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A new study shows how our bodies try to minimize potential 'collateral damage' caused by our immune system when fighting infection. The research may also provide new clues to why cigarette smoke is a significant risk factor for developing diseases of the lung such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

People who believe that fate and chance control their lives are more likely to be superstitious -- but when faced with death they are likely to abandon superstition altogether, according to new research.

New research shows that the "gateway effect" of marijuana -- that teenagers who use marijuana are more likely to move on to harder illicit drugs as young adults -- may be overblown.

Results of a new study show a linear association between sleep durations of less than eight hours and psychological distress in young adults between 17 and 24 years of age. The risk of psychological distress increased by 14 percent for each hour of nightly sleep loss. Those sleeping less than six hours a night were twice as likely to be experiencing distress as average sleepers. Long sleep durations of more than nine hours showed no association with distress.

In Alzheimer's disease, the problem is beta-amyloid, a protein that accumulates in the brain and causes nerve cells to weaken and die. Drugs designed to eliminate plaques made of beta-amyloid have a fatal problem: they need to enter the brain and remove the plaques without attacking healthy brain cells. New research, however, suggests that treatments modeled on the blockbuster cancer drug Gleevec could be the solution.

Prior research had found an association between DNA sequence variations in a gene that encodes parts of the brain's gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA)-A receptors (the GABRA2 gene) and alcohol dependence. New research has found that the GABRA2 genotype can also affect the brain's reward responses to cues such as alcohol odors.

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, have been called the defining moment of our time. Thousands of people died and the attacks had huge individual and collective consequences. But less is known about the immediate emotional reactions to the attacks. For a new study, researchers analyzed text messages sent on September 11, 2001 for emotional words. They found spiking anxiety and steadily increasing anger through that fateful day.

Ezlopitant, a compound known to suppress craving for alcohol in humans, was shown to decrease consumption of sweetened water by rodents in a new study.

A new study may change the way clinicians make treatment decisions for their patients who smoke. The findings suggest that current treatment theories that maintain any smoking after the planned target quit day predicts treatment failure need to be expanded to take into account a more dynamic quitting process. The research points to two types of successful quitters: those who quit immediately and remain abstinent through the end of treatment and those who are "delayed" in attaining abstinence but achieve success by the end of treatment.

Men with chronic insomnia who slept for less than six hours were four times more likely to die during the 14-year follow-up period, according to a new study. Results were adjusted for potential confounders such as body mass index, smoking status, depression and obstructive sleep apnea. Further adjustments for hypertension and diabetes had little effect on the elevated mortality risk. No significant mortality risk was found in women with insomnia and a short sleep duration of less than six hours.

Optimism and angst surrounds stem cell trials as trials are stopped and started and funding is slashed.

A recent study by researchers in Israel has found a new link between light at night and cancer.

New research from the UK has found that teachers who want to be happier should not try to please everyone and should have a greater say in setting targets.

Health professionals have a responsibility to respect and support patients who use cannabis for medicinal purposes, but must stay within the law and follow professional guidance at all times. UK researchers studied more than 50 published papers, together with professional and Government guidance documents, official reports and media coverage, from 1996 to 2009. Their findings highlight the legal, ethical and medical dilemmas faced by the healthcare profession when patients use cannabis for medical reasons.

Virtual characters can behave according to actions carried out unconsciously by humans. Researchers have created a system which measures human physiological parameters, such as respiration or heart rate, and introduces them into computer designed characters in real time.

Insomnia and other sleep disorders are very common, yet are not generally well understood by doctors and other health care professionals. Now the British Association for Psychopharmacology has released up-to-the-minute guidelines in the Journal of Psychopharmacology to guide psychiatrists and physicians caring for those with sleep problems.

Researchers in China have now identified a way to preserve nerve cells in a rat model of stroke.

New research shows that mentally stimulating activities such as crossword puzzles, reading and listening to the radio may, at first, slow the decline of thinking skills but speed up dementia later in old age.

New study results show that an early marker for later communication and social delays in infants at a higher-risk for autism may be infrequent gazing at other people when unprompted. The study also found that six-month-old high-risk infants demonstrated the same level of cause and effect learning skills when compared to low-risk infants of the same age.

"Mindfulness," the process of learning to become more aware of our ongoing experiences, increases well-being in adolescent boys, a new study reports.