About half of smokers seeking treatment for smoking cessation have a history of depression. Compared with smokers who are not depressed, those who suffer from a major depressive disorder (MDD) have greater difficulty quitting. In a Pfizer-sponsored clinical trial to assess the effect of varenicline (Chantix®) on smoking cessation, as well as mood and anxiety levels in smokers with current or a history of depression, researchers concluded that the drug does help some of these patients to quit smoking without worsening symptoms of depression or anxiety. The study was ...

Engineers at Stanford University have devised a new way to generate electricity from sewage using naturally-occurring "wired microbes" as mini power plants, producing electricity as they digest plant and animal waste. In a paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, co-authors Yi Cui, a materials scientist, Craig Criddle, an environmental engineer, and Xing Xie, an interdisciplinary fellow, call their invention a microbial battery. One day they hope it will be used in places such as sewage treatment plants, or to break down organic ...

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have discovered a reason why people with disorders of the thyroid gland may be more sensitive to environmental temperature. According to the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a previously unknown link has been found between the effects of thyroid hormone on blood vessels, and how this in turn affects body temperature. Patients with hyperthyroidism (an overactive thyroid) or hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid) often feel that they are too hot or too cold, respectively. The ...

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have for the first time found an association between living in proximity to high-density livestock production and community-acquired infections with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as MRSA. Their analysis concluded that approximately 11 percent of community-acquired MRSA and soft tissue infections in the study population could be attributed to crop fields fertilized with swine manure. The study is the first to examine the association between high-density livestock operations ...

Consuming five or more alcoholic drinks in a row is common among high school seniors, with some students engaging in extreme binge drinking of as many as 15 or more drinks, according to a study published by JAMA Pediatrics, a JAMA Network publication. Alcohol consumption by adolescents is a public health problem in the United States. Binge drinking, commonly defined as four or more drinks for women and five or more drinks for men, can cause injury, impaired driving and alcohol poisoning, as well as cause long-term risks such as liver damage, alcohol dependence and alterations ...

The overall cost of childhood food allergies was estimated at nearly $25 billion annually in a study of caregivers that quantified medical, out-of-pocket, lost work productivity and other expenses, according to a report published by JAMA Pediatrics, a JAMA Network publication. Food allergy is a growing public health issue in the United States that affects about 8 percent of children. The condition results in significant medical costs to the health care system but also inflicts substantial costs on families, including special diets and allergen-free foods, according to ...

CHICAGO – A higher proportion of women than men 55 years and younger did not have chest pain in acute coronary syndromes (ACS, such as heart attacks or unstable angina), although chest pain was the most common symptom for both sexes, according to a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication. Chest pain is a classic symptom that often triggers diagnostic testing for ACS, however, as many as 35 percent of patients with ACS do not report chest pain at presentation. They are more likely to be misdiagnosed in the emergency department and have a higher ...

Threats from overfishing can be detected early enough to save fisheries-- and livelihoods --with minimal adjustments in harvesting practices, a new study by researchers in the University of Minnesota's College of Biological Sciences shows. The work indicates that a healthy fishery can be maintained the way a skillful captain steers an oil tanker: by small course corrections that prevent disaster far ahead. The study, by Ecology, Evolution and Behavior (EEB) graduate student Matt Burgess and co-advisors Stephen Polasky (EEB and Applied Economics in the College of Food, ...

CHICAGO – High exposure to swine manure spread in crop fields and proximity to high-density swine livestock operations appear to be associated with increased risk of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and skin and soft-tissue infection in humans, according to a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication. Most of the antibiotics used in animal feed to promote livestock growth in high-production livestock facilities are not absorbed by the animals and end up in manure. In addition to the antibiotics, antibiotic-resistant bacteria ...

An estimated 30,800 fewer invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections occurred in the United States in 2011 compared to 2005, according to a study by Raymund Dantes, M.D., M.P.H., of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, and colleagues. MRSA is one of the most common antimicrobial-resistant pathogens causing infections, especially in the skin and soft tissues. The researchers estimated that 80,461 invasive MRSA infections occurred nationally in 2011. Of those, 48,353 were health care-associated community-onset infections ...

Walter A. Rocca, M.D., M.P.H., of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., and colleagues examined the incidence of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Parkinson disease dementia (PDD) in a study of residents in Olmsted County, Minn., over a 15-year period. Limited information is available about the incidence of DLB or PDD in the general population so researchers used a well-defined population to help better characterize the two disorders, according to the study background. Among 542 cases of parkinsonism, 64 patients had DLB and 46 had PDD. The overall incidence rate of ...

A small pilot study shows for the first time that changes in diet, exercise, stress management and social support may result in longer telomeres, the parts of chromosomes that affect aging. It is the first controlled trial to show that any intervention might lengthen telomeres over time. The study will be published online on Sept. 16, 2013 in The Lancet Oncology. The study was conducted by scientists at UC San Francisco and the Preventive Medicine Research Institute, a nonprofit public research institute in Sausalito, Calif. that investigates the effect of ...

Philosophers and scientists have long puzzled over where human imagination comes from. In other words, what makes humans able to create art, invent tools, think scientifically and perform other incredibly diverse behaviors? The answer, Dartmouth researchers conclude in a new study, lies in a widespread neural network -- the brain's "mental workspace" -- that consciously manipulates images, symbols, ideas and theories and gives humans the laser-like mental focus needed to solve complex problems and come up with new ideas. Their findings, titled "Network structure and ...

Scientists at the University of Leeds have solved a 300-year-old riddle about which direction the centre of the earth spins. The Earth's inner core, made up of solid iron, 'superrotates' in an eastward direction – meaning it spins faster than the rest of the planet – while the outer core, comprising mainly molten iron, spins westwards at a slower pace. Although Edmund Halley – who also discovered the famous comet – showed the westward-drifting motion of the Earth's geomagnetic field in 1692, it is the first time that scientists have been able to link the way the inner ...

TORONTO, Sept. 13, 2013 – If aboriginal women had the same income and education levels as non-aboriginal women, their risk of being abused by a partner could drop by 40 per cent, according to a new study by researchers at St. Michael's Hospital. The new study indicates that socio-economic position is a major factor influencing risks of abuse for aboriginal women. "The unfortunate reality is that aboriginal women in Canada are almost four times more likely to experience gender violence, but we wanted to know why," said Dr. Janet Smylie, a scientist at the hospital's ...

Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a revolutionary new method for identifying and characterizing antibiotics, an advance that could lead to the discovery of new antibiotics to treat antibiotic resistant bacteria. The researchers, who published their findings in this week's early online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, made their discovery by developing a way to perform the equivalent of an autopsy on bacterial cells. "This will provide a powerful new tool for identifying compounds that kill bacteria ...

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 16, 2013 -- A team of researchers led by San Francisco State University's Weining Man is the first to build and demonstrate the ability of two-dimensional disordered photonic band gap material, designed to be a platform to control light in unprecedented ways. The new material could allow researchers to manipulate the flow and radiation of light in new ways by breaking away from the highly angular and constrained pathways for light dictated inside orderly photonic crystals. Instead, the material could lead to arbitrarily shaped, wavy, curved, and sharply ...

BOSTON -- Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disease that causes progressive loss of vision and is caused by mutations in more than 50 genes. Conventional methods for identification of both RP mutations and novel RP genes involve the screening of DNA coding sequences. In a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and others tested DNA with the use of whole genome sequencing, a technique that takes into account all variants from both ...

Vaccinating cattle against the E. coli O157 bacterium could cut the number of human cases of the disease by 85%, according to scientists. The bacteria, which cause severe gastrointestinal illness and even death in humans, are spread by consuming contaminated food and water, or by contact with livestock faeces in the environment. Cattle are the main reservoir for the bacterium. The vaccines that are available for cattle are rarely used, buc could be significant. The research was lead by a team of researchers at the University of Glasgow in collaboration with the ...

Copper bracelets and magnet wrist straps have no real effect on pain, swelling, or disease progression in rheumatoid arthritis, according to new findings from a study conducted at the University of York. In the first randomised controlled trial to study the effects of copper bracelets and magnetic wrist straps on rheumatoid arthritis, 70 patients with active symptoms each wore four different devices over a five-month period, reporting on their pain, disability, and medication use throughout the study. Participants also provided blood samples, after wearing each device ...

BOSTON -- Young women with breast cancer often overestimate the odds that cancer will occur in their other, healthy breast, and decide to have the healthy breast surgically removed, a survey conducted by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators indicates. The survey also shows that many patients opt for the procedure -- known as a contralateral prophylactic mastectomy, or CPM -- despite knowing it will be unlikely to improve their chance of survival. The study, published in the Sept. 17 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, shows a certain disconnect between ...

LA JOLLA, Calif., September 16, 2013 – Scientists at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) today announced the discovery that a gene encoding an enzyme, phosphoinositide-dependent kinase-1 (PDK1), plays an essential role in the development and progression of melanoma. The finding offers a new approach to treating this life-threatening disease. The team of researchers, led by Ze'ev Ronai, Ph.D., professor and scientific director of Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in La Jolla (San Diego, Calif.), used genetic mouse melanoma models to show ...

Researchers at the Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital have identified a biomarker that can predict diabetes risk up to 10 years before onset of the disease. Thomas J. Wang, M.D., director of the Division of Cardiology at Vanderbilt, along with colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital, report their findings in the October issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation. The researchers conducted a study of 188 individuals who developed type 2 diabetes mellitus and 188 individuals without diabetes who were followed for 12 years ...

Humberto is the second "zombie" tropical storm of the Atlantic Ocean season. That is, it's the second tropical storm that degenerated into a remnant low pressure area only to make a comeback as a tropical storm. NASA's HS3 hurricane mission sent an unmanned Global Hawk Aircraft out to the eastern Atlantic to investigate Humberto on Sept. 16. On Sunday, Sept. 15, Humberto weakened to a remnant low pressure area when it hit an area of strong wind shear. The wind shear eased and Humberto regained tropical storm strength on Sept. 16, making it the second "zombie" storm in ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Two assistant professors of management at the University of California, Riverside and several other researchers have previously shown that men with wider faces are more aggressive, less trustworthy and more prone to engaging in deception. Now, in a just-published paper, they have shown, in a series of four studies, that individuals behave more selfishly when interacting with men with wider faces and this selfish behavior elicits selfish behavior in others. "This clearly shows that this behavior is also socially driven, not just biologically driven," ...