CHICAGO, IL — Postmenopausal women with osteoporosis who take denosumab long-term have increased bone density, sustained low rate of fractures, and a favorable benefit/risk profile, a new multinational study finds. The results were presented Sunday, June 22, at ICE/ENDO 2014, the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society in Chicago. "This study provides reassurance to physicians and their patients that long-term treatment with denosumab for at least 8 years leads to significant increases in bone density and is safe for appropriately ...

CHICAGO, IL — An investigational drug to treat Type 2 diabetes, empagliflozin, lowers blood pressure in patients with Type 2 diabetes and hypertension (high blood pressure), a new study finds. The results were presented Sunday in a late-breaking abstract at the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and The Endocrine Society: ICE/ENDO 2014 in Chicago. This improvement in blood pressure reportedly was accompanied by a reduction in blood glucose (sugar) levels after 12 weeks of treatment with the drug, which is under development by Germany-based Boehringer ...

CHICAGO, IL — Some nutritional sports supplements marketed to athletes -- claiming to help them build lean muscle, reduce body fat and enhance endurance -- are secretly fortified with androgens, which are banned from use in sports, a new study from Australia finds. The results will be presented in a poster Sunday, June 22, at ICE/ENDO 2014, the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society in Chicago. "The point is that 'you can't judge a book by its cover.' The nutritional supplement label may not disclose all ingredients, and ...

MANHATTAN, Kansas — New physics research involving Kansas State University faculty members has helped shed light on how our universe works. A recently published study in the journal Nature Physics reports scientists have found evidence that the Higgs boson — a fundamental particle proposed in 1964 and discovered in 2012 — is the long sought-after particle responsible for giving mass to elementary particles. "In nature, there are two types of particles: fermions and bosons," said Ketino "Keti" Kaadze, a research associate at Fermilab who in August is joining the faculty ...

CHICAGO, IL — Elderly men with low levels of testosterone or other sex hormones have twice the likelihood of having declining physical function over two years' time compared with their peers who have the highest hormone levels, a new study from Australia finds. The results were presented Saturday at the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society: ICE/ENDO 2014 in Chicago. "We also found that increasing muscle weakness—possibly due to decreasing testosterone concentration in the blood—could explain most of this relationship," ...

CHICAGO, IL — Women who develop diabetes during pregnancy, called gestational diabetes, perform worse on cognitive function tests than do women with a normal pregnancy, according to a new study from Turkey. The results were presented Sunday at the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society: ICE/ENDO 2014 in Chicago. Type 2 diabetes has been linked to accelerated cognitive, or brain-related, decline and an increased risk of dementia in elderly individuals. However, exactly when the memory problems can begin during diabetes is ...

CHICAGO, IL — Long-term mild cold exposure can stimulate brown fat growth and activity in humans and may benefit glucose and energy metabolism, a new study finds. The results were presented in a poster Sunday, June 22 at ICE/ENDO 2014, the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society in Chicago. Brown fat, also known as brown adipose tissue (BAT), is a special kind of fat that burns energy and glucose to generate heat. It keeps small animals and babies warm, and animals with abundant brown fat are protected from diabetes and obesity. ...

CHICAGO, IL — Younger and older women tend to lose lean muscle mass, along with fat, unless they engage in physical activity before they attempt weight loss, a new study from Israel finds. The results were presented Sunday at the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society: ICE/ENDO 2014 in Chicago. "To preserve muscle in metabolic syndrome, irrespective of age, exercise should precede the initiation of weight loss and not be started at the same time as diet," said lead study author Yonit Marcus, MD, PhD, endocrinologist at the ...

CHICAGO, IL — Mice exposed to the fungicide tolyfluanid (TF) showed metabolic changes similar to those that signify the development of the metabolic syndrome. The results, which were presented Sunday at the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society: ICE/ENDO 2014 in Chicago. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions including increased blood pressure, high blood sugar level, excess body fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol levels. Together these conditions increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Rates ...

CHICAGO, IL — Testosterone replacement therapy may help older men who have limited mobility and low testosterone improve their aerobic capacity and lessen its decline with age, new research finds. The results were presented in a poster Sunday, June 22, at ICE/ENDO 2014, the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society in Chicago. "These findings are potentially relevant to older men who have experienced the age-related decline in endurance capacity that may be due in part to low testosterone. If proven safe over the long-term, ...

A new study on the digestion of milk could lead to the development of new formulas for premature babies, weight loss drinks and potentially new drug delivery systems. Published in the journal ACS Nano, the Monash University research shows for the first time detailed insights into the structure of milk during digestion. Whilst milk's nutritional values are well known, little research has been conducted into the detailed structure of milk and how its fats interact with the digestive system until now. Funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC), and led by Dr Stefan ...

An international team of scientists led by Monash University researchers has shown how free radicals contribute to type 2 diabetes, obesity and fatty liver disease. Type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease are key complications of obesity as 80 per cent of patients with type 2 diabetes are obese, and 75 per cent of patients who are obese or have type 2 diabetes also have fatty liver disease. The team, led by Professor Tony Tiganis from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Monash, has found that free radical molecules called Reactive Oxygen ...

A group of French and Russian scientists, including three specialists from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, has discovered a new peculiarity of the Martian atmosphere. The scientists had analyzed satellite-acquired data and concluded that the dust particles in the planet's atmosphere can be of two types. The scientific article which presents the results of the research in detail has been published in the journal Icarus. The Russian contributors to the research, Anna Fedorova, Alexander Rodin and Oleg Korablev, are the specialists of MIPT and SRI (IKI) RAS. ...

A large new study, covering millions of U.S. births over 15 years, finds that substantial numbers of babies, nearly one in 25, are born earlier than medically justified, through elective cesarean sections and elective induced labor. The study reinforces long-standing recommendations by professional medical and public health organizations against early-term deliveries without appropriate medical reasons. "A growing body of research suggests that health outcomes are worse for infants born before 40 weeks gestation, compared to full-term births," said Scott A. Lorch, M.D., ...

(NEW YORK, NY, June 23, 2014) –While many HIV prevention interventions have traditionally been delivered face-to-face, a study from Columbia University School of Nursing suggests that digital outreach efforts delivered via text messages, interactive games, chat rooms, and social networks may be an effective way to reach at-risk younger men. The research review, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, found that eHealth interventions are associated with reductions in risky sexual behaviors and increases in HIV testing among men who have sex with men. Despite ...

A cancer diagnosis affects the whole family, and a significant number of children of cancer patients may be at risk for emotional and behavioral problems. A new analysis published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, suggests that family dysfunction may increase a child's risk of experiencing such problems after learning of a parent's illness. Approximately 21% of all newly diagnosed cancer patients are between the ages of 25 and 54 years, and many may have dependent children living with them at home. While most children and ...

One of the deadliest forms of paediatric brain tumour, Group 3 medulloblastoma, is linked to a variety of large-scale DNA rearrangements which all have the same overall effect on specific genes located on different chromosomes. The finding, by scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ), both in Heidelberg, Germany, and Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in San Diego, USA, is published online today in Nature. To date, the only gene known to play an important role in Group 3 medulloblastoma was a gene ...

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- Pregnant women who lived in close proximity to fields and farms where chemical pesticides were applied experienced a two-thirds increased risk of having a child with autism spectrum disorder or other developmental delay, a study by researchers with the UC Davis MIND Institute has found. The associations were stronger when the exposures occurred during the second and third trimesters of the women's pregnancies. The large, multisite California-based study examined associations between specific classes of pesticides, including organophosphates, pyrethroids ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- National and state air pollution controls that went into effect in the early 1990s coincide with decreasing death rates from emphysema, asthma and pneumonia among people in North Carolina, according to a study led by Duke University researchers. Using mortality trends from state public health data, along with monthly measurements from air-monitoring stations across North Carolina from 1993-2010, the researchers were able to draw a close association between improved air quality and declining death rates from respiratory illnesses. "This research tends ...

Ann Arbor, MI, June 23, 2014 – Bisexual men have many unmet public health needs, which leave them vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and other health problems. This new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) illuminates the behavioral, interpersonal, and social realities of men who have sex with men and women (MSMW), and it explores possible interventions to better serve their needs. The findings are published today in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. MSMW represent a small portion of the population, with about 2% ...

As millions of Americans struggle to help loved ones with dementia, policymakers should consider more ways to improve long-term services and supports for the soaring numbers of people with the debilitating condition and their caregivers, a new RAND Corporation study says -- and it offers possible ways to do so. Unlike other, existing national plans or reports that focus on either long-term care or dementia, the RAND study examines where these concerns intersect, providing a national blueprint that could bolster dementia caregiving. Earlier RAND research estimated that ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – Robots are getting smarter, but they still need step-by-step instructions for tasks they haven't performed before. Before you can tell your household robot "Make me a bowl of ramen noodles," you'll have to teach it how to do that. Since we're not all computer programmers, we'd prefer to give those instructions in English, just as we'd lay out a task for a child. But human language can be ambiguous, and some instructors forget to mention important details. Suppose you told your household robot how to prepare ramen noodles, but forgot to mention heating the ...

Biologists at UC San Diego have found the "missing link" in the chemical system that enables animal cells to produce ribosomes—the thousands of protein "factories" contained within each cell that manufacture all of the proteins needed to build tissue and sustain life. Their discovery, detailed in the June 23 issue of the journal Genes & Development, will not only force a revision of basic textbooks on molecular biology, but also provide scientists with a better understanding of how to limit uncontrolled cell growth, such as cancer, that might be regulated by controlling ...

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered a fundamental mechanism by which the brain maintains its internal balance. The mechanism, described in the June 22 advanced online publication of the journal Nature, involves the brain's most basic inner wiring and the processes that control whether a neuron relays information to other neurons or suppresses the transmission of information. Specifically, the scientists have shown that there is a constant ratio between the total amount of pro-firing stimulation that a neuron receives ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – Now you don't see it. Now, you do. And now you don't see it again. Astronomers have discovered a bright, mysterious geologic object – where one never existed – on Cassini mission radar images of Ligeia Mare, the second-largest sea on Saturn's moon Titan. Scientifically speaking, this spot is considered a "transient feature," but the astronomers have playfully dubbed it "Magic Island." Reporting in the journal Nature Geoscience June 22, the scientists say this may be the first observation of dynamic, geological processes in Titan's northern hemisphere. ...