Health Highlights: Dec. 17 2009

Dec. 18 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Personality Affects Med Students' Success: Study

Personality tests that measure five major traits can predict the success of medical school students, according to a new study.

It included 600 Belgian first-year medical students who completed a personality test that measured conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, openness and emotional stability. Their progress was monitored for the next six years of medical school, United Press International reported.

"Our findings show that personality factors do have a predictive value as to the success rate of admitted medical students," Deniz Ones, of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, said in a news release. "Considering personality of applicants can be quite helpful to medical school admission programs."

The study appears in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

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Scientists Identify Flu-Fighting Proteins

Researchers have identified a family of flu-fighting proteins that boost the body's natural resistance to viral infection, a finding they said could lead to better treatment and prevention of flu and other viral infections.

The scientists found that these proteins prevent most virus particles from infecting a cell at the earliest stage in the virus life cycle, United Press International reported.

"We've uncovered the first-line defense in how our bodies fight the flu virus," said Harvard Medical School Professor Stephen Elledge. "The protein is there to stop the flu. Every cell has a constitutive immune response that is ready for the virus."

"When we knocked the proteins out, we had more virus infection. When we increased the proteins, we had more protection," said study leader Dr. Abraham Brass, a geneticist and instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, UPI reported.