DURHAM, N.C. – Treatment regimens often evolve without strong scientific evidence of their benefits and drawbacks, particularly in comparison to other drugs or approaches. Now Duke Medicine is participating in a large national initiative aiming to fill in that missing information. In separate articles published Feb. 24, 2014, in the Annals of Internal Medicine, teams led by the Duke Clinical Research Institute detailed the research priorities necessary to address gaps in knowledge about two conditions - bipolar disorder among adolescents and early breast tumors in ...

State regulatory agencies face barriers and often take limited action when confronted with public health concerns resulting from industrial food animal production operations. This is according to a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future who examined agency responses to community health concerns. They found that agencies with jurisdiction over industrial food animal production operations are unable to address concerns primarily due to narrow regulations, a lack of public health expertise, and limited resources. The results are featured ...

INDIANAPOLIS— A theoretical paper with lead author Tamika Zapolski, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology in the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), examines a paradox in African American drinking. African Americans report initiation to drinking at an older age, lower rates of use and lower levels of use in nearly all age groups. Nonetheless, the group encounters higher levels of problems related to alcohol when compared to European Americans. The paper is featured this month by the American Psychological Association on the ...

PHILADELPHIA – Firefighters who died of heart attacks and other vascular problems such as stroke while on the job were most often doing vigorous physical activity right before the attack, according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 66th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, April 26 to May 3, 2014. "Knowing that these fatal heart attacks and other vascular events occur relatively frequently, fire departments and other workplaces need to be prepared to recognize these events and screen for those who may be at higher risk," ...

MINNEAPOLIS – An updated guideline from the American Academy of Neurology recommends that people with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation, or irregular heartbeat, take oral anticoagulants, a type of blood thinner pill, to prevent stroke. The guideline is published in the February 25, 2014, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The World Stroke Organization has endorsed the updated guideline. Taking anticoagulants is especially important for people who have already had a stroke or a transient ischemic attack, which is a threatened ...

Medications used by many older people to control their blood pressure also increase the risk of serious fall injuries by 30% to 40% — injuries that have a similar effect on mortality and functional loss as the strokes and heart attacks the blood pressure drugs are meant to prevent — according to a new study by Yale School of Medicine researchers in the Feb. 24 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine. Clinicians have long assumed that blood pressure medications are safe and effective in all older adults. That is probably true in healthy older adults, but the same might not be ...

Bottom Line: Children of women who used the pain reliever acetaminophen (paracetamol) during pregnancy appear to be at higher risk for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-like behavioral problems and hyperkinetic disorders (HKDs, a severe form of ADHD). Author: Zeyan Liew, M.P.H., of the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues. Background: Acetaminophen is the most commonly used medication for pain and fever during pregnancy. But some recent studies have suggested that acetaminophen has effects on sex and other hormones, which can in turn affect ...

Eating a vegetarian diet appears to be associated with lower blood pressure (BP), and the diets can also be used to reduce blood pressure. Factors such as diet, body weight, physical activity and alcohol intake play a role in the risk of developing hypertension. Dietary modifications have been shown to be effective for preventing and managing hypertension. The authors analyzed seven clinical trials and 32 studies published from 1900 to 2013 in which participants ate a vegetarian diet. Net differences in BP associated with eating a vegetarian diet were measured. In ...

Medication to treat high blood pressure (BP) in older patients appears to be associated with an increased risk for serious injury from falling such as a hip fracture or head injury, especially in older patients who have been injured in previous falls. Most people older than 70 years have high blood pressure, and blood pressure control is key to reducing risk for myocardial infarction (MI, heart attack) and stroke. Previous research has suggested that blood pressure medications may increase risk of falls and fall injuries. Researchers examined the association between ...

The tax status of a hospice (for-profit vs. nonprofit) affects community benefits, the population served and community outreach. The number of for-profit hospices has increased over the past two decades with about 51 percent of hospices being for-profit in 2011 compared with about 5 percent in 1990. But little is known about how for-profit and nonprofit hospices differ in activities beyond service delivery. The authors examined the association between hospice profit status and the provision of community benefits (charity care, research and serving as training sites), ...

The risk of heart attack or stroke is increased in the 30 days after a partner's death. Bereavement is recognized as a risk factor for death and is associated with cardiovascular events. The authors compared the rate of myocardial infarction (MI, heart attack) or stroke in older patients (n=30,447, 60 to 89 years of age) whose partner died to that of individuals (n=83,588) whose partners were still alive during the same period. Fifty patients (0.16 percent) experienced MI or stroke within 30 days of their partner's death compared with 67 (0.08 percent) of controls. ...

AUDIO: A panel of experts that includes researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is recommending depression now be officially included as a risk factor for serious heart... Click here for more information. An extensive review of scientific literature indicates that depression should be added to the list of risk factors associated with heart disease. Others include obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and smoking. A 12-person panel of experts that ...

VIDEO: "Kiss and run " on the cell surface. This 3-D movie shows actual footage of a virus-like particle (red dot) approaching a cell (green with reddish brown nucleus), as captured by... Click here for more information. Tiny and swift, viruses are hard to capture on video. Now researchers at Princeton University have achieved an unprecedented look at a virus-like particle as it tries to break into and infect a cell. The technique they developed could help scientists ...

TORONTO, ON, February 24, 2014 —Women who carry a BRCA gene mutation and opt for a preventive oophorectomy, or ovary removal surgery, have a 77 per cent lower risk of death than those who do not, according to a new study led by Women's College Hospital's Amy Finch and Dr. Steven Narod. Research has long shown that preventive oophorectomy reduces the risks of ovarian and breast cancers in women with a BRCA gene mutation, but the best age for women to have the surgery and its impact on mortality has not been well studied. The findings by Finch and colleagues, published ...

The findings of a large international prospective study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology suggest for the first time that women with BRCA1 mutations should have preventive ovarian surgery (prophylactic oophorectomy) by age 35, as waiting until a later age appears to increase the risk of ovarian cancer before or at the time of the preventive surgery. Women with a BRCA2 mutation, however, do not appear to be at an increased risk by age 35, suggesting they may delay this procedure until later. Moreover, women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations who had this surgery ...

Clinical trial assesses anti-FGF23 for treating X-linked hypophosphatemia X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH) is a heritable form of rickets that results from mutations in the gene encoding the phosphate regulating endopeptidase (PHEX). Unlike diet-associated forms of rickets, XLH cannot be ameliorated by vitamin D ingestion. XLH patients have increased serum levels of FGF23, which decreases both inorganic phosphate (Pi) and the activated form of vitamin D. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Thomas Carpenter and colleagues at Yale University evaluated ...

MADISON, Wis. — Field ecologists go to great lengths to get data: radio collars and automatic video cameras are only two of their creative techniques for documenting the natural world. So when a group of ecologists set out to see how wind moves seeds through isolated patches of habitat carved into a longleaf pine plantation in South Carolina, they twisted colored yarn to create mock seeds that would drift with the wind much like native seeds. The "seeds" were dusted with fluorescent powder and inserted into custom-made boxes mounted on poles, then released as the scientists ...

Livestock production is responsible for 12% of human-related greenhouse gas emissions, primarily coming from land use change and deforestation caused by expansion of agriculture, as well as methane released by the animals themselves, with a lesser amount coming from manure management and feed production. “There is a lot of discussion about reduction of meat in the diets as a way to reduce emissions,” says IIASA researcher Petr Havlík, who led the study “But our results show that targeting the production side of agriculture is a much more efficient way to reduce greenhouse ...

A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has shown for the first time that several types of aquatic algae can detect orange, green and blue light. Land plants have receptors to detect light on the red and far red of the spectrum, which are the common wavelengths in the air. These plants sense the light to move and grow as their environment changes, for example when another plant shades them from the sun. But in the ocean, the water absorbs red wavelengths, instead reflecting colours such as blue and green. As part of the study, a team of ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Cancer rates in developing nations have climbed sharply in recent years, and now account for 70 percent of cancer mortality worldwide. Early detection has been proven to improve outcomes, but screening approaches such as mammograms and colonoscopy, used in the developed world, are too costly to be implemented in settings with little medical infrastructure. To address this gap, MIT engineers have developed a simple, cheap, paper test that could improve diagnosis rates and help people get treated earlier. The diagnostic, which works much like a pregnancy ...

A biologist at the University of York is part of an international team which has shown that advanced DNA sequencing technologies can be used to accurately measure the levels of inbreeding in wild animal populations. The research by senior author Dr Kanchon Dasmahapatra, of the Department of Biology at York, and led by Dr Joseph Hoffman, of the Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University, Germany, may help efforts to conserve rare species. Laboratory studies show that inbreeding reduces fitness. However, studying the impact of inbreeding in wild populations has ...

When acupuncture first became popular in the western hemisphere it had its doubters. It still does. But over time, through detailed observation, scientists have produced real evidence that ancient Chinese practitioners of the medical arts were onto something. Now new research documents a direct connection between the use of acupuncture and physical processes that could alleviate sepsis, a condition that often develops in hospital intensive care units, springs from infection and inflammation, and takes an estimated 250,000 lives in the United States every year. "Sepsis ...

New research from the University of Toronto Scarborough shows that animal dispersal is influenced by a gene associated with feeding and food search behaviours. The study, which was carried out by UTSC Professor Mark Fitzpatrick and PhD student Allan Edelsparre, provides one of the first aimed at gaining a functional understanding of how genes can influence dispersal tendencies in nature. Using common fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster), the researchers observed how two different foraging types – known as sitter flies and rover flies – moved over large distances ...

ATLANTA--Protected natural areas in Costa Rica reduced poverty by 16 percent in neighboring communities, mainly by encouraging ecotourism, according to new research published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Although earlier studies indicated that establishing protected areas in poor regions can lead to reductions in poverty, there was no clear understanding why or how it happens. "Our goal was to show exactly how environmental protection can reduce poverty in poorer nations rather than exacerbate it, as many people fear," says co-author ...

HONOLULU – Scientists are revealing how microbes living on floating pieces of plastic marine debris affect the ocean ecosystem, and the potential harm they pose to invertebrates, humans and other animals. New research being presented here today delves deeper into the largely unexplored world of the "Plastisphere" – an ecological community of microbial organisms living on ocean plastic that was first discovered last year. When scientists initially studied the Plastisphere, they found that at least 1,000 different types of microbes thrive on these tiny plastic islands, ...