ATLANTA May 22, 2014—A new review summarizes what is known about economic factors tied to the obesity epidemic in the United States and concludes many common beliefs are wrong. The review, authored by Roland Sturm, PhD of RAND Corporation and Ruopeng An, PhD, of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, notes that paradoxically, rising obesity rates coincided with increases in leisure time, increased fruit and vegetable availability, and increased exercise uptake. The review appears early online in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians and finds at least one factor ...

RAPID RESISTANCE to vemurafenib – a treatment for a type of advanced melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer – could be prevented by blocking a druggable family of proteins, according to research* published in Nature Communications today (Thursday). Scientists at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, based at the University of Manchester, have revealed the MLK family of four enzymes 'undoes' the tumour-shrinking effects of vemurafenib**. Around half of metastatic melanomas – aggressive skin cancer that has spread to other parts of the body – are caused by ...

Grand Challenges Canada, funded by the Government of Canada, today announces investments of $12 million in projects worldwide, aimed squarely at improving the health and saving the lives of mothers, newborns and children in developing countries. From a "lucky iron fish" placed in tens of thousands of Asian cooking pots to reduce anemia, to "motherhood insurance" to ensure that poverty doesn't impede emergency care if needed during a baby's delivery, to kits for home farming edible insects to improve nutrition in slums of Africa and Latin America, the 65 imaginative projects ...

There are many misconceptions and unknowns about premature ejaculation in the medical community and the general population. Two papers, both being published simultaneously in Sexual Medicine and the Journal of Sexual Medicine, provide much-needed answers that could lead to improved diagnosis and treatment for affected men. Premature ejaculation can cause significant personal and interpersonal distress to a man and his partner. While it has been recognized as a syndrome for well over 100 years, the clinical definition of premature ejaculation has been vague, ambiguous, ...

The therapeutic potential of medical marijuana and pure cannabidiol (CBD), an active substance in the cannabis plant, for neurologic conditions is highly debated. A series of articles published in Epilepsia, a journal of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), examine the potential use of medical marijuana and CBD in treating severe forms of epilepsy such as Dravet syndrome. In a case study, Dr. Edward Maa, Chief of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program at Denver Health in Denver, Colo., details one mother's experience of providing medical marijuana to her child ...

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — An appealing carnivorous mammal, a 12-meter-tall tree that has been hiding in plain sight and a sea anemone that lives under an Antarctic glacier are among the species identified by the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry's (ESF) International Institute for Species Exploration (IISE) as the top 10 species discovered last year. An international committee of taxonomists and related experts selected the top 10 from among the approximately 18,000 new species named during the previous year and released the list May 22 to coincide with the birthday, ...

Whether an insect will have a male or female offspring depends on the weather, according to a study led by Joffrey Moiroux and Jacques Brodeur of the University of Montreal's Department of Biological Sciences. The research involved experimenting with a species of oophagous parasitoid (Trichogramma euproctidis), an insect that lays its eggs inside a host insect that will be consumed by the future larvae. "We know that climate affects the reproductive behaviour of insects. But we never clearly demonstrated the effects of climate change on sex allocation in parasitoids," Moiroux ...

The decision to jettison the approach to care of the dying, known as the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP), was "too extreme," given that its principles are widely regarded as among the best examples of palliative care in the world, argues a senior ethicist in the Journal of Medical Ethics. The LCP, which was intended to transfer the principles of hospice care to hospitals, fell foul of poor application by healthcare professionals and widespread misunderstanding of its scope and purpose among the general public, argues Dr Anthony Wrigley of the Centre for Professional Ethics ...

Improving family doctor access during standard working hours might be better for reducing out of hours service use than extending the opening times of GP surgeries, suggests research published online in Emergency Medicine Journal. If the link between access and out of hours service use is causal, this approach could cut demand for the latter by a maximum of 11%, the findings indicate. Difficulties getting to see a GP when needed have been blamed for fuelling the rise in demand for out-of-hours primary care services, including emergency care. But there is not much evidence ...

An unprecedented research conducted by a group of neuroscientists has demonstrated for the first time that it is possible to train brain patterns associated with empathic feelings – more specifically, tenderness. The research showed that volunteers who received neurofeedback about their own brain activity patterns whilst being scanned inside a functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) machine were able to change brain network function of areas related to tenderness and affection felt toward loved ones. These significant findings could open new possibilities for treatment of ...

Researchers have uncovered how proteins found in our blood can reduce damage caused to blood vessels as we age, and in conditions such as atherosclerosis and arthritis. Calcification is a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke. Blood vessels can harden as calcium phosphate (CaP) crystals, normally found in bones and teeth, build up in soft tissue as we age or as a result of illness. This can lead to complications in patients with atherosclerosis, a major cause of death in the UK whereby arteries thicken and are at risk of becoming blocked. However a team of scientists ...

A disruption of circadian rhythms, when combined with a high-fat, high-sugar diet, may contribute to inflammatory bowel disease and other harmful conditions, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at Rush University Medical Center. The study is online at the peer-reviewed, open-access journal, PLOS ONE. "Circadian rhythms, which impose a 24-hour cycle on our bodies, are different from sleep patterns," said Robin M. Voigt, PhD, assistant professor at Rush Medical College and first author of the study. "Sleep is a consequence of circadian rhythms," Voigt said. While ...

Surgical site infections (SSIs) acquired by patients in Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals are associated with costs nearly twice as high compared to patients who do not have this complication. The greatest SSI-related costs are among patients undergoing neurosurgery. SSIs are associated with increased complications and death. Treatment can include long courses of antibiotics, physical therapy, hospital readmissions and reoperations. Costs associated with SSIs after surgery have been under scrutiny since the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid stopped paying for increased ...

Many women diagnosed with cancer in one breast consider, and eventually undergo, a contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) to remove both breasts, although few of them have a clinically significant risk of developing cancer in both breasts. Patients deciding to undergo CPM as part of initial treatment for breast cancer is a growing challenge in management of the disease. Removing the unaffected breast has not been shown to increase survival. The Society of Surgical Oncology suggests CPM be considered for a minority of patients at higher than average risk of developing ...

Methamphetamine users showed less sensitivity to risk and reward in one region of the brain and greater sensitivity in other brain regions compared with non-users when performing an exercise involving risky decision making. Deficiencies in decision making are linked to addiction. Chronic methamphetamine use is associated with abnormalities in the neural circuits of the brain involved in risky decision making. Faulty decision making is targeted in addiction therapy so understanding its causes could help in the development of more effective treatments. The authors ...

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Dryland ecosystems, which include deserts to dry-shrublands, play a more important role in the global carbon cycle than previously thought. In fact, they have emerged as one of its drivers, says Montana State University faculty member Ben Poulter. Surprised by the discovery, Poulter and his collaborators explained their findings in Nature. At the same time, they urged global ecologists to include the emerging role of dryland ecosystems in their research. Nature is a weekly international journal that publishes peer-reviewed research in all fields of science ...

Application of a technology currently used to disinfect food products may help to get around one of the most challenging problems in medicine today, the proliferation of bacteria resistant to antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs. In a paper appearing in the June issue of the journal Technology and already released online, investigators from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Engineering in Medicine describe how the use of microsecond-pulsed, high-voltage non-thermal electric fields successfully killed resistant bacteria infecting experimentally induced ...

LA JOLLA, CA—May 21, 2014—In surprise findings, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered that a protein with a propensity to form harmful aggregates in the body when produced in the liver protects against Alzheimer's disease aggregates when it is produced in the brain. The results suggest that drugs that can boost the protein's production specifically in neurons could one day help ward off Alzheimer's disease. "This result was completely unexpected when we started this research," said TSRI Professor Joel N. Buxbaum, MD. "But now we realize that ...

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. – May 21, 2014 – According to a new systematic review article, radiofrequency ablation and complete endoscopic resection are equally effective in the short-term treatment of dysplastic Barrett's esophagus, but adverse event rates are higher with complete endoscopic resection. The article comparing the two treatments appears in the May issue of GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE). Barrett's esophagus is a condition in which the lining of the esophagus ...

Couples often go grocery shopping together, make joint financial decisions, and choose entertainment options to share. Products and programs like shared gym memberships and joint credit cards are designed with couples in mind. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, how a couple succeeds or fails in these types of joint endeavors depends on their individual levels of self-control. "We studied the role self-control plays in the joint decisions made by couples," write authors Hristina Dzhogleva (Boston College) and Cait Poynor Lamberton (University ...

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease of global relevance. Due to the fear that comes with the long-term bodily degenerative processes, people with the disease often do not actively seek information on the health risks. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, modern day technologies like interactive games and virtual reality platforms can help people with Type 2 diabetes make better choices and monitor their health on a regular basis. "Our findings bring to light the unrealized power of information communication technologies as social platforms," ...

Conventional oil and gas development in northern Pennsylvania altered bird communities, and the current massive build-out of shale-gas infrastructure may accelerate these changes, according to researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. The commonwealth's Northern Tier -- one of the largest blocks of Eastern deciduous forest in the entire Appalachian region -- is an important breeding area for neotropical migrant songbirds. These diminutive, insect-eating creatures, which breed in Pennsylvania and winter in Central and South America, contribute greatly ...

A type of retina cell plays a more critical role in vision than previously known, a team led by Johns Hopkins University researchers has discovered. Working with mice, the scientists found that the ipRGCs – an atypical type of photoreceptor in the retina – help detect contrast between light and dark, a crucial element in the formation of visual images. The key to the discovery is the fact that the cells express melanopsin, a type of photopigment that undergoes a chemical change when it absorbs light. "We are quite excited that melanopsin signaling contributes to vision ...

When a supernova – the explosion of a distant star —was discovered last year, astrophysicists, with the help of telescopes around the globe, rushed to observe the fireworks. In its dramatic dying flares, this star – a rare type over 10 times the mass of our sun – can tell us something about the life of these fascinating cosmic bodies, as well as helping paint the picture of how all the heavier elements in the universe are formed. To understand the star that produced the supernova, the researchers identified the mix of elements that was thrown off right before the explosion ...

INDIANAPOLIS -- A group of 11 genes can successfully predict whether an individual is at increased risk of alcoholism, a research team from the United States and Germany reported Tuesday. "This powerful panel of just 11 genes successfully identified who has problems with alcohol abuse and who does not in tests in three patient populations on two continents, in two ethnicities and in both genders," said Alexander B. Niculescu III, M.D., Ph.D., principal investigators and associate professor of psychiatry and medical neuroscience at the Indiana University School of Medicine. ...