Disorders of sex development are lifelong conditions that are usually diagnosed at birth or during adolescence. In a recent study of 13 teenaged girls with disorders of sex development, the girls were guarded and reticent about sharing personal information about their disorder during adolescence, but some of them learned to engage in conversations with more confidence as they moved towards adulthood. The participants noted that frustrations about their bodily differences and the limitations of their bodies limited physical spontaneity, impacted on their perceived sexual ...

A bundled intervention focused on evidence-based infection prevention practices, safety culture and teamwork, and scheduled measurement of infection rates considerably reduced central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) across intensive care units (ICUs) in seven Abu Dhabi hospitals, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality report. The intervention, undertaken by 18 ICUs, achieved an overall 38 percent reduction in these infections; and the number of units with a quarterly CLABSI rate of less than one infection ...

Fast Facts Research finds that one-quarter of patients who survive a critical illness and an ICU stay experience PTSD. Researchers are looking into using ICU diaries as a promising therapeutic tool to prevent PTSD in ICU survivors. Existing psychological problems, large amounts of sedation and reports of frightening ICU memories appear to contribute to the increased risk of PTSD in ICU survivors. Post-traumatic stress disorder is often thought of as a symptom of warfare, major catastrophes and assault. It's rarely considered in patients who survive a critical ...

A recent randomized trial that looked at the feasibility of 2013 guidelines issued by the American College of Surgeons Trauma Quality Improvement Project for trauma resuscitation found that delivering universal donor plasma to massively hemorrhaging patients can be accomplished consistently and rapidly and without excessive wastage in high volume trauma centers. The plasma is given in addition to red blood cell transfusions to optimize treatment. The 2013 guidelines recommend that universal donor products be immediately available on arrival of severely injured patients, ...

Montréal, April 20, 2014 - A new study by immunology researchers at the IRCM led by Javier M. Di Noia, PhD, sheds light on a mechanism affecting AID, a crucial enzyme for the immune response. The scientific breakthrough, published in the latest issue of The Journal of Experimental Medicine, could eventually improve the way we treat the common flu, as well as lymphoma and leukemia. The researchers study white blood cells, called B-lymphocytes, whose main function is to produce antibodies to fight against infections. More specifically, they focus on an enzyme found ...

WASHINGTON (April 20, 2015) - The use of continuous positive airway pressure was associated with a significant reduction in the recurrence of atrial fibrillation in patients with obstructive sleep apnea, according to an analysis of data from past research published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Clinical Electrophysiology. Researchers from the New York University Langone Medical Center in New York City performed a meta-analysis of seven studies including 1,087 patients to determine if continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) reduced the ...

Confronted by extreme scarcity of nutrients in an Australian dune ecosystem, the leaves of different plant species converge on a single efficient strategy to conserve phosphorus, an essential nutrient. But it is a different story underground, say researchers, including Ben Turner, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Plants on older dunes draw from a full bag of tricks, and take advantage of nearly all of the known adaptations for acquiring nutrients to capture the phosphorus they need. "Plants cope with phosphorus scarcity in a similar way above-ground ...

Two new papers from the lab of Zach Schafer, Coleman Assistant Professor of Cancer Biology at the University of Notre Dame, offer insights into how breast cancer cells avoid anoikis, which is cell death induced by detachment from the extracellular matrix (ECM). "Metastasis, the spread of cancer cells from the primary tumor site to distant sites in the body, is responsible for in excess of 90 percent of cancer deaths," Schafer said. "In order for cancer cells to metastasize, they must survive the trip from the primary tumor to a secondary site. A significant barrier to ...

In results presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2015, a University of Colorado Cancer Center study shows that orally administering the chemical silibinin, purified from milk thistle, slows the ability of colorectal cancer stem cells to grow the disease. When stem cells from tumors grown in silibinin-fed conditions were re-injected into new models, the cells failed to develop equally aggressive tumors even in the absence of silibinin. "It's very simple: tumors from mice that were initially fed silibinin had fewer cancer stem cells, ...

Researchers from The University of Manchester working with drug development company Evgen Pharma, have developed a new combination of drugs which could overcome treatment resistance and relapse in breast cancer. In research to be revealed at the American Association of Cancer Research annual conference on Monday, the researchers show that in the most common type of breast cancer, affecting 70% of patients, the drug Sulforadex helps overcome resistance to routinely used hormonal treatments by targeting the cancer stem cell population. While most women initially respond ...

HANOVER, N.H. - Dartmouth astrophysicists and their colleagues have not only proven that a supermassive black hole exists in a place where it isn't supposed to be, but in doing so have opened a new door to what things were like in the early universe. Henize 2-10 is a small irregular galaxy that is not too far away in astronomical terms -- 30 million light-years. "This is a dwarf starburst galaxy -- a small galaxy with regions of very rapid star formation -- about 10 percent of the size of our own Milky Way," says co-author Ryan Hickox, an assistant professor in Dartmouth's ...

A new review of the ideas and work of Patrick Matthew, a little-known antecedent of Charles Darwin, argues that Matthew is under-appreciated even though he described the idea of large-scale evolution by natural selection decades before Darwin did. Some of his ideas were different from Darwin's but are equally valid. "Patrick Matthew was a fascinating character--strong-willed and fiercely independent," said Dr. Michael Weale, author of the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society article. "Darwin used detailed, methodical force of argument to convince the world of evolution ...

For many students or junior academics--and even for senior investigators--initiating a new piece of research can be a daunting experience, and they often do not know where or how to begin. A recent Accounting and Finance article offers a simple new research tool that can act as a template designed for pitching research ideas to mentors or other experts. The two-page pitching template includes 4 preliminary components: working title, research question, key papers, and motivation. Next is a '3-2-1 countdown' that is based on 3 elements - idea, data, and tools; 2 questions ...

Among soft-bodied cephalopods, vampire squid live life at a slower pace. At ocean depths from 500 to 3,000 meters, they don't swim so much as float, and they get by with little oxygen while consuming a low-calorie diet of zooplankton and detritus. Now, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on April 20 have found that vampire squid differ from all other living coleoid cephalopods in their reproductive strategy as well. While other squid reproduce all at once late in their lives, vampire squid appear to alternate between reproductive and resting ...

Household pets can transmit infection to people, especially those with weak immune systems, young children, pregnant women and seniors, according to an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Health care providers and pet owners should be aware of this risk to prevent illness in vulnerable people. Surveys suggest that the general public and people at high risk for pet-associated disease are not aware of the risks associated with high-risk pet practices or recommendations to reduce them; for example, 77% of households that obtained a new pet following a ...

La Jolla, Calif., April 20, 2015 - A new research study has shown that pancreatic cancer cells can be coaxed to revert back toward normal cells by introducing a protein called E47. E47 binds to specific DNA sequences and controls genes involved in growth and differentiation. The research provides hope for a new treatment approach for the more than 40,000 people who die from the disease each year in the United States. "For the first time, we have shown that overexpression of a single gene can reduce the tumor-promoting potential of pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells and reprogram ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio--As new medical diagnostics become available, researchers are increasingly discovering situations in which pets can transmit diseases to humans--especially when an owner's immune system is compromised. At The Ohio State University and partner institutions, researchers have compiled the latest information from more than 500 studies worldwide to make recommendations on how families can minimize the risk of disease transmission by choosing the right type of pet, or by making small changes in how they enjoy the pets they already have. The review was published ...

A new diagnostic method, namely spectral histopathology, facilitates marker-free detection of individual subtypes of lung cancers. It was developed by researchers at the PURE consortium at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB). They have successfully applied it in collaboration with clinicians at the Ruhrlandklinik in Essen. It is an automatable imaging process which, by classifying specific forms of lung cancer, facilitates a prognosis regarding a tumour's aggressiveness. The team, headed by RUB Prof Dr Klaus Gerwert, compares the results of traditional diagnostic procedures ...

CLEMSON, S.C. -- In a groundbreaking achievement led by an international team that includes Clemson scientist Chris Saski, the intricately woven genetic makeup of Upland cotton has been decoded for the first time in the ancient plant's history. Saski participated in sequencing the genome, which is a crucial stepping-stone toward further advancements of understanding the inner workings of one of the most complex and treasured plants on the planet. The future implications of Saski's research in the short and long terms are both financial and holistic. Upland cotton, which ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Researchers at Oregon State University have invented a new technology that can increase the bandwidth of WiFi systems by 10 times, using LED lights to transmit information. The technology could be integrated with existing WiFi systems to reduce bandwidth problems in crowded locations, such as airport terminals or coffee shops, and in homes where several people have multiple WiFi devices. Experts say that recent advances in LED technology have made it possible to modulate the LED light more rapidly, opening the possibility of using light for wireless ...

NEW YORK (April 20, 2015) -- Genomic studies have illuminated the ways in which malfunctioning genes can drive cancer growth while stunting the therapeutic effects of chemotherapy and other treatments. But new findings from Weill Cornell Medical College investigators indicate that these genes are only partly to blame for why treatment that was at one point effective ultimately fails for about 40 percent of patients diagnosed with the most common form of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. The study, published April 20 in Nature Communications, suggests that global changes in cancer ...

A rigorous analysis of antimalarial drug quality conducted in Cambodia and Tanzania found no evidence of fake medicines, according to new research published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. But researchers warn that routine surveillance is crucial as poor quality medicines exist, leaving malaria patients at risk of dying and increasing the risk of drug resistance. Previous reports had suggested that up to one third of antimalarials could be fake. Researchers from the Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) Consortium at the London School ...

Dispensing of prescription opioid pain relievers and prescription opioid overdoses both dropped substantially after abuse-deterrent extended-release oxycodone hydrochloride was introduced on the pharmaceutical market and the narcotic drug propoxyphene was withdrawn from the U.S. market in 2010, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine. The abuse-deterrent OxyContin formulation is resistant to crushing and dissolving, actions that have been used to bypass the extended-release mechanism to get a quicker and more intense high. Propoxyphene (also ...

Children whose families and pediatricians were most faithful to an obesity intervention program that included computerized clinical decision support for physicians and health coaching for families experienced the greatest improvements in body mass index (BMI), according to an article published online by JAMA Pediatrics. The prevalence of childhood obesity in the United States remains at historically high levels. Clinical approaches that are cost-effective and scalable for obesity reduction in children are a public health priority. However, interventions to improve BMI ...

(Boston) - Results of a new study led by Boston Medical Center (BMC) researchers, in collaboration with Harvard Medical School (HMS), indicate that the introduction of abuse-deterrent OxyContin, coupled with the removal of propoxyphene from the US prescription marketplace, may have played a role in decreasing opioid prescribing and overdoses. The findings, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, showed that these two changes led to a 19 percent drop in prescription opioid supply that was mirrored by a 20 percent drop in prescription opioid overdose between August 2010 and ...