanism by which these embryonic stem cells replicate and grow. They also found a surprising biological marker that pinpoints these stem cells, which serve as the progenitors for red blood cells and lymphocytes........

Body weight and fertility have long known to be correlation to each other women who are too thin, for example, can have trouble becoming pregnant. Now, a master switch has been found in the brain of mice that controls both, and scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies say it may work the same way in humans........

Most people would agree that stress increases your risk for illness and this is especially true for severe long-term stresses, such as caring for a family member with a chronic medical illness. However, we still have a relatively limited understanding of exactly how stress contributes to the risk for illness. In the August 15th issue of Biological Psychiatry, scientists shed new light on one link between stress and illness by describing a mechanism through which stress alters immune function........

Finnish researchers have identified genes that may predispose to anxiety disorders. Research conducted under the supervision of Academy Research Fellow Iiris Hovatta have focused on genes that influence human behaviour, and some of the studied genes show a statistical association with specific anxiety disorders. The work is carried out as part of the Academy of Finland Research Programme on Neuroscience (NEURO)........

CureTogether, a new web 2.0 startup, plans to bring together patients and scientists to create an open-source health research .........

A new Chinese study has reported a dramatic spike in rabies infections. The research, published recently in the open access journal BMC Infectious Diseases, shows that in some provinces of China the number of human rabies cases has jumped dramatically since the new millennium. Jia-Hai Lu, from the School of Public Health at Sun Yat-Sen University, China, led a team of scientists who studied the rabies trend in China between 1990 and 2007. Lu describes how things have changed in the last eight years "In China, human rabies was largely under control during the years 1990-1996, via nation-wide rabies vaccination programmes. Since the end of the century, however, cases of human rabies have jumped high enough to trigger a warning sign for control and prevention"........