Nearly 75 percent of commercial pre-packaged meals and savory snacks for toddlers are high in sodium, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism 2013 Scientific Sessions. In the first study to look at the sodium content in U.S. baby and toddler foods, researchers compared the sodium content per serving of 1,115 products for babies and toddlers using data on major and private label brands compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Baby food was categorized as intended ...

Highlights Suboptimal kidney response to the hormone FGF-23 may put chronic kidney disease patients at increased risk of premature death and cardiovascular events. Resistance to the hormonal actions of FGF-23 in the kidney may identify novel aspects of kidney dysfunction. 60 million people globally have chronic kidney disease. Washington, DC (March 21, 2013) — The kidneys' response to a particular hormone may affect kidney disease patients' heart health and longevity, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society ...

Highlights Among individuals with chronic kidney disease, adherence to a healthy lifestyle was associated with a greater likelihood of surviving over a 13-year period. The greatest survival benefits were related to nonsmoking. 60 million people globally have chronic kidney disease. Washington, DC (March 21, 2013) — Certain lifestyle factors—such as not smoking, getting regular physical activity, and avoiding a low body weight—may help prolong the lives of individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD), according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the ...

Highlights In an analysis of 695 patients with kidney failure, Blacks had received less transplant education, were less knowledgeable about transplantation, and were less willing to pursue deceased or living donor transplantation than Whites. Patients who began a transplant evaluation process with a greater knowledge of transplantation and greater motivation to receive living donor transplants were ultimately more successful at receiving a living donor transplant. In 2010, a total of 28,662 kidney transplants took place in the U.S. Of those, only 6,809 were from ...

VIDEO: Using a combination of theory and experiment, Georgia Tech researchers have developed a new approach for understanding and predicting how small legged robots -- and potentially also animals -- move... Click here for more information. Using a combination of theory and experiment, researchers have developed a new approach for understanding and predicting how small legged robots – and potentially also animals – move on and interact with complex granular materials such ...

STANFORD, Calif. — Cells in the body need to be acutely aware of their surroundings. A signal from one direction may cause a cell to react in a very different way than if it had come from another direction. Unfortunately for researchers, such vital directional cues are lost when cells are removed from their natural environment to grow in an artificial broth of nutrients and growth factors. Now, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute have devised a way to mimic in the laboratory the spatially oriented signaling ...

Through a program that teaches simple nutrition messages and involves both counseling and regular exercise classes, people with serious mental illness can make healthy behavioral changes and achieve significant weight loss, according to new Johns Hopkins research. These weight loss amounts were similar to those in other successful programs studied with subjects in the general population — studies that specifically excluded people with serious mental illnesses, the researchers say. Results of the new research, believed to be the first large study of its kind to involve ...

VIDEO: This is an 11-by-11 gridiron structure (11 vertical helices by 11 horizontal helices) with 21 base pairs (bp) between junctions in both directions uses 5301 of 7249 nucleotides of the M13... Click here for more information. In a new discovery that represents a major step in solving a critical design challenge, Arizona State University Professor Hao Yan has led a research team to produce a wide variety of 2-D and 3-D structures that push the boundaries of the burgeoning ...

New research conducted in 10 European cities has estimated that 14% of chronic childhood asthma is due to exposure to traffic pollution near busy roads. The results are comparable to the burden associated with passive smoking: the World Health Organization estimates that between 4% and 18% of asthma cases in children are linked to passive smoking. The findings, published online today (22 March 2013) ahead of print in the European Respiratory Journal, come as the European Commission has declared 2013 the 'Year of Air', which highlights the importance of clean air for ...

SAN DIEGO — The strongest predictor of whether a man is developing dementia with Lewy bodies — the second most common form of dementia in the elderly — is whether he acts out his dreams while sleeping, Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered. Patients are five times more likely to have dementia with Lewy bodies if they experience a condition known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder than if they have one of the risk factors now used to make a diagnosis, such as fluctuating cognition or hallucinations, the study found. The findings were being presented ...

Scientists examining evidence across the world from New Jersey to North Africa say they have linked the abrupt disappearance of half of earth's species 200 million years ago to a precisely dated set of gigantic volcanic eruptions. The eruptions may have caused climate changes so sudden that many creatures were unable to adapt—possibly on a pace similar to that of human-influenced climate warming today. The extinction opened the way for dinosaurs to evolve and dominate the planet for the next 135 million years, before they, too, were wiped out in a later planetary cataclysm ...

Researchers at King's College London have uncovered how the human ear is formed, giving clues as to why children are susceptible to infections such as glue ear. The work was funded by the UK Medical Research Council and published today in the journal Science. It is estimated that one in five children around the age of two will be affected by glue ear, a build-up of fluid in the middle ear chamber. This part of the ear contains three tiny bones that carry sound vibrations from the eardrum to the inner ear. When fluid builds up in the chamber, this prevents the three ...

The American Heart Association has released new recommendations for policy makers and public health providers to combat heart disease and stroke on a local level. The "American Heart Association Guide for Improving Cardiovascular Health at the Community Level, 2013 Update" — evidence-based goals, strategies and recommendations for community-based public health interventions — is published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation. "The future burden of cardiovascular disease, unless we can prevent it, is projected to have an enormous economic impact. Public ...

Telehealth does not seem to be a cost effective addition to standard support and treatment for patients with long term conditions, finds a study published on bmj.com today. The findings follow a BMJ study published last month showing that telehealth does not improve quality of life for patients with long term conditions. Telehealth uses technology to help people with health problems live more independently at home. For example, blood pressure or blood glucose levels can be measured at home and electronically transmitted to a health professional, reducing the need ...

Personal View: Promoting abstinence for drug users is about saving money not science Personal View: Drug users need more choices at addiction treatment facilities The UK government's decision to promote abstinence for drug users "is about saving money not science" argues a senior doctor on bmj.com today. Despite overwhelming evidence that substitution therapy reduces harm, in 2010 the new UK government announced that substance misuse services should follow a recovery model, writes Jason Luty, a locum consultant in substance misuse. Basically, this means that ...

The antibiotic clarithromycin – widely used for treating lower respiratory tract infections like pneumonia and acute exacerbations (sudden worsening) of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – may be associated with an increased risk of heart problems, finds a study published on bmj.com today. The authors say their findings require confirmation, but add to a growing body of evidence suggesting a possible link between long term cardiovascular risks and certain antibiotics, known as macrolides. Clarithromycin is often used to treat a sudden increase in symptoms ...

VIDEO: Over 80 percent of people with serious mental illnesses are overweight or obese, which contributes to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and a shortened life expectancy than that of... Click here for more information. People with serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression can lose weight and keep it off through a modified lifestyle intervention program, a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded study reported ...

LA JOLLA, CA – March 21, 2012 – A team including scientists from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has determined and analyzed the high-resolution atomic structures of two kinds of human serotonin receptor. The new findings help explain why some drugs that interact with these receptors have had unexpectedly complex and sometimes harmful effects. "Understanding the structure-function of these receptors allows us to discover new biology of serotonin signaling and also gives us better ...

Virginia Tech researchers successfully used a gene disruption technique to change the eye color of a mosquito — a critical step toward new genetic strategies aimed at disrupting the transmission of diseases such as dengue fever. Zach Adelman and Kevin Myles, both associate professors of entomology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and affiliated researchers with the Fralin Life Science Institute, study the transmission of vector-borne diseases and develop novel methods of control, based on genetics. In a groundbreaking study recently published in the journal ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. – A growing body of research by multiple sclerosis (MS) investigators at the University at Buffalo and international partners is providing powerful new evidence that the brain's gray matter reflects important changes in the disease that could allow clinicians to diagnose earlier and to better monitor and predict how the disease will progress. Over the past three years, the UB researchers and their partners around the world, supported by an active fellowship program at UB's Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center (BNAC), have published journal papers and given ...

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have once again demonstrated the incredible capabilities of metamaterials – artificial nanoconstructs whose optical properties arise from their physical structure rather than their chemical composition. Engineering a unique two-dimensional sheet of gold nanoantennas, the researchers were able to obtain the strongest signal yet of the photonic spin Hall effect, an optical phenomenon of quantum mechanics that could play a prominent role in the future of computing. "With ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A new paper in the peer-reviewed journal CBE—Life Sciences Education describes a Brown University program that has significantly improved recruiting and performance of underrepresented minority students in its nine life sciences doctoral programs over the last four years. Data in the paper show increases in applications, admissions, enrollments, test scores, grades and scientific publications and presentations among underrepresented minority students after implementation of the program called the Initiative to Maximize Student Development ...

NEW YORK (March 21, 2013) -- More than 50,000 stem cell transplants are performed each year worldwide. A research team led by Weill Cornell Medical College investigators may have solved a major issue of expanding adult hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) outside the human body for clinical use in bone marrow transplantation -- a critical step towards producing a large supply of blood stem cells needed to restore a healthy blood system. In the journal Blood, Weill Cornell researchers and collaborators from Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center describe how they engineered ...

The over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drug naproxen may also exhibit antiviral activity against influenza A virus, according to a team of French scientists. The finding, the result of a structure-based investigation, is published online ahead of print in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. New influenza vaccines must be developed annually, because the surface proteins they target mutate rapidly, the way cars used to get a whole new look every year. The researchers, led by Anny Slama-Schwok of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Jouy en ...

Dartmouth researchers have taken an important step in the ongoing battle against secondhand tobacco smoke. They have pioneered the development of a breakthrough device that can immediately detect the presence of secondhand smoke and even third-hand smoke. Smaller and lighter than a cellphone and about the size of a Matchbox car, the device uses polymer films to collect and measure nicotine in the air. A sensor chip then records the data on an SD memory card. The technology is described in a new study appearing in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research. "We have ...