OAK BROOK, Ill. - Radiologists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Emory University School of Medicine have issued a special report on radiology preparedness for handling cases of Ebola virus. The report, outlining their protocols and recommendations, is published in the online edition of the journal Radiology. Healthcare administrators are placing a major emphasis on Ebola preparedness training at medical facilities throughout the U.S. Failure to have proper procedures in place to diagnose and treat patients with Ebola virus was cited as a major reason for ...

New federal regulations requiring school meals to contain more whole grains, less saturated fat and more fruits and vegetables, while perhaps improving some aspects of the food being served at schools across the United States, may also be perpetuating eating habits linked to obesity, diabetes and other diet-related diseases, an analysis by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers has found. The reasons: Based on analysis of school meals and the new requirements, the whole grains served are mostly processed, which means they are converted into sugar ...

NEW ORLEANS (Nov. 18, 2014) - Researchers from Drexel University in Philadelphia will present research on a wide range of public health topics emphasizing urban health challenges, geographic methods in public health, community resilience and more, at the 142nd annual meeting and exposition of the American Public Health Association Nov. 15-19. A few selected highlights among the dozens of posters and presentations by faculty, staff and students from the Drexel University School of Public Health include: What Makes Communities Resilient in Times of Adversity? Psychologists ...

Early sodium supplementation for very premature infants can enhance weight gain according to a recent study by researchers at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. The results of the study, published today in the OnlineFirst version of the Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (JPEN), the research journal of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (A.S.P.E.N.), examined 53 infants during the first months of life who had been born at less than 32 weeks of pregnancy. Poor growth of premature ...

Researchers at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis say acculturative stress may explain, in part, why Indiana's Latino youth face an alarming disparity in depression and suicide rates when compared to their white counterparts. While examining epidemiological health disparities data, a team of researchers led by Silvia Bigatti at the Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health noticed that Latino teens in Indiana had a 65 percent higher rate of suicide attempts and a 24 percent higher rate of depression than white teens. "When we saw the alarming disparity ...

Promoting and maintaining financial fraud whistleblower programs, such as those of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), is costly. Cases involving whistleblowers require significant resources as they take nearly 10 months longer to complete. Rewards for whistleblowers who come forward with original information leading to an enforcement action can be large, ranging from 10% to 30% of monetary sanctions over $1 million. This past September, the SEC awarded $30 million to a whistleblower--it's largest award yet. ...

Researchers are studying the Caulobacter crescentus bacterium because of its developmental process and cellular cycle, which serve as models for a number of pathogenic bacteria. They all have in common the use of polysaccharides to create a particularly effective protective envelope, or capsule. Professor Viollier's laboratory at the University of Geneva's (UNIGE) Faculty of Medicine has just unraveled the secrets of capsule formation during the cellular cycle and perhaps even identified potential Achilles' heel of bacteria. These results were published in the last edition ...

SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 18, 2014 - When a viral infection spread through five genetically identical mice in a row, the virus replicated faster and became more virulent or severe. But when the infection spread one-by-one through five genetically diverse mice, the virus had trouble adapting and became less virulent. By showing this long-suspected mechanism holds true within a single species of vertebrate animal, namely, mice, the University of Utah study suggests that increased genetic diversity should be promoted in livestock and in captive-bred endangered species so as to ...

This news release is available in French. There is no significant difference in the prevalence of verbal abuse in the workplace between men and women, according to a systematic review of the literature conducted by researchers at the Institut universitaire de santé mentale de Montréal and the University of Montreal. Verbal abuse is the most common form of workplace violence. It can lead to many consequences, particularly at the psychological and organizational levels. Several studies underline the importance of taking into account sociodemographic variables ...

Ewing sarcoma is a cancer of bone or its surrounding soft tissue that primarily affects children and young adults. A hallmark of Ewing sarcoma is a translocation event that results in the fusion of an RNA binding protein, known as EWS, with a transcription factor, such as FLI1. Previous work suggested that the fusion protein EWS-FLI1 promoted cancer by changing gene expression; however, the gene targets were unknown. A new study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation indicates that a long noncoding RNA named Ewing sarcoma-associated transcript 1 (EWSAT1) is a critical ...

Atherosclerosis is a leading cause of heart attacks and stroke. The narrowing of blood vessels that is caused by atherosclerosis can be treated with angioplasty or stenting to improve blood flow. However, the stenting process induces deleterious remodeling of the blood vessel that can increase thrombosis risk, limiting the use of this strategy. In an article published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, a research team led by Ziad Ali of the Columbia University Medical Center now provides new insights into the pathological remodeling that occurs following blood ...

PHILADELPHIA - Programming electronic health records to make generic drugs the default choice when physicians write prescriptions may offer one way to reduce unnecessary spending and improve health care value in the face of spiraling U.S. health expenditures, according to a new study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine, The Wharton School and the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics (CHIBE) at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Philadelphia VA Medical Center. The study is published in a special issue of Annals of Internal Medicine featuring ...

This news release is available in French. Montreal, November 17, 2014 - Resistance to antibiotics is an important health concern that affects both the spread of infections, like Clostridium difficile, and the medication budget. Researchers at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) examined the effectiveness of adopting an antibiotic "time-out" during treatment, which involves regularly re-evaluating the treatment strategy as the clinical situation evolves. The study, published in this month's issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, showed that structured time-outs, ...

Minneapolis, MN - November 17, 2014 - At the 2014 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Chicago, Ill., Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation Research Cardiologist Dr. Michael Miedema gave a presentation entitled "The Implications of the Recent American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Guidelines for the Treatment of Blood Cholesterol on a Rural Community: The Heart of New Ulm Project." "The recently released cholesterol guidelines appear to have significantly increased the number of middle-aged adults who qualify for a cholesterol-lowering ...

MAYWOOD, Ill. - Obesity is a known risk factor for atrial fibrillation, the most common heart rhythm disorder. Obesity is commonly measured as a person's body mass index (BMI). But a Loyola University Medical Center study has found that the layer of fat around the outside of the heart is more closely associated with atrial fibrillation than BMI. "Many people who would not be considered obese by their BMI nevertheless have high volumes of fat around their hearts, which could put them at risk for atrial fibrillation. Simple measures such as BMI may fail to completely ...

CHICAGO - Most patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs)--small devices placed in a person's chest to help treat irregular heartbeats with electrical pulses, or shocks--haven't thought about device deactivation if they were to develop a serious illness from which they were not expected to recover. But given changes in healthcare, there may be a new reason to do so. A new study led by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, which was presented today at the 2014 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association, ...

We like to think of evolution as a fine-tuning process, one that whittles away genetic redundancies. The only problem is, we are not fine-tuned machines. Our bodies are chock-full of parts that either don't work anymore or are so buggy that our biology has Macgyvered a way to make it work. Take our DNA. No, seriously, take our DNA. It's mostly garbage anyways. Fifty percent of our genome is comprised of genetic parasites, called transposable elements or transposons, that usually lie dormant. When they are allowed to move around the genome, they can wreak havoc on our ...

African Americans, Hispanics, and those who receive care at a community hospital are all significantly less likely than other patients to receive treatment for early stage non-small cell lung cancer, according to a report in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology. "We found significant disparities for treatment of a curable cancer based on race, insurance status, and whether or not treatment was at an academic or community hospital," said Dr. Matthew Koshy, a physician in the department of radiation oncology at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, and ...

ANN ARBOR--In recent years, scientists have linked chemicals known as phthalates with complications of pregnancy and fetal development. Now, a study led by researchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health sheds light on the mechanism that may be to blame. Phthalates are chemicals used to make plastic materials more flexible and can also be found in personal care products such as perfumes, deodorants and lotions. They can enter the human body by being ingested, inhaled or through the skin. Most often phthalates are metabolized and excreted quickly, but ...

Increasing the amount of omega-3s in your diet, whether from fish or flax, will likely decrease your risk of getting heart disease, according to Penn State nutritionists. A substantial amount of evidence exists supporting the heart-health benefits of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (EPA and DHA), marine-derived omega-3 fatty acids. However, much less evidence exists to demonstrate the positive effects of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), a plant-based omega-3 fatty acid. "The benefits reported for EPA and DHA are stronger because supplements of EPA and DHA ...

VIDEO: An ultra-high-resolution NASA computer model has given scientists a stunning new look at how carbon dioxide in the atmosphere travels around the globe. Plumes of carbon dioxide in the simulation... Click here for more information. An ultra-high-resolution NASA computer model has given scientists a stunning new look at how carbon dioxide in the atmosphere travels around the globe. Plumes of carbon dioxide in the simulation swirl and shift as winds disperse the greenhouse ...

A team of 14 scientists led by David Williams of Arizona State University's School of Earth and Space Exploration has completed the first global geologic and tectonic map of the asteroid Vesta. The work reveals that Vesta's history has been dominated by impacts from large meteorites. The mapping was carried out using images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft, which orbited Vesta between June 2011 and September 2012. The images let scientists create high-resolution geological maps, revealing the variety of Vesta's surface features in unprecedented detail. "The geologic mapping ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Online retail sales totaled $75 billion in the second quarter of 2014, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. As consumers shop more using the Internet and cell phones, retailers must adjust their marketing strategies to reach these consumers. In a recently published study, a University of Missouri researcher found that consumers' preferences differ when they are shopping in a physical store compared to shopping online. Catering to shoppers' online and in-store preferences can increase the effectiveness of traditional marketing tactics such as direct ...

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have found that a growth factor can regenerate damaged peripheral nerves without causing the growth of new blood vessels -- making it a unique candidate to treat nerve damage in areas of the body where the proliferation of blood vessels would be a drawback. "One example would be in the cornea, which has a requirement for dense innervation but where the formation of new blood vessels would block vision," said Dr. Mark Rosenblatt, professor and head of ophthalmology and visual sciences at UIC and corresponding ...

Metastasis is bad news for cancer patients. Northwestern University scientists now have demonstrated a simple but powerful tool that can detect live cancer cells in the bloodstream, potentially long before the cells could settle somewhere in the body and form a dangerous tumor. The NanoFlare technology is the first genetic-based approach that is able to detect live circulating tumor cells out of the complex matrix that is human blood -- no easy feat. In a breast cancer study, the NanoFlares easily entered cells and lit up the cell if a biomarker target was present, even ...