THURSDAY, July 3, 2014, Las Vegas: Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health have conducted the first-ever analysis of clinical trials for Alzheimer's disease (AD), revealing an urgent need to increase the number of agents entering the AD drug development pipeline and progressing successfully towards new therapy treatments. The paper, "Alzheimer's Disease Drug Development Pipeline: Few Candidates, Frequent Failures," was published today in the journal Alzheimer's Research & Therapy. A comprehensive look at all clinical trials underway shows: There ...

As older adults typically have one or more chronic health conditions that can affect dietary intake, malnutrition has been identified as a serious problem in older adults. This has given rise to the recommendation that nutrition screenings be a mandatory part of the comprehensive geriatric analysis (CGA). The CGA, first developed in the 1930s, is a multidimensional diagnostic process that looks at a frail elderly person's medical, psychosocial, and functional capabilities in order to develop an overall plan for treatment and follow-up. While it has been used across health ...

Pediatric patients with intestinal failure often need gastrostomy tubes, or feeding tubes inserted into an opening created in the stomach, for long-term nutrition. The use of such tubes can lead to persistent gastrocutaneous fistulae, or the failure of the opening to close on its own, resulting in a need for surgical closure. The causes of gastrocutaneous fistulae in pediatric patients are largely unknown, but researchers at Boston Children's Hospital looked at possible risk factors, including nutrition. Their finds are published today in the OnlineFirst version of the ...

A new study gives hospitals overall good marks for conducting nutrition screenings within 24 hours of a patient's admission, but finds that many need to improve other practices to be more effective. The study, conducted by the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (A.S.P.E.N.) and published today in A.S.P.E.N's Nutrition in Clinical Practice journal, found that while most respondents said that screening patients for malnutrition was being done in compliance with The Joint Commission mandate of 1995, fewer than half were familiar with the 2012 Consensus ...

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen and the Copenhagen University Hospital have identified a particular genetic mutation that may cause parkinsonism in young people. The mutation interferes with the brain's transport of the important signal substance dopamine and may also plays a role in mental diseases, e.g. ADHD. The findings have just been published in the scientific Journal of Clinical Investigation. Being one of the most important signal substances in the brain, dopamine is particularly important for the control of movements and reward mechanisms in the brain. ...

Bottom Line: Women with long-term high blood pressure (hypertension) appear to be at an increased risk for the skin condition psoriasis, and long-term use of beta (β)-blocker medication to treat hypertension may also increase the risk of psoriasis. Author: Shaowei Wu, M.D., Ph.D., of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, and colleagues. Background: Psoriasis is an immune-related chronic disease that affects about 3 percent of the U.S. population. The authors suggest prospective data on the risk of psoriasis associated with hypertension is lacking. Antihypertensive ...

Bottom Line: Full implementation of the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) national health insurance expansion could result in many more discretionary surgical procedures in the next few years based on how utilization changed after an earlier insurance reform in Massachusetts. Author: Chandy Ellimoottil, M.D., of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and colleagues. Background: The potential effect of the ACA on surgical care is not well known. The authors examined its possible effect by analyzing the Massachusetts insurance expansion and utilization of discretionary and ...

Bottom Line: A clinical trial found a reduction in seizures and improvement in related symptoms, including depression and anxiety, in patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) who were treated with cognitive behavioral therapy informed psychotherapy (CBT-ip) with and without the medication sertraline. Authors: W. Curt LaFrance, Jr., M.D., M.P.H., of Brown University, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, R.I., and colleagues. Background: PNES is not responsive to standard treatment and can be made worse by antiepileptic medications. Up to 20 percent of civilians ...

A team including researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the San Diego Zoo's Institute for Conservation Research has developed a novel methodology that for the first time combines 3D and advanced range estimator technologies to provide highly detailed data on the range and movements of terrestrial, aquatic, and avian wildlife species. A paper detailing the project, called 'Movement-based Estimation and Visualization of Space Use in 3D for Wildlife Ecology and Conservation', was published July 2 in the PLOS ONE online science journal. A video of the project ...

PHOENIX, Ariz. — July 2, 2014 — Lung cancer patients could receive more precise treatment, and their progress could be better tracked, using a new high-tech method of non-invasive medical imaging analysis, according to a study published today by the journal PLOS ONE. Genetic changes increasingly are recognized as driving cancer development. But obtaining evidence of these changes usually requires a biopsy, which can be problematic for sensitive regions of the body such as the lungs. Based on a review of 48 patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the study ...

Researchers at the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin have created a new nonlinear metasurface, or meta mirror, that could one day enable the miniaturization of laser systems. The invention, called a "nonlinear mirror" by the researchers, could help advance nonlinear laser systems that are used for chemical sensing, explosives detection, biomedical research and potentially many other applications. The researchers' study will be published in the July 3 issue of Nature. The metamaterials were created with nonlinear optical response ...

This news release is available in German. Lasers have a fixed place in many fields of application. Yet, there are still wavelengths for which either no systems exist, or at best only large and expensive ones. On the other hand remote sensing and medical applications call for compact laser systems, for example with wavelengths from the near infrared to the Terahertz region. A team of researchers at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (Germany) and the University of Texas Austin (USA) has now developed a 400 nanometer thick nonlinear mirror that reflects frequency-doubled ...

A Boston-based scientific collaborative, led by Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers, has discovered a way to collect the best cell type for regenerating a damaged cornea—the clear membrane that covers the pupil and directs light into the back of the eye. The investigators report in the journal Nature that purified human stem cells can be used to improve long-term vision in mice. The team is now pursuing FDA-approval for the technique before moving on to patient clinical trials. The study, lead by co-senior investigators Natasha Frank, MD, and Markus Frank, ...

A new pathogen has been discovered by scientists investigating major die-offs of pigeons native to North America, according to studies led by the University of California, Davis, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Scientists were able to implicate this new parasite, along with the ancient parasite Trichomonas gallinae, in the recent deaths of thousands of Pacific Coast band-tailed pigeons. The die-offs occurred during multiple epidemics in California's Central Coast and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges. Scientists named the new pathogen Trichomonas stableri. Avian ...

PHILADELPHIA - Using computer-automated, time‐lapse photography of embryos in the laboratory during in-vitro fertilization may improve embryo selection, potentially increasing the chances of pregnancy among women undergoing the procedure, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and five other fertility centers. Results of the study were presented this week at the 30th annual European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) meeting in Munich, Germany. The researchers at Penn and their collaborators ...

A novel intravaginal ring implanted with anti-retroviral drug tablets, or pods, demonstrated sustained and controlled drug release and safety over 28 days, according to a paper published ahead of print in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. The ring, designed to prevent transmission of HIV, was tested in pig-tailed macaque monkeys, and is engineered to be inexpensive, all the better for use in developing countries, says corresponding author Marc Baum. One of the two drug combinations tested in the ring had been shown in three clinical trials to prevent HIV—some of ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Sixty percent of U.S. Army soldiers who were unable to return to a military career after an Iraq deployment couldn't do so because of a muscle, bone or joint injury and nearly half had a mental health diagnosis, according to a new study from the University of Michigan and VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System. Lower rank, which indicated socioeconomic status, was also a predictor of poor health outcomes among service members, according to the research that appears in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery and was led by a former Army Major who served in ...

Ancient Japanese gold leaf artists were truly masters of their craft. An analysis of six ancient Namban paper screens show that these artifacts are gilded with gold leaf that was hand-beaten to the nanometer scale. Study leader Sofia Pessanha of the Atomic Physics Center of the University of Lisbon in Portugal believes that the X-ray fluorescence technique her team used in the analysis could also be used to date other artworks without causing any damage to them. The results are published in Springer's journal Applied Physics A: Materials Science & Processing. Gold leaf ...

A Simon Fraser University study on how kangaroos use their tails as a 'fifth' leg is providing new insight into the diversity of biological movement, and specific insight into why we walk the way we do. Published today in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, the study, led by professor Max Donelan of SFU's Locomotion Laboratory, found kangaroos, commonly viewed as hoppers, move with a "pentapedal" gait, planting their tails on the ground in combination with their front and hind legs. "We measured the forces the tail exerts on the ground and calculated the mechanical ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A new study shows that adipose-derived human stem cells, which can become vital tissues such as bone, may be highly resistant to the common chemotherapy drug methotrexate (MTX). The preliminary finding from lab testing may prove significant because MTX causes bone tissue damage in many patients. MTX is used to treat cancers including acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common form of childhood cancer. A major side effect of the therapy, however, is a loss of bone mineral density. Other bone building stem cells, such as bone marrow ...

This news release is available in German. If you want to send light on a trip through optical fibres with as little loss as possible, you should opt for infrared light, as is the case, for example, in the telecommunication networks worldwide. For certain applications, such as spectroscopic investigations on ions or atoms, however, (laser) light in the ultraviolet range is required. But this type of light would quickly damage conventional optical fibres. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) in Erlangen/Germany and of the QUEST Institute, ...

Drawing inspiration from the structure of bones and bamboo, researchers have found that by gradually changing the internal structure of metals they can make stronger, tougher materials that can be customized for a wide variety of applications – from body armor to automobile parts. "If you looked at metal under a microscope you'd see that it is composed of millions of closely-packed grains," says Yuntian Zhu, a professor of materials science and engineering at NC State and senior author of two papers on the new work. "The size and disposition of those grains affect the ...

DALLAS – July 2, 2014 – Cognitive behavioral therapy in addition to medication improves the long-term success of treatment for children and adolescents suffering from depression, a new UT Southwestern Medical Center study indicates. Based on the results of a clinical trial conducted at UT Southwestern and Children's Medical Center of Dallas, depression relapse rates were substantially lower in a group of youth who received both forms of treatment versus medication alone. "Continuation-phase strategies designed to reduce the high rates of relapse in depressed youths ...

July 2, 2014 - We can all think of great sports rivals: tennis players Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, swimmers Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, or basketball players Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. These fierce, personal rivalries seem worlds apart from a hometown 5K race. Yet even local races often produce rivals who push each other to higher levels of performance, according to new research that surveyed runners and used data from 184 races. Rivalries are distinct from other competitions as those involved place higher stakes on their performance independent of any tangible ...

DARIEN, IL – A new study of adult twins suggests that the level of socioeconomic deprivation in a neighborhood is associated with the sleep duration of residents. Results show that increased socioeconomic deprivation was significantly associated with decreased sleep duration across all twins. Further analysis within twin pairs found that this association remained significant after accounting for genetics and shared family environment, indicating a robust relationship. "These results are a starting point for discussing the impact that neighborhood-level factors have ...