CHICAGO, IL – Corticosteroid injections may speed-up the return time for National Football League (NFL) players suffering high ankle sprains, according to research presented today at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL. Players treated with these injections typically returned 40% faster or approximately 10 days earlier than those not receiving the same treatment. "After examining players with stable high ankle sprains over an eight-year period, we discovered those treated with corticosteroid injections returned to play ...

CHICAGO, IL – Certain elements of a pitcher's throwing mechanics can increase the risk for elbow injuries, according to information presented by researchers at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's Annual Meeting today in Chicago, IL. The researchers examined 296 MLB pitchers throughout eight seasons from 2005-2012. Pitchers with a deficit of more than five degrees in total range of motion (TRM) in their dominant shoulder had a 2.3 times higher risk of injury, while pitchers with a deficit of five or more degrees in shoulder flexion of the dominant shoulder ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- At the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s men who were married were significantly less likely to die of HIV/AIDS than their divorced or otherwise single counterparts, according to a University of California, Riverside analysis of new mortality data for that era. For women, marital status had little impact on who was more likely to die of the disease. But race proved to be a significant risk factor, with African-American women nine times more likely to die of HIV/AIDS and Latinas seven times more likely to die of the disease than white women. ...

It's a parent's nightmare: opening a Lego set and being faced with 500 pieces, but no instructions on how to assemble them into the majestic castle shown on the box. Thanks to a new approach by scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, researchers studying large sets of molecules with vital roles inside our cells can now overcome a similar problem. In a study published online today in Science, the scientists used super-resolution microscopy to solve a decade-long debate about the structure of the nuclear pore complex, which controls ...

Groundbreaking new electron microscopy technology developed at the York JEOL Nanocentre at the University of York is allowing researchers to observe and analyse single atoms, small clusters and nanoparticles in dynamic in-situ experiments for the first time. The influential work being carried out at York is opening up striking new opportunities for observing and understanding the role of atoms in reactions in many areas of the physical sciences. It also has important implications for new medicines and new energy sources. So far, observing reacting atoms has been difficult. ...

The National Food Institute has gathered the findings of the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration's studies of pesticide residues in Danish food in the period 2004-2011. The calculations of the intake show that pesticide residues in foods on the Danish market do not constitute a health risk. Pesticide residues are found primarily in fruit and vegetables. In general, pesticide residues are more often found in fruit than in vegetables, and foreign fruit contains more pesticide residues than Danish fruit. The share of Danish fruit with a content of pesticides under ...

The discovery cracks the "RNA control code," which dictates how RNA — a family of molecules that mediates DNA expression — moves genetic information from DNA to create proteins. "For the first time, we understand the language of a code that is essential to gene processing," said Quaid Morris, a Professor in U of T's Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research and the Banting and Best Department of Medical Research. "Many human diseases are due to defects in this code, so figuring out what it means is crucial to creating new treatments for many conditions." The ...

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Even the healthiest relationships include arguments, but the topic of the argument could predict risk of divorce, according to a Kansas State University researcher. "Arguments about money is by far the top predictor of divorce," said Sonya Britt, assistant professor of family studies and human services and program director of personal financial planning. "It's not children, sex, in-laws or anything else. It's money -- for both men and women." Britt conducted a study using longitudinal data from more than 4,500 couples as part of the National Survey ...

While research tends to become very specialized and entire communities of scientists can work on specific topics with only a little overlap between them, physicist Dr Nicolas Brunner and mathematician Professor Noah Linden worked together to uncover a deep and unexpected connection between their two fields of expertise: game theory and quantum physics. Dr Brunner said: "Once in a while, connections are established between topics which seem, on the face of it, to have nothing in common. Such new links have potential to trigger significant progress and open entirely new ...

The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is commonly found in nature and frequently colonizes the skin and the upper respiratory tract of humans. A healthy immune system can fight the microorganism but once the immune system is weakened the pathogen can spread and lead to life-threatening diseases of the lungs, the heart and other organs. Moreover, S. aureus produces toxins in foods and can cause serious food poisoning. Its effects are not confined to humans: in cattle, S. aureus frequently causes inflammation of the udders, so the bacterium is also of great interest ...

During pregnancy, women are normally advised to take high amounts of multivitamin supplements. In particular, folate is recommended to reduce the risk of neural tube defects in newborns. The problem is that, although vitamins are critical in fetal development, high vitamin doses during pregnancy may cause undesired effects on the offspring later in life (in rats, an obesogenic phenotype is typically observed). A study in the July issue of the journal Epigenetics suggests that feeding the pups a similar high-folate diet can prevent the obesogenic phenotype of mature offspring ...

Published today in the journal Science, Professor Frank Caruso from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at The University of Melbourne and his team have developed a new strategy to coat microscopic materials, leading to a new-generation particle system with engineered properties. This is expected to underpin advances in the delivery of therapeutics in the areas of cancer, vaccines, cardiovascular disease and neural health. The capsules can be engineered to degrade under different conditions, providing opportunities for the timed release of substances ...

TORONTO, ON – Males and females face different challenges in accessing treatment for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), according to a new study from researchers at the University of Toronto Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Uganda Ministry of Health and Imperial College London. The study, published by PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases on July 11, explores the role of gender in access to treatment in the Uganda National Neglected Tropical Disease Control Program. NTDs are a group of parasitic, viral and bacterial diseases that affect at least a billion people worldwide. ...

Far more people are willing to donate their eyes to research than actually are registered to donate, according to a study led by a Michigan State University student. While demand for tissue remains high, the number of human eyes donated for research declined 28 percent between 1997 and 2004, said Andrew Williams, a third-year MSU College of Human Medicine student who led the study in the journal Current Eye Research. "A lot of people aren't aware they can donate their eyes to research," Williams said. "They don't really know how to get the process started. It comes ...

A study by researchers at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) is the first to demonstrate that patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) lose the emotional content/colour of their memories. These findings explain why FTD patients may not vividly remember an emotionally charged event like a wedding or funeral. The research team discovered that a region of the brain, called the orbitofrontal cortex, plays a key role in linking emotion and memories. "This step forward in the mapping of the brain will improve how we diagnose different types of dementia," says the ...

CHICAGO --- In the first step toward animal-to-human transplants of insulin-producing cells for people with type 1 diabetes, Northwestern Medicine® scientists have successfully transplanted islets, the cells that produce insulin, from one species to another. And the islets survived without immunosuppressive drugs. Northwestern scientists developed a new method that prevented rejection of the islets, a huge problem in transplants between species, called xenotransplantation. "This is the first time that an interspecies transplant of islet cells has been achieved for an ...

Have you ever noticed the way water flows around boulders in a fast-moving river, creating areas of stillness and intense motion? What if those forces of fluid flow could be controlled at the smallest levels? In May 2013, researchers from UCLA, Iowa State and Princeton reported results in Nature Communications about a new way of sculpting tailor-made fluid flows by placing tiny pillars in microfluidic channels. By altering the speed of the fluid, and stacking many pillars, with different widths, placements and orientations, in the fluid's path, they showed that it is ...

Children who suffer from arthritis could one day receive more targeted treatment thanks to potential markers for the severity of the disorder discovered by researchers at the University of Adelaide and Women's and Children's Hospital. The early results of a world-first study looking at 115 children with juvenile arthritis have shown that changes in the levels of particular molecules known as prostanoids - which are formed from essential fatty acids - in the blood of these patients may predict the course of arthritis more accurately, and help provide more individualized ...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Millions of children worldwide live on the streets. A review and analysis of 50 studies on substance abuse by street children in 22 resource-constrained countries has found lifetime substance use to be both common and high, posing serious threats to their health as well as for their chances for reintegration into society. "The most important conclusion to draw from this large number of studies is not only is substance abuse by street children highly prevalent in low-income countries; it is largely ignored," said Paula Braitstein, Ph.D., associate research ...

Among kidney disease patients receiving pre-dialysis care in a universal healthcare system, black patients experienced a faster progression to kidney failure than whites. The faster decline in kidney function among black compared with white patients was predominantly present in patients with diabetes and in patients with more advanced kidney dysfunction. Findings may help explain why blacks are more prone to develop kidney failure than whites. Washington, DC (July 11, 2013) — Among patients with kidney disease who received specialized pre-dialysis care in a universal ...

A novel drug called Bendavia can help prevent acute kidney injury in animal models and is currently being studied in clinical trials for kidney disease. Bendavia acts by protecting a unique compound called cardiolipin, which is only found in mitochondria and is essential for keeping cells alive and functioning. Acute kidney injury has more than doubled since 2000, causing nearly 39,000 deaths in 2009. Washington, DC (July 11, 2013) — New research reveals the mechanism by which an experimental drug can protect the kidneys from sudden damage, called acute kidney injury ...

A new study reveals that the representation of complex features in the brain may begin earlier—and play out in a more cumulative manner—than previously thought. The finding represents a new view of how the brain creates internal representations of the visual world. "We are excited to see if this novel view will dominate the wider consensus" said senior author Dr. Miyashita, who is also Professor of Physiology at the University of Tokyo's School of Medicine, "and also about the potential impact of our new computational principle on a wide range of views on human cognitive ...

An analysis of earthquakes in the area around the Salton Sea Geothermal Field in southern California has found a strong correlation between seismic activity and operations for production of geothermal power, which involve pumping water into and out of an underground reservoir. "We show that the earthquake rate in the Salton Sea tracks a combination of the volume of fluid removed from the ground for power generation and the volume of wastewater injected," said Emily Brodsky, a geophysicist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and lead author of the study, published ...

VIDEO: Dr. Paul Frenette has found that nerves play a critical role in both the development and spread of prostate tumors. The paper was published online July 12, 2013, in Science.... Click here for more information. July 11, 2013 — (Bronx, NY) —Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found that nerves play a critical role in both the development and spread of prostate tumors. Their findings, using both a mouse model and human prostate ...

The AIDS virus can be used to treat two severe hereditary diseases. After an Italian scientist's "stroke of genius" in 1996, and after years of promising results in the laboratory, double official recognition by one of the most important international scientific journals has now arrived. And six children from all over the world, after three years of treatment, are well and show significant benefits. The announcement was made in two studies published today in Science* by researchers at the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (TIGET) in Milan, led by Luigi Naldini, ...