Heightened newspaper coverage after a suicide might have a significant impact on the initiation of some teenage suicide clusters, according to new research published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal. The study reveals that the content of media reports is also important, with more prominent stories (ie, published on the front page) and those that describe the suicide in considerable detail more likely to be associated with so-called copycat suicides. "Our findings indicate that the more sensational the coverage of the suicides, and the more details the story provides, ...

In this Review, published to coincide with the launch of The Lancet Psychiatry journal, Professor Kees van Heeringen from Ghent University in Belgium and John Mann from Columbia University in the USA discuss the stress-diathesis theory of suicide, in which a predisposition or diathesis interacts with stressful life experiences and acute psychiatric illness to cause suicidal behaviour. The theory explains why only a small minority of individuals are at risk of taking their own lives after exposure to such stressors. The authors discuss the causes of the diathesis, or ...

University of Rochester scientists have discovered a gene with a critical link to pancreatic cancer, and further investigation in mice shows that by blocking the gene's most important function, researchers can slow the disease and extend survival. Published online by Cell Reports, the finding offers a potential new route to intrude on a cancer that usually strikes quickly, has been stubbornly resistant to targeted therapies, and has a low survival rate. Most recent improvements in the treatment of pancreatic cancer, in fact, are the result of using different combinations ...

Stroke survivors should control their blood pressure, cholesterol and weight and do moderate physical activity regularly to avoid having another stroke, according to an American Heart Association/American Stroke Association scientific statement. They should also receive other evidence-based therapy specific to their individual health, which may include aspirin therapy or a surgical procedure to keep neck arteries open. The statement, "Guidelines for the Prevention of Stroke in Patients with Stroke and Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA)," is published in the American Heart ...

By hightailing it to nearby ponds and shallow waterways, frogs and salamanders have – until now – had a way to evade exotic trout introduced to the West's high-mountain lakes for recreational fishing. A warming climate, however, will dry up some of the places where amphibians and their young have found refuge. Researchers in the May 1 issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment write about this challenge and a novel combination of tools that could help land managers, biologists, fishing enthusiasts and other citizens weigh where amphibians are in the most need of ...

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have identified a key chemical that can repair the damage to cells which causes a rare but devastating disease involving accelerated ageing. As well as offering a promising new way of treating the condition, known as Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS), the discovery could help in the development of drugs against cancer and other genetic diseases and might also suggest ways to alleviate diseases that we associate with normal ageing. The results are published in the journal Science. Around 150 people worldwide are known ...

WASHINGTON — A research team at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center reports that inhibiting a single protein completely shuts down growth of pancreatic cancer, a highly lethal disease with no effective therapy. Their study, to be published May 6th in Science Signaling, demonstrates in animal models and in human cancer cells that while suppressing Yes-associated protein (Yes) did not prevent pancreatic cancer from first developing, it stopped any further growth. "We believe this is the true Achilles heel of pancreatic cancer, because knocking out Yes crushes ...

Stanford, CA—Plants spend their entire lifetime rooted to one spot. When faced with a bad situation, such as a swarm of hungry herbivores or a viral outbreak, they have no option to flee but instead must fight to survive. What is the key to their defense? Chemistry. Thanks to this ongoing conflict, plants have evolved into amazing chemists, capable of synthesizing tens of thousands of compounds from thousands of genes. These chemicals, known as specialized metabolites, allow plants to withstand transient threats from their environment. What's more, some of the same compounds ...

HOUSTON – (May 1, 2014) -- A team of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine have identified the gene underlying a newly recognized genetic syndrome that has symptoms of sleep apnea, delayed speech and hyptonia, or generalized upper body weakness. The study published online today in the American Journal of Human Genetics. The Baylor researchers first studied a patient from Australia with these symptoms who had been seen by many doctors and had multiple diagnostic tests, without any diagnosis. Although there was no family history of the disease, the researchers ...

'Cell migration' is a broad term for all the processes associated with the movement of cells from one location to another. It lies at the core of biological processes like embryonic development, immune responses and wound healing, but also autoimmune diseases and metastasis of cancerous cells. Cell migration is achieved through the movement of the cell's membrane, which is powered by the action of a protein network inside the cell. However, this interaction is affected by the cell's overall shape, but exactly how this takes place is unclear. Publishing in Current Biology, ...

Babies who have skull deformation because they lie in the same position most of the time do not benefit from wearing a corrective helmet, finds research published today on bmj.com. There was no meaningful difference in skull shape at the age of two years between children treated with therapy helmet and those who received no active treatment. Both groups showed similar improvements although only a quarter made a full recovery to a normal head shape, according to the team of researchers based in The Netherlands. Around one baby in five under the age of six months develops ...

Researchers have identified a section of the anthrax toxin Lethal Factor that could help produce a more effective vaccine. Anthrax is a potentially lethal disease caused by a bacterium called Bacillus anthracis. The bacteria produce spores that when inhaled, ingested or absorbed into the skin release toxins. When anthrax affects the lungs or intestines it can cause death within a few days whilst infection of the skin (cutaneous anthrax) is less dangerous. Infection can occur from contact with infected livestock, meat or hides, but most people know about anthrax from ...

Natural gas (methane) can be converted into hydrogen (H2), which is used in clean energy, synthetic fertilizers, and many other chemicals. The reaction requires water and a nickel catalyst. Methane and water molecules attach on the catalyst's surface, where they dissociate into their atomic components. These then recombine to form different compounds like H2 and CO. Previous research has focused mainly on understanding how methane dissociates, but experimental constraints have limited research into water dissociation. Publishing in Science, EPFL scientists have used lasers ...

Shrinking ice sheets and melting ice caps are well known consequences of climate change. But a new study reveals that impacts on biodiversity will be just as severe in other regions of the world. When multiple dimensions of climate change are analyzed, different regions emerge as threatened by different aspects of climate change. The tropics, for example, will be highly affected by local changes in temperature and precipitation, leading to novel climates with no current analogues in the planet. These results, recently published in Science, expose the complexities of climate ...

On Friday 2 May, 2014, The Lancet and The Lancet Respiratory Medicine will release three new review articles and an Editorial on asthma, ahead of World Asthma Day on May 6 and the American Thoracic Society's international conference (ATS 2014) in San Diego (May 16-21). Editorial – Controlling asthma Outdoor air pollution and asthma Asthma genetics and personalised medicine Diagnosis, management, and prognosis of preschool wheeze The Lancet: Outdoor air pollution and asthma Traffic and power generation are the main sources of urban air pollution. The idea that ...

Boston and Cambridge, MA – Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), Harvard Medical School (HMS), the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and University of Chicago report findings demonstrating how genetic variations among healthy, young individuals can influence immune cell function. Many of those variants are also genetic risk factors for common diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, and multiple sclerosis later in life, offering new insight into disease pathology. The study will be published in the May 2, ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Launched in 2013, the national BRAIN Initiative aims to revolutionize our understanding of cognition by mapping the activity of every neuron in the human brain, revealing how brain circuits interact to create memories, learn new skills, and interpret the world around us. Before that can happen, neuroscientists need new tools that will let them probe the brain more deeply and in greater detail, says Alan Jasanoff, an MIT associate professor of biological engineering. "There's a general recognition that in order to understand the brain's processes in comprehensive ...

Corn yields in the central United States have become more sensitive to drought conditions in the past two decades, according to Stanford research. The study, which appears in the journal Science, was led by Stanford's David Lobell, associate professor of environmental Earth system science and associate director of the Center on Food Security and the Environment. "The Corn Belt is phenomenally productive," Lobell said, referring to the region of Midwestern states where much of the country's corn is grown. "But in the past two decades we saw very small yield gains in non-irrigated ...

Bacteria don't have sex as such, but they can mix their genetic material by pulling in DNA from dead bacterial cells and inserting these into their own genome. New research led by Imperial College London has found that this process – called recombination – is more complex than was first thought. The findings, published today in PLoS Genetics, could help us understand why bacteria which cause serious diseases are able to evade vaccines and rapidly become drug-resistant. Dr Rafal Mostowy of Imperial College London's School of Public Health explains: "During recombination, ...

When a woman requires gynecologic surgery, she and her surgeon have several minimally invasive surgical options, including robotic surgery. In recent years, the use of robotic surgery has become more and more common. But questions have arisen about the potential overuse of robotic surgery and its advantages over traditional laparotomy for hysterectomy. A clinical opinion by Charles Rardin, MD, a urogynecologist in the Division of Urogynecology and Reconstructive Surgery and director of the Robotic Surgery Program for Women at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, ...

OAKLAND, Calif., May 2, 2014 — Women with high levels of a common liver enzyme measured prior to pregnancy were twice as likely to subsequently develop gestational diabetes than those with the lowest levels, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published today in the journal Diabetes Care. The liver plays an important role in regulating glucose levels in the body. The liver enzyme, called gamma-glutamyl transferase (known as GGT), is a common marker of liver function and has also been associated with insulin resistance, which can be a precursor to gestational diabetes ...

The so-called Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus was first found in June 2012 in a patient from Saudi Arabia, who suffered from severe pneumonia. Since this time more than 300 persons have developed an infection, of whom about a third died. The fact that the Arabian camel is the origin of the infectious disease has been confirmed recently. The transmission pathways of the viruses, however, have not been clear until now. Viruses in humans and camels from one region are identical Virologists Norbert Nowotny and Jolanta Kolodziejek from the Institute ...

The periodic table of the elements is to get crowded towards its heaviest members. Evidence for the artificial creation of element 117 has recently been obtained at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research, an accelerator laboratory located in Darm-stadt, Germany. The experiment was performed by an international team of chemists and physicists headed by Prof. Christoph Düllmann, who holds positions at GSI, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), and the Helmholtz Institute Mainz (HIM). The team included 72 scientists and engineers from 16 institutions in Australia, ...

The drug sofosbuvir has been available since January 2014 as a treatment for chronic hepatitis C infection. In an early benefit assessment pursuant to the Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG), the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) has now examined whether the new drug offers added benefit in comparison with the appropriate comparator therapy. The dossier submitted by the drug manufacturer provides indications of added benefit for non-pretreated patients infected with the virus of genotype 2. However, the extent ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. --- Here's another reason to drop that doughnut and hit the treadmill: A new study suggests aerobic fitness affects long-term memory. Michigan State University researchers tested 75 college students during a two-day period and found those who were less fit had a harder time retaining information. "The findings show that lower-fit individuals lose more memory across time," said Kimberly Fenn, study co-author and assistant professor of psychology. The study, which appears online in the research journal Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience, ...