Adolescents with chronic diseases (ACD), such as cystic fibrosis, gastrointestinal disorders (including Crohn's disease) and Type 1 diabetes, often find the transition of managing their health care needs into adulthood to be challenging. Preparations for this transition are often clinic-based, costly and do not fully or effectively engage with this patient population. A new study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine found the answer to developing independent, self-management skills in ACD could be right at the patient's fingertips. ...

One of the most comprehensive studies of the potential link between reduced sleep and childhood obesity finds compelling evidence that children who consistently received less than the recommended hours of sleep during infancy and early childhood had increases in both obesity and in adiposity or overall body fat at age 7. The study from MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) investigators, published in the June issue of Pediatrics, also finds no evidence of a specific period during which insufficient sleep has greater influence on later obesity. "Our study found convincing ...

More and more men who believe they have low-risk prostate cancers are opting for active surveillance, forgoing treatment and monitoring the cancer closely with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests, digital rectal exams and ultrasounds at regular intervals to see if their tumors are growing. Nearly 400 men are now enrolled in the UCLA Active Surveillance program, the largest in Southern California. However, according to a new UCLA study, selection of men for active surveillance should be based not on the widely used conventional biopsy, but with a new, image-guided targeted ...

WASHINGTON - Low-income Latino children who experienced one year of Montessori pre-K education at age 4 made dramatic improvements in early achievement and behavior even though they began the year at great risk for school failure, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. In contrast, although low-income black children made gains in school readiness when enrolled in Montessori classrooms as well, they exhibited slightly greater gains when they attended more conventional public school pre-kindergarten programs. The research was published ...

LIVERPOOL, UK – 9 May 2014: A University of Liverpool study of fruit flies has revealed that males forced to compete with other males become less attractive to females and die young. In the test, male fruit flies of the species Drosophila subobscura were kept either alone or in groups. The females of this species are monandrous – they only mate once in their lives, meaning that males have to get very lucky to mate at all. As a result males compete furiously for access to females. Evolutionary biologist, Dr Anne Lizé, who led the study said: "When we see stags fighting ...

Today, the majority of cancers are detected on the macroscopic level, when the tumor is already composed of millions of cancer cells and the disease is starting to advance into a more mature phase. But what if we could diagnose cancer before it took hold- while it was still only affecting a few localized cells? It would be like putting a fire out while it was still just a few sparks versus after having already caught on and spread to many areas of the house. An international team of researchers, led by ICFO- Institute of Photonic Sciences in Castelldefels, announce ...

Adding vitamin D to asthma treatment to improve breathing only appears to benefit patients who achieve sufficient levels of the supplement in the blood. Overall, the ability to control asthma did not differ between a study group that received vitamin D supplements and a group that received placebo, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "Previous studies suggested that if you have asthma and low levels of vitamin D in the blood, you have worse lung function, more asthma attacks and more emergency room visits than asthma patients ...

Researchers at MIT and the University of Vienna have created an imaging system that reveals neural activity throughout the brains of living animals. This technique, the first that can generate 3-D movies of entire brains at the millisecond timescale, could help scientists discover how neuronal networks process sensory information and generate behavior. The team used the new system to simultaneously image the activity of every neuron in the worm Caenorhabditis elegans, as well as the entire brain of a zebrafish larva, offering a more complete picture of nervous system ...

Cold Spring Harbor, NY -- Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) today report a discovery that they hope will lead to the development of a powerful new way of treating an aggressive form of breast cancer. The breast cancer subtype in question is commonly called "HER2-positive"; it's a subset of the disease affecting about one patient in four, in which tumor cells overexpress a signaling protein called HER2. The blockbuster drug Herceptin is a treatment of choice for many women with HER2-positive breast cancer, but in most cases, resistance to the treatment ...

ATS 2014, SAN DIEGO ─ As if increased risks of high blood pressure, respiratory infections, lung cancer and even depression weren't enough, researchers say patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have another complication to worry about: heart failure. That's according to a new study from the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, which found the prevalence of heart failure is significantly higher in patients with COPD compared to the rest of the study population. They also found that the risk was especially high among African-American patients ...

ATS 2014, SAN DIEGO ─ Patients with chronic pulmonary thromboembolic disease may benefit from pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PTE), even if the patients don't have severe pulmonary hypertension, according to University of California, San Diego, researchers. The study was presented at the 2014 American Thoracic Society International Conference. UCSD pioneered PTE in the 1970s for patients who suffered from chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). During PTE, surgeons put a patient on a heart-lung machine, cool the body to reduce its need for oxygen ...

ATS 2014, SAN DIEGO ─ A new study by researchers from California and Canada indicates a simple urine test can indicate the presence of venous thromboembolism, a blood clot that has broken free from its point of origin and which travels through the bloodstream, eventually lodging in a vein. The test evaluates the levels of fibrinopeptide B (FPB), a small peptide that's released when a thrombosis forms and which is removed from the body through urine. The results of the study will be presented at the American Thoracic Society's 2014 International Conference here. Study ...

ATS 2014, SAN DIEGO ─ Clinically important sleep apnea is common among survivors of acute respiratory failure, according to a new study presented at the 2014 American Thoracic Society International Conference. "Insomnia is a frequent complaint among survivors of critical illness," said Dr. Elizabeth Parsons, MD, MSc, of the Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle. "We examined a small cohort of survivors of acute respiratory failure to understand modifiable contributors to insomnia, including sleep apnea." The ...

Patients with pancreatic cancer have a different and distinct profile of specific bacteria in their saliva compared to healthy controls and even patients with other cancers or pancreatic diseases, according to research presented today at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. These findings could form the basis for a test to diagnose the disease in its early stages. "Our studies suggest that ratios of particular types of bacteria found in saliva may be indicative of pancreatic cancer," says Pedro Torres of San Diego State University who presented ...

(Philadelphia, PA) – A statin drug commonly used to lower cholesterol is not effective in reducing the number and severity of flare ups from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to the results of a large multicenter clinical trial designed and directed by Gerard J. Criner, MD, Director of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Criner, who served as the study's Principal Investigator, will report the results on May 18 at the American Thoracic Society's annual international scientific meeting in San ...

Jerusalem, May 18, 2014 – Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., (NYSE: TEVA) today announced that results from a real-life, retrospective, observational study of QVAR® will be presented at the American Thoracic Society (ATS) 2014 International Conference in San Diego on May 18, 2014. QVAR® is an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) indicated in the maintenance treatment of asthma as a prophylactic therapy in patients 5 years of age and older. Data to be presented at the meeting evaluated the benefit of treating asthma with small particle treatments, like QVAR®, in comparison ...

Bacteria live in the bladders of healthy women, discrediting the common belief that normal urine is sterile. This finding was presented today by researchers from Loyola University Chicago at the 114th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Boston. "Doctors have been trained to believe that urine is germ-free," said Linda Brubaker, MD, MS, co-investigator and dean, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine (SSOM). "These findings challenge this notion, so this research opens the door to exciting new possibilities for patient treatment." ...

A University of Florida study shows that the same bacteria that cause gum disease also promotes heart disease – a discovery that could change the way heart disease is diagnosed and treated. Researchers report their findings today at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. "We report evidence that introduction of oral bacteria into the bloodstream in mice increased risk factors for atherosclerotic heart disease. Our hope is that the American Heart Association will acknowledge causal links between oral disease and increased heart disease. That will ...

Women plagued by repeated urinary tract infections may be able to prevent the infections with help from over-the-counter painkillers, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that inhibiting COX-2, an immune protein that causes inflammation, eliminated recurrent urinary tract infections in mice. COX-2 is one of the proteins blocked by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen. "If we can confirm this link in clinical ...

Contrary to popular belief, urine is not sterile and the bacteria in it may be associated with overactive bladder (OAB) in some women, according to research presented today at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. "The presence of certain bacteria in women with overactive bladder appear associated with OAB symptoms," said Evann Hilt, lead investigator and second-year master's student at Loyola University Chicago. For years doctors have been trained to believe that urine is germ-free. In 2012, Hilt's coauthors used modern, DNA-based detection ...

Athens, 18 May 2014: Heart failure hospitalisation more than doubles during inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) flares, according to a study of more than 5 million Danish people. The research was presented today at the Heart Failure Congress 2014, held 17-20 May, in Athens, Greece. The Congress is the main annual meeting of the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology. Dr Søren L. Kristensen, lead author, said: "Previous studies have shown an association between chronic inflammatory diseases (psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, ...

Birth weight, hours slept, eyeglasses, city birds, washing machines, teenage schoolgirls and other quantifiable signals of well-being can help measure the wealth of a nation beyond Gross Domestic Product, experts say. Moving beyond GDP to sustainability — the focus of a UN­-backed high-level symposium May 19 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — requires broad indicators of a nation's social and environmental well-being to complement measures of economic production and income. "World leaders are acknowledging GDP's limitations, as well as the need for broader measures to evaluate ...

p>Athens, 16 May 2014: The PARADIGM-HF trial has been stopped early for a benefit to patients that was overwhelmingly statistically significant. In the largest ever study of a heart failure treatment, LCZ696 won a head to head comparison with gold standard treatment and improved the primary composite endpoint of cardiovascular death or heart failure hospitalisation, and reduced cardiovascular mortality alone. The latest update on the trial, describing the design and baseline characteristics of patients, was presented today at the Heart Failure Congress 2014 by Professor ...

Athens, 18 May 2014: Clinicians have been urged to consider using spironolactone in their patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF) after a post-hoc analysis of the TOPCAT trial showed benefit in patients from the Americas. The research was presented today at the Heart Failure Congress 2014 in Athens, Greece. The Congress is the main annual meeting of the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology. Professor Bertram Pitt said: "We've had many studies showing that ACE inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, beta blockers ...

Athens, 18 May 2014: Hospital admissions for cardiovascular diseases increased during the Greek financial crisis, according to two studies from Athens. The research was presented today at the Heart Failure Congress 2014, held 17-20 May in Athens, Greece. The Congress is the main annual meeting of the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology. Dr Alexios Samentzas said: "Greece plunged into an economic crisis in 2008 and since then there have been rises in unemployment, wage reductions and a fall in standard of living. Previous studies have shown ...