Curated News: Featured: MedWire

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When the temperature dips below freezing, it’s critical to protect your skin from cold-weather health risks. Frostbite occurs when the skin – and sometimes the tissue beneath the skin – freezes due to prolonged exposure to cold temperatures. Depending on how long and how frozen the tissue, frostbite can result in severe, sometimes permanent, damage. To stay warm and prevent frostbite, follow these tips from the American Academy of Dermatology.

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Clinicians should recommend exercise and cognitive training for patients with mild cognitive impairment — a common precursor of Alzheimer’s type dementia — according to new guidelines published online in Neurology®.

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Thanks, in part, to pigs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Arlington Agricultural Research Station, scientists now are catching up on understanding the roots of calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD).

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Children exposed to coarse particulate matter may be more likely to develop asthma and to be treated in an ER or be hospitalized for the condition, according to new research published online in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

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Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center uncovered a novel gene they named THOR. It's a long non-coding RNA that plays a role in cancer development. Knocking it out can halt the growth of tumors.

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Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have found a genetic signature for delay discounting — the tendency to undervalue future rewards — that overlaps with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), smoking and weight.

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University of Michigan-led research brings scientists one step closer to understanding the development of neurodegenerative disorders such as ALS. A study published today in Nature Communications details what the researchers describe as a vicious cycle of toxic protein production set in motion by cell stress.

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Reducing a protein found in the mitochondria of cardiac muscle cells initiates cardiac dysfunction and heart failure, a finding that could provide insight for new treatments for cardiovascular diseases, a study led by Georgia State University has shown.

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New study finds that death rates for those hospitalized for opioid-related conditions in the U.S. have quadrupled since 2000. Worst toll seen among patients who were low-income, white, under age 65 and on Medicare, and the severity of opioid misuse leading to hospitalization has increased.

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Researchers from Harvard Medical School and the Institute of Systems Biology have discovered that the remains of tumor cells killed by chemotherapy or other cancer treatments can actually stimulate tumor growth by inducing an inflammatory reaction. The study, which will be published November 30 in The Journal of Experimental Medicine, also reveals that a family of molecules called resolvins can suppress this unwanted inflammatory response, suggesting new ways to enhance the effectiveness of existing cancer therapies.

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A synthetic cannabis-like drug in a pill was safe and effective in treating obstructive sleep apnea in the first large multi-site study of a drug for apnea funded by the National Institutes of Health.

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New research from the Research Triangle suggests that variants in a gene called ankyrin-B – carried by millions of Americans – could cause people to put on pounds through no fault of their own.

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Researchers at SBP have identified a peptide that could lead to the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The discovery, published in Nature Communications, may also provide a means of homing drugs to diseased areas of the brain to treat AD, Parkinson’s disease, as well as glioblastoma, brain injuries and stroke.

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Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may put elderly people at greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD), according to new research published online in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

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Depletion of a fatty molecule in human blood propels malaria parasites to stop replicating and causing illness in people and instead to jump ship to mosquitoes to continue the transmission cycle, according to a new study by an international research team.

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Malnutrition problems can be traced to poor-quality diets lacking in diversity, a recent phenomenon in evolutionary history, according to a new paper from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.“Earlier diets were highly diverse and nutrient dense, in contrast to modern food systems in which monotonous diets of staple cereals and ultra-processed foods play a more prominent role,” wrote Lora Iannotti, associate professor and senior author of the paper, “Genome–nutrition Divergence: Evolving Understanding of the Malnutrition Spectrum,” published in the journal Nutrition Reviews.

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Veteran sailors know that rogue waves can rise suddenly in mid-ocean to capsize even the largest vessels. Now it appears that a similar phenomenon called shear shock wave occurs in the concussed brain. It may help explain why some head knocks cause so much more harm than others.

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Technology that keeps track of how your smartphone is oriented can now give $50,000 ultrasound machines many of the 3-D imaging abilities of their $250,000 counterparts — for the cost of a $10 microchip. Doctors and engineers from Duke and Stanford universities will demonstrate their device Oct. 31 at the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Research Forum in Washington, D.C.

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Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine report that a single infusion of wildtype hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) into a mouse model of Friedreich’s ataxia (FA) measurably halted cellular damage caused by the degenerative disease.

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About a quarter of adults whose marijuana use is problematic in early adulthood have anxiety disorders in childhood and late adolescence, according to new data from Duke Health researchers.

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Analyzing samples from a prospective study, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers found that human exposure to glyphosate, a chemical widely found in weed killers, has increased approximately 500 percent since the introduction of genetically modified crops.

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Some scientists have suspected that the most common form of ovarian cancer may originate in the fallopian tubes, the thin fibrous tunnels that connect the ovaries to the uterus. Now, results of a study of nine women suggest that the genomic roots of many ovarian tumors may indeed arise in the fallopian tubes, potentially providing insights into the origin of ovarian cancer and suggesting new ways for prevention and intervention of this disease.

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African American women participating in a clinical study on breast cancer had more side effects and poorer survival rates than did women of European ancestry, according to a an Indiana University study that identified ethnicity through genetics--a first in this type of research.

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Researchers use compounds found in a combination plant-based diet to successfully prevent and treat ER-negative breast cancer in mice.

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Inducing a biochemical alteration in brain proteins via the dietary supplement glucosamine was able to rapidly dampen that pathological hyperexcitability in rat and mouse models. These results represent a potentially novel therapeutic target for the treatment of seizure disorders

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October 14 marks one year since complete separation of Jadon and Anias McDonald at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore

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Researchers have known for decades that fevers in the first trimester of pregnancy increase risk for some heart defects and facial deformities such as cleft lip or palate. Exactly how this happens is unclear. Duke researchers now have evidence indicating that the fever itself, not its root source, is what interferes with the development of the heart and jaw during the first three to eight weeks of pregnancy.

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Scientists drilling down to the molecular roots of Alzheimer’s disease have encountered a good news/bad news scenario. The bad news is that in the early stages of the disease, high-risk TREM2 variants can hobble the immune system’s ability to protect the brain from amyloid beta. The good news, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, is that later in the disease, the absence of TREM2 protein seems to protect the brain from damage.

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Some dressing with your greens may help you absorb more nutrients, according to a study from an Iowa State University scientist. The research found enhanced absorption of multiple fat-soluble vitamins in addition to beta-carotene and three other carotenoids. The study appeared recently in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, and the results may ease the guilt of countless dieters who fret about adding dressing to their salads.

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Low-cost, high-volume health services account for a high percentage of unnecessary health spending, adding strain to the health care system.

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While the social and economic cost of Alzheimer’s is well documented, a new study shows that frontotemporal degeneration (FTD)—the most common dementia for people under age 60—inflicts a significantly higher economic burden on both patients and their caregivers. It found that the average annual costs associated with FTD to total $119,654, nearly two times the reported annual cost of Alzheimer’s.

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Mount Sinai researchers discover that insulinomas contain novel molecular pathways and reveal the map to regenerate insulin-producing cells

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Ten years from now, Americans born in 1960 will be able to start collecting their full Social Security retirement check, at the age of 67. That’s two years later than their parents, because of a change in the federal retirement age enacted in 1983. But a new study shows that today’s pre-retirement generation already has more health issues and health-related limits on their lives than prior generations did when they were in their late 50s.

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A new Johns Hopkins study of more than 704,000 people who arrived alive at a United States emergency room for treatment of a firearm-related injury between 2006 and 2014 finds decreasing incidence of such injury in some age groups, increasing trends in others, and affirmation of the persistently high cost of gunshot wounds in dollars and human suffering.

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A chemical tag added to RNA during embryonic development regulates how the early brain grows. When this development goes awry, problems happen and may cause psychiatric disorders in people.

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Early research results suggest scientists might be on to a way to preserve heart function after heart attacks or for people with inherited heart defects called congenital cardiomyopathies. Researchers at the Cincinnati Children’s Heart Institute report Sept. 28 in Nature Communications that after simulating heart injury in laboratory mouse models, they stopped or slowed cardiac fibrosis, organ enlargement and preserved heart function by blocking a well-known molecular pathway.

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Researchers at University of San Diego School of Medicine have developed a new tool called the San Diego Wisdom Scale (SD-WISE) to assess an individual’s level of wisdom, based upon a conceptualization of wisdom as a trait with a neurobiological as well as psychosocial basis.

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Working in mice, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a way to convert white fat, which stores calories, into brown fat that burns them.

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A new paper-based sensor patch developed by researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York could allow diabetics to effectively measure glucose levels during exercise.

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What are the implications for the mental well-being of Americans without paid sick leave? Researchers from FAU and Cleveland State University are the first to explore the link between psychological distress and paid sick leave among U.S. workers ages 18-64.

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Researchers have developed a medicated skin patch that can turn energy-storing white fat into energy-burning brown fat locally while raising the body’s metabolism. The patch could be used to burn off pockets of unwanted fat and treat metabolic disorders like obesity and diabetes.

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UT Southwestern researchers have uncovered new clues about how gut bacteria and the body’s circadian clock work together to promote body fat accumulation.

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The dental health of middle-aged Americans faces a lot of problems right now, and an uncertain future to come, according to new national poll results. One in three Americans between the ages of 50 and 64 say they’re embarrassed by the condition of their teeth, and that dental problems have caused pain or other problems in the past two years. Forty percent of those polled don’t get regular cleanings or other preventive oral care.

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A vaccine that can literally eradicate the majority of cervical cancer cases shows long-term effectiveness in a study published today in The Lancet. This study in 18 countries extends the initial phase 3 efficacy and safety trial of the nine-valent human papilloma virus vaccine, Gardasil 9.

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The number of pharmacies throughout the United States is growing, but some populations may encounter barriers accessing them, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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Scientists have known that abnormal protein deposits and swarms of activated immune cells accumulate in brains of people with Alzheimer’s. Now researchers have untangled how these proteins and inflammation interact in lab experiments to reveal how therapies might reverse the disease process.

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A new “anatomic atlas” of how B cells – the immune system’s producer of antibodies – link up to form networks has been charted by researchers. This map will be an important resource for researchers and clinicians studying infectious diseases, the microbiome, vaccine responses, and tissue-specific immunity.

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Research with more than 135,000 people across five continents has shown that a diet which includes a moderate intake of fat and fruits and vegetables, and avoidance of high carbohydrates, is associated with lower risk of death.

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Two studies provide additional support for lowering systolic blood pressure to an intensive goal of 120 mmHg – far below the standard guidelines of 140 mmHg – to reduce the risk of heart disease in high-risk patients with hypertension. The new research shows that intensive blood pressure control is well-tolerated by patients and is cost-effective in terms of health-related quality of life and financial costs to the healthcare system, and appears online in NEJM on Aug. 24.