Berlin, 19th October 2014 Psychological stress and stress-related psychiatric disorders are associated with increased risk for aging-related diseases, but the molecular mechanisms underlying this relation are unknown. Understanding these mechanisms may contribute to the development of targeted preventive strategies and new or improved treatments for these devastating diseases. This work is presented at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology congress in Berlin. Now an international group of researchers from Germany and the US has found that both ageing and depression ...

Berlin 19th October New research shows that the season you are born has a significant impact on your risk of developing mood disorders. People born at certain times of year may have a greater chance of developing certain types of affective temperaments, which in turn can lead to mood disorders (affective disorders). This work is being presented at the European College of CNP Congress in Berlin. Seasons of birth have traditionally been associated with certain personality traits, such as novelty seeking, and various folklore justifications, such as astrology, have sought ...

Audrey Lapidus adored her baby's sunny smile and irresistible dimples, but grew worried when Calvin did not roll over or crawl by 10 months and suffered chronic digestive problems. Four neurologists dismissed his symptoms and a battery of tests proved inconclusive. Desperate for answers, Audrey and her husband agreed to have their son become UCLA's first patient to undergo a powerful new test called exome sequencing. Using DNA collected from Calvin's and his parents' blood, a sophisticated sequencing machine rapidly scanned the boy's genome, compared it to his parents' ...

HOUSTON -- (Oct. 18, 2014) – Approximately one-fourth of the 3,386 patients whose DNA was submitted for clinical whole exome testing received a diagnosis related to a known genetic disease, often ending a long search for answers for them and their parents, said researchers from the Baylor College of Medicine departments of molecular and human genetics and pediatrics and the Baylor Human Genome Sequencing Center and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. In an online report in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the scientists led ...

Among a group of 2,000 patients referred for evaluation of suspected genetic conditions, whole-exome sequencing provided a potential molecular diagnosis for 25 percent, including detection of a number of rare genetic events and new mutations contributing to disease, according to a study appearing in JAMA. The study is being released to coincide with the American Society of Human Genetics annual meeting. Whole-exome sequencing analyzes the exons or coding regions of thousands of genes simultaneously using next-generation sequencing techniques. By sequencing the exome of ...

In a sample of patients with undiagnosed, suspected genetic conditions, a certain type of exome sequencing method was associated with a higher molecular diagnostic yield than traditional molecular diagnostic methods, according to a study appearing in JAMA. The study is being released to coincide with the American Society of Human Genetics annual meeting. Exome sequencing, which sequences the protein­coding region of the genome (the complete set of genes or genetic material present in a cell or organism), has been rapidly applied in research settings and recent increases ...

CHICAGO – Oct. 18, 2014 – A thin ring inserted into the eye could soon offer a reading glasses-free remedy for presbyopia, the blurriness in near vision experienced by many people over the age of 40, according to a study released today at AAO 2014, the 118th annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. A corneal inlay device currently undergoing clinical review in the United States improved near vision well enough for 80 percent of the participating patients to read a newspaper without disturbing far distance vision needed for daily activities like ...

CHICAGO – Oct. 18, 2014 – Smartphone technology is a widely available resource which may also be a portable and effective tool for imaging the inside of the eye, according to results of a study released today at AAO 2014, the 118th annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Researchers from the Ross Eye Institute at the University at Buffalo-SUNY are successfully using an iPhone® application as an inexpensive, portable and effective tool for imaging the inside of the eye, including in patients who are challenging to photograph by traditional ...

Geneva, Switzerland – 18 October 2014: Vitamin D deficiency increases the risk of poor brain function after sudden cardiac arrest by seven-fold, according to research presented at Acute Cardiovascular Care 2014 by Dr Jin Wi from Korea. Vitamin D deficiency also led to a higher chance of dying after sudden cardiac arrest. Acute Cardiovascular Care is the annual meeting of the Acute Cardiovascular Care Association (ACCA) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and takes place 18-20 October in Geneva, Switzerland. Dr Wi said: "In patients resuscitated after sudden ...

A new study published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) shows that children who have been infected with enterovirus are 48% more likely to have developed type 1 diabetes. The study is by Dr Tsai Chung-Li, China Medical University, Taiwan, and colleagues. "Type 1 diabetes is considered to be caused by complex interaction between genetic susceptibility, the immune system, and environmental factors," say the authors. "Though the cue for genetic predisposition has been elucidated, evidence also points to involvement of enterovirus ...

MADISON — Over the past two decades, the resident communities of birds that attend eastern North America's backyard bird feeders in winter have quietly been remade, most likely as a result of a warming climate. Writing this week in the journal Global Change Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison wildlife biologists Benjamin Zuckerberg and Karine Princé document that once rare wintering bird species are now commonplace in the American Northeast. Using more than two decades of data on 38 species of birds gathered by thousands of "citizen scientists" through ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Researchers from The Miriam Hospital have studied the effects of smoking during pregnancy and its impact on the stress response in newborn babies. Their research indicates that newborns of mothers who smoke cigarettes during pregnancy show lower levels of stress hormones, lowered stress response, and alterations in DNA for a gene that regulates passage of stress hormones from mother to fetus. The study and its findings have been published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology. "Our results suggest that these newborns may not be mounting adequate ...

NOAA's GOES-West satellite captured an image of Tropical Storm Ana that showed the outer clouds were already reaching the big island by 11 a.m. EDT and the storm resembled a giant question mark. Tropical Storm Ana was nearing hurricane strength mid-day on Oct. 17 and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) expects the storm to become a hurricane before reaching the big island of Hawaii. NOAA's GOES-West satellite took an infrared picture of Tropical Storm Ana as it was approaching Hawaii on Oct. 17 at 11 a.m. EDT (5 a.m. HST). Ana looked like a giant question mark ...

LEBANON, NH (Oct. 17, 2014) – People with severe mental illness such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or bipolar disorder use a popular social media website like YouTube to provide and receive naturally occurring peer support, Dartmouth researchers report in the journal PLOS ONE. "What we found most surprising about our findings was that people with severe mental illness were so open about their illness experiences on a public social media website like YouTube," said lead author John Naslund, A PhD student in health policy at The Dartmouth Institute for ...

Scientists have solved a long-standing mystery surrounding Australia's only active volcanic area, in the country's southeast. The research explains a volcanic region that has seen more than 400 volcanic events in the last four million years. The 500 kilometre long region stretches from Melbourne to the South Australian town of Mount Gambier, which surrounds a dormant volcano that last erupted only 5,000 years ago. "Volcanoes in this region of Australia are generated by a very different process to most of Earth's volcanoes, which occur on the edges of tectonic plates, ...

A study comparing the care delivered to patients coming to hospital emergency departments (EDs) for acute asthma attacks in recent years with data gathered more than 15 years earlier finds inconsistencies in how well hospitals are meeting nationally established treatment guidelines. A team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators found that, while the achievement of most guidelines defining appropriate pharmacologic treatments for particular patients improved over the study period, hospitals did less well in meeting several other guidelines. The study that ...

Fairfax, Va., October 17, 2014—Image guided radiation therapy (IGRT) is a commonly used modality to ensure treatment accuracy in the management of pediatric tumors; however, consensus recommendations are needed in order to guide clinical decisions on the use of IGRT in treating pediatric patients, according to a study published in the September-October 2014 issue of Practical Radiation Oncology (PRO), the official clinical practice journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). IGRT is the process of using frequent imaging, typically performed in ...

Rockville, MD – Accurate knowledge regarding Ebola is critical and pertinent for practicing physicians and clinicians given the current risk of hazardous global outbreak and epidemic. The Journal, Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness has launched a special issue, Ebola Virus and Public Health, to surround the public, medical professionals and media with necessary knowledge in this critical societal moment. On October 17, the journal published A Primer on Ebola for Clinicians. The primer was prepared by Dr. Eric Toner, internist and emergency physician, ...

Athens, Ga. – The disruption of a person's circadian rhythm—their 24-hour biological clock—has been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer, according to new University of Georgia research. The culprit, in this study in particular, is artificial light. "Exposure to artificial light leads to a significantly higher risk for developing breast cancer," said Chunla He, a biostatistics graduate student in the UGA College of Public Health. "To decrease the use of artificial light, people should avoid working at night and implement earlier bed times." Her ...

Recent studies showed that the color red tends increase our attraction toward others, feelings of jealousy, and even reaction times. Now, new research shows that female monkeys also respond to the color red, suggesting that biology, rather than our culture, may play the fundamental role in our "red" reactions. "Previous research shows that the color red in a mating context makes people more attractive, and in the fighting context makes people seem more threatening and angry," explained Benjamin Y. Hayden, a coauthor of the study and professor in brain and cognitive sciences ...

Images/release: http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/cheaper-superconducting-computer-chips-1017 Computer chips with superconducting circuits — circuits with zero electrical resistance — would be 50 to 100 times as energy-efficient as today's chips, an attractive trait given the increasing power consumption of the massive data centers that power the Internet's most popular sites. Superconducting chips also promise greater processing power: Superconducting circuits that use so-called Josephson junctions have been clocked at 770 gigahertz, or 500 times the speed ...

University of Toronto study finds that action video games bolster sensorimotor skills A study led by University of Toronto psychology researchers has found that people who play action video games such as Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed seem to learn a new sensorimotor skill more quickly than non-gamers do. A new sensorimotor skill, such as learning to ride a bike or typing, often requires a new pattern of coordination between vision and motor movement. With such skills, an individual generally moves from novice performance, characterized by a low degree of coordination, ...

This news release is available in German. Why do male animals need millions of sperms every day in order to reproduce? And why are there two sexes anyway? These and related questions are the topic of the latest issue of the research journal Molecular Human Reproduction published today (Oct. 16th, 2014). The evolutionary biologist Steven Ramm from Bielefeld University Bielefeld has compiled this special issue on sperm competition. In nature, it is not unusual for a female to copulate with several males in quick succession – chimpanzees are one good example. 'The ...

Philadelphia, PA, October 16, 2014 – Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating condition with few treatment options. Studies show that damage to the barrier separating blood from the spinal cord can contribute to the neurologic deficits that arise secondary to the initial trauma. Through a series of sophisticated experiments, researchers reporting in The American Journal of Pathology suggest that matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3) plays a pivotal role in disruption of the brain/spinal cord barrier (BSCB), cell death, and functional deficits after SCI. This ...

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have shown for the first time how bacteria can grow directly in the lungs of Cystic fibrosis patients, giving them the opportunity to get tremendous insights into bacteria behavior and growth in chronic infections. The study also discovered the bacterial growth in chronic lung infections among cystic fibrosis (CF) patients was halted or slowed down by the immune cells. The researchers discovered the immune cells consumed all the oxygen and helped "suffocate" the bacteria, forcing the bacteria to switch to a much slower growth. The ...