(MEMPHIS, Tenn. – August 28, 2013) Researchers have tied mutations in a gene that causes amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other neurodegenerative disorders to the toxic buildup of certain proteins and related molecules in cells, including neurons. The research, published recently in the scientific journal Cell, offers a new approach for developing treatments against these devastating diseases. Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the University of Colorado, Boulder, led the work. The findings provide the first evidence that a gene named VCP ...

Boulder, Colorado, USA – In the September issue of GSA Today, Nora Noffke of Old Dominion University and Stan Awramik of the University of California, Santa Barbara, describe the interaction of carpet-like communities of benthic microorganisms (biofilms) with sediment dynamics at the sediment-water interface to form distinctive sedimentary structures called microbialites. The best known microbialite structures are stromatolites -- multilayered microbialites up to meters in thickness, built up by repetitive binding, biostabilization, baffling, and trapping of sediment ...

VIDEO: Dr. John Foxe has shown that high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children appear to outgrow a critical social communication disability. The paper was published online August 28, 2013, in Cerebral... Click here for more information. BRONX, NY -- Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have shown that high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children appear to outgrow a critical social communication disability. Younger children ...

Patients with a diagnosis of dementia have approximately three times the rate of diagnosis of urinary incontinence, and more than four times the rate of fecal incontinence, compared with those without a diagnosis of dementia, according to a study in this week's issue of PLOS Medicine by Robert Grant (Kingston University and St. George's, University of London) and colleagues. Furthermore, patients with dementia and incontinence were more likely to receive incontinence medications and indwelling catheters than those with incontinence but without dementia, the authors state. ...

Scott Kellerman and colleagues argue that the scope of the current HIV elimination agenda must be broadened in order to ensure access to care and treatment for all children living with HIV. In 2011, despite the global initiative to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV, 330,000 new pediatric infections were added worldwide to the existing pool of 3.4 million children living with the virus. Children are more vulnerable to HIV infection and have higher morbidity and mortality. Without treatment, half of those children infected will die before the age of 2 years, ...

WA, Seattle (August 28, 2013) – Results from the START clinical study (Study of Thymoglobulin to Arrest Newly Diagnosed Type 1 Diabetes), led by Dr. Steve Gitelman (University of California, San Francisco) and sponsored by the Immune Tolerance Network (ITN), are published today in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. The study did not meet its primary endpoint: at 12 months, insulin production, as measured by C-peptide responses, showed no difference in overall decline between the treatment and placebo groups. Thymoglobulin®, currently licensed for the treatment of organ ...

A compound found in broccoli could be key to preventing or slowing the progress of the most common form of arthritis, according to new research led by the University of East Anglia (UEA). Results from the laboratory study show that sulforaphane slows down the destruction of cartilage in joints associated with painful and often debilitating osteoarthritis. The researchers found that mice fed a diet rich in the compound had significantly less cartilage damage and osteoarthritis than those that were not. The study, which also examined human cartilage cells and cow cartilage ...

BOSTON -- August 27, 2013 -- Joslin scientists, in collaboration with researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and Italian research institutes, have identified a previously unknown genetic variant associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in type 2 diabetic patients. This discovery has the potential to lead to the development of new treatments for CHD in diabetic patients. The findings appear in the [month] issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). CHD is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among diabetic ...

Boston, MA — A newly discovered genetic variant may increase the risk of heart disease in people with type 2 diabetes by more than a third, according to a study led by researchers at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Joslin Diabetes Center. It is the first genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify a novel genetic variant associated with coronary heart disease (CHD) in people with type 2 diabetes, who have a two- to four-fold higher risk of heart disease compared with those without diabetes. The finding could lead to new interventions aimed at preventing ...

New technologies such as ultrasound, CT and MRI scanning can detect thyroid nodules as small as 2mm – many of these small nodules are papillary thyroid cancers. In the US, cases have tripled in the past 30 years - from 3.6 per 100,000 in 1973 to 11.6 per 100,000 in 2009 – making it one of the fastest growing diagnoses. Yet the death rate from papillary thyroid cancer has remained stable. This expanding gap between incidence of thyroid cancer and deaths suggests that low risk cancers are being overdiagnosed and overtreated, argue Dr Juan Brito and colleagues at the ...

A new study by Anna Maria Niewiadomska and Robert Gifford, of The Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, New York, reveals that reticuloendotheliosis viruses (REVs), which originated in mammals, spread to birds as a result of medical intervention. Their findings will be published August 27 in the open access journal PLOS Biology. "We became intrigued by these viruses", says Gifford, "…because their distribution in nature suggests something very unusual has occurred during their evolution." The reticuloendotheliosis viruses (REVs) are retroviruses that were first identified ...

The space surrounding the body (known by scientists as 'peripersonal space'), which has previously been thought of as having a gradual boundary, has been given physical limits by new research into the relationship between anxiety and personal space. New findings have allowed scientists to define the limit of the 'peripersonal space' surrounding the face as 20-40cm away. The study is published today in The Journal of Neuroscience. As well as having numerical limits the specific distance was found to vary between individuals. Those with anxiety traits were found to have ...

Treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 infection with the interferon-free regimen of sofosbuvir and ribavirin resulted in a high sustained virologic response rate in a patient population with unfavorable treatment characteristics, according to a study in the August 28 issue of JAMA. "Chronic infection with hepatitis C virus is a major cause of chronic liver disease, end-stage liver disease, hepatocellular cancer and remains the leading indication for liver transplants in western countries. The HCV epidemic in the United States is centered in large urban ...

Payment incentives implemented with a commercial accountable care organization (ACO) initiative in Massachusetts –Blue Cross Blue Shield's Alternative Quality Contract (AQC) – were associated with lower spending for Medicare enrollees served by the provider groups participating in the AQC, findings that suggest that evaluations of ACO programs may need to consider the implications for other patient populations to assess their full clinical and economic benefits, according to a study in the August 28 issue of JAMA. "In response to mounting pressures to deliver more cost-effective ...

Researchers have identified a previously unknown genetic locus (the place a gene occupies on a chromosome) significantly associated with increased coronary heart disease risk among patients with type 2 diabetes, but the association was not found in individuals without diabetes, according to a study in the August 28 issue of JAMA. The variant is functionally related to glutamic acid metabolism, suggesting a mechanistic link. "The prevalence of type 2 diabetes has been steadily increasing in the United States and other countries, with the total number of affected people ...

In an analysis of a procedure used to help prevent common duct injury during gallbladder removal surgery, use of intraoperative cholangiography (radiologic examination of the ducts during gallbladder surgery) was not associated with a reduced risk of common duct injury, according to a study in the August 28 issue of JAMA. "Biliary anatomy misidentification during cholecystectomy [gallbladder removal] can result in injury to the common hepatic duct or common bile duct. Common duct injuries cause significant short- and long-term morbidity including major operations, multiple ...

"Implementation of infant rotavirus vaccination in 2006 has substantially reduced the burden of severe gastroenteritis among U.S. children younger than 5 years," write Paul A. Gastanaduy, M.D., M.P.H., of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, and colleagues. "Whether indirect protection (due to reduced transmission of rotavirus) extends to adults remains unclear." As reported in a Research Letter, the authors assessed patterns of gastroenteritis hospitalizations among children 5 years of age or older and among adults before and after implementation ...

Chevy Chase, MD—Two treatments that slow the development of diabetes also may protect people from heart disease, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). Researchers examined the effect that making intensive lifestyle changes or taking the medication metformin had on cholesterol and triglyceride levels. The study, part of the National Institutes of Health's Diabetes Prevention Program, found that both treatments induced positive changes in the level of particles that carry cholesterol ...

Chevy Chase, MD—Reduced levels of inflammation may explain how some obese people are able to remain metabolically healthy, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). Obesity generally is linked to a higher risk of diabetes and heart disease. Some people who are obese, however, do not develop high blood pressure and unfavorable cholesterol profiles – factors that increase the risk of metabolic diseases. This phenomenon is described as metabolically healthy obesity. Although estimates ...

The type of particles which are most harmful to jet engines were the first to fall out of the Eyjafjallajökull ash plume following the volcano's eruption in 2010, delegates at the Goldschmidt conference will be told today (Wednesday 28th August). The research, led by Dr Bernard Grobety of the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, will help to mitigate the impact of future volcanic eruptions on air travel. Dr Grobety's team analysed samples of volcanic ash taken at different points in its journey from the volcano across Europe. They found that the two different forms ...

Contact: Vanessa Solomon solomon@wehi.edu.au 61-393-452-971 Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Pam Lord pam@canalecomm.com 619-849-6003 Canale Communications New approach to celiac testing identifies more Australians at risk Australian researchers have developed a new approach to detecting coeliac disease, revealing this immune disorder is far more common than previously recognised. In a study of more than 2500 Victorians the researchers combined traditional antibody testing (measuring the immune response to gluten) with an assessment of specific genetic ...

In a study of an all-oral drug regimen, a majority of volunteers with liver damage due to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection were cured following a six-month course of therapy that combined an experimental drug, sofosbuvir, with the licensed antiviral drug ribavirin. The results showed that the regimen was highly effective in clearing the virus and well tolerated in a group of patients who historically have had unfavorable prognoses. Scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the NIH Clinical Center, parts of the National Institutes ...

Frontiers in Psychology Interesting and useful musings are associated with a happy mood Mind wandering can be a sign of mental wellbeing, provided that your off-task musings are interesting and useful even if not related to the task at hand, finds a new study in Frontiers in Psychology. The negative effects of mind wandering on performance and mood have recently received much attention, for example in the much-publicized study A wandering mind is an unhappy mind (Science 2010, 330:932). But Michael S. Franklin and colleagues here use a similar but more detailed experimental ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- An increasing gap between the incidence of thyroid cancer and deaths from the disease suggests that low-risk cancers are being overdiagnosed and overtreated, a study from the Mayo Clinic Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery finds. The study appears in the current issue of the British Medical Journal. "High tech imaging technologies such as ultrasound, CT and MRI can detect very small thyroid nodules many of which are slow growing papillary thyroid cancers, says the study's lead author Juan Pablo Brito, M.B.B.S. an endocrine fellow and health ...

European hunter-gatherers acquired domesticated pigs from nearby farmers as early as 4600BC, according to new evidence. The international team of scientists, including researchers at Durham and Aberdeen universities, showed there was interaction between the hunter-gatherer and farming communities and a 'sharing' of animals and knowledge. The interaction between the two groups eventually led to the hunter-gatherers incorporating farming and breeding of livestock into their culture, say the scientists. The research, published in Nature Communications today (27 August), ...