A study led by researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center suggests that adding the amino acid leucine to their diets may help those with pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome.
The drug telaprevir (Incivek) provides a dramatic improvement in the treatment of the most common form of hepatitis C infection, says an international team of investigators led by Dr. Ira M. Jacobson of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
A new biomarker may help identify which people with mild memory deficits will go on to develop Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study published in the June 22, 2011, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The biomarker may be more accurate than the currently established biomarkers.
Scientists at the University of Michigan Health System have for the first time demonstrated how memory circuits in the brain refine themselves in a living organism through two distinct types of competition between cells.
In a novel imaging study of sleeping toddlers, scientists at the University of California, San Diego Autism Center of Excellence report that a diminished ability of a young brain’s hemispheres to “sync” with one another could be a powerful, new biological marker of autism, one that might enable an autism diagnosis at a very young age.
New research suggests that, in the Athabasca Oil Sands in northern Alberta, human activity related to oil production and the timber industry could be more important than wolves in the decline of the caribou population.
A team of scientists studying the galaxy cluster Abell 2744, nicknamed Pandora's Cluster, have pieced together the cluster's complex and violent history using telescopes in space and on the ground, including Hubble, VLT, Subaru, and Chandra.
A review published online June 22 ahead of print in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) reports the conclusions of an international workshop on ways to improve chemicals safety testing for effects on the breast. The studies reviewed by workshop scientists indicate that chemical exposures during critical periods of development may influence breast growth, ability to breastfeed, and cancer risk. The scientists recommend that future chemical testing evaluate effects on the breast after prenatal and early-life exposure.
An analysis of data from previously published studies indicates that intensive-dose statin therapy is associated with an increased risk of new-onset diabetes compared with moderate-dose therapy, according to a study in the June 22/29 issue of JAMA.
Only about 10 percent of patients with a certain type of heart attack who need to be transferred to another hospital for a PCI (procedures such as balloon angioplasty or stent placement used to open narrowed coronary arteries) are transferred within the recommended time of 30 minutes, according to a study in the June 22/29 issue of JAMA.
Men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer and who are also smokers have an associated increased risk of all-cause, cardiovascular and prostate cancer-specific death, according to a study in the June 22/29 issue of JAMA. These patients also had an increased likelihood of prostate cancer recurrence.
Over the past 2 decades the prevalence of diabetic kidney disease in the U.S. increased in direct proportion to the prevalence of diabetes itself, according to a study in the June 22/29 issue of JAMA.
In a study that included nearly 14,000 patients with rheumatoid arthritis or psoriasis, the use of certain disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs was found to lower the risk of diabetes, according to a study in the June 22/29 issue of JAMA.
Using barium oxide nanoparticles, researchers have developed a self-cleaning technique that could allow solid oxide fuel cells to be powered directly by coal gas at operating temperatures as low as 750 degrees Celsius. The technique could provide an alternative for generating electricity from the nation’s vast coal reserves.
A surprising finding in a study comparing hepatitis C virus (HCV) with hepatitis A virus (HAV) infections in chimpanzees by a team that includes scientists from the Texas Biomedical Research Institute sheds new light on the nature of the body’s immune response to these viruses.
Coming out as lesbian, gay, or bisexual increases emotional well-being even more than earlier research has indicated. But the psychological benefits of revealing one’s sexual identity -- less anger, less depression, and higher self-esteem – are limited to supportive settings, shows a study published June 20 in Social Psychology and Personality Science. The findings underscore the importance of creating workplaces and other social settings that are accepting of all people, but especially gay, lesbian or bisexual individuals.
Mayo Clinic investigators and collaborators from the United Kingdom cured well-established prostate tumors in mice using a human vaccine with no apparent side effects. This novel cancer treatment approach encourages the immune system to rid itself of prostate tumors without assistance from toxic chemotherapies and radiation treatments. Such a treatment model could some day help people to live tumor free with fewer side effects than those experienced from current therapies.
Researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have demonstrated in mice that the performance of a novel biomarker-development pipeline using targeted mass spectrometry is robust enough to support the use of an analogous approach in humans. The findings, by principal investigator Amanda Paulovich, M.D., Ph.D., an associate member of the Hutchinson Center’s Clinical Research Division, are published in Nature Biotechnology.
An international research team, co-led by scientists at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Florida, have discovered three potential susceptibility genes for development of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare neurodegenerative disease that causes symptoms similar to those of Parkinson’s disease but is resistant to Parkinson’s medications. Their report is being published online June 19 in Nature Genetics.
At the 65th Vascular Annual Meeting of the Society for Vascular Surgery®, Gilbert R. Upchurch, Jr., MD from the division of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville, spoke about gender differences in abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA’s).
1) Insecure housing may impede development and result in worse health in young US children; 2) Number of deaths in the US can be linked to social factors; 3) Community gardeners eat more fruit and veggies than home gardeners.
New research shows that systematically controlling the local and global environments during stem cell development helps to effectively direct their differentiation. These findings could help in manufacturing large quantities of stem cells for diagnostic and therapeutic applications in the future.
Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences have uncovered how the body’s immune system launches its survival response to the notorious and deadly bacterium anthrax. The findings, reported online today and published in the June 22 issue of the journal Immunity, describe key emergency signals the body sends out when challenged by a life-threatening infection.
The first roadmap to mathematical modeling of a powerful basic "decision circuit" in breast cancer has been developed and published in Nature Reviews Cancer.
Sixty-six percent of publicly-insured children were unable to get a doctor’s appointment for serious medical conditions including diabetes and seizures, while children with identical symptoms and private insurance were turned away only 11 percent of the time, according to an audit study of specialty physician practices in Cook County, Ill. conducted by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The findings are published in the June 16 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
A new study suggests that consuming olive oil may help prevent a stroke in older people. The research is published in the June 15, 2011, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Bariatric surgery can cut the incidence of heart attack, stroke or death by as much as 50 percent, according to a new study* presented here at the 28th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS).
Obesity has been linked to infertility and now a new study shows bariatric surgery may treat its most common cause, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), a hormonal imbalance that affects up to 10 percent of women of child-bearing age -- 33 to 50 percent of whom are overweight or obese. The findings* were presented here at the 28th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS).
Not many patients come to a bariatric surgeon to treat infertility problems, but this study suggests that women with morbid obesity, who are infertile secondary to PCOS, may have a new surgical option.
A new study of nearly 52,000 patients found that people who had gastric bypass surgery and were discharged from the hospital sooner than the national average of a two-day length of stay, experienced significantly higher rates of 30-day mortality and complications. The findings* were presented here at the 28th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS).
People who use a mist inhaler to deliver a drug widely prescribed in more than 55 countries to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may be 52 percent more likely to die, new Johns Hopkins-led research suggests.
Government guidelines published today on the use of dried blood spots collected during mandatory newborn screening underemphasize the importance of getting the public on board with the practice, according to University of Michigan researcher.
With an increased emphasis on grading hospitals and a push to withhold payments from hospitals who don’t meet certain standards, two Johns Hopkins researchers argue that more attention needs to be paid to the quality of the measurement tools used to praise and punish.
In an examination of trends of malpractice claims, there has been a greater decline in the rate of paid claims for inpatient settings than outpatient settings, and in 2009, the number of malpractice claims for events resulting in paid malpractice claims in outpatient and inpatient settings were similar, according to a study in the June 15 issue of JAMA.
In an analysis of data from several studies, watching television for 2-3 hours per day or more was associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular disease and all-cause death, according to a study in the June 15 issue of JAMA.
Patients in the early stages of chronic kidney disease who had elevated levels of the endocrine hormone fibroblast growth factor 23 (that regulates phosphorus metabolism) had an associated increased risk of end-stage renal disease and death, according to a study in the June 15 issue of JAMA.
1) New model of time-lapse microscopy provides better visualization of metastatic processes; 2) Knowledge could allow for therapeutic targeting to prevent metastasis. 3) NOTE TO PRODUCERS/EDITORS: Video footage available.
A new study from Mount Sinai School of Medicine has found that a cellular signaling pathway governs the differentiation of cells into fat tissue or smooth muscle, which lines the vascular system. Engaging this signaling pathway and its capacity to govern cell differentiation has important implications in preventing obesity and cardiovascular disease. The study is published in the June issue of Developmental Cell.
1) Laboratory study has clear implications for humans; 2) Low carbohydrates reduce blood glucose, which tumor cells need; 3) Possible anti-inflammatory effect also observed.
Researchers at North Carolina State University have figured out how copper induces misfolding in the protein associated with Parkinson’s disease, leading to creation of the fibrillar plaques which characterize the disease.
A new study provides support for Darwin’s hypothesis that the struggle for existence is stronger between more closely related species. While ecologists generally accept the premise, this new study contains the strongest direct experimental evidence yet to support its validity.
In one of the first studies of its kind, UCLA researchers used a unique brain scan to assess the levels of plaques and tangles — the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease — in adults with Down syndrome. The finding may offer an additional clinical tool to help diagnose dementia in adults with Down syndrome. Adults with this disorder develop Alzheimer's-like plaque and tangle deposits early, often before the age of 40.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first clinical trial in humans of a new technology: Cornell Dots, brightly glowing nanoparticles that can light up cancer cells in PET-optical imaging.
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine discovered a genetic factor that can regulate obesity-induced inflammation that contributes to chronic diseases. If the factor can be controlled, it may provide treatment for obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.