Spider Venom Injections May Protect Your Brain

Every day, an estimated 6,800 new peer-reviewed academic articles are published. That’s a whole lot of science to wade through—but don’t fret. We’ll do the legwork for you, each and every morning. Here’s your daily dose of the latest discoveries from journals, research institutions, and news outlets from around the world.

Protect Your Brain

Spider venom might protect your brain after a stroke, researchers from the University of Queensland discovered. After rodents who had strokes were injected with small amounts of the venom protein called Hi1a, they showed less damage in their brain tissue and improved neurological performance. The researchers hope this may one day pave the way for stroke treatment for humans, too.

Hold Off On Cancer Treatment?

Patients with low-risk prostate cancer may be better off watching it than treating it right away, according to a new study out of Vanderbilt University. Three-year survival rate for patients with localized prostate cancer was 99 percent, whether they chose surgery, radiation, or active surveillance. But guys who had surgery or radiation suffered from side effects, which included erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence, while men who chose watchful waiting skipped out on them.

Build a Lung

People with lung failure are dependent on large machines—often confining them to their beds—to breathe for them. But scientists are now working on an artificial lung small enough to fit in a backpack, which would allow patients to be much more mobile, New Scientist reports. While the prototype has been shown to work in sheep, human implications are still well off.

Balance Your Blood Sugar

Insulin resistance—or the inability to absorb sugar from your blood and use it for energy—not only paves the road to diabetes, but might also hurt your mind, too. Older people with insulin resistance experience more rapid cognitive decline, researchers from Tel Aviv University discovered. That includes functions like memory, visual spatial processing, and attention. (Here’s how doctors actually diagnose Alzheimer’s disease.)

Spot Cancer

Detecting cancer recurrence early can be a lifesaver. Now, scientists from the University of Pennsylvania discovered that certain biomarkers in the blood can show lung cancer recurrence an average of six months before CT scans can. The researchers hope this technology can one day be used to monitor patients during their follow-up treatment.

SOURCE: http://www.menshealth.com/health/health-news-03-22-2017