PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — We celebrate our triumphs over adversity, but let's face it: We'd rather not experience difficulty at all. A new study ties that behavioral inclination to learning: When researchers added a bit of conflict to make a learning task more difficult, that additional conflict biased learning by reducing the influence of reward and increasing the influence of aversion to punishment. This newly found relationship between conflict and reinforcement learning suggests that the circuits in the frontal cortex that calculate the degree of ...

HOUSTON – (Nov. 4, 2014) – Rice University scientists who want to gain an edge in energy production and storage report they have found it in molybdenum disulfide. The Rice lab of chemist James Tour has turned molybdenum disulfide's two-dimensional form into a nanoporous film that can catalyze the production of hydrogen or be used for energy storage. The versatile chemical compound classified as a dichalcogenide is inert along its flat sides, but previous studies determined the material's edges are highly efficient catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction ...

HOUSTON – (Nov. 4, 2014) – A majority of Madagascar's 101 species of lemurs are threatened with extinction, and that could have serious consequences for the rainforests they call home. A new study by Rice University researchers shows the positive impacts lemurs can have on rainforest tree populations, which raises concerns about the potential impact their disappearance could have on the region's rich biodiversity. A large proportion of trees in Madagascar's rainforest have fruits eaten by lemurs. Lemurs in turn disperse the seeds of their fruit trees throughout ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Researchers using coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) have found a close association between high-risk coronary artery plaque and a common liver disease. The study, published online in the journal Radiology, found that a single CT exam can detect both conditions. Previous research has shown that CCTA can detect high-risk coronary artery plaque, or plaque prone to life-threatening ruptures. For the new study, researchers looked at associations between high-risk plaque and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a condition characterized ...

Over eighty percent of breast cancer patients in the United States use complementary therapies following a breast cancer diagnosis, but there has been little science-based guidance to inform clinicians and patients about their safety and effectiveness. In newly published guidelines from the Society for Integrative Oncology, researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center with colleagues at MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Memorial Sloan Kettering, and other institutions in the U.S. ...

PHILADELPHIA - Two new studies from the Abramson Cancer Center and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania offer hope for breast cancer survivors struggling with cancer-related pain and swelling, and point to ways to enhance muscular strength and body image. The studies appear in a first of its kind monograph from the Journal of the National Cancer Institute Monographs focusing on integrative oncology, which combines a variety of therapies, some non-traditional, for maximum benefit to cancer patients. In the first study, A Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation ...

Chestnut Hill, MA (November 4, 2014): Whether it's politics in the United States or violent conflict in the Mideast, the roots of the vitriol and intractability begin to grow not from a hatred of the other side, but from a misunderstanding of what's motivating the other side. According to a new study co-authored by a Boston College neuroscientist, not only does this misunderstanding pose a barrier to solutions, but it can be corrected through financial incentives. The research involved the participation of almost 3,000 people: Israelis and Palestinians in the Mideast, ...

Over half the smokers using the Liverpool Stop Smoking Service have tried electronic cigarettes (51.3 per cent). Of these, nearly half had used them within the past month and are considered current users (45.5 per cent). The data* – presented at the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer Conference in Liverpool today (Tuesday) – also highlights that smokers are more likely to try e-cigarettes if they feel more confident that the products are safer than tobacco smoking. Researchers from the University of Liverpool quizzed more than 320 smokers from ...

Swallowing a sponge on a string could replace traditional endoscopy as an equally effective but less invasive way of diagnosing a condition that can be a forerunner of oesophageal cancer. The results of a Cancer Research UK trial involving more than 1,000 people are being presented today (Tuesday) at the National Cancer Research Institute's annual conference in Liverpool. The trial invited more than 600 patients with Barrett's Oesophagus – a condition that can sometimes lead to oesophageal cancer – to swallow the Cytosponge and to undergo an endoscopy. ...

Shift work, like chronic jet lag, is known to disrupt the body's internal clock (circadian rhythms), and it has been linked to a range of health problems, such as ulcers, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and some cancers. But little is known about its potential impact on brain function, such as memory and processing speed. The researchers therefore tracked the cognitive abilities of more than 3000 people who were either working in a wide range of sectors or who had retired, at three time points: 1996; 2001; and 2006. Just under half (1484) of the sample, ...

Around one in five patients with chest pain will have no obvious signs of coronary artery disease after investigation, and their symptoms are unlikely to have a physical cause. But it is not always clear who these patients are, and they often undergo extensive and expensive tests to find out that nothing is wrong with their hearts. The German authors therefore wanted to test the prevalence of physical and mental symptoms in 253 patients who had been investigated for chest pain/shortness of breath/palpitations and found to have no coronary artery disease. The type ...

Philadelphia, November 4, 2014 -- In a new evidence-based clinical practice guideline published today in Annals of Internal Medicine, the American College of Physicians (ACP) recommends that people who have had a kidney stone increase their fluid intake to achieve at least two liters of urine per day to prevent another kidney stone from forming. If increased fluid intake fails to reduce the formation of stones, ACP recommends adding medication with a thiazide diuretic, citrate, or allopurinol. "Increased fluid intake spread throughout the day can decrease stone recurrence ...

1. ACP kidney stone guidelines offer another reason to drink more water, less soda Dietary changes including increased fluid intake are among recommendations in ACP's new evidence-based guideline People who have had a kidney stone should increase their fluid intake to achieve at least two liters of urine per day to prevent a recurrence, according to a new evidence-based clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians (ACP) being published in Annals of Internal Medicine. A kidney stone occurs when tiny crystals in urine stick together to form a stone. ...

The growing epidemic of obesity across the world is associated with an equivalent increase in type-2 diabetes, which results from the body's ineffective use of insulin. Obese people often develop inflammation in their fat tissue, which, in turn, can reduce the sensitivity of fat cells to insulin, resulting in type-2 diabetes. EPFL scientists, working with researchers from Italy and the Netherlands, have shown that bile acids activate a little-known receptor to overcome the loss of insulin sensitivity, forming the basis for a new class of drug against type-2 diabetes. The ...

Food allergies are on the rise in the U.S. and other developed countries. In patients, food allergies appear as a variety of symptoms, ranging from mild skin inflammation to severe asthma. Recent studies suggest that contact between inflamed skin and food proteins may trigger food allergy development. A new study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation provides a link between skin sensitization, gastrointestinal inflammation, and food allergy. Using a mouse model, Steven Ziegler and colleagues at the Benaroya Research Institute found that skin exposure to a combination ...

General anesthesia results in expended cognitive decline for many individuals following surgical procedure. Memory deficits can last for months and affect patient outcome and quality of life. Patient age, duration of surgery, and surgical trauma are all risk factors for postoperative cognitive impairment. A new study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation demonstrates that general anesthesia results in sustained activation of receptors that inhibit brain function. Beverly Orser and colleagues at the University of Toronto found that a single dose of anesthetic impaired ...

Researchers at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Medicine have shown why anesthetics can cause long-term memory loss, a discovery that can have serious implications for post-operative patients. Until now, scientists haven't understood why about a third of patients who undergo anesthesia and surgery experience some kind of cognitive impairment—such as memory loss—at hospital discharge. One-tenth of patients still suffer cognitive impairments three months later. Anesthetics activate memory-loss receptors in the brain, ensuring that patients don't remember ...

The microbes living in people's guts are much less diverse than those in humans' closest relatives, the African apes, an apparently long evolutionary trend that appears to be speeding up in more modern societies, with possible implications for human health, according to a new study. Based on an analysis of how humans and three lineages of ape diverged from common ancestors, researchers determined that within the lineage that gave rise to modern humans, microbial diversity changed slowly and steadily for millions of years, but that rate of change has accelerated lately ...

A study to be released in the November issue of Health Affairs shows that integrating community housing data on such code violations as mold and cockroaches with health data can identify at-risk geographical areas of medical concern and help target patients for medical interventions. Researchers from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center used geocoding, or mapping, to examine associations between housing code violations and children's health. They found that children hospitalized for asthma are nearly twice as likely to be rehospitalized or to revisit the emergency ...

PITTSBURGH, Nov. 3, 2014 – Patients with atrial fibrillation who take the blood thinner dabigatran are at greater risk for major bleeding and gastrointestinal bleeding than those who take warfarin, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. The findings, based on Medicare claims data and published today in JAMA Internal Medicine, indicate greater caution is needed when prescribing dabigatran to certain high-risk patients. Atrial fibrillation, an arrhythmia in which the heart's upper chambers irregularly ...

A study of Medicare beneficiaries suggests the anticoagulant medication dabigatran should be prescribed with caution because it appears to be associated with a higher incidence of major bleeding and a higher risk of gastrointestinal bleeding but a lower risk of intracranial hemorrhage than warfarin, according to a report published online by JAMA Internal Medicine. Dabigatran etexilate mesylate was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2010 to prevent stroke and embolism (blood clots) in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF, abnormal heartbeat) ...

About 60 percent of the increase in the observed prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in Danish children appears to be largely due to changes in reporting practices, according to a study published online by JAMA Pediatrics. The prevalence of ASDs (neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by impaired social interactions, communication and by repetitive behaviors) has increased over the past 30 years. The current estimate is about 1 percent of children, although it also has been reported to be higher, according to background information in the study. That increase ...

(MEMPHIS, Tenn. – November 3, 2014) Supplementing written heart screening guidelines with telephone counseling from specially trained nurses more than doubled the likelihood that adult survivors of childhood cancer received recommended heart checks, according to results from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS). St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators led the research, whose findings appear in the current issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The research focused on adults whose childhood cancer treatment put them at risk for a variety of ...

November 3, 2014 – A new study shows cellular-level changes in nerve structure and function that may contribute to the development of migraine headaches, reports the November issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). Nerve specimens from patients with migraine show abnormalities of the myelin sheath that serves as "insulation" around the nerve fibers," according to the study by ASPS Member Surgeon Bahman Guyuron, MD, of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland. The findings ...

November 3, 2014 – After opening a comprehensive breast center (CBC), one hospital achieved significant improvement in key measures of quality of care for women undergoing breast reconstruction, reports the November issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). Centralized breast cancer care at CBCs can lead to more timely breast reconstruction for women undergoing breast cancer surgery, suggests the study by ASPS Member Surgeon Albert H. Chao, MD, and colleagues of The Ohio State ...