Human foetal stem cell grafts improve both motor and sensory functions in rats suffering from a spinal cord injury, according to research published this week in BioMed Central's open access journal Stem Cell Research and Therapy. This cell replacement therapy also improves the structural integrity of the spine, providing a functional relay through the injury site. The research gives hope for the treatment of spinal cord injuries in humans. Grafting human neural stem cells into the spine is a promising approach to promote the recovery of function after spinal injury. ...

BOSTON – In any given year, 400,000 Americans suffering from end-stage kidney disease will undergo dialysis, and as many as 20 to 25 percent of those dialysis patients will die, a statistic comparable to many types of cancer. But while cancer doctors may be more accustomed to talking with patients about the likely course of their disease, a new study from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center finds that doctors who treat patients with kidney failure are reluctant to discuss a difficult prognosis, and their patients are likely to have distorted expectations about their own ...

Boston, MA – Developing new vaccines to protect against diseases that plague humans is fraught with numerous challenges—one being that microbes tend to vary how they look on the surface to avoid being identified and destroyed by the immune system. However, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have discovered a sugar polymer that is common on the cell surface of several pathogens. This common sugar molecule makes it a promising target for the development of a broad-spectrum vaccine that can protect against numerous deadly microbes expressing this sugar on ...

Since the 1980s, doctors and patients have been encouraged to share decision making. Proponents argue that this approach promotes doctor-patient communication, enhances patient satisfaction, improves health outcomes, and even may lower cost. Yet, a hospital-based study found that patients who want to participate in their medical decisions end up spending more time in the hospital and raising costs of their hospital stay by an average of $865. The findings, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, came from the first hospital-based study to examine how patients' desire ...

MINNEAPOLIS – A large analysis of more than 100 studies from around the world shows that exposure to pesticides, or bug and weed killers, and solvents is likely associated with a higher risk of developing Parkinson's disease. The research appears in the May 28, 2013, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. "Due to this association, there was also a link between farming or country living and developing Parkinson's in some of the studies," said study author Emanuele Cereda, MD, PhD, with the IRCCS University Hospital San Matteo ...

MINNEAPOLIS – A new guideline from the American Academy of Neurology will help people who take blood thinners decide whether or not to take them during surgery or other medical procedures. The guideline is published in the May 28, 2013, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. People who have had a stroke often take blood thinners such as aspirin or warfarin to prevent another stroke. Blood thinners, or anticlotting drugs, are also used to prevent a first stroke in people with atrial fibrillation, an irregular or fast heartbeat. ...

An international team led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine reports that a single injection of human neural stem cells produced neuronal regeneration and improvement of function and mobility in rats impaired by an acute spinal cord injury (SCI). The findings are published in the May 28, 2013 online issue of Stem Cell Research & Therapy. Martin Marsala, MD, professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, with colleagues at UC San Diego and in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and The Netherlands, said grafting neural stem cells derived ...

Madison, Wis. – Down syndrome, the most common genetic form of intellectual disability, results from an extra copy of one chromosome. Although people with Down syndrome experience intellectual difficulties and other problems, scientists have had trouble identifying why that extra chromosome causes such widespread effects. In new research published this week, Anita Bhattacharyya, a neuroscientist at the Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, reports on brain cells that were grown from skin cells of individuals with Down syndrome. "Even though Down ...

Seriously ill patients undergoing hemodialysis are more optimistic about their prognosis and prospects for transplants than their nephrologists, according to a study published online by JAMA Internal Medicine. The study also found that nephrologists rarely had discussed estimates of life-expectancy with their patients. Melissa W. Wachterman, M.D., M.P.H., from Veterans Affairs Boston Health Care System and colleagues compared patients' and physicians' expectations about one- and five-year survival rates and transplant candidacy among 207 patients undergoing hemodialysis ...

A survey of almost 22,000 admitted patients at the University of Chicago Medical Center found patient preference to participate in decision making concerning their care was associated with a longer length of stay and higher total hospitalization costs, according to a report published online by JAMA Internal Medicine. Hyo Jung Tak, Ph.D., and colleagues examined the relationship between patient preferences for participation in medical decision making and health care utilization among patients hospitalized between July 1, 2003 and August 31, 2011 by asking patients to ...

A national survey sample of adults who had discussions with their physicians in the preceding two years about common medical tests, medications and procedures often did not reflect a high level of shared decision making, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine. Floyd J. Fowler, Jr., Ph.D., from the Informed Medical Decisions Foundation and the University of Massachusetts, Boston, conducted a 2011 survey of a cross section of U.S. adults 40 years or older and asked them to indicate whether they reported making one of 10 medical decisions and ...

In a research letter, Harlan M. Krumholz, M.D., S.M., from Yale University School of Medicine and colleagues, "sought to investigate preferences for participation in the decision-making process among individuals hospitalized with an acute myocardial infarction ([AMI] or heart attack)." The researchers combined data from two similar AMI registries (TRIUMPH and PREMIER) which resulted in 6,636 patients in the study sample who were asked about who should make decisions on treatment options. "More than two-thirds of patients with AMI indicated a preference to play an active ...

Following modification of drug enforcement laws for possession of marijuana in Colorado, there was an apparent increase in unintentional marijuana ingestions by young children, according to a report and accompanying editorials published Online First by JAMA Pediatrics, a JAMA Network publication. Several states and Washington, D.C. have enacted laws to decriminalize medical marijuana and two states, Colorado and Washington, have passed amendments to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. In late 2009, the Justice Department issued a policy instructing federal prosecutors ...

RICHLAND, Wash. -- For the first time, researchers have found a particular kind of molecular switch in the food poisoning bacteria Salmonella Typhimurium under infection-like conditions. This switch, using a process called S-thiolation, appears to be used by the bacteria to respond to changes in the environment during infection and might protect it from harm, researchers report this week online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition. S-thiolation protects proteins from irreversible chemical changes when a cell is stressed. The newly discovered ...

An analysis of top box-office movies released in the United States indicated tobacco brand producer placements in movies have declined since implementation of the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), but alcohol placements, which are subject only to industry self-regulation, have increased in movies rated acceptable for youth audiences, according to a study published Online First by JAMA Pediatrics, a JAMA Network publication. There is growing evidence that movies influence substance use behaviors during adolescence. Children's exposure to movie imagery of tobacco and alcohol ...

Snail shells coil in response to an lopsided protein gradient across their shell mantles, finds research in BioMed Central's open access journal EvoDevo. In contrast the shell mantle of limpets, whose shells do not coil, have a symmetrical pattern of the protein Decapentaplegic (Dpp). There are many hundreds of different kinds of gastropods (slugs snail and limpets) - second only in number of species to insects. They have adapted to live on land as well as in fresh water and marine environments, and have altered their physiology to survive in different habitats and to ...

A simple lab-based skin test which eliminates the risk of adverse reactions to new drugs, cosmetics and household chemicals has been developed by a Newcastle University, UK team. It uses real human skin and immune cells to show any reaction such as a rash or blistering indicating a wider immune response within the body. The development is timely as it offers a reliable alternative for the cosmetic industry as a ban on the sale of any cosmetic product tested on animals came into effect across Europe in March. Professor Anne Dickinson from the Institute of Cellular ...

PITTSBURGH, May 27, 2013 – An epilepsy drug shows promise in an animal model at preventing tinnitus from developing after exposure to loud noise, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The findings, reported this week in the early online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveal for the first time the reason the chronic and sometimes debilitating condition occurs. An estimated 5 to 15 percent of Americans hear whistling, clicking, roaring and other phantom sounds of tinnitus, which typically ...

(Lebanon, NH, 5/27/2013) —Researchers at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center have found that current constraints on advertising for alcohol products in movies that adolescents watch are not effective. The study, "Trends in Tobacco and Alcohol Brand Placements in Popular US movies, 1996 through 2009,"was published online in the May 27, 2013 JAMA Pediatrics. Studies have shown that movies influence smoking and drinking during adolescence: A 2012 Surgeon General's report noted a causal relationship between the initiation of smoking in adolescents and depictions of smoking ...

AURORA, Colo. (May 27, 2013) – A new study shows the relaxation of marijuana laws in Colorado has caused a significant spike in the number of young children treated for accidentally eating marijuana-laced cookies, candies, brownies and beverages. "We have seen an increase in unintentional ingestions of marijuana by children since the modification of drugs laws in Colorado," said George Wang, MD, lead author of the study and clinical instructor in pediatrics at Children's Hospital Colorado and the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "We need to educate marijuana ...

LEMONT, ILL. --- In a move that would make the Alchemists of King Arthur's time green with envy, scientists have unraveled the formula for turning liquid cement into liquid metal. This makes cement a semi-conductor and opens up its use in the profitable consumer electronics marketplace for thin films, protective coatings, and computer chips. "This new material has lots of applications including as thin-film resistors used in liquid-crystal displays, basically the flat panel computer monitor that you are probably reading this from at the moment," said Chris Benmore, a ...

Among men with prostate cancer, African Americans experience longer treatment delays after being diagnosed than Caucasians. That is the finding of an analysis published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The study suggests that efforts are needed to reduce racial disparities in prostate cancer care in order to provide earlier treatment for African Americans. To see if there is a difference in the time from cancer diagnosis to initiation of treatment for African American men compared with Caucasian men with prostate cancer, ...

Philadelphia, Pa. (May 28, 2013) - Perceptual learning techniques may provide a useful new approach to rehabilitation in patients with central vision loss—taking advantage of visual plasticity that persists even in old age, according to a special article in the June issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. The paper by Susana T.L. Chung, OD, PhD, FAAO, 2012 recipient of the prestigious Glenn A. Fry Lecture Award, presents new ...

San Francisco, CA. (May 28, 2013) – For patients with uncontrolled pain from terminal cancer, a new approach to calculating initial dosage may allow a quicker start of spinal analgesia—and less time in the hospital, according to a study in the June issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS). Led by Dr Vivek Tim Malhotra of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, the researchers developed a set of equations for estimating the initial dose of intrathecal spinal pain relievers, thus avoiding the need ...

Titan Factory Direct responds to the tornado victims today with heart, hope, and help. "I left our model center today when the tornado was about a mile away. Before we got back we already had a game plan in place with our factories to help the families that had been hit by the tornado," said Richard Krebs, Executive Vice President of Titan Factory Direct. Titan has committed to giving disaster victims top priority in receiving homes from Champion Homes three factories out of Texas. "We'll do whatever it takes to help these families recover. We are committed ...