Curated News: Featured: MedWire

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Scientists at The University of Manchester have made an important discovery about how certain cells stick to each other to form tissue.

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A survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults has found that misperceptions about miscarriage and its causes are widespread. Results of the survey, conducted by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Montefiore Health System, show that feelings of guilt and shame are common after a miscarriage and that most people erroneously believe that miscarriages are rare. The findings were published online today in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

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Over nearly 15 years spent studying ticks, Indiana University's Keith Clay has found southern Indiana to be an oasis free from Lyme disease, the condition most associated with these arachnids that are the second most common parasitic disease vector on Earth. He has also seen signs that this low-risk environment is changing, both in Indiana and in other regions of the U.S.

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Therapies that specifically target mutations in a person’s cancer have been much-heralded in recent years, yet cancer cells often find a way around them. To address this, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center identified a promising combinatorial approach to treating glioblastomas, the most common form of primary brain cancer. The study published May 5 by Oncotarget.

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Writing in the May 7 online issue of American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System suggest that people with PTSD may also be at risk for accelerated aging or premature senescence.

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Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Shiley Eye Institute have identified the molecular “glue” that builds the brain connections that keep visual images clear and still, even as objects or your eyes move. Using mouse models, the researchers demonstrate that image stabilization depends upon two proteins, Contactin-4 and amyloid precursor protein, binding during embryonic development.

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Vanderbilt biologists have localized the seasonal light cycle effects that drive seasonal affective disorder to a small region of the brain called the dorsal raphe nucleus.

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Obesity and depression – not only lack of sleep – are underlying causes for regular drowsiness, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. They say the findings could lead to more personalized sleep medicine for those with excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS).

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Though people often think of the benefits from exercise, calorie restriction and weight loss as interchangeable, it appears that they may all offer distinct and cumulative benefits when it comes to managing Type 2 diabetes risk.

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People with depression or bipolar disorder often feel their thinking ability has gotten “fuzzy”, or less sharp than before their symptoms began. Now, researchers have shown in a large study that effect is indeed real – and rooted in brain activity differences that show up on advanced brain scans.

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Researchers have uncovered a unique connection between diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease, providing further evidence that a disease that robs people of their memories may be affected by elevated blood sugar.

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Doping is damaging the image of sport without benefitting athletes’ results, according to University of Adelaide research.

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A cross-institutional team of researchers have identified a signaling substance (MuIS) that may predict patients who will have poor muscle regeneration outcomes following hip surgery. Testing patients for the presence of MuIS before surgery may help clinicians better plan for those who will need more intensive rehab post-surgery.

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Gene therapy for Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), an inherited disorder that causes loss of night- and day-vision starting in childhood, improved patients’ eyesight within weeks of treatment in a clinical trial of 15 children and adults at the Scheie Eye Institute at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. New results involving a subset of patients from the ongoing trial show that these benefits peaked one to three years after treatment and then diminished. The findings are published today in The New England Journal of Medicine.

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A new study suggests that engaging in low intensity activities such as standing may not be enough to offset the health hazards of sitting for long periods of time. On the bright side, adding two minutes of walking each hour to your routine just might do the trick. These findings were published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN).

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Washington University School of Medicine neuroscientists have attached the light-sensing protein rhodopsin to opioid receptor parts to activate the receptor pathways using light from a laser fiber-optic device. They also influenced the behavior of mice using light, rather than drugs, to activate the reward response.

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Writing in the April 30 online issue of the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine report pancreatic cancer rates are highest in countries with the least amount of sunlight. Low sunlight levels were due to a combination of heavy cloud cover and high latitude.

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Few doctors are prescribing a low-cost drug that has been proven effective in preventing the onset of diabetes. New research finds that only 3.7 percent of U.S. adults with pre-diabetes were prescribed metformin during a recent three-year period.

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Now, parents share their arduous and “circuitous” journey to get referrals for pediatric epilepsy surgery once their child’s disease stops responding to anti-seizure medications. The UCLA study sheds light on the difficulties parents face obtaining specialty and sub-specialty care for their children during an already stressful time.

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A lack of safety at school is one of the correlates of childhood obesity, say researchers at the University of Montreal and its affiliated Research Centre at CHU Sainte Justine children’s hospital.

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Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, are significantly more likely to have an eating disorder — a loss of control eating syndrome (LOC-ES) — akin to binge eating, a condition more generally diagnosed only in adults, according to results of a new Johns Hopkins Children’s Center study.

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A new microneedle patch being developed by the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) could make it easier to vaccinate people against measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases.

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Scientists have discovered that neurons are risk takers: They use minor “DNA surgeries” to toggle their activity levels all day, every day. Since these activity levels are important in learning, memory and brain disorders, the researchers think their finding will shed light on a range of important questions.

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Nearly half of American hospitals aren’t taking key steps to prevent C. difficile, a kind of gut infection that kills nearly 30,000 people annually and sickens hundreds of thousands more – despite strong evidence that such steps work, according to a new study.

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The recent Great Recession was accompanied by a significant and sustained increase in major depression in U.S. adults, according to a Loyola study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

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Many studies have linked more sleep to better memory, but new research in fruit flies demonstrates that extra sleep helps the brain overcome catastrophic neurological defects that otherwise would block memory formation, report scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

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Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, are significantly more likely to have an eating disorder — a loss of control eating syndrome (LOC-ES) — akin to binge eating, a condition more generally diagnosed only in adults, according to results of a new Johns Hopkins Children’s Center study. The findings, reported ahead of print April 9 in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, suggest a common biological mechanism linking the two disorders, and the potential for developing treatment that works for both.

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Researchers have uncovered the first evidence of a genetic link between prodigy and autism. The scientists found that child prodigies in their sample share some of the same genetic variations with people who have autism.

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A new study by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers has found dramatic improvements in the care of patients with cirrhosis and liver failure and recommends improved treatment strategies for patients with cirrhosis and concurrent bacterial infections.

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A significant proportion of children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have unsuspected chromosomal imbalances, including DNA anomalies that have been linked to neurocognitive disorders, according to a new Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) study.

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University at Buffalo researchers have discovered a way to easily and effectively fasten proteins to nanoparticles – essentially an arranged marriage – by simply mixing them together. The biotechnology, described April 20 online in the journal Nature Chemistry, is in its infancy. But it already has shown promise for developing an HIV vaccine and as a way to target cancer cells.

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Fatigue is one of the most commonly reported and debilitating symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS) and can significantly reduce an individual’s quality of life. Unlike the tiredness that we all experience sometimes, fatigue in those with MS can have a hugely negative impact – it can limit or stop people from doing day-to-day activities and things that really matter to them. It is the main reason why people with MS stop working. Research undertaken at Bournemouth University (BU) has been tackling the challenge of managing fatigue in people with MS, with encouraging results.

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Scientists from the Icahn School of Medicine, collaborating with a multicenter team of U.S. and Venezuelan researchers, have discovered the most diverse collection of bacteria yet in humans among an isolated tribe of Yanomami Amerindians in the remote Amazonian jungles of Venezuela.

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The increase in use of e-cigarettes has led to heated debates between opponents who question the safety of these devices and proponents who claim the battery-operated products are a useful cessation tool. In a new study, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers found that smokers who used e-cigarettes were 49 percent less likely to decrease cigarette use and 59 percent less likely to quit smoking compared to smokers who never used e-cigarettes.

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A study by Johns Hopkins scientists strongly suggests that sequencing tumor genomes for clues to genetic changes might misdirect treatment in nearly half of all patients unless it is compared first to a genetic readout of their noncancerous tissue.

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A newly developed spectroscopy method is helping to clarify the poorly understood molecular process by which an anti-HIV drug induces lethal mutations in the virus’s genetic material. The findings could bolster efforts to develop the next generation of anti-viral treatments.

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An injection of stem cells into the eye may soon slow or reverse the effects of early-stage age-related macular degeneration, according to new research from scientists at Cedars-Sinai. Currently, there is no treatment that slows the progression of the disease, which is the leading cause of vision loss in people over 65.

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A medicinal liquid form of marijuana may show promise as a treatment for children with severe epilepsy that is not responding to other treatments, according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 67th Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, April 18 to 25, 2015.

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Compared to other types of breast cancer, triple negative breast cancers are often more aggressive and have fewer treatment options. In a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute and the University of Utah have identified a molecular mechanism that triple negative breast cancer cells use to survive and grow.

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While the phrase “an apple a day” is a popular saying, a new study suggests that pears as part of a healthy diet could play a role in helping to manage type 2 diabetes and diabetes-induced hypertension. The results of research published in Food Research International show potential health benefits of Bartlett and Starkrimson pears.

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New research led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows that interfering with the replication of the Ebola virus can stop the virus in its tracks. The discovery opens the door to finding more effective treatments.

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Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers say it may be possible to predict future language development outcomes in toddlers with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), even before they’ve been formally diagnosed with the condition.

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"Tanning beds cause skin cancer. It is time to now more openly announce this causality," says Robert P. Dellavalle, MD, PhD, MSPH, investigator at the CU Cancer Center, in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

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Researchers have found a cellular defect that can impair the body’s ability to handle high glucose levels, pointing the way to new treatments for diabetes.

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Salk scientists discover a single protein that energizes muscles and the brain

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Steven Keating's curiosity led to the detection of a baseball-sized brain tumor and sparked an interest into the potential of open health data to help himself and others.

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Scientists at The University of Manchester have discovered that a previously known gene also helps cells divide normally and that its absence can cause tumours.

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In the largest study to date documenting the significant risks to children’s health associated with prescription antipsychotics, results suggest that initiating antipsychotics may elevate a child’s risk not only for significant weight gain, but also for Type II diabetes by nearly 50 percent.

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Personalized melanoma vaccines can be used to marshal a powerful immune response against unique mutations in patients' tumors, according to early data in a first-in-people clinical trial at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The research is reported April 2 in Science Express.

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Delving into the world of the extremely small, researchers are exploring how biodegradable nanoparticles can precisely deliver anticancer drugs to attack neuroblastoma, an often-deadly children's cancer.