Feature Channels: All Journal News

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Fish oil supplements may protect the heart in stressful situations, a study by a Michigan Technological University researcher shows.

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Between 5 and 10 percent of those older than 70 are frail and at increased risk of death, debilitation and hospitalizations. The medical condition is treatable, writes a Saint Louis University physician in a consensus article from representatives of six international and national medical societies. Doctors need to screen everyone 70 and older for physical frailty.

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U.S. paleontologists led by Jason Head of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln announced fossils of giant lizard Barbaturex morrisoni this week. Their analysis shows that it is one of the biggest known lizards ever to have lived on land. They've named the creature after Doors lead singer Jim Morrison.

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A newfound genetic marker promises to better predict warfarin dose in African-Americans, according to a study published online today in The Lancet.

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Research from Thomas Jefferson University is laying the foundation for a genetic test to accurately identify hip dysplasia in newborns so that early intervention can be initiated to promote normal development. Researchers studied four generations of a Utah family affected by developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) in most generations to determine the genetics of DDH. Their findings are currently available in the Journal of Bone and Mineralizing Research (JBMR) online.

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Researchers at the University of Michigan have evidence that a single gene controls both halves of nerve cells, and their research demonstrates the need to consider that design in the development of new treatments for regeneration of nerve cells.

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The same mechanism that lets the immune system mount a massive attack against invading bacteria contributes to the destruction of brain cells as part of Parkinson’s disease.

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Exposure to high altitude can cause acute mountain sickness (AMS) and, in severe cases, cerebral or pulmonary edema. Capillary leakage has been hypothesized to play a role in the pathogenesis of AMS, although the mechanism of altitude-related illnesses remains largely unknown.

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A review of more than 50 studies found limited evidence supporting the use of bariatric surgical procedures for non-morbidly obese adults (body mass index [BMI] 30-35) with diabetes or impaired glucose intolerance, according to a study in the June 5 issue of JAMA.

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Among mild to moderately obese patients with type 2 diabetes, adding gastric bypass surgery to lifestyle and medical management was associated with a greater likelihood of improved levels of metabolic risk factors such as blood glucose, LDL-cholesterol and systolic blood pressure, according to a study in the June 5 issue of JAMA.

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For many older adults, the aging process seems to go hand-in-hand with an annoying increase in clumsiness. New research from Washington University in St. Louis suggests some of these reaching-and-grasping difficulties may be caused by changes in the mental frame of reference that older adults use to visualize nearby objects.

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What do swimmers like trout, eels and sandfish lizards have in common? According to a new study, the similar timing patterns that these animals use to contract their muscles and produce undulatory swimming motions can be explained using a simple model.

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A team of researchers including members of the University of Chicago’s Institute for Molecular Engineering highlight the power of emerging quantum technologies in two recent papers published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

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If people are unable to perceive their own errors as they complete a routine, simple task, their skill will decline over time, Johns Hopkins researchers have found — but not for the reasons scientists assumed. The researchers report that the human brain does not passively forget our good techniques, but chooses to put aside what it has learned.

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New study indicates overweight and obese patients trust weight-related counseling from overweight physicians more than normal weight physicians and patients seeing an obese primary care physician were more likely to perceive weight-related stigma

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e suffering from type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) are at an increased risk of cognitive decline, according to a new study from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

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Scientists, like Buddhist monks and Zen masters, have known for years that meditation can reduce anxiety, but not how. Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, however, have succeeded in identifying the brain functions involved.

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A series of studies conducted by an Iowa State University research team shows it is possible to manipulate an existing memory simply by suggesting new or different information. The key is timing and recall of that memory.

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Obese teenagers who reduced their body mass index (BMI) by 8 percent or more had improvements in insulin sensitivity, an important metabolic factor related to the later development of type 2 diabetes.

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A flash of light from a stellar outburst has been used by NASA Hubble telescope astronomers to probe for the first time the 3-D structure of material ejected by an erupting nova.

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Two biomarkers being investigated as predictors of heart and vascular disease appear to indicate risk for "silent" strokes and other causes of mild brain damage that present no symptoms, report researchers in an upcoming issue of Stroke.

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A new study by researchers at Wake Forest University shows Bertholdia trigona, a species of tiger moth found in the Arizona desert, can tell if an echo-locating bat is going to attack it well before the predator swoops in for the kill – making the intuitive, tiny-winged insect a master of self-preservation.

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The last few years have seen the emergence of a new drug problem in so-called "bath salts"—actually "designer stimulants," packaged and sold in ways that skirt drug laws. A review and update on these designer drugs is presented in the June Journal of Addiction Medicine, the official journal of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

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Researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have found that the burden of bladder cancer on the population is very high, and that more intense surveillance and treatment in the first two years after diagnosis could reduce the number of patients whose cancer returns after treatment and lower the death rate from this disease.

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Johns Hopkins researchers have documented huge and somewhat puzzling interstate variations in the percentage of emergency versus elective bowel surgeries. Figuring out precisely why the differences occur is critical, they say, because people forced to undergo emergency procedures are far more likely to die from their operations than those able to plan ahead for them.

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Researchers at the University of Adelaide have found that a lake on an island off the coast of Queensland, Australia, has been relatively untouched by changes in climate for the past 7000 years, and has so far also resisted the impact of humans.

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More evidence has surfaced that supports the war on smoking, especially if smokers have an infant in their household. A study published in the June issue of Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, finds smoke exposure puts infants with family history of allergies at higher risk for severe infection and longer hospital stays.

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New research from McMaster University suggests women can remember faces better than men, in part because they spend more time studying features without even knowing it, and a technique researchers say can help improve anyone’s memories.

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Another piece of the puzzle to better understand and treat obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) has fallen into place with the publication of new research that shows that the structural brain abnormalities of Doberman pinschers afflicted with canine compulsive disorder (CCD) are similar to those of humans with OCD. The research suggests that further study of anxiety disorders in dogs may help find new therapies for OCD and similar conditions in humans.

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A bundled protocol to guide bedside care for infants and children receiving mechanical ventilation may lead to lower rates of ventilator-associated pneumonia, a common healthcare-associated infection that has no official guidelines specifically for pediatric patients.

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In the gonads of animals, genome parasites such as transposons pose a serious threat to evolutionary fitness. With their ability to bounce around in the genome, they often cause dangerous mutations. To protect genomic integrity, animals evolved a sophisticated mechanism – the so called piRNA pathway – to silence the deleterious transposons. Not much is known about the molecular processes and the involved factors that constitute the piRNA pathway. Researchers at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) in Vienna have now identified ~50 genes, that play important roles in the piRNA pathway of the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster.

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A landmark study, with first author Tyson Oberndorfer, MD, and led by Walter H. Kaye, MD, professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, suggests that the altered function of neural circuitry contributes to restricted eating in anorexia and overeating in bulimia. The research may offer a pathway to new and more effective treatments for these serious eating disorders.

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A new study suggests that U.S. businesses pay almost $6,000 per year extra for each employee who smokes compared to the cost to employ a person who has never smoked cigarettes. Researchers say it's the first study to take a comprehensive look at the financial burden for companies employing smokers.

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Most apes eat leaves and fruits from trees and shrubs. New studies spearheaded by the University of Utah show that human ancestors expanded their menu 3.5 million years ago, adding tropical grasses and sedges to an ape-like diet and setting the stage for our modern diet of grains, grasses, and meat and dairy from grazing animals.

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The June issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology focuses on a variety of issues relating to clinical practice, practice management, health services and policy, and radiology education and training. Topics to be covered include the impact of radiologist-patient communication on patient anxiety before and immediately after imaging-guided breast biopsy procedures; imaging informatics; citizenship in radiology; radiology stewardship and quality improvement; reading room electives and the Physician Payments Sunshine Act.

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In 2012, Nicholas Fisher a distinguished professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) at Stony Brook University and postdoctoral scholar Zosia Baumann, working with a colleague at Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station, reported that they had detected radioactivity in Pacific bluefin tuna swimming off the California coast. The source of the radioactivity was Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi powerplants, which were damaged by the strong earthquake and subsequent tsunami on 11 March 2011 and released large quantities of radioactivity into the Pacific Ocean. The news prompted widespread media interest and speculation as to the possible risks to seafood consumers posed by the levels of radioactivity found in the tuna.

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New study from University of Michigan Health System shows black patients in most segregated areas more likely to receive surgery at low-quality hospitals

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A study by Hans-Peter Hartung, M.D., of Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Düsseldoft, Germany, and colleagues examines the association between IL-17F and treatment response to interferon beta-1b among patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

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A study by Helen Wong, R.D., of The Hospital for Sick Children, Ontario, Canada, and colleagues examined the safety and efficacy of dietary flaxseed supplementation in the management of hypercholesterolemia (high levels of cholesterol) in children.

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Racial and ethnic disparities in children who are overweight and obese may be determined by risk factors in infancy and early childhood, according to a study published Online First by JAMA Pediatrics, a JAMA Network publication.

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Vegetarian diets are associated with reduced death rates in a study of more than 70,000 Seventh-day Adventists with more favorable results for men than women, according to a report published Online First by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.

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Using cholesterol-lowering statins may be associated with musculoskeletal conditions, arthropathies (joint diseases) and injuries, according to a report published Online First by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.

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A Saint Louis University study calls for women who are obese to lose weight between pregnancies and not to gain excessive weight when they are pregnant. Obese moms face special health risks during pregnancy, and are more likely to have a baby who is large for his or her gestational age and could have health problems.

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Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues at the University of Rochester Medical Center, have identified a new mechanism that appears to suppress tumor growth, opening the possibility of developing a new class of anti-cancer drugs.

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UCLA researchers find abnormal brain networks in Fragile X syndrome, a genetic malady that is the most common inherited cause of autism and intellectual disability.

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A recent study of physical attractiveness and how it impacts real estate brokers’ pay and productivity shows that the more attractive the real estate agent, the higher the listing price of the home for sale.

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Current immune suppressants have major drawbacks, but a team from The Scripps Research Institute has demonstrated a new technique that may lead to a better way to selectively repress unwanted immune reactions without disabling the immune system as a whole.

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Pumping up heart health messages among the underserved; male abusers harm own work status too; tools for handling dementia; nursing students ready to nurse; deadly HIV-TB treatment puzzle; and more.

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More than a decade of research has shown that using a handheld or hands-free phone while driving is not safe because the brain does not have enough mental capacity to safely perform both tasks at once.

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On June 3rd, JoVE will publish a research technique that allows neural imaging of auditory stimuli in songbirds via MRI. The technique, developed by Dr. Annemie Van der Linden and her laboratory at the University of Antwerp in Belgium, will be one of the first published in JoVE Behavior, a new section of the video journal that focuses on observational and experimental techniques that seek to understand human and animal behavior through physiological, neurological, and genetic means.