Regular exercise may increase the number of small blood vessels in the brain and increase overall cerebral blood flow, according to a study presented at last week’s RSNA meeting.

This could explain why exercise prevents cognitive decline in older folks, according to chief study investigator Feraz Rahman, a medical student at Jefferson Medical College.

Rahman and his team carried out a retrospective, cross-sectional study of 12 people between the ages of 60-80. Half the people had exercised for at least 3 hours per week in the preceding 10 years, while the others had gotten only about a third as much during the same period.

The study involved MRI scans, MR angiography and a 3-dimensional computer rendering of cerebral blood vessels enabling the scientists to determine blood vessel radius and average blood flow to various regions of the brain.

The frequent exercisers had more “small vessels,” with radii of 0.35mm and a greater and more predictable cerebral blood flow.

It remains to be determined whether sedentary adults that initiate an exercise program can experience improved cerebral vasculature and blood flow.

Rahman concluded that “exercise is a vital part of healthy aging and might slow the loss of small vessels.”

The computer malware epidemic is spreading faster than a Britney Spears make-out video, and neither computer security experts nor the best-and-brightest at Microsoft can stop it.

Internet criminals have outmaneuvered and outspent the good guys for years. Last year they swindled computer users out of $100 billion via credit card theft, bank fraud and other Web-based schemes, according to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

They work primarily in Russia, Eastern Europe and wherever authorities ignore those who rake in tons of foreign currency.

The McColo Corporation, where 65% of the worlds’ spam originated until it got busted, had Russian ties for example.

Scientists at Georgia Tech estimate that 15% of all Internet-connected PCs have been captured by master servers and transformed into spam spewers or worse.

That’s up 50% from a year ago and means that 10 million PCs have been enslaved for criminal purposes, according to PandaLabs.

PC owners are at best dimly aware that their computers are a bit slow.

Meanwhile the antivirus vendors think they’re just losing a game of whack-a-mole, but most of the time according to FireEye, they can’t even spot the malware in the first place.

That’s because malware has become stunningly sophisticated. Some malicious programs actually disable antivirus software, remove competing malware, and then activate Windows Updates, creating an invisibility cloak around themselves that even Harry Potter would envy.

The klieg lights are on Big Pharma again, this time after 3 people died during drug trials in India and Poland.

The Polish case involves two nursing home residents that died after receiving Novartis’ experimental bird-flu vaccine. Both should have been excluded based on advanced age. The deaths and other glitches forced Novartis to delay the vaccine’s approval process by at least a year.

In the Indian case, investigators are trying to determine whether a baby who died after receiving Wyeth’s pneumococcal vaccine had a pre-existing heart condition that should have excluded it from the trial.

Neither company nor their vaccines are implicated in the investigations, but the problems highlight risks associated with drug trials in developing nations, where supervisors often feel pressure to increase enrollment, cut costs and scrub data to curry favor with Big Pharma.

In 2005, 40% of drug trials were carried out in developing nations, according to the Centre for Research on multinational Corporations (SOMO).

The number is higher now. India alone for example approved 450 drug trials this year. That’s 400% more than 2005.

Drug trials are inexpensive in low-income nations because the salaries of physicians and clinical personnel are lower. It’s also easier to recruit patients since participation in a trial is for many the best opportunity to access care.

In addition, these people are often not taking other medications, a critical entry criterion for many trials.

For its part, Big Pharma claims its trial designs are independent of venue and that it complies with local laws. It even assures participants can keep taking their medicine after the trial ends.

Assuming it proved to be safe and effective, that is.