HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

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February 22, 2018 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

HEALTH

Alzheimer’s disease is completely reversed by removing just one enzyme in new study (Newsweek)

An experimental treatment completely reversed Alzheimer’s disease in mice by reducing the levels of a single enzyme in the animals' brains. The results further bolster the theory that amyloid plaques are at the root of this mysterious brain disease, and that addressing these plaques could lead to an eventual cure for Alzheimer's.

Glasses give the color blind the red and blue they’ve never seen (San Diego Union-Tribune)

ler Johnson looked across the Scripps Ranch shopping mall parking lot through his new glasses and stared at the purple, dark blue and yellow Taco Bell sign across the way. “It looks a lot different than I thought,” the 32-year-old quality assurance professional said. “I always thought it was just red.”

More U.S. babies dying of suffocation, often in bed (Reuters)

The number of babies dying of suffocation before their first birthday has been rising in recent years, driven at least in part by an increase in the number of parents sharing beds with their infants, a U.S. study suggests. From 1999 to 2015, the suffocation death rate for babies younger than 1 year climbed from 12.4 to 28.3 fatalities for every 1,000 U.S. infants, researchers report in Pediatrics.

WHO warns of soaring rates of measles in Europe (BBC)

Europe has seen a big surge in measles cases in 2017, which the World Health Organization says is a tragedy after a record low of 5,273 cases in 2016. Cases increased four-fold, with more than 20,000 people affected and 35 deaths.  Fifteen European region countries, including the UK, had large outbreaks. Measles cases were highest in Romania, Italy and Ukraine.

Ovarian cancer: persistent tummy bloating can be sign, charity warns (BBC)

Only a third of women would see a doctor when they experience a major symptom of ovarian cancer, according to the charity Target Ovarian Cancer.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Get ready for the era of hypersonic flight – at five times the speed of sound (Los Angeles Times)

The sleek aircraft, really more rocket than plane, dropped from the wing of a B-52 before shooting through the sky above Point Mugu Sea Range off the California coast, leaving a long, white contrail in its wake.

Meet the scientists running to transform Congress in 2018 (Science)

At the federal level, at least 60 science candidates are bidding for seats in Congress, according to 314 Action, a D.C.- based nonprofit advocacy group formed 2 years ago to encourage scientists to engage in politics... Some 200 people with STEM backgrounds are also running for state legislative seats, 314 Action estimates, with a similar number vying for school board and other local- and county-level positions.

Fishermen are harvesting more than half of world’s oceans (Science)

No one really knows how many of the world’s seas are being fished by commercial vessels…But a new study, which uses satellite tracking data from more than 70,000 ships to create one of the most detailed global pictures to date, has come up with a much smaller range: between half and three-quarters of the world’s seas.

SpaceX gets U.S. regulator to back satellite internet plan (Reuters)

Elon Musk's SpaceX, fresh off the successful launch this month of the world's most powerful rocket, won an endorsement on Wednesday from the top U.S. communications regulator to build a broadband network using satellites.

 


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