ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic and other researchers have shown that a vaccine given to newborns is at least 60 percent effective against rotavirus in Ghana. Rotavirus causes fever, vomiting and diarrhea, which in infants can cause severe dehydration. In developed nations, the condition often results in an emergency room visit or an occasional hospitalization, but is rarely fatal. In developing countries, however, rotavirus-related illness causes approximately 500,000 deaths per year. The findings appear this week in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. Currently, there ...

ST. LOUIS -- In research published in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Saint Louis University researchers describe a technology that can detect new, previously unknown viruses. The technique offers the potential to screen patients for viruses even when doctors have not identified a particular virus as the likely source of an infection. In the new approach, scientists use blood serum as a biological source to categorize and discover viruses. Taking advantage of the complete deciphering of the human genome, SLU researchers used a next-generation ...

An initiative that combines a multidisciplinary health care approach with a range of preventive measures could cut the rate of a common airway infection among children in intensive care by more than half, a new study suggests. The research, led by a team at Nationwide Children's Hospital, appears in the June issue of the journal Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. Ventilator-associated tracheobronchitis—VAT for short—is a lower respiratory infection caused by a buildup of bacteria in the airway. Ordinarily, these small organisms are easily cleared, but being on a ventilator ...

NEW YORK (June 17, 2013)—Obese adolescents are more likely than their normal-weight counterparts to have hearing loss, according to results of a new study. Findings showed that obese adolescents had increased hearing loss across all frequencies and were almost twice as likely to have unilateral (one-sided) low-frequency hearing loss. The study was recently e-published by The Laryngoscope, a journal published by the American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society. "This is the first paper to show that obesity is associated with hearing loss in adolescents," ...

When it comes to confronting childhood obesity, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health conclude that community-based approaches are important. A systematic review of childhood obesity prevention programs found that community-based intervention programs that incorporate schools and focus on both diet and physical activity are more effective at preventing obesity in children. The results of the study appear online in Pediatrics. "In measuring the effectiveness of community-based programs that impact childhood obesity – more comprehensive interventions ...

NEW YORK, NY (June 17, 2013) – A team from the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute and the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center of Columbia University has generated patient-specific beta cells, or insulin-producing cells, that accurately reflect the features of maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY). The researchers used skin cells of MODY patients to produce induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, from which they then made beta cells. Transplanted into a mouse, the stem cell-derived beta cells secreted insulin in a manner similar to that of the beta ...

LA JOLLA, CA – June 17, 2013 – An international team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University has identified a highly promising new anti-tuberculosis compound that attacks the tuberculosis (TB) bacterium in two different ways. "These findings represent an effort to help solve one of the major global health crises of our time—the resurgence of TB and its dangerous drug-resistant strains," said Peter G. Schultz, the Scripps Family Chair Professor of Chemistry ...

DALLAS – June 17, 2013 – The quality of wakefulness affects how quickly a mammal falls asleep, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report in a study that identifies two proteins never before linked to alertness and sleep-wake balance. "This study supports the idea that subjective sleepiness is influenced by the quality of experiences right before bedtime. Are you reluctantly awake or excited to be awake?" said Dr. Masashi Yanagisawa, professor of molecular genetics and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at UT Southwestern. He is principal author of ...

TORONTO, June 17, 2013—How kids eat their food may turn out to be just as important as what they eat, according to a new study out of St. Michael's Hospital. The study, led by Dr. Nav Persaud, a family physician, found a significant association between poor eating habits in kids ages three to five and their levels of non-HDL – or "bad" – cholesterol, putting them at risk for cardiovascular disease later in life. The paper appeared online in the Canadian Medical Association Journal today. "We know that eating behaviours are an important determinant of health in ...

Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers have identified in the most aggressive forms of cancer a gene known to regulate embryonic stem cell self-renewal, beginning a creative search for a drug that can block its activity. The gene, SALL4, gives stem cells their ability to continue dividing as stem cells rather than becoming mature cells. Typically, cells only express SALL4 during embryonic development, but the gene is re-expressed in nearly all cases of acute myeloid leukemia and 10 to 30 percent of liver, lung, gastric, ovarian, endometrial, and breast cancers, ...

Researchers have found that antibodies against the human papillomavirus (HPV) may help identify individuals who are at greatly increased risk of HPV-related cancer of the oropharynx, which is a portion of the throat that contains the tonsils. In their study, at least 1 in 3 individuals with oropharyngeal cancer had antibodies to HPV, compared to fewer than 1 in 100 individuals without cancer. When present, these antibodies were detectable many years before the onset of disease. These findings raise the possibility that a blood test might one day be used to identify ...

System 91W appears ripe to become Tropical Depression 4 in the next couple of days as it continues moving north and parallels the east coast of the Philippines. NASA's Aqua satellite captured a visible image of the developing low pressure area as it passed overhead in space on June 17. On June 16 at 2200 UTC (6 p.m. EDT) System 91W was located near 13.5N and 126.9E, about 355 miles east-southeast of Manila, Philippines. NASA's Aqua satellite passed over System 91W on June 17 at 05:08 UTC (1:08 a.m. EDT) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) ...

On June 12, 2013, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite captured this image of the Silver fire burning east of Silver City, New Mexico. In addition to producing gray smoke plumes, the fire spawned a pyrocumulus cloud—a tall, cauliflower-shaped cloud that billowed up above the smoke. Pyrocumulus clouds are similar to cumulus clouds, but the heat that forces the air to rise (which leads to cooling and condensation of water vapor) comes from fire instead of sun-warmed ground. In satellite images, pyrocumulus cloud appear as opaque ...

Tropical Depression 2 formed in the western Caribbean Sea during the early afternoon hours (Eastern Daylight Time) on June 17. NOAA's GOES-13 satellite captured an image of the storm as it consolidated enough to become a tropical depression while approaching the coast of Belize. NOAA's GOES-13 satellite sits in a fixed orbit and monitors the weather in the eastern half of the continental United States and the Atlantic Ocean. NASA's GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland uses the data from GOES-13 and creates imagery. NASA's GOES Project ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – In a study of more than 2,000 adults, researchers found that two MRI measurements of the abdominal aorta — the amount of plaque in the vessel and the thickness of its wall — are associated with future cardiovascular events, such as a heart attack or stroke. Results of the study are published online in the journal Radiology. "This is an important study, because it demonstrates that atherosclerosis in an artery outside the heart is an independent predictor of adverse cardiovascular events," said the study's lead author, Christopher D. Maroules, M.D., a ...

WASHINGTON — When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) imposes new graphic warning labels for tobacco products, they can survive a First Amendment challenge if they depict health consequences and their effectiveness is supported by adequate scientific evidence, says a Georgetown University Medical Center public health expert and attorney. Graphic tobacco warning labels—which combine images with health warnings—are a widely used tool for reducing tobacco use in other countries, but the tobacco industry argues they are unconstitutional in the United States. In ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – The distribution of white matter brain abnormalities in some patients after mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) closely resembles that found in early Alzheimer's dementia, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology. "Findings of MTBI bear a striking resemblance to those seen in early Alzheimer's dementia," said the study's lead author, Saeed Fakhran, M.D., assistant professor of radiology in the Division of Neuroradiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "Additional research may help further elucidate a link ...

(Washington, DC) – A new language has been discovered in a remote Indigenous community in northern Australia that is generated from a unique combination of elements from other languages. Light Warlpiri has been documented by University of Michigan linguist Carmel O'Shannessy, in a study on "The role of multiple sources in the formation of an innovative auxiliary category in Light Warlpiri, a new Australian mixed language," to be published in the June, 2013 issue of the scholarly journal Language. The people who live in a small community in the Tanami Desert speak a ...

A new social media initiative helped to boost organ donor registration rates, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Transplantation. The findings suggest that social media might be an effective tool for tackling a variety of problems related to public health in which communication and education are essential. Organ donation rates in the United States have remained static while increasing numbers of individuals join transplant waiting lists each year. To provide organs to the more than 100,000 patients in need, new efforts to boost organ donation ...

Boston, MA — Women in the U.S. exposed to high levels of air pollution while pregnant were up to twice as likely to have a child with autism as women who lived in areas with low pollution, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). It is the first large national study to examine links between autism and air pollution across the U.S. "Our findings raise concerns since, depending on the pollutant, 20% to 60% of the women in our study lived in areas where risk of autism was elevated," said lead author Andrea Roberts, research associate in the HSPH ...

Patients in Vietnam and other locations with central nervous system infections may well be suffering from the effects of a newly discovered virus, according to a study to be published in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. Researchers have detected the virus in spinal fluid from 4 percent of 642 patients with central nervous system infections of unknown cause, and in an average of 58 percent of fecal samples from pigs and poultry, suggesting animals may serve as reservoirs for transmission to humans. The virus, called CyCV-VN, ...

A social media push boosted the number of people who registered themselves as organ donors 21-fold in a single day, Johns Hopkins researchers found, suggesting social media might be an effective tool to address the stubborn organ shortage in the United States. The gains were made in May 2012 when the social-networking giant Facebook created a way for users to share their organ donor status with friends and provided easy links to make their status official on state department of motor vehicle websites. The findings are being published in the American Journal of Transplantation. "The ...

Researchers have identified a new virus in patients with severe brain infections in Vietnam. Further research is needed to determine whether the virus is responsible for the symptoms of disease. The virus was found in a total of 28 out of 644 patients with severe brain infections in the study, corresponding to around 4%, but not in any of the 122 patients with non-infectious brain disorders that were tested. Infections of the brain and central nervous system are often fatal and patients who do survive, often young children and young adults, are left severely disabled. ...

RICHLAND, Wash. – A single advanced building control now in development could slash 18 percent – tens of thousands of dollars – off the overall annual energy bill of the average large office building, with no loss of comfort, according to a report by researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. "An 18-percent boost in building energy efficiency by modifying a single factor is very, very good," said team leader Michael Brambley. "The savings were much greater than we expected." The report is based on extensive simulations of the impact ...

Massachusetts alimony: what's all the fuss about? Article provided by Law Offices of Lisa A. Ruggieri Visit us at http://www.lisaruggieri.com Massachusetts alimony law recently underwent a transformation in the way that it is defined, viewed and calculated. Also known as spousal support or spousal maintenance, alimony is the payment of monetary support from one former spouse to the other, more financially needy spouse, usually monthly. A groundswell of dissatisfaction with the way alimony was determined historically in the commonwealth prompted the creation of ...