Scientists from King's College London have announced that 16 human embryonic stem (hES) cell lines have been approved by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and placed on their Stem Cell Registry, making them freely available for federally-funded research in the USA. The stem cell lines, which carry genes for a variety of hereditary disorders such as Huntington's disease, spinal muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis, are considered to be ideal research tools for designing models to understand disease progression, and ultimately in helping scientists develop new ...

TORONTO, September 24, 2013 – For the first time, scientists at Toronto Rehab have found that in people with chronic moderate-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), atrophy (shrinkage) in the brain may be countered by participating in environmental enrichment – increased physical, social and cognitive stimulation. The paper, entitled "Environmental enrichment may protect against hippocampal atrophy in the chronic stages of traumatic brain injury," was published today in the open-access journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. The principal investigator of this study is ...

Sophia Antipolis, 29 September 2013: Obese children have blood vessel damage and insulin resistance that are precursors to atherosclerosis and diabetes, reveals research by Dr Norman Mangner presented at ESC Congress 2013. The findings highlight the need to adopt a healthy lifestyle early in life to prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD) which is the theme of World Heart Day 2013, held today. Professor Grethe Tell (Norway), ESC prevention spokesperson, said: "On World Heart Day 2013 the ESC is emphasising the importance of a healthy lifestyle from a young age. One in 10 ...

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (September 24, 2013) — Professional French horn players may need to seriously consider adopting effective strategies to prevent noise induced hearing loss (NIHL). A new study published online in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene (JOEH) found further evidence that French horn players are one of the most at-risk groups of developing NIHL among professional orchestral musicians. "Using both conservative and lenient criteria for hearing loss and correcting for age, we found that between 11 percent and 22 percent of the participants showed ...

ATLANTA -- The precise targeting and limited dosing of radiation via proton therapy is proving to be an advantage in ongoing efforts to reduce treatment side effects among head and neck cancer patients, according to a new study of pediatric patients from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The results were presented Monday at the 55th annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) conference. "Children are especially susceptible to the side effects of radiation therapy, and treating them for head and ...

Human civilisation has had an impact on the world, and it continues to have an even greater impact. One of these is that the forests have been cleared and especially so in flat lowlands, so that they have gradually become restricted to steep terrain. This pattern is now emerging all across the world. Developed countries have been particularly efficient at removing forests from fertile, flat areas of land. The process has been going on throughout the last centuries, for example in Europe. And there is a clear correlation. The better the economy, the better the political ...

PHILADELPHIA -- Pancreatic cancer ranks as the fourth-leading cause of cancer death in the United States, and is one of the most deadly forms of cancer, due to its resistance to standard treatments with chemotherapy and radiation therapy and frequently, its late stage at the time of diagnosis. A group of researchers led by the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine and Abramson Cancer Center, in collaboration with scientists from the University of Pittsburgh and University of Washington, published results of a clinical trial in which the standard chemotherapy ...

PHILADELPHIA (September 24, 2013)— Dieters and weight loss researchers are familiar with the principle: The more weight you've lost, the harder it is to keep it off. A complex and vicious cycle of biological and behavioral factors make it so. But eating disorder research has largely overlooked this influence, and Dr. Michael Lowe, a professor of psychology at Drexel University, has published a flurry of research studies showing that needs to change. "The focus of eating disorder research has very much been on the state of patients' thoughts, beliefs, emotions and personalities," ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The brains of older people are slowing but experience more than makes up for the decline, a University of California, Riverside assistant professor of management and several colleagues found when asking the participants a series of financially related questions. Ye Li, the UC Riverside assistant professor, and Martine Baldassi, Eric J. Johnson and Elke U. Weber, all currently or formerly of Columbia University, outlined the results in a paper, "Complementary Cognitive Capabilities: Economic Decision Making, and Aging," which was just published in the ...

PHILADELPHIA, September 24, 2013 -- People diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) should lose weight and use continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) as initial therapy, according to new recommendations from the American College of Physicians (ACP) published today in Annals of Internal Medicine, ACP's flagship journal. More than 18 million American adults have sleep apnea, which increases the risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and diabetes and increases the chance of driving or other accidents. Sleep apnea is a leading cause of excessive ...

1. Guideline: ACP recommends weight loss and CPAP therapy for obstructive sleep apnea* *Sound bites and b-roll footage available. See bottom of page for feed dates, times, and coordinates People diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) should not consider surgery, according to new recommendations from the American College of Physicians (ACP). Instead, ACP recommends that patients lose weight and use continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) as initial therapy. More than 18 million American adults have sleep apnea, which increases the risk of high blood pressure, ...

Researchers have long known that violence toward spouses and partners increases with the frequency and volume of drinking. A study published today in the scientific journal Addiction shows that the context in which drinking occurs also appears to play a role in violence against partners, with male violence being linked to drinking away from home and female violence being linked to drinking at home. Researchers from the Prevention Research Center in California and Arizona State University, USA, surveyed more than 1500 California couples, gathering information about their ...

Children with certain heart birth defects may have an increased risk for bacterial infection of their heart's lining and valves, according to new research in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. The risk for infection may also be increased in children with congenital heart defects who are under 3 or who've had cardiac surgery within the last six months. Using a large Canadian database, researchers looked at the occurrence of infective endocarditis between 1988 and 2010 in 47,518 children with heart defects. On average the risk of infection by age ...

AMHERST, Mass. – Sleep researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst today offer the first research results showing that classroom naps support learning in preschool children by enhancing memory. Children who napped performed significantly better on a visual-spatial task in the afternoon after a nap and the next day than those who did not nap. Research psychologist Rebecca Spencer, with students Kasey Duclos and Laura Kurdziel, say their results suggest naps are critical for memory consolidation and early learning, based on their study of more than 40 preschool ...

Natural killer (NK) cells in the human body can kill and contain viruses and cancerous tumors, and a new study from the University of Southern California (USC) describes for the first time how those cells can be manipulated by epigenetics. The discovery, detailed in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, paves the way for developing more effective cancer drugs. "Natural killer cells are very attractive targets for immunotherapy because they are able to kill tumor cells," said Si-Yi Chen, M.D., Ph.D., a faculty member of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer ...

VIDEO: The animation shows how the distributions of large-scale polities in the mathematical simulation are remarkably similar to the historical record for each time slice over the period 1,500 BCE to... Click here for more information. The question of how human societies evolve from small groups to the huge, anonymous and complex societies of today has been answered mathematically, accurately matching the historical record on the emergence of complex states in the ancient ...

Active informed consent became a key tenet of post mortem exam procedures following the organ retention scandals at Bristol Royal Infirmary and The Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital, which prompted the enactment of the 2004 Human Tissue Act. The Act stipulates that consent must be actively sought from either the individual while alive, or when this is not possible, from a nominated representative or close family member. Breaches of the law attract a prison sentence and a fine. The authors obtained staff policies on post mortem procedures from 26 hospital trusts in ...

VIDEO: A small implant being studied for the treatment of central sleep apnea is showing significant promise, according to study results presented by Dr. William Abraham, director of the Division of... Click here for more information. A small implant being studied for the treatment of central sleep apnea is showing significant promise, according to study results presented by Dr. William Abraham, director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at The Ohio State University ...

Elderly nursing home residents with advanced dementia who were enrolled in a Medicare managed care insurance plan were more likely to have do-not-hospitalize orders and were less likely to be hospitalized for acute illness than those residents enrolled in traditional Medicare, according to a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication. Recent health care reform in the United States increases opportunities to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of care provided to nursing home residents with advanced dementia. Because nursing homes do not ...

Medicare expenses for patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI, heart attack) increased substantially between 1998 and 2008, with much of the increase coming in expenses 31 days or more after the patient was hospitalized, according to a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication. Researchers examined Medicare expenses for AMI in part because of large budget deficits in the United States and the high cost of caring for Medicare beneficiaries, according to the study background. Donald S. Likosky, Ph.D., of the University of Michigan, Ann ...

Scores on a survey to measure parental hesitancy about vaccinating their children were associated with immunization status, according to a study by Douglas J. Opel, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of Washington and Seattle Children's Research Institute, and colleagues. The Parent Attitudes About Childhood Vaccines survey (PACV) was designed to identify parents who underimmunize their children. Researchers gave it to English-speaking parents of children ages 2 months old and born between July 10 and December 10, 2010, who belonged to an integrated health care delivery ...

Frequent bedsharing between a mother and infant was associated with longer duration of breastfeeding, but researchers warned of the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) associated with bedsharing, in a study by Yi Huang, Ph.D., of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and colleagues. The authors write that while some experts and professional societies advocate bedsharing to promote breastfeeding, others recommend against it to reduce the risk of SIDS. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a separate, but nearby, sleeping area for infants, according to ...

Prenatal exposure to antiepileptic medications was associated with an increased risk of impaired fine motor skills (small muscle movements) in children at age 6 months, but breastfeeding by women taking the medications was not associated with any harmful effects on child development at ages 6 to 36 months, according to a report published by JAMA Neurology, a JAMA Network publication. Few studies have examined development during the first months of life of children of mothers with epilepsy, according to background in the study by Gyri Veiby, M.D., of the University of ...

As humans continue to heat the planet, a northward shift of Earth's wind and rain belts could make a broad swath of regions drier, including the Middle East, American West and Amazonia, while making Monsoon Asia and equatorial Africa wetter, says a new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study authors base their prediction on the warming that brought Earth out of the last ice age, some 15,000 years ago. As the North Atlantic Ocean began to churn more vigorously, it melted Arctic sea ice, setting up a temperature contrast with the southern hemisphere ...

BOSTON—People who are married when diagnosed with cancer live longer than those who are not, report researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital. Married patients also tended to have cancers diagnosed at an earlier stage – when it is often more successfully treated – and to receive more appropriate treatment. The study's findings will be published online by the Journal of Clinical Oncology on Sept. 23. "Our data suggests that marriage can have a significant health impact for patients with cancer, and this was consistent among every cancer ...