Why do some people learn a new skill right away, while others only gradually improve? Whatever else may be different about their lives, something must be happening in their brains that captures this variation. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Johns Hopkins University have taken a network science approach to this question. In a new study, they measured the connections between different brain regions as participants learned to play a simple game. The differences in neural activity between the quickest and slowest ...

The results appear in the 2015 2nd issue of the journal of Human Genome Variation. To see a video about the partnership between Champions and Insilico, visit: http://tinyurl.com/InsilicoChampions . Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. More than 50,000 people die of CRC each year due to tumor spreading to other organs and almost half of all newly diagnosed patients are in an advanced stage of cancer (metastatic CRC or mCRC) when they are first diagnosed. With the development ...

A Northwestern University research team potentially has found a safer way to keep blood vessels healthy during and after surgery. During open-heart procedures, physicians administer large doses of a blood-thinning drug called heparin to prevent clot formation. When given too much heparin, patients can develop complications from excessive bleeding. A common antidote is the compound protamine sulfate, which binds to heparin to reverse its effects. "Protamine is a natural compound that has been used in surgeries for many decades," said Guillermo Ameer, professor of biomedical ...

The combination of two well-known drugs will have unprecedented effects on pain management, says new research from Queen's. Combining morphine, a narcotic pain reliever, and nortriptyline, an antidepressant, has been found to successfully relieve chronic neuropathic pain - or a localized sensation of pain due to abnormal function of the nervous system - in 87 per cent of patients, and significantly better than with either drug alone. "Chronic pain is an increasingly common problem and can exert disastrous personal, societal, and socio-economic impacts on patients, their ...

In the largest study of its kind to date, researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine and their colleagues have found that worldwide only a limited number of mutations are responsible for most cases of transmission of drug-resistant HIV. HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, can mutate in the presence of antiviral drugs, and these mutations can be transmitted from one person to the next. In the new study of more than 50,000 patients in 111 countries, the researchers found a small group of mutations accounted for a majority of the cases of transmission-related resistance ...

Washington, DC (April 7, 2015) - Greater availability of percutaneous mechanical circulatory support (MCS) devices for treatment of heart failure is helping expand treatment options for a rapidly growing number of acutely and chronically ill cardiac patients who could benefit from the devices. An expert consensus statement released today by the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), American College of Cardiology (ACC), Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) and The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) provides new guidance to help physicians match ...

Only a limited number of surveillance drug-resistance mutations (SDRMs) are responsible for most instances of non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI)- and nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI)-associated resistance, and most strains of HIV-1 transmitted drug resistance (TDR) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and south/southeast Asia (SSEA) arose independently, according to a study published this week in PLOS Medicine. The study, led by Soo-Yon Rhee of Stanford University, and colleagues, came to these conclusions after analyzing individual virus sequences ...

While other studies have shown that stress and negative marital quality can influence mortality and blood pressure, there has not been research that discussed how it might affect married couples over time. Using systolic blood pressure as a gauge, researchers assessed whether an individual's blood pressure is influenced by their own as well as their partner's reports of chronic stress and whether there are gender differences in these patterns. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B®: Psychological Sciences published these findings in the article titled, "Stress and ...

Is it worth having birds in the city? If you live in Seattle or Berlin, the answer is yes, to the tune of $120 million and $70 million a year for each city, respectively. A new study published last month in the journal Urban Ecosystems tries to determine what economic value residents in two comparable cities place on having birds in their backyards and parks. Researchers at the University of Washington and Humboldt State University compared two types of common birds - finches and corvids - in both cities, asking residents how much they would pay to conserve the species ...

This news release is available in French. The sudden closures of big-box stores like Future Shop and Target may make it seem like online shopping is killing real-world stores. But shoppers are actually engaging in "web-to-store" shopping -- buying offline after comparing prices online. New research from Concordia University's John Molson School of Business shows this consumer behaviour has important implications for retailers. When setting in-store prices or offering price-matching guarantees, offline retailers should focus more on online retailer ratings than on ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Identifying discrimination is a necessary first step toward confronting and ultimately eliminating the stain of prejudice, yet victims may be unlikely to recognize some types of discrimination unless they have higher self-esteem, according to the results of a new study by two University at Buffalo psychologists. The study's results highlight the density of the discrimination target's burden, faced first with bigotry and then with the onus of pointing out that behavior. Attributing personal fate to another person's prejudice, however, is not easy and significant ...

NEW YORK, NY (April 6, 2015) --A cellular defect that can impair the body's ability to handle high glucose levels and could point the way to a potential new treatment for diabetes has been identified by Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers. The CUMC team found that ryanodine receptor type 2 (RyR2) calcium channels in insulin-producing cells play an important and previously underappreciated role in glucose balance. RyR2 channels control intracellular calcium release. When leaky, they were found to reduce insulin release from the pancreas, resulting in ...

MAYWOOD, IL - In 1993, neurologists Harold P. Adams Jr., MD, and Jose Biller, MD, and colleagues proposed a new way to classify strokes. It became known as the TOAST classification. Twenty-two years later, the TOAST classification remains an effective and easy-to-use system that is routinely employed in stroke studies around the world, Drs. Adams and Biller report in the journal Stroke, published online ahead of print. Dr. Adams is a professor of neurology and director of Cerebrovascular Disease at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. Dr. Biller is chair ...

Yes, while breastfeeding is the optimal first food for a baby, it's not as simple to say that it will protect all children from becoming obese. Recent studies show that factors such as whether a child's mother is obese, the quality of her milk and the socio-economic conditions a baby is born into also have an influence. This is according to Jessica Woo and Lisa Martin of the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in the US, who reviewed relevant breastfeeding studies in Springer's journal Current Obesity Reports. Because it is notoriously difficult to treat obesity, ...

Conduction and thermal radiation are two ways in which heat is transferred from one object to another: Conduction is the process by which heat flows between objects in physical contact, such as a pot of tea on a hot stove, while thermal radiation describes heat flow across large distances, such as heat emitted by the sun. These two fundamental heat-transfer processes explain how energy moves across microscopic and macroscopic distances. But it's been difficult for researchers to ascertain how heat flows across intermediate gaps. Now researchers at MIT, the University ...

MISSOULA - University of Montana researchers have good news for endurance athletes hankering for a burger and fries after an intense workout: Dig in. In moderation, that is. A new study, recently published by the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, found there was no significant difference in glycogen recovery when cyclists ate fast food after a workout versus when they ingested traditional sports supplements such as Gatorade, Powerbar and Clif products. Brent Ruby, director of UM's Montana Center for Work Physiology and Exercise Metabolism, ...

Elder abuse is common, affecting an estimated 5%-10% of seniors; raising awareness among physicians is key to helping address the issue, according to a review in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Although there is little evidence on screening for elder abuse and effective interventions, there should not be inaction on the part of health care professionals. "Despite the lack of robust evidence to support recommendations, clinicians still need an approach to this relatively common problem," writes Dr. Xuyi Mimi Wang, a geriatric medicine fellow at McMaster ...

In rare cases, children can develop anaphylactic allergies to previously tolerated foods after receiving blood products via transfusion, report the authors of a case study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). "It is very unusual to identify someone who experienced passive transfer of allergy from blood products," says Dr. Julia Upton, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), Toronto, Ontario. "Importantly, this condition has an excellent prognosis and typically resolves within a few months." Blood donors who have food allergies can transfer immunoglobulin ...

Although sexual dysfunction is not a specific symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), it is a frequent complaint among trauma survivors. The Journal of Sexual Medicine review finds that PTSD-related biological and cognitive processes may contribute to the development of sexual dysfunction following traumatic stress. The authors note that trauma exposure can profoundly rupture an individual's sense of safety and the ability to trust and feel connected to others. It may result in an association of arousal with threat. "It is clear that PTSD is associated with ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The gases used to knock out surgery patients are accumulating in the Earth's atmosphere, where they make a small contribution to climate change, report scientists who have detected the compounds as far afield as Antarctica. Over the past decade, concentrations of the anesthetics desflurane, isoflurane and sevoflurane have been rising globally, the new study finds. Like the well-known climate warmer carbon dioxide, anesthesia gases allow the atmosphere to store more energy from the Sun. But unlike carbon dioxide, the medical gases are extra potent in ...

In a recent study, females with eating disorders in late adolescence were more likely to have lower levels of educational attainment and personal income in early adulthood. They were also less likely to own a home. These associations were not seen in males. Disordered eating behaviors may set some individuals on a different trajectory whereby they do not have the same life chances or opportunities for success in adulthood. "Although the negative physical and mental health consequences of eating disorders have been well documented, much less is known about the adult ...

Sustainable rooftop technologies--including green roofs, white roofs, and solar photovoltaic panels--can provide great environmental benefits, but studies of these technologies often look only at their use in hot climates and do not assess their full environmental consequences. A new study that compares the technologies in the cold Canadian climate shows that photovoltaic panels demonstrate the highest environmental performance in all impact categories considered and is the preferred option from an environmental perspective. Green roofs result in fewer beneficial environmental ...

The number of gorillas and chimpanzees in Central Africa continues to decline due to hunting, habitat loss, and disease, combined with a widespread lack of law enforcement and corruption in the judicial process, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Wildlife Conservation Society, WWF, and partners in a new conservation plan. A new report--titled "Regional Action Plan for the Conservation of Western Lowland Gorillas and Central Chimpanzees 2015-2025"--outlines the growing number of threats to these great apes across six range countries, including ...

Uninsured cancer patients are asked to pay anywhere from two to 43 times what Medicare would pay for chemotherapy drugs, according to a new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Researchers led by Stacie Dusetzina, an assistant professor in the Eshelman School of Pharmacy and the Gillings School of Global Public Health, reviewed newly available Medicare data on what physicians charged for chemotherapy drugs delivered intravenously in 2012. Uninsured patients who did not negotiate the billed amounts could expect to pay $6,711 for an infusion of ...

TAMPA, Fla. - Lung cancer is the second most common type of cancer and the number one cause of cancer-related mortality. It is estimated that more than 158,000 people will die from lung cancer in the United States this year. Many scientists believe that targeting a type of cell called a cancer stem cell may be necessary to completely cure lung cancer. Moffitt Cancer Center researchers discovered a novel mechanism that plays an important role in the maintenance of lung cancer stem cells. This finding may lead to new potential therapeutic targets. Cancer stem cells are ...