Scientists Think Malaria Killed King Tut
Tests on the body of famed pharaoh Tutankhamun reveal he probably was not murdered, as some have theorized, but died from malaria and complications resulting from a broken leg, HealthDay reports. Tut's autopsy has provided scientists the earliest evidence of malaria. It also revealed he suffered from genetic disorders that made his body weak; the genetic evidence helps explain his physical deformities, which included a clubfoot. DNA testing also helped researchers identify mummies as Tut's relatives, including his father and grandmother. The findings are published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
[Read Why a Man Let 2,000 Malaria-Infected Mosquitoes Bite Him and Mummies Reveal Heart Disease Plagued Ancient Egyptians.]
Oxytocin-Autism Study: the Kind of Evidence-Based Research Parents Need
Oxytocin may help improve social behavior in people with autism, according to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. There's a lot this study can't tell us; researchers studied just 13 young adults with high-functioning autism or Asperger's syndrome, and it tested their social responses only in the laboratory, with a ball-tossing game and a measurement of how responsive they were to social cues in pictures of human faces.
Still, there's also a lot to get excited about, U.S. News contributor Nancy Shute writes. Oxytocin is a hormone produced by the hypothalamus that helps stimulate childbirth and breast-feeding. It's sometimes called the "hormone of love" because it's thought to help regulate emotions. Some studies have found that children with autism have lower levels of oxytocin in their bodies. And other small studies of oxytocin's use in autistics have found that the hormone reduces repetitive behaviors and helps improve the ability to recognize emotions in voices and faces.
The lead researcher in the PNAS study, Angel Sirigu of the National Center for Scientific Research in France, told the Washington Post that oxytocin given early in childhood might theoretically prevent the social deficits that make life difficult for many people with autism. Read more.
[Read 4 Promising Autism Treatments, From Vitamin B12 to Alzheimer's Drug Namenda and What the Autism Gene Finding Means for Parents.]
Two Fatal Flaws in Health Reform Resuscitation
Salvage efforts are underway for the president's health reform package, put into a stall by the recent surprise election of Republican Sen. Scott Brown in Massachusetts, which erased the one-vote Democratic Senate margin that might have passed the legislation last month.
On the one hand, President Obama seems conciliatory, U.S. News columnist and physician Bernadine Healy writes; a proposed televised summit in late February would allow key members of Congress from both sides of the aisle to hear from those who have different ideas. On the other, he does not seem willing to scrap the health reform bills that were a year in the making and would radically restructure both the financing and delivery of healthcare. Last week, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius delivered the message that the administration would not budge from its comprehensive approach to lowering costs and covering the uninsured, since the "pieces of the puzzle are too closely tied to one another."
Sebelius has a point, Healy writes. The Obamacare puzzle, a centrally driven plan that requires at least a trillion dollars to succeed, counts on a combination of taxation, fines, penalties, and cost savings; a reallocation of major resources within the current health system; and a willingness among doctors and patients to accede to substantial new government controls. Read more.
[Read Health Reform: Let's Work on Drug Costs and Premiums and 9 Things in the Health Bill We Should Now Reconsider.]
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