AURORA, Colo. (July 15, 2015) - Physicians at the University of Colorado School of Medicine on the Anschutz Medical Campus have published research that suggests a safe and lower-cost way to diagnose and treat problems in the upper gastrointestinal tract of children. The researchers assessed the effectiveness of unsedated transnasal endoscopy (TNE) in evaluating pediatric patients with potentially chronic problems in their esophagus, which is the tube that connects the patient's mouth to the stomach. The research team included Joel A. Friedlander, DO, MA-Bioethics, Jeremy ...

The human genome encodes roughly 20,000 genes, only a few thousand more than fruit flies. The complexity of the human body, therefore, comes from far more than just the sequence of nucleotides that comprise our DNA, it arises from modifications that occur at the level of gene, RNA and protein. In a new study, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine show how one of these modifications, which occurs after RNA is translated into proteins, has the power to greatly influence the function of an enzyme called PRPS2, which is required for ...

Athens, Ga. - Researchers from the University of Georgia have determined that various freshwater sources in Georgia, such as rivers and lakes, could feature levels of salmonella that pose a risk to humans. The study is featured in the July edition of PLOS One. Faculty and students from four colleges and five departments at UGA partnered with colleagues from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Georgia Department of Public Health to establish whether or not strains of salmonella exhibit geographic trends that might help to explain differences in rates ...

DURHAM, N.C. - Children with even mild or passing bouts of depression, anxiety and/or behavioral issues were more inclined to have serious problems that complicated their ability to lead successful lives as adults, according to research from Duke Medicine. Reporting in the July 15 issue of JAMA Psychiatry, the Duke researchers found that children who had either a diagnosed psychiatric condition or a milder form that didn't meet the full diagnostic criteria were six times more likely than those who had no psychiatric issues to have difficulties in adulthood, including ...

Children with psychiatric problems were more likely to have health, legal, financial and social problems as adults even if their psychiatric disorders did not persist into adulthood and even if they did not meet the full diagnostic criteria for a disorder, according to an article published online by JAMA Psychiatry. Neuropsychiatric disorders among young people ages 10 to 24 are a leading cause of disease burden globally. Unlike many chronic physical health problems, most psychiatric disorders are first diagnosed in childhood, which allows the disorder to affect a person's ...

PHILADELPHIA - Stem cells are key for the continual renewal of tissues in our bodies. As such, manipulating stem cells also holds much promise for biomedicine if their regenerative capacity can be harnessed. However, understanding how stem cells govern normal tissue renewal is a field still in its infancy. Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are making headway in this area by studying stem cells in their natural environment in an organism. Stem cell populations reside in areas called niches deep within different types of organs. ...

States with more restrictive alcohol policies and regulations have lower rates of self-reported drunk driving, according to a new study by researchers at the Boston University schools of public health and medicine and the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. The research team assigned each state an "alcohol policy score," based on an aggregate of 29 alcohol policies, such as alcohol taxation and the use of sobriety checkpoints. Each 1 percentage point increase in the score was found to be associated with a 1 percent decrease in the likelihood of impaired driving, ...

Final results of the randomized intergroup EORTC, LYSA (Lymphoma Study Association), FIL (Fondazione Italiana Linfomi) H10 trial presented at the 13th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma in Lugano, Switzerland, on 19 June 2015 show that early FDG-PET ( 2-deoxy-2[F-18]fluoro-D-glucose positron emission tomography) adapted treatment improves the outcome of early FDG-PET-positive patients with stages I/II Hodgkin lymphoma. Dr. John Raemaekers of the Radboud University Medical Center Nijmegen and the Rijnstate Hospital Arnhem, The Netherlands, and EORTC principal ...

HOUSTON - (July 15, 2015) - Three-dimensional structures of boron nitride might be the right stuff to keep small electronics cool, according to scientists at Rice University. Rice researchers Rouzbeh Shahsavari and Navid Sakhavand have completed the first theoretical analysis of how 3-D boron nitride might be used as a tunable material to control heat flow in such devices. Their work appears this month in the American Chemical Society journal Applied Materials and Interfaces. In its two-dimensional form, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), aka white graphene, looks ...

A University of Toronto research team has discovered new details about a key gene involved in ALS, perhaps humanity's most puzzling, intractable disease. In this fatal disorder with no effective treatment options, scientists (including members of U of T) achieved a major breakthrough in 2011 when they discovered mutations in the gene C9orf72, as the most frequent genetic cause of ALS and frontotemporal dementia. But little was known about how this gene and its related protein worked in the cell. To solve this problem, Professor Janice Robertson and her team at the ...

Sapphirina, or sea sapphire, has been called "the most beautiful animal you've never seen," and it could be one of the most magical. Some of the tiny, little-known copepods appear to flash in and out of brilliantly colored blue, violet or red existence. Now scientists are figuring out the trick to their hues and their invisibility. The findings appear in the Journal of the American Chemical Society and could inspire the next generation of optical technologies. Copepods are tiny aquatic crustaceans that live in both fresh and salt water. Some males of the ocean-dwelling ...

Five years ago this week, engineers stopped the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill -- the largest one in U.S. history, easily displacing the Exxon Valdez spill from the top spot. Now, Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, takes a look at the lessons scientists are learning from these accidents to improve clean-up efforts and, perhaps, prevent spills altogether. C&EN Senior Editor Jyllian Kemsley explains that although both spills were caused by human error, they each posed unique challenges. When the tanker Exxon ...

"No swimming" signs have already popped up this summer along coastlines where fecal bacteria have invaded otherwise inviting waters. Some vacationers ignore the signs while others resign themselves to tanning and playing on the beach. But should those avoiding the water be wary of the sand, too? New research in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology investigates reasons why the answer could be "yes." Sewage-contaminated coastal waters can lead to stomach aches, diarrhea and rashes for those who accidentally swallow harmful microbes or come into contact with ...

A mixture of bitumen and gasoline-like solvents known as dilbit that flows through Prairie pipelines can seriously harm fish populations, according to research out of Queen's University and the Royal Military College of Canada. At toxic concentrations, effects of dilbit on exposed fish included deformities and clear signs of genetic and physiological stress at hatch, plus abnormal or uninflated swim bladders, an internal gas-filled organ that allows fish to control their buoyancy. Exposure to dilbit reduces their rate of survival by impairing their ability to feed and ...

New research conducted at the University of Kansas Medical Center indicates that older adults can improve brain function by raising their fitness level. Jeffrey Burns, M.D., professor of neurology and co-director of the KU Alzheimer's Disease Center, led a six-month trial conducted with healthy adults ages 65 and older who showed no signs of cognitive decline. The results of the study were published on July 9 in the journal PLOS ONE. The randomized controlled trial attempted to determine the ideal amount of exercise necessary to achieve benefits to the brain. Trial ...

In the U.S. and other industrialized nations, testing for infectious diseases and cancer often requires expensive equipment and highly trained specialists. In countries where resources are limited, performing the same diagnostics is far more challenging. To address this disparity, scientists are developing a portable, low-cost "paper machine" for point-of-care detection of infectious diseases, genetic conditions and cancer. Their report appears in the ACS journal Analytical Chemistry. Many modern diagnostic techniques involve analyzing DNA in a patient's blood sample. ...

WASHINGTON (July 15, 2015) -- GW researcher and dermatologist, Adam Friedman, M.D., and colleagues, find that the release of nitric oxide over time may be a new way to treat and prevent acne through nanotechnology. This research, published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, identified that the nanoparticles were effective at killing Proprionobacterium acnes, the gram positive bacteria associated with acne, and even more importantly, they inhibited the damaging inflammation that result in the large, painful lesions associated with inflammatory acne. "Our understanding ...

Philadelphia, PA, July 15, 2015 - Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a rare disorder characterized by weakened pumping of the heart, or "left ventricular dysfunction," which results in otherwise healthy pregnant women experiencing heart failure shortly before or up to five months after they deliver healthy babies. Despite the seriousness of this condition, a new study published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology revealed that no significant research has been undertaken to explore how to prevent or treat this disorder. In fact, only three studies of possible treatments ...

This news release is available in French. Fuel cells are regarded as the technology of the future for both cars and household heating systems. As a result, they have a key role to play in the switch to renewable energies. But are fuel cells always more environmentally friendly? An international team of scientists headed by Empa performed a series of calculations and reached a conclusion: it depends on the fuel. In the future, we might be driving fuel-cell cars that burn solar-generated hydrogen. This would make the "zero emissions car" a reality. At the same time, ...

July 15, 2015 - Overdoses of opioid pain medications frequently occur in people who aren't chronic users with high prescribed opioid doses--the groups targeted by current opioid prescribing guidelines, reports a study in the August issue of Medical Care. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer. "It may be prudent to revise guidelines to also address opioid poisonings occurring at relatively low prescribed doses and with acute and intermittent opioid use, in addition to chronic, high-dose use," comments lead author Deborah Fulton-Kehoe, PhD, a research scientist in ...

CHICAGO --- You can fake a smile, but your phone knows the truth. Depression can be detected from your smartphone sensor data by tracking the number of minutes you use the phone and your daily geographical locations, reports a small Northwestern Medicine study. The more time you spend using your phone, the more likely you are depressed. The average daily usage for depressed individuals was about 68 minutes, while for non-depressed individuals it was about 17 minutes. Spending most of your time at home and most of your time in fewer locations -- as measured by GPS ...

Substantial improvements in the care and survival of older people with hip fracture in England have followed the introduction of a collaborative national initiative to tackle the issue, according to a new study published in the Medical Care journal. Hip fracture is the most common serious injury of older people. In the UK there are around 70,000 cases per year (in people aged 60 years and older), while in the US there are approximately 250,000 cases (in people aged 65 years and older). The UK National Hip Fracture Database (NHFD) is a clinician-led audit initiative ...

Epidural electrostimulation is a medical technique that has been used for several years now to help patients affected by paralysis due to a spinal cord injury. It involves implanting electrodes over the dorsal nerve roots (which convey incoming "sensory" inputs) of the spinal cord below the level of the trauma and applying electrical stimuli of varying intensity and frequency. This technique, which produces or helps produce activation patterns of the motor nerves (ventral, outgoing) has shown promising results, and the scientists hope that one day it will be able to help ...

Oxford, July 15, 2015 - A recent study, published in the International Journal of Nursing Studies, reveals a set of ten low-cost interventions that can increase safety on psychiatric wards. This Safewards Model reduces aggression, self-harm and other risky behaviours by 15% and reduces coercive control, such as restraint, by 24%. The study stems from a 20-year research program led by Professor of Psychiatric Nursing, Len Bowers, at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London. The study reveals that, by using a set of ten small, low ...

UK investment in pneumonia research is lacking when compared to spending on influenza and tuberculosis, according to a new study by the University of Southampton and University College London (UCL). By calculating the amount spent on researching respiratory infections and their mortality rates, the study authors were able to assess UK public and charitable sector investment against the global burden of the diseases. Published in EBioMedicine the study found that while £484.21 per death was invested in influenza research, less than a tenth of that figure (£43.08) ...