This news release is available in German. The FK506-binding protein 51 (FKBP51) is an established risk factor for stress-related psychiatric disorders such as major depression. Drug discovery for FKBP51 has been hampered by the inability to pharmacologically differentiate against the very similar functional counterplayer FKBP52. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich have now developed the first potent and highly selective inhibitor of FKBP51. The so-called SAFit-ligand inhibits FKBP51 enhancing growth of neuronal cell cultures and improving ...

Molecular clocks -- based on changes in genetic material -- indicate much younger ages for a wide variety of plants found as fossils in southern Argentina than do the solid, geologic dates of those fossils, according to geoscientists who surveyed recent paleobotanical discoveries in Patagonia. The finding suggests serious biases in molecular clocks, which are heavily used to date many kinds of living things. It also directly refutes a widely-held idea about how most Southern Hemisphere plant and animal groups attained their current distributions. Geologists date fossils ...

A team of scientists has revealed how certain harmful bacteria drill into our cells to kill them. Their study shows how bacterial 'nanodrills' assemble themselves on the outer surfaces of our cells, and includes the first movie of how they then punch holes in the cells' outer membranes. The research, published today in the journal eLife, supports the development of new drugs that target this mechanism, which is implicated in serious diseases. The team brings together researchers from UCL, Birkbeck, University of London, the University of Leicester, and Monash University ...

In the city that never sleeps, it's easy to overlook the insects underfoot. But that doesn't mean they're not working hard. A new study from North Carolina State University shows that insects and other arthropods play a significant role in disposing of garbage on the streets of Manhattan. "We calculate that the arthropods on medians down the Broadway/West St. corridor alone could consume more than 2,100 pounds of discarded junk food, the equivalent of 60,000 hot dogs, every year - assuming they take a break in the winter," says Dr. Elsa Youngsteadt, a research associate ...

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (December 2, 2014) - If you are one of the millions of Americans who experiences a severe allergic reaction to food, latex or an insect sting, you should know the first line of defense in combating the reaction is epinephrine. Unfortunately, not all medical personnel know how important epinephrine is in bringing an allergic reaction under control. According to new guidelines published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the scientific publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), the fast administration ...

AUSTIN, Texas -- Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have identified a network of genes that appear to work together in determining alcohol dependence. The findings, which could lead to future treatments and therapies for alcoholics and possibly help doctors screen for alcoholism, are being published this week in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. By comparing patterns of genetic code from the brain tissue of alcoholics and nonalcoholics, the researchers discovered a particular set of genes co-expressed together in the individuals who had consumed the most ...

CHICAGO - According to a new long-term study, diabetic patients with even mild coronary artery disease face the same relative risk for a heart attack or other major adverse heart events as diabetics with serious single-vessel obstructive disease. Results of the study were presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Researchers at the University of British Columbia and St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver analyzed data from the Coronary CT Angiography Evaluation For Clinical Outcomes: An International Multicenter (CONFIRM) Registry, ...

CHICAGO - A major new study being presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) has found that digital breast tomosynthesis, also known as 3-D mammography, has the potential to significantly increase the cancer detection rate in mammography screening of women with dense breasts. Breasts are considered dense if they have a lot of fibrous or glandular tissue but not much fatty tissue. Research has shown that dense breasts are more likely to develop cancer, a problem compounded by the fact that cancer in dense breasts can be difficult ...

CHICAGO - A study of breast cancers detected with screening mammography found that strong family history and dense breast tissue were commonly absent in women between the ages of 40 and 49 diagnosed with breast cancer. Results of the study were presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). "Screening recommendations for this age group continue to be debated," said Bonnie N. Joe, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in residence and chief of women's imaging at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). "Recent publications ...

CHICAGO - Patients value direct, independent access to their medical exams, according to a new study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Fragmentation of health information among physicians, healthcare institutions or practices, and inefficient exchange of test results can decrease quality of care and contribute to high medical costs. Improving communications and giving patients more control over their care are critical goals of health IT initiatives. "Easy and timely electronic access to an online unified source of ...

Disparities in mental-health treatment are known to be associated with patients' racial and ethnic backgrounds. Now, a large study by researchers with UC Davis has found one possible reason for those disparities: Some racial and ethnic minorities are less likely to be assessed and referred for treatment by their medical providers. The study of more than 9,000 diverse individuals, including Latinos, African-Americans, Asian-Americans and non-Hispanic whites, found that patients of different racial and ethnic backgrounds reported experiencing differing treatment approaches ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Patients with head and neck cancer who used antacid medicines to control acid reflux had better overall survival, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Reflux can be a common side effect of chemotherapy or radiation treatment for head and neck cancer. Doctors at the University of Michigan frequently prescribe two types of antacids - proton pump inhibitors or histamine 2 blockers - to help treat this side effect. The researchers looked at 596 patients who were treated for head and neck cancer. More than ...

Sons whose fathers have criminal records tend to have lower cognitive abilities than sons whose fathers have no criminal history, data from over 1 million Swedish men show. The research, conducted by scientists in Sweden and Finland, indicates that the link is not directly caused by fathers' behavior but is instead explained by genetic factors that are shared by father and son. The study is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. "The findings are important because cognitive ability is among the most important psychological ...

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Birth weight makes a difference to a child's future academic performance, according to new Northwestern University research that found heavier newborns do better in elementary and middle school than infants with lower birth weights. Led by a multidisciplinary team of Northwestern researchers, the study raises an intriguing question: Does a fetus benefit from a longer stay in the mother's womb? "A child who is born healthy doesn't necessarily have a fully formed brain," said David Figlio, one of the study's authors and director of Northwestern's Institute ...

Gorlin syndrome causes an increased risk of developing cancers of the skin and, rarely, in the brain. Around 1 in 30,000 people has the condition. Most people with Gorlin syndrome have a change in a gene called PTCH1, but the new research has revealed that changes in a gene called SUFU also cause Gorlin syndrome and it is children with a change in SUFU that are 20 times more likely to develop a brain tumour. Dr Miriam Smith, a lecturer in cancer genomics from the University's Institute of Human Development led the research, which was also carried out with The Christie ...

Whereas most adults are members of the Clean Plate Club, they eat an average of about 90% of the food they serve themselves, this is not true for children. New Cornell research aggregated six different studies of 326 elementary school-aged children. It showed that, if their parents are not around, the average child only eats about 60% of what they serve themselves. More than a third goes right in the trash. Unlike adults, kids are still learning about what foods they like and how much it will take to fill them up. "It's natural, for them to make some ...

Vitamin D supplements can reduce COPD lung disease flare-ups by over 40% in patients with a vitamin D deficiency - according to new research from Queen Mary University of London. COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) includes conditions such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema, and is thought to affect more than 3 million people in the UK. The NIHR-funded randomised trial, published in the journal Lancet Respiratory Medicine, included 240 patients with COPD in and around London. Half of the patients (122) received vitamin D supplements (6 x 2-monthly oral doses ...

Muslim communities may not be as victimised by violent crime, or as dissatisfied with the police as is widely suggested and believed, according to new research by a Cambridge academic. An examination of statistics taken from the Crime Survey of England and Wales between 2006 and 2010 reveals a surprising counter-narrative to commonly-held perceptions of British Muslim communities and their relationships to crime victimization and the criminal justice system. Analysis of crime data generated by nearly 5,000 Muslims reveals few differences between Muslims and non-Muslims ...

People diagnosed with diabetes in midlife are more likely to experience significant memory and cognitive problems during the next 20 years than those with healthy blood sugar levels, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests. The researchers found that diabetes appears to age the mind roughly five years faster beyond the normal effects of aging. For example, on average, a 60-year-old with diabetes experiences cognitive decline on par with a healthy 65-year-old aging normally. Decline in memory, word recall and executive function is strongly ...

1. Better glucose control in midlife may protect against cognitive decline later in life Having diabetes or prediabetes in midlife is associated with a greater risk for cognitive decline later in life, according to a study published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Approximately 10 percent of the U.S. population has type 2 diabetes, putting them at risk for several adverse health outcomes, including dementia. Cognitive decline is a precursor to dementia. Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level is a measure of the average circulating glucose level in the blood over the preceding 2 ...

While policymakers and health care professionals have identified health information exchanges -- organizations that facilitate the sharing of patient medical information electronically between different organizations -- as a promising solution to fragmented health care delivery in the United States, a RAND Corporation review found that few of the more than 100 such organizations have been evaluated. The relatively few exchanges that have been examined show some evidence of reducing emergency department costs and usage, but other outcomes are unknown, according to the ...

Over 75 million adults in the US are obese. These individuals are predisposed to health complications, including diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Gastric bypass surgery results in dramatic weight loss and can improve diabetes symptoms in obese patients. A new study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation reveals that exercise following bypass surgery provides additional benefit for obese patients. Bret Goodpaster and colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh conducted a study on individuals that had recently undergone gastric bypass surgery. One group followed a moderate ...

Premature ovarian failure (POF) is estimated to affect 1-4% of the female population. Women with POF can present with a variety of symptoms and many genes have been linked to this condition. A new study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation identifies a specific mutation in a family that results in POF. Aleksandar Rajkovic and colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh studied 3 sisters with POF-associated symptoms and identified and mutation in MCM8, a gene involved in chromosome maintenance. Siblings without the MCM8 mutation did not have any signs of POF. Cells from ...

ORLANDO, Fla., December 1, 2014 - A new study by researchers at the Florida Hospital - Sanford-Burnham Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes (TRI-MD) shows that patients who moderately exercise after bariatric surgery (weight-loss surgery) gain additional health improvements in glucose metabolism and cardiorespiratory fitness compared to patients who lead a sedentary lifestyle after surgery. The findings confirm the physiological and potential clinical benefits of adding an exercise regime following weight-loss surgery. "This is the first randomized, ...

(NEW YORK - December 1, 2014) Kidneys donated by people born with a small variation in the code of a key gene may be more likely, once in the transplant recipient, to accumulate scar tissue that contributes to kidney failure, according to a study led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. If further studies prove the variation to cause fibrosis (scarring) in the kidneys of transplant recipients, researchers may be able to use it to better screen potential donors and improve transplant ...