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Medicine11 Feb 2013

Preemptive treatment of severe morning sickness decreases suffering for moms-to-be

`In a study to be presented on February 14 between 1:15 p.m., and 3:30 p.m. PST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting ™, in San Francisco, California, researchers will present data showing the effectiveness of preemptive treatment for hyperemesis gravidarum and severe morning sickness. Hyperemesis gravidarum is a severe form of morning sickness which effects one in 50 pregnant women. HG is marked by persistent nausea and vomiting, and can begin early in the first trimester, continuing well into the second, third or even up ...

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Science11 Feb 2013

Differences in obstetric outcomes and care related to race and ethnicity

In a study to be presented on February 14 between 1:15 p.m., and 3:30 p.m. PST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting ™, in San Francisco, California, researchers will present data showing racial and ethnic disparities exist for adverse obstetric outcomes. In his study Dr. William Grobman of Northwestern University, presenting for the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, studied 115,502 women over a three year period to see if adverse obstetric outcomes and provisions in obstetric ...

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Medicine11 Feb 2013

Abnormal brain development in fetuses of obese women

In a study to be presented on February 15 between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. PST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting ™, in San Francisco, California, researchers from Tufts Medical Center will present findings showing the effects of maternal obesity on a fetus, specifically in the development of the brain. The study, conducted at the Mother Infant Research Institute (MIRI) at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Mass., looked at the fetal development of 16 pregnant women, eight obese and eight lean, to see what effects maternal obesity ...

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Medicine11 Feb 2013

Obstructive sleep apnea and cardiac symptoms have 31 percent incidence of cardiac dysfunction

In a study to be presented on February 15 between 8 a.m., and 10 a.m. PST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting ™, in San Francisco, researchers will report findings that women with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and cardiac symptoms have a 31 percent incidence of cardiac dysfunction. The use of echocardiograms should be considered in the clinical management of these women. OSA is characterized by abnormal pauses in breathing or instances of abnormally low breathing, during sleep. These pauses can last from at least ten seconds ...

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Medicine11 Feb 2013

Community health workers help type 2 diabetes care

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Newly published results from a randomized controlled clinical trial in the Pacific U.S. territory of American Samoa add clear evidence for the emerging idea that community health workers can meaningfully improve type 2 diabetes care in medically underserved communities. In the U.S. territory, 21.5 percent of adults have type 2 diabetes. Meanwhile, 58 percent of families are below the U.S. poverty level. The research team, led by public health researchers from Brown and The Miriam Hospital, wanted to test whether four trained local ...

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Science11 Feb 2013

Caloric restriction, exercise help prevent weight gain, other complications in obese women

In a study to be presented on February 15 between 1:15 p.m., and 3:30 p.m. PST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting ™, in San Francisco, researchers will report findings that suggest that consistent physical activity and healthier lifestyle changes beginning in a woman's first trimester can prevent excessive weight gain in obese pregnant women (with a Body Mass Index greater than 30), helping to avoid preterm delivery, hypertension and gestational diabetes. This randomized study, entitled Occurrence of pregnancy complications ...

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Science11 Feb 2013

'Laborist' obstetrical care improves pregnancy outcomes

In a study to be presented on February 16 between 8 a.m., and 10 a.m. PST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting ™, in San Francisco, researchers will report findings that suggest shifting from a traditional model of obstetrical care to a laborist model improves pregnancy outcomes. The "laborist" concept has been around for nearly a decade. In this model, obstetricians provide 24-hour a day on-site staffing of labor units. While it has been assumed that laborists improve obstetric care, there had been no studies done to test ...

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Science11 Feb 2013

Around-the-clock labor coverage associated with decrease in C-section

In a study to be presented on February 16 between 8 a.m., and 10 a.m. PST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting ™, in San Francisco, researchers will report findings that suggest around-the-clock labor and delivery coverage decreased the odds of cesarean delivery. The objective of the study was to determine if the implementation of "laborists" to provide around-the-clock coverage of labor and delivery would produce better outcomes. The study compared outcomes in hospitals with around-the-clock coverage versus hospitals whose ...

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Medicine11 Feb 2013

Comprehensive maternal hemorrhage protocols improve patient safety

In a study to be presented on February 16 between 8 a.m., and 10 a.m. PST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting ™, in San Francisco, researchers will report findings that suggest comprehensive maternal hemorrhage protocols reduce utilization of blood products and improve patient safety. A study performed at Dignity Health, the fifth largest health care system in the United States with 31 obstetrical units, showed that the implementation of a standardized comprehensive maternal hemorrhage (CHP) protocol directed towards prevention ...

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Science11 Feb 2013

Study confirms recurrence of small-for-gestational-age pregnancies

In a study to be presented on February 16 between 8 a.m., and 10 a.m. PST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting ™, in San Francisco, researchers will report findings that suggest women whose babies are small-for-gestational-age (SGA) in their first pregnancy have a strongly increased risk for SGA in a second pregnancy. The aim of this study was to assess and describe in detail the incidence of SGA infants and the SGA recurrence rate in general. Additionally, it sought to assess the incidence and recurrence rate of SGA in women ...

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Science11 Feb 2013

Study prompts rethink of how ovaries develop

New research from the University of Adelaide will rewrite the textbooks on how an ovary is formed, as well as providing new insights into women's health and fertility. The study, now published in the journal PLOS ONE, also names a new type of cell that plays a key role in the development of ovaries and ovarian follicles, which are responsible for the production of eggs in women. The discovery is expected to prompt further studies around the world to better understand how ovaries and ovarian follicles develop in female fetuses. This could be critical to treating or ...

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Medicine11 Feb 2013

First-in-man study demonstrates the therapeutic effect of RNAi gene silencing in cancer treatment

The new study published in Cancer Discovery, the flagship journal of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR), involving three Spanish and six American research centres, presents significant results in treating cancer patients with nanoparticles containing ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) molecules. This marks the first time that the therapeutic effect of RNAi has been demonstrated in humans. Barcelona, 11 February 2013. A study led by Dr Josep Tabernero, the Director of Clinical Research at the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) and Head of the ...

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Medicine11 Feb 2013

Cell circuits remember their history

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- MIT engineers have created genetic circuits in bacterial cells that not only perform logic functions, but also remember the results, which are encoded in the cell's DNA and passed on for dozens of generations. The circuits, described in the Feb. 10 online edition of Nature Biotechnology, could be used as long-term environmental sensors, efficient controls for biomanufacturing, or to program stem cells to differentiate into other cell types. "Almost all of the previous work in synthetic biology that we're aware of has either focused on logic components ...

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Science11 Feb 2013

Studying bed bug actions for new management tactics

This press release is available in Spanish. Learning more about the behavior of bed bugs is one approach being used by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists to identify compounds to help control these pests. The resurgence of bed bugs over the last decade has caused problems in major U.S. cities where they infest homes, apartments, hotels, shelters and even places of work. The small, blood-feeding insects are not known to transmit diseases, but they can cause severe reactions in people who are allergic to them. Bed bugs usually go unnoticed until their numbers ...

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Medicine11 Feb 2013

Protein 'filmed' while unfolding at atomic resolution

By combining low temperatures and NMR spectroscopy, the scientists visualized seven intermediate forms of the CylR2 protein while cooling it down from 25°C to -16°C. Their results show that the most instable intermediate form plays a key role in protein folding. The scientists' findings may contribute to a better understanding of how proteins adopt their structure and misfold during illness. Whether Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or Huntington's Chorea – all three diseases have one thing in common. They are caused by misfolded proteins that form insoluble clumps in the brains ...

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Medicine11 Feb 2013

AGU Journal Highlights -- Feb. 11, 2013

The following highlights summarize research papers that have been recently published in Geophysical Research Letters (GRL), Journal of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface (JGR-F), and Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences (JGR-G). In this release: 1. Global climatology of explosive cyclones 2. For U.S. biomes, climate change will decrease vegetative productivity 3. Lightning detected from space can indicate thundercloud height 4. Storminess helps coastal marshes withstand sea level rise 5. How many lakes are there, and how big are they? 6. Characterizing ...

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Technology11 Feb 2013

Invisible tool enables new quantum experiments

Matter wave interferometry has a long standing tradition at the University of Vienna, where the first quantum interference of large molecules has already been observed in 1999. Nowadays scientists are hunting down evidence for the quantum mechanical behavior of increasingly complex constituents of matter. This is done in experiments in which the flying of each particle seems to obtain information about distinct places in space, which are inaccessible according to classical physics. Synchronised laser flashes for quantum interferometry The quantum nanophysics team around ...

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Science11 Feb 2013

Underage youth drinking concentrated among small number of brands

A relatively small number of alcohol brands dominate underage youth alcohol consumption, according to a new report from researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health and the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The report, published online by Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, is the first national study to identify the alcohol brands consumed by underage youth, and has important implications for alcohol research and policy. The top 25 brands accounted for nearly half of youth alcohol ...

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Energy11 Feb 2013

Researchers strain to improve electrical material and it's worth it

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Like turning coal to diamond, adding pressure to an electrical material enhances its properties. Now, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers have devised a method of making ferroelectric thin films with twice the strain, resulting in exceptional performance. Led by Lane Martin, a professor of materials science and engineering, the group published its results in the journal Advanced Materials. Ferroelectric materials, metal oxides with special polarization properties, are used in a number of advanced electronics applications. When electricity ...

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Medicine11 Feb 2013

EAU to release policy statement on live surgery ethics

During the final day of the 28th Annual EAU Congress, which will take place on 15-19 March 2013 in Milan, the European Association of Urology will release its official policy statement on live surgery ethics. The statement and accompanying commentary will be delivered by Mr. Keith Parsons (Liverpool, UK), who chairs the EAU Guidelines Office and is a member of the working panel which was tasked with formulating the policy. Chaired by Prof. Walter Artibani, EAU Executive Member Science, the live surgery working panel has been developing the policy since March 2012. The ...

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Environment11 Feb 2013

Bisphenol A affects sex-specific reproductive behaviors in a monogamous animal species

Parents, teachers and psychologists know boys and girls behave differently. However, that difference isn't taken into account by most methods used to assess the risk to children from chemical exposure, according to Cheryl Rosenfeld, associate professor of biomedical sciences in the University of Missouri's Bond Life Sciences Center. A series of experiments by Rosenfeld studied the effects of prenatal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) on later reproductive-associated behaviors using a socially and genetically monogamous rodent, the California mouse, which may better mirror most ...

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Science11 Feb 2013

Is lead poisoning behind some juvenile crime?

Lead is a common element but is found in old paints (including those once used on children's toys), soil, old piping, water, and the atmosphere from lead-containing vehicular fuels, even drinking vessels. At high dose it is lethal but also causes seemingly trivial symptoms such as headaches. However, in children lead can also lead to irreversible damage to the organs, the kidneys in particular, and the nervous system including the brain. Early detection to contaminated sources is important to prevent children coming to harm but exposure is not always apparent. The effects ...

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Medicine11 Feb 2013

Stem cell breakthrough could lead to new bone repair therapies on nanoscale surfaces

Scientists at the University of Southampton have created a new method to generate bone cells which could lead to revolutionary bone repair therapies for people with bone fractures or those who need hip replacement surgery due to osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. The research, carried out by Dr Emmajayne Kingham at the University of Southampton in collaboration with the University of Glasgow and published in the journal Small, cultured human embryonic stem cells on to the surface of plastic materials and assessed their ability to change. Scientists were able to use the ...

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Medicine11 Feb 2013

Artificial atoms allow for magnetic resonance on individual cells

Researchers from the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), in collaboration with the CSIC and Macquarie University in Australia, have developed a new technique, similar to the MRI but with a much higher resolution and sensitivity, which has the ability to scan individual cells. In an article published in Nature Nanotech, and highlighted by Nature, ICFO Prof. Romain Quidant explains how this was accomplished using artificial atoms, diamond nanoparticles doped with nitrogen impurity, to probe very weak magnetic fields such as those generated in some biological molecules. The ...

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Medicine11 Feb 2013

1 disease, 2 mechanisms

While prostate cancer is the most common cancer in elderly Western men it also, but more rarely, strikes patients aged between 35 and 50. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, in collaboration with several other research teams in Germany*, have discovered that such early-onset prostate cancers are triggered by a different mechanism from that which causes the disease at a later age. Their findings are published today in Cancer Cell, and might have important consequences for the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer in ...

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