Curated News: Top Hit Stories

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Public health researcher Alison M. Buttenheim of Penn Nursing answers parents' questions about childhood vaccinations.

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A new study by Geisinger Health System researchers finds a high prevalence of prescription pain medication addiction among chronic pain patients. In addition, researchers found that the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) new definition of addiction, which was expected to reduce the number of people considered addicts who take these medicines, actually resulted in the same percentage of people meeting the criteria of addiction.

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Darden School of Business Professor Andrea Larson's new textbook, Sustainability, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, is now available online at Flat World Knowledge.

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Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope discovered a fourth moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto. The tiny, new satellite -- temporarily designated P4 -- was uncovered in a Hubble survey searching for rings around the dwarf planet.

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Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have identified how a gene for a protein that can cause Type 2 diabetes, also possibly kills nerve cells in the brain, thereby contributing to Alzheimer’s disease.

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Study concluses that personality can contribute to people's weight fluctuation.

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For the first time, Tufts University biologists have reported that bioelectrical signals are necessary for normal head and facial formation in an organism and have captured that process in a time-lapse video that reveals never-before-seen patterns of visible bioelectrical signals outlining where eyes, nose, mouth, and other features will appear in an embryonic tadpole.

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SMARTube cuts false recent classifications, shows potential for use in incidence estimates. Unique new epidemiological tools aim to differentiate between recent and long-term HIV infections and measure incidence that can assist public health efforts

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Retired NFL football players are at higher risk for mild cognitive impairment, which can be a precursor to Alzheimer's disease, a Loyola University Health System study has found. A screening survey of 513 retired players and their wives found that 35 percent of the players had scores suggesting possible mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

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Some of the human X chromosome originates from Neanderthals and is found exclusively in people outside Africa.

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Surgeons at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center are innovating new ways to treat diabetes using techniques from weight-loss surgery, including experimental procedures to improve blood glucose levels and address a major complication of the disease.

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A new study gauging the impact of consuming more fish oil showed a marked reduction both in inflammation and, surprisingly, in anxiety among a cohort of healthy young people.

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With seemingly endless information about food and diets available today, it is easy to be overwhelmed with which plan is right for you. Whether it’s a pill, a cleanse, a fast-results diet or an entire lifestyle change, there is no shortage of products, programs and books that promise life-changing results when it comes to weight loss.

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A link between chemicals called phthalates and thyroid hormone levels was confirmed by the University of Michigan in the first large-scale and nationally representative study of phthalates and BPA in relation to thyroid function in humans.

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Advice/information on sunburn, sunscreens and skin cancer.

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After spending 30 years working with scientific researchers while continuously experimenting with various diets, authors Dian and Tom Griesel explain why all other diet and exercise advice to date is inherently designed to contribute to the growing epidemic of chronic obesity.

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Along the lines of the old saying, “Birds of a feather flock together,” the study showed that people do cluster according to size, but few clues explain why.

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Bariatric surgery patients can undertake a rigorous exercise program after the procedure, in order to continue to lose weight and avoid regaining weight, according to a UT Southwestern Medical Center study.

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It’s like a Brownie camera for the digital age: The microscopic device fits on the head of a pin, contains no lenses or moving parts, costs pennies to make – and this Cornell-developed camera could revolutionize an array of science from surgery to robotics.

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Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have developed a technique that delivers gene therapy into human brain cancer cells using nanoparticles that can be freeze-dried and stored for up to three months prior to use. The shelf-stable particles may obviate the need for virus-mediated gene therapy, which has been associated with safety concerns. The report appears in the August issue of Biomaterials.

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What can Waffle House teach about disaster preparedness and risk management, especially in the wake of this spring’s devastating tornadoes? Plenty, says a supply chain expert at Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis.

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In a series of videos produced by the American Society of Nephrology, a physician and a social media expert from the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media discuss how physicians, researchers and patients can use current social media tools to benefit their patients, themselves and their organizations.

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Many parents do not understand risk of water infections from pools and water parks or recognize the role showering plays in preventing infections.

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The first roadmap to mathematical modeling of a powerful basic "decision circuit" in breast cancer has been developed and published in Nature Reviews Cancer.

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An analysis of blogs in the 2008 presidential election finds significant differences in how Democrats and Republicans use blogs.

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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.

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Some lung-cancer patients at UT Southwestern Medical Center are responding well to potential new drug therapies targeting genetic mutations. Their participation in a national study is helping to forge new avenues to attack the disease.

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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.

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Thirty years after "Raiders of the Lost Ark" movie, University of Alabama at Birmingham professor is a real life Indiana Jones.

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Food scientists are hoping to utilize nanotechnology to improve food nutrition, quality, safety and taste, according to panelists Tuesday at the Institute of Food Technologists' 2011 Annual Meeting & Food Expo.

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Consumers should divide their daily grain servings between whole and refined varieties to avoid missing out on the important health benefits of both, according to experts at a symposium Tuesday during the 2011 Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting & Food Expo®.

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The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) and Disney Consumer Products (DCP) are collaborating to raise the visibility of food science careers and the innovative potential of the profession to develop healthy and nutritious foods.

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Consumers seeking weight control options are being unfairly steered away from frozen meals and other processed foods that could aid in their battle against obesity, according a panel discussion Tuesday at the 2011 Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting & Food Expo.

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Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have zeroed in on the dose levels of the “sacred mushroom” chemical psilocybin yielding positive, life-changing experiences, while minimizing transient negative reactions. Former U.S. "Drug Czar" comments.

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In a mouse study, scientists at Mayo Clinic Florida have demonstrated the feasibility of a promising new strategy for treating human type 2 diabetes, which affects more than 200 million people worldwide.

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Mice born to mothers that are fed a diet supplemented with B vitamins are less likely to develop intestinal tumors. Scientists at Tufts University associated the tumor suppression seen in the offspring of supplemented mothers with a protection against disruptions to the ‘Wnt’ signaling pathway, a network of genes commonly altered in colorectal cancer.

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Older people who regularly exercise at a moderate to intense level may be less likely to develop the small brain lesions, sometimes referred to as “silent strokes,” that are the first sign of cerebrovascular disease, according to a new study published in the June 8, 2011, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN).

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Scientists from Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) are joining colleagues from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, several other U.S. academic institutions and laboratories in Japan and Spain on the first international, multidisciplinary assessment of the levels and dispersion of radioactive substances in the Pacific Ocean off the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. The research effort is funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

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From the paleolithic diet to the raw food diet, many health-conscious Americans now want to eat the way they believe our ancient ancestors ate. But some of these dietary prescriptions make little sense for modern humans, a new book says.

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A dark-matter experiment deep in the Soudan mine of Minnesota now has detected a seasonal signal variation similar to one an Italian experiment has been reporting for more than a decade.

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Among the studies Roswell Park Cancer Institute physicians were invited to present at ASCO 2011 are an investigation into an experimental regimen for solid tumors and final results of a phase I trial of a promising regimen for pancreatic cancer.

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Overweight girls lose more weight and can better stay on a healthy diet if they eat sugar-free, low-fat desserts several times weekly, as opposed to any dessert once a week, a new study finds. The results will be reported Monday at The Endocrine Society’s 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston.

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A new study comparing lifelong obesity with the weight fluctuations of “yo-yo dieting” suggests it is better to attempt to lose weight despite repeated failures at keeping the weight off than to not diet and remain obese. The results will be presented Monday at The Endocrine Society’s 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston.

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An ambitious project to identify, explain and provide citations for the words written in cuneiform on clay tablets and carved in stone by Babylonians, Assyrians and others in Mesopotamia between 2500 B.C. and A.D. 100 has been completed after 90 years of labor, the University of Chicago announced June 5.

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A modest reduction in consumption of carbohydrate foods may promote loss of deep belly fat, even with little or no change in weight, a new study finds. Presentation of the study results will be Sunday at The Endocrine Society’s 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston.

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A new targeted therapy for prostate cancer halts tumor growth in animals with advanced prostate cancer that is resistant to hormone therapy, a new study finds. The results will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society’s 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston.

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A new therapeutic vaccine to treat obesity by suppressing the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin decreases food intake and increases calorie burning in mice, a new study finds. The results will be presented Sunday at The Endocrine Society’s 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston.

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A new study reports that a low-cost healthy lifestyle program, including self-weighing weekly or monthly, by pregnant women with pre-existing overweight can prevent them from gaining too much weight during early pregnancy. The researchers will present the results Sunday at The Endocrine Society’s 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston.

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Divorce is a drag on the academic and emotional development of young children, but only once the breakup is under way, according to a study of elementary school students and their families.

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Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta completed a 20-year study that involved closely watching the diets of a group of individuals between the ages of 25 and 74. The study named the first National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey concluded that fruits and vegetables had a demonstratively positive, protective effect against diabetes.