(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- New research from the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, published in the Journal of Surgical Research, may help clinicians determine which patients are at highest risk for post-surgical blood clots in the legs or lungs. A team led by Robert Canter, UC Davis associate professor of surgery, studied the medical histories of more than 470,000 surgical patients to determine which factors increased their risk of blood clots, also called venous thromboembolism (VTE). The team then created a nomogram, a type of calculator, which can help clinicians ...

URBANA - Although the 2012 drought in the Midwest may have dimmed the memories for some of the 2011 Ohio and Mississippi River flood, engineers, landowners, conservationists, crop scientists and soil scientists haven't forgotten. They are working hard to repair levees and restore the flood damaged Birds Point-New Madrid floodway in preparation for the next big flood which will eventually happen. "After the waters recede, people forget about the catastrophic flooding and damage to agricultural lands, road infrastructure, homes, and businesses and the ongoing restoration ...

Humans have between 20,000 and 25,000 genes that carry instructions for assembling the proteins that do the work of cells. Work led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital found that children who inherit certain variations in four particular genes are at much higher risk of developing acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The study also showed that Hispanic patients were more likely than patients of European or African ancestry to inherit high-risk versions of two of these genes. ALL rates are known to be higher among Hispanic children than those of European or African ...

Sugar-sweetened sodas, sports drinks and fruit drinks may be associated with about 180,000 deaths around the world each year, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism 2013 Scientific Sessions. Sugar-sweetened beverages are consumed throughout the world, and contribute to excess body weight, which increases the risk of developing diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and some cancers. Using data collected as part of the 2010 Global Burden of Diseases Study, the researchers linked ...

Among patients with emergency department (ED) visits with the same presenting complaint as those with visits ultimately given a primary care-treatable diagnosis based on the ED discharge diagnosis, a substantial proportion required immediate emergency care or hospital admission, findings that do not support use of discharge diagnosis as the basis for policies discouraging ED use, according to a study in the March 20 issue of JAMA. "With increasing medical care costs, policymakers have turned to ED utilization as a potential source for cost savings," according to background ...

In an examination of long-term mortality after stroke, adults 50 years of age and younger who experienced a stroke had a significantly higher risk of death in the following 20 years compared with the general population, according to a study in the March 20 issue of JAMA. "Stroke is one of the leading causes of mortality, with an annual 6 million fatal events worldwide. Stroke mainly affects elderly people, yet approximately 10 percent of strokes occur in patients younger than 50 years. Despite this considerable proportion, only limited data exist on long-term prognosis ...

Administration of the drug eritoran to patients with severe sepsis and septic shock failed to demonstrate a significant effect on reducing all-cause 28-day mortality or 1-year mortality, compared with placebo, according to a study in the March 20 issue of JAMA. Severe sepsis, a syndrome of acute infection complicated by organ dysfunction, is caused by a dysregulated systemic inflammatory response. Sepsis can progress to systemic hypotension (septic shock), multiple organ dysfunction, and death. "Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or endotoxin, the major component of the outer ...

Heart failure patients who are moderately or severely depressed have four times the risk of dying and double the risk of having to go to the emergency room or be hospitalized compared to those who are not depressed, according to new research reported in Circulation: Heart Failure, an American Heart Association Journal. "Depression is a key driver of healthcare use in heart failure," said Alanna M. Chamberlain, Ph.D., M.P.H., the study's lead author and assistant professor of epidemiology in the Department of Health Sciences Research at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. ...

Heart disease patients who have anxiety have twice the risk of dying from any cause compared to those without anxiety, according to new research in the Journal of the American Heart Association. Patients with both anxiety and depression have triple the risk of dying, researchers said. "Many studies have linked depression to an increased risk of death in heart disease patients," said Lana Watkins, Ph.D., lead author of the study and an associate professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. "However, anxiety hasn't received ...

Washington, DC — Sexually naïve male mice respond differently to the chemical signals emitted by newborn pups than males that have mated and lived with pregnant females, according to a study published March 20 in The Journal of Neuroscience. The findings may help scientists to better understand the changes that take place in the brains of some mammals during the transition into parenthood. Sex differences in the behaviors mice display toward newborn pups are well documented. While virgin female mice routinely provide parental care to pups upon first encounter, ...

VIDEO: EPFL scientists have developed a tiny, portable personal blood testing laboratory: a minuscule device implanted just under the skin provides an immediate analysis of substances in the body, and a... Click here for more information. Humans are veritable chemical factories - we manufacture thousands of substances and transport them, via our blood, throughout our bodies. Some of these substances can be used as indicators of our health status. A team of EPFL scientists ...

Research: Use of high potency statins and rates of admission for acute kidney injury: multicenter, retrospective observational analysis of administrative databases Editorial: Statins in acute kidney injury: friend or foe? Patients taking high potency statins for high blood pressure are at a 34% higher risk of being hospitalised for acute kidney injury (AKI), compared with those taking low potency statins, a paper published today on bmj.com suggests. The use of statins is often recommended to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease among high risk patients. However, ...

SAN DIEGO — Mayo Clinic neurology experts will present research findings on Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, sleep disorders, concussions, multiple sclerosis and more at the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting in San Diego, March 16. They also are available to offer expert comment on other research findings. Mayo studies being presented and their embargo times include: Cognitively normal people with high amyloid levels likelier to develop dementia EMBARGOED until Monday, March 18, 2013, 1:30 p.m. EDT People who aren't showing signs of cognitive ...

Personal View: The new somatic symptom disorder in DSM-5 risks mislabeling many people as mentally ill Millions of people could be mislabeled as mentally ill when psychiatry's bible of diagnoses is updated in May, warns a senior doctor in this week's BMJ. The next edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) – used around the world to classify mental disorders - will include a new category of somatic symptom disorder. But Allen Frances, Chair of the current (DSM-IV) task force warns that the DSM-5 ...

For medicines intended for chronic use, the number of patients studied before regulatory approval is insufficient to properly evaluate safety and long-term efficacy, requiring the need for new legislation, according to a study by European researchers published in this week's PLOS Medicine. Current European guidelines specify that in order to fully evaluate the safety of medicines being developed for chronic (long-term) treatment of non-life threatening diseases, at least 1000 patients must take the new drug and that 300 and 100 patients must use the drug for 6 and 12 ...

In Africa, issues of vaccine supply, financing, and sustainability require urgent attention if the Millennium Development Goals are to be achieved, according to African experts writing in this week's PLOS Medicine. Shingai Machingaidze, Charles Wiysonge, and Gregory Hussey from the University of Cape Town in South Africa commend African countries for their progress in immunisation programmes but infectious disease outbreaks, for example, polio and measles outbreaks, as well as high vaccine dropout rates across the region, indicate failures within the immunisation system. ...

One of the most southerly populations of polar bears in the world – and the best studied – is struggling to cope with climate-induced changes to sea ice, new research reveals. Based on over 10 years' data the study, published in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Animal Ecology, sheds new light on how sea ice conditions drive polar bears' annual migration on and off the ice. Lead by Dr Seth Cherry of the University of Alberta, the team studied polar bears in western Hudson Bay, where sea ice melts completely each summer and typically re-freezes from late November ...

Research: Use of caffeinated substances and risk of crashes in long distance drivers of commercial vehicles: case-control study Long distance commercial drivers who consume caffeinated substances such as coffee or energy drinks, to stay awake while driving, are significantly less likely to crash than those who do not, even though they drive longer distances and sleep less, finds a study published today on bmj.com. Long distance drivers routinely experience monotonous and extended driving periods in a sedentary position, which has been associated with wake time drowsiness, ...

Parasitoid wasps of the family Braconidae are known for their deadly reproductive habits. Most of the representatives of this group have their eggs developing in other insects and their larvae, eventually killing the respective host, or in some cases immobilizing it or causing its sterility. Three new species of the parasitoid wasp genus Cystomastacoides, recently described in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research, reflect this fatal behavior. Two of the new species were discovered in Papua New Guinea, while the third one comes from Thailand. The Thai species, Cystomastacoides ...

FLORIDA, March 19, 2013 – The Journal of Neuroscience has published a study led by researchers at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, the first and only U.S. extension of the prestigious Max Planck Society, that may hold a stunning breakthrough in the fight to treat Alzheimer's disease. The study potentially identifies a cause of Alzheimer's disease—based on a newly-discovered signaling pathway in cellular models of Alzheimer's disease—and opens the door for new treatments by successfully blocking this pathway. The Institute, which recently opened in December ...

A new study out of the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry shows a large population of healthy people are taking Aspirin to prevent cardiovascular disease, despite the fact that new literature shows it isn't as beneficial as once thought. Olga Szafran and Mike Kolber, in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta, surveyed patients over the age of 50 at two clinics in Alberta. They found that more than 40 per cent of people who don't suffer from cardiovascular disease are popping pills daily to prevent a heart attack or stroke – a practice called primary ...

Women may be less likely to pursue careers in science and math because they have more career choices, not because they have less ability, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Although the gender gap in mathematics has narrowed in recent decades, with more females enrolling and performing well in math classes, females are still less likely to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) than their male peers. Researchers tend to agree that differences in math ...

After the molybdenite chip, we now have molybdenite flash memory, a significant step forward in the use of this new material in electronics applications. The news is even more impressive because scientists from EPFL's Laboratory of Nanometer Electronics and Structures (LANES) came up with a truly original idea: they combined the advantages of this semiconducting material with those of another amazing material – graphene. The results of their research have recently been published in the journal ACS Nano. Two years ago, the LANES team revealed the promising electronic ...

New Rochelle, NY, Mar 19, 2013—Chronic fatigue, a persistent lack of energy that does not improve with rest, is at least three times more prevalent among adult survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and lymphoma experienced during childhood or adolescence than in the general adult population, according to an article in Journal of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology (JAYAO), (http://www.liebertpub.com/JAYAO) a multidisciplinary peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. (http://www.liebertpub.com) JAYAO is the Official Journal of the Society for ...

Screening for breast cancer every two years appears just as beneficial as yearly mammograms for women ages 50 to 74, with significantly fewer "false positives" – even for women whose breasts are dense or who use hormone therapy for menopause. That is the finding of a new national study involving more than 900,000 women. The study was published on March 18 in JAMA Internal Medicine. The same team of researchers from UC San Francisco and Seattle-based Group Health Research Institute recently reported similar results for older women ages 66 to 89 years old. By contrast, ...