This news release is available in French. A drug that could halt the progression of multiple sclerosis may soon be developed thanks to a discovery by a team at the CHUM Research Centre and the University of Montreal. The researchers have identified a molecule called MCAM, and they have shown that blocking this molecule could delay the onset of the disease and significantly slow its progression. These encouraging results from in vitro tests in humans and in vivo tests in mice were published today in the Annals of Neurology. "We believe we have identified the first therapy ...

Women with advanced ovarian cancer have fewer side effects and tend to have a better quality of life if given chemotherapy before surgery, according to a Cancer Research UK study published today (Wednesday) in The Lancet. The CHORUS trial, conducted at the Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit at University College London, challenged the international standard for treating advanced ovarian cancer. 550 women with the disease took part in the trial, with 276 given the standard treatment of surgery followed by six cycles of chemotherapy, and 274 had surgery after ...

Researchers at the University of Birmingham have highlighted significant similarities between the behavioural effects of oxytocin and alcohol. The research, published today in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, draws on existing studies into the two compounds and details the similarities between the effects of alcohol and the 'love hormone', oxytocin, on our actions. The team warn that the oft-used nickname hides the darker side of oxytocin, and claim that it bears more semblances with the effects of alcohol than previously thought. Oxytocin is a neuropeptide ...

Cold-blooded and other animals that are unable to regulate their internal temperature may have a hard time tolerating global warming, according to an analysis by biologists from the University of California, Berkeley, and San Francisco State University. A meta-analysis of studies that measured the ability of animals to deal with extremes of heat and cold found that, on average, most ectotherms are not very flexible. Terrestrial ectotherms, such as lizards and insects, are even less adaptable than fish and crustaceans, they found. As Earth warms, these animals will be ...

The proportion of people dying in hospices in England has nearly doubled since 1993, but the gap in hospice deaths between people living in the least and most deprived areas appears to be growing, find a new study by the Cicely Saunders Institute at King's College London. The study, funded by the National Institute for Health Research HS&DR Programme (09/2000/58) through the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) and published in the journal Palliative Medicine, examined all hospice deaths in England over a 20-year period, including ...

A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B by the teams of Dr. Gregory West (Assistant Professor at the Université de Montréal) and Dr. Véronique Bohbot (Douglas Institute researcher and associate Professor at McGill University and the Douglas Research Institute of the CIUSSS de l'Ouest-de-l'Île de Montréal) shows that while video game players (VGPs) exhibit more efficient visual attention abilities, they are also much more likely to use navigation strategies that rely on the brain's reward system (the caudate nucleus) ...

ATS 2015, DENVER--Patient-selected music during weaning from prolonged mechanical ventilation could benefit patients by decreasing their heart rate and anxiety, according to a study presented at the 2015 American Thoracic Society International Conference. Patients on prolonged mechanical ventilation may feel stress or insecurity during daily weaning trials because they do not have support from the ventilator. "Having patients listen to music during these trials may help reduce stress and speed up extubation," said lead author Zhan Liang, a PhD candidate at the University ...

ATS 2015, DENVER -- Critically ill patients who have been mechanically ventilated for more than seven days are at greatly increased risk for functional impairment and mortality at one year following discharge from the intensive care unit (ICU), according to a new study presented at the 2015 American Thoracic Society International Conference. "Prolonged mechanical ventilation has a significant impact on the long-term well-being of patients," said lead author Margaret Herridge. MD, MPH. of the University of Toronto. "In our study of nearly 400 ICU patients, we were able ...

DARIEN, IL - A new study of young U.S. veterans shows that the probability of having a high risk of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) increased with increasing severity of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. The study involved 195 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who visited a VA outpatient PTSD clinic for evaluation. Results show that 69.2 percent of participants had a high risk for sleep apnea, and this risk increased with PTSD symptom severity. Every clinically significant increase in PTSD symptom severity was associated with a 40 percent increase in the probability ...

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 19, 2015 -- Playing natural sounds such as flowing water in offices could boosts worker moods and improve cognitive abilities in addition to providing speech privacy, according to a new study from researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. They will present the results of their experiment at the 169th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, held May 18-22, 2015 in Pittsburgh. An increasing number of modern open-plan offices employ sound masking systems that raise the background sound of a room so that speech is rendered unintelligible ...

Children born since the 1980s are two to three times more likely than older generations to be overweight or obese by the age of 10, according to new research published in PLOS Medicine. The study, conducted by researchers from CLOSER, a consortium of UK longitudinal studies, characterized population shifts in body mass index (BMI) using data from more than 56,000 people born in Britain from 1946 to 2001. The findings will be relevant to policymakers and health care professionals, who predict the obesity epidemic will cost the UK's National Health Service (NHS) £22.9 ...

Large-scale screening for diabetes in India using currently available survey- and glucometer- based screening tools is unlikely to meet effectiveness criteria, according to a modeling study published this week in PLOS Medicine. The predictions of this simulation, conducted by Sanjay Basu of Stanford University and colleagues, suggest that large numbers of false positive results would waste financial resources, and that focusing on symptom-based screening and on improvements to diabetes treatment might better serve India's population. Diabetes is becoming increasingly ...

Researchers at the University of Birmingham have identified the role of an enzyme in muscle wasting, and associated age-related problems. They believe that inhibiting it could hold the key to developing ways of preventing, or reversing, the adverse effects. The research, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, is a significant step in understanding the role played by the enzyme '11β-HSD1' in the degenerative effects of ageing - including sarcopenia (age related muscle wasting). The expression of 11β-HSD1, responsible for activating ...

Use of cholesterol lowering drugs is associated with a one third lower risk of stroke in older adults without previous disease, finds a study published in The BMJ this week. In high income countries, a growing proportion of heart disease and stroke occur in the oldest people. In France, for instance, people aged 85 years and over accounted for 43% of deaths from coronary heart disease and 49% of deaths from stroke in 2010. Yet very few people over the age of 70 take part in trials testing cardiovascular drugs, so their benefit in the oldest people remains uncertain. ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A new study in animals suggests that skipping meals sets off a series of metabolic miscues that can result in abdominal weight gain. In the study, mice that ate all of their food as a single meal and fasted the rest of the day developed insulin resistance in their livers - which scientists consider a telltale sign of prediabetes. When the liver doesn't respond to insulin signals telling it to stop producing glucose, that extra sugar in the blood is stored as fat. These mice initially were put on a restricted diet and lost weight compared to controls ...

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- Many of those who should get it, don't. And many of those who shouldn't, do. That's the story of a common screening test for osteoporosis, according to new research from UC Davis Health System. The study, published online today in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, found that screening rates increased sharply among women at age 50, despite guidelines suggesting screening at age 65 unless risk factors are present. The presence of risk factors only had a modest influence on screening decisions. Osteoporosis causes bone density to diminish ...

A dramatic video has captured the behaviour of cytotoxic T cells - the body's 'serial killers' - as they hunt down and eliminate cancer cells before moving on to their next target. In a study published today in the journal Immunity, a collaboration of researchers from the UK and the USA, led by Professor Gillian Griffiths at the University of Cambridge, describe how specialised members of our white blood cells known as cytotoxic T cells destroy tumour cells and virally-infected cells. Using state-of-the-art imaging techniques, the research team, with funding from the ...

Decades' worth of textbook precepts about how our immune systems manage to avoid attacking our own tissues may be wrong. Contradicting a long-held belief that self-reactive immune cells are weeded out early in life in an organ called the thymus, a new study by Stanford University School of Medicine scientists has revealed that vast numbers of these cells remain in circulation well into adulthood. "This overturns 25 years of what we've been teaching," said Mark Davis, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology and director of Stanford's Institute for Immunity, Transplantation ...

Scientists are reporting development of a new way to modify interleukin-2 (IL-2), a substance known as a cytokine that plays key roles in regulating immune system responses, in order to fine-tune its actions. Harnessing the action of IL-2 in a controllable fashion is of clinical interest with potential benefit in a range of situations, including transplantation and autoimmune disease. The modified IL-2 molecules inhibited the actions of endogenous IL-2, potentially more effectively than existing agents, as well as inhibited the actions of another interleukin, IL-15, with ...

A team led by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard has found that the most common bacterial community in the genital tract among healthy South Africa women not only is significantly different from that of women in developed countries but also leads to elevated levels of inflammatory proteins. In a paper in the May 19 issue of Immunity, the investigators describe finding potential mechanisms by which particular bacterial species induce inflammation and show that the presence of those species and of elevated ...

Ever since single-layer graphene burst onto the science scene in 2004, the possibilities for the promising material have seemed nearly endless. With its high electrical conductivity, ability to store energy, and ultra-strong and lightweight structure, graphene has potential for many applications in electronics, energy, the environment, and even medicine. Now a team of Northwestern University researchers has found a way to print three-dimensional structures with graphene nanoflakes. The fast and efficient method could open up new opportunities for using graphene printed ...

HIV infections continue to rise in a new generation of young, gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (YMSM) despite three decades of HIV prevention as well as recent availability of biomedical technologies to prevent infection. In the U.S., it is estimated that 63% of incident HIV infections in 2010 were among YMSM despite the fact that they represent a very small portion of the population. Given this heightened risk for HIV seroconversion among YMSM, researchers at New York University's Center for Health, Identity, Behavior & Prevention Studies (CHIBPS) sought ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Why do some cancer cells break away from a tumor and travel to distant parts of the body? A team of oncologists and engineers from the University of Michigan teamed up to help understand this crucial question. Cancer becomes deadly when it spreads, or metastasizes. Not all cells have the same ability to travel through the body, but researchers don't understand why. In a paper published in Scientific Reports, researchers describe a new device that is able to sort cells based on their ability to move. The researchers were then able to take the sorted ...

Run far or run fast? That is one of the questions NASA is trying to answer with one of its latest studies--and the answers may help keep us in shape on Earth, as well as in space. Even with regular exercise, astronauts who spend an extended period of time in space experience muscle weakening, bone loss, and decreased cardiovascular conditioning. This is because they no longer have to work against gravity in everyday living. NASA's Human Research Program Integrated Resistance and Aerobic Training study, known as iRAT, completed recently to evaluate the use of high intensity ...

Human error is estimated to cause more than 90% of traffic accidents, a percentage that might be drastically reduced by the implementation of self-driving cars featuring smart systems that control most aspects of driving. Although the potential benefits of self-driving cars have been widely touted, their success on the roadways of the near future is largely reliant on whether or not drivers are willing to trust these smart systems enough to hand over the wheel. A new study published in Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society evaluated whether ...