Johns Hopkins researchers, working with mice, say they have identified a chemical compound that reduces the risk of dangerous, potentially stroke-causing blood vessel spasms that often occur after the rupture of a bulging vessel in the brain. They say their findings offer clues about the biological mechanisms that cause vasospasm, or constriction of blood vessels that reduces oxygen flow to the brain, as well as potential means of treating the serious condition in humans. When an aneurysm — essentially a blister-like bulge in the wall of a blood vessel — bursts, blood ...

JUPITER, FL – October 1, 2013 – The membranes surrounding and inside cells are involved in every aspect of biological function. They separate the cell's various metabolic functions, compartmentalize the genetic material, and drive evolution by separating a cell's biochemical activities. They are also the largest and most complex structures that cells synthesize. Understanding the myriad biochemical roles of membranes requires the ability to prepare synthetic versions of these complex multi-layered structures, which has been a long-standing challenge. In a study published ...

Around 10 per cent of the UK is left handed — and that percentage remains consistent in many populations around the world. But why exactly someone is left or right handed remains unclear. New research from The University of Nottingham's Professor John Armour and Dr Angus Davison, in collaboration with UCL's Professor Chris McManus, has ruled out a 'strong genetic determinant' in influencing handedness. The researchers conducted a twin study examining the whole genome — which contains hereditary information — of nearly 4,000 subjects from the London Twin Research Unit ...

Knocking on wood is the most common superstition in Western culture used to reverse bad fortune or undo a "jinx." Other cultures maintain similar practices, like spitting or throwing salt, after someone has tempted fate. Even people who aren't particularly superstitious often participate in these practices. A new study from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business finds that these superstitions actually do "reverse" perceived bad fortune. People believe that negative outcomes are especially likely after a jinx. If someone says, "No one I know will ever get ...

1. Regular primary care visits lower colorectal cancer incidence, death, and all-cause mortality Medicare beneficiaries with more visits to their primary care physician (PCP) have lower colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence, CRC-specific mortality, and all-cause mortality. CRC is preventable with appropriate screening and polypectomy, yet many of the people who could benefit from it either are not screened, or do not start screening early enough. Recommendations from physicians are the strongest predictors of adherence to CRC screening guidelines. Researchers hypothesized ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A new study reveals widespread inaccuracy in a quality measure that is self-reported by Medicare Advantage health plans. Researchers found that the vast majority in a sample of 172 such insurers significantly understated their rate of high-risk medication prescriptions. The average rate of prescribing at least one of about 100 medicines deemed risky for the elderly was 26.9 percent of patients over 65, according to the researchers' calculations, compared to the 21.1 percent of patients reported by the plans. The average plan, therefore, ...

San Jose, CA and Göttingen, Germany -- Researchers from the University Göttingen Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Chronix Biomedical have published a new study exploring the genetic hallmarks of canine mammary cancer. Appearing in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE, the paper identifies important similarities and differences between human and canine breast tumors, providing a strong platform for future research using the canine model system. (Note to Editors: The paper is accessible here.) As part of the project, the research team successfully implemented Chronix ...

Physical activity in your leisure time could help keep your blood pressure at a healthy level, new research in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension suggests. Researchers pooled results from 13 studies on the effects of physical activity on blood pressure. The studies involved 136,846 people in the United States, Europe or East Asia who initially had healthy blood pressure. More than 15,600 later developed high blood pressure during follow-up periods ranging from two to 45 years. People who exercised more than four hours per week in their leisure time had ...

The logo of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics includes red, white and blue stars, but the white star is not really there: It is an illusion. Similarly, the "S" in the USA Network logo is wholly illusory. Both of these logos take advantage of a common perceptual illusion where the brain, when viewing a fragmented background, frequently sees shapes and surfaces that don't really exist. "It's hallucinating without taking drugs," said Alexander Maier, assistant professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University, who headed a team of neuroscientists who has pinpointed the area ...

SYDNEY: A team led by scientists at the University of New South Wales has uncovered the genetic secrets of "extremophile" microbes that can survive in water temperatures as low as minus 20 degrees in the saltiest lake in Antarctica. Deep Lake, about five kilometres from Davis Station, was formed about 3500 years ago, when the Antarctic continent rose, isolating a section of ocean. The water in the 36-metre deep lake is now so salty it remains in liquid form down to a temperature of minus 20 degrees. "The lake has the distinction of being the least productive lake ever ...

New research from the Children of the 90s study at the University of Bristol suggests that fish accounts for only seven per cent of mercury levels in the human body. In an analysis of 103 food and drink items consumed by 4,484 women during pregnancy, researchers found that the 103 items together accounted for less than 17 per cent of total mercury levels in the body. Concerns about the negative effects of mercury on fetal development have led to official advice warning against eating too much fish during pregnancy. This new finding, published today in Environmental Health ...

STANFORD, Calif. — Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified a way to induce the ovaries of some infertile women to produce eggs. Using the technique, clinicians at the St. Marianna University School of Medicine in Kawasaki, Japan, collected viable eggs from five women with a condition called primary ovarian insufficiency. One of these women has given birth to a healthy baby, and another is pregnant. Twenty-seven women in Japan took part in the experimental study. The researchers were able to collect mature eggs for in vitro fertilization ...

PHILADELPHIA— A new study by Penn Medicine researchers published Oct. 1 in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that busy intensive care units (ICUs) discharge patients more quickly than they otherwise would and do so without adversely affecting patient outcomes – suggesting that low-value extensions of ICU stays are minimized during times of increased ICU capacity strain. An expected growth in the number of patients requiring critical care resources combined with a projected shortage in critical care providers will likely result in ICUs operating under conditions of ...

SEATTLE—Women can choose among several types of estrogen pills, which are equally effective at relieving menopausal symptoms. But in an observational study of comparative safety, use of estradiol was associated with less risk of developing blood clots in leg veins (deep vein thrombosis) and clots in the lungs (pulmonary emboli) than was use of conjugated equine estrogens. According to a joint University of Washington (UW)–Group Health study in JAMA Internal Medicine, women patients of Group Heath who were prescribed a generic version of estradiol—a bio-equivalent estrogen—experienced ...

The oral hormone therapy conjugated equine estrogens (CEEs), which is used by women to relieve menopause symptoms, appears to be associated with increased risk for venous thrombosis (VT, blood clots) and possibly myocardial infarction (heart attack), but not ischemic stroke risk, when compared with the hormone therapy oral estradiol, according to a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication. Researchers compared the cardiovascular safety of the two commonly used oral estrogen medications because little is known about the cardiovascular safety ...

Most of the primary care malpractice claims filed in Massachusetts are related to alleged misdiagnoses, according to study by Gordon D. Schiff, M.D., of the Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, and colleagues. The focus for improving patient safety and malpractice risk is increasingly on outpatient care, according to the study background. Researchers examined the types, causes and outcomes of primary care malpractice claims by studying closed (resolved) claims data from two Massachusetts insurance carriers that covered most of the state's ...

The proportion of infants bed sharing with caregivers increased between 1993 and 2010, especially among black and Hispanic families, according to a study published by JAMA Pediatrics, a JAMA Network publication. While infant bed sharing is a common practice in many countries, strong associations between the practice and sudden infant death syndrome have been established, according to the study background. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants share a room with their parents but not a bed for sleeping to prevent sleep-related infant deaths. The study ...

Early-term births (37 to 38 weeks gestation) are associated with higher neonatal morbidity (illness) and with more neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) or neonatology service admissions than term births (39 to 41 weeks gestation), according to a study by Shaon Sengupta, M.D., M.P.H., now of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and formerly of the University at Buffalo, N.Y., and colleagues. Researchers examined data over a three-year period from medical records of 33,488 live births at major hospitals in Erie County, N.Y., 29,741 at a gestational age between 37 to 41 ...

When faced with uncertain situations, people are less able to make decisions as they age, according to a new study by researchers at Yale School of Medicine. Published in the Sept. 30 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study also found that older people are more risk-averse than their midlife counterparts when choosing between possible gains, but more risk-seeking when choosing between losses. Scientists have long-observed that cognitive function improves throughout adolescence, peaks in adulthood, and declines with age, but behavioral changes in decision-making ...

The joint study by Luca Giuggioli and Jonathan Potts from the University of Bristol, and Daniel Rubenstein and Simon Levin from Princeton University shows that animals deposit marks wherever they go to show their presence, and retreat from marks left by a member of the same species more quickly if the encountered mark is recent. The study published today [30 September] in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) has important implications for how epidemic disease spreads and animal sociality. Lead author, Dr Luca Giuggioli of Bristol's Department ...

Since 1990, the street price of illegal drugs has fallen in real terms while the purity/potency of what's on offer has generally increased, both of which are indicators of availability. The United Nations recently estimated that the illicit drug trade is worth at least US $350 billion every year. And needle sharing is one of the key drivers of blood borne infections, including HIV. The drug trade is also linked to high rates of violence. Over the past several decades most national drug control strategies have focused on law enforcement to curb supply, despite calls ...

The response to common life events may trigger long lasting physiological changes in the brain, say the authors. They base their findings on 800 Swedish women whose mental health and wellbeing was formally tracked over a period of almost 40 years as part of the larger Prospective Population Study of Women in Gothenburg, Sweden, which started in 1968. The women, who were all born in 1914, 1918, 1922 and 1930, underwent a battery of neuropsychiatric tests and examinations in 1968, when they were in their late 30s, mid 40s, and 50s, and then again in 1974, 1980, 1992, ...

Total sleep duration is shorter and punctuated by more frequent waking at night, the research shows. Poor quality sleep may affect daytime learning and behaviour, say the authors. Disrupted sleep patterns have been linked to autism before, but the quality of the evidence accumulated to date has often been compromised by small sample size, lack of agreed definitions, and poor comparability of study participants. The authors of this study instead base their findings on long term data derived from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), which has ...

New research shows that humans distinguish the difference between fine textures, such as silk or satin, through vibrations, which are picked up by two separate sets of nerve receptors in the skin and relayed to the brain. Previous research has shown that coarse textures, such as Braille dot patterns, are encoded by receptors that are densely packed into the primate fingertip. The spatial layout of responses of these receptors corresponds to the spatial layout of surface features of a texture. However, most natural textures are too fine to be perceived in this manner. ...

Naked mole rats have what any animal would want. They live long lives—about 30 years—and stay healthy until the very end. Now biologists at the University of Rochester have new insights into the animal's longevity—better-constructed proteins. Proteins are involved in nearly all functions of an animal cell, and consequently, are essential to all organisms. But before proteins can do their job, they must fold into the appropriate shapes that allow them to connect to and interact with other structures in the cell. In a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the ...