When given early treatment, children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) made significant improvements in behavior, communication, and most strikingly, brain function, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in a new study. The study was published in the current issue of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders by Yale Child Study Center researchers Fred Volkmar, M.D., Kevin A. Pelphrey, and their colleagues. The results suggest that brain systems supporting social perception respond well to an early intervention behavioral program called pivotal response ...

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – November 6, 2012 – When a cardiologist attends to heart failure patients, even when the severity of illness is higher, patients have reduced rates of hospital readmissions, compared with those patients who are treated by a hospitalist, according to a trial being presented today at the American Heart Association's scientific sessions in Los Angeles. Congestive heart failure (CHF) is the most common cause for hospital readmission in patients over the age of 65 years. Whereas efforts to reduce readmission rates have focused on transitions of care and short-term ...

"Travel broadens the mind" goes the old adage, and potential employers often agree, valuing the open-mindedness and creativity fostered by such worldliness. But according to new Tel Aviv University research, not all international experiences are created equal. "Although living abroad does help to hone creative abilities, not all individuals who have lived abroad derive an equal benefit from such experiences," explains Dr. Carmit Tadmor of TAU's Recanati School of Business, who conducted the study with Dr. Adam Galinsky of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern ...

CHAMPAIGN, lll. — Scientists have identified a group of small molecules that interfere with the activity of a compound that initiates multiple steps in blood clotting, including those that lead to the obstruction of veins or arteries, a condition called thrombosis. Blocking the activity of this compound, polyphosphate, could treat thrombosis with fewer bleeding side effects than the drugs that are currently on the market. Their findings appear in the journal Blood. Blood clots are formed at the site of an injured blood vessel to prevent blood loss. Sometimes, however, ...

To build the computer chips of the future, designers will need to understand how an electrical charge behaves when it is confined to metal wires only a few atom-widths in diameter. Now, a team of physicists at McGill University, in collaboration with researchers at General Motors R&D, have shown that electrical current may be drastically reduced when wires from two dissimilar metals meet. The surprisingly sharp reduction in current reveals a significant challenge that could shape material choices and device design in the emerging field of nanoelectronics. The size of ...

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – November 5, 2012 – A multicenter registry has demonstrated that the use of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) to combat sudden cardiac death in high-risk pediatric patients suffering from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). The study is being presented Nov. 5 at the 2012 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association (AHA) in Los Angeles. While the study found that the rate of possible device complications adds a level of complexity to this age group, it also demonstrated that life-saving ICD interventions were common in younger patients ...

UC Davis researchers have found that for children with the genetic disorder known as chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome anxiety -- but not intelligence -- is linked to poorer adaptive behaviors, such as self-care and communication skills, that affect daily life. The developmental syndrome, which is associated with a constellation of physical, cognitive and psychiatric problems, usually is apparent at birth or early childhood, and leads to lifelong challenges. The study findings suggest that helping children cope with fear-based symptoms may be the best strategy for ...

Medical researchers at the University of Alberta studied the records of nearly 1000 patients who were admitted to hospital with pneumonia and noted those who were obese were more apt to survive compared to those who were of normal weight. For their research study, the team examined the records of 907 patients with pneumonia who were admitted to six Edmonton hospitals and also had their body mass index recorded. Two-thirds of the patients had severe pneumonia and 79 died in hospital. Of those who died, 12 were under weight, 36 were normal weight, 21 were overweight and ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A national study of older Americans shows those who have limited mobility and low physical activity – scientifically categorized as "frail" – are five times more likely to report that they often don't have enough to eat, defined as "food insufficiency," than older adults who were not frail. The nationally representative study of more than 4,700 adults older than age 60 in the United States uses data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The results are online today in the British Journal of Nutrition. Lead author Ellen Smit, ...

Boston, Mass. – Approximately one-third of Americans take a daily multivitamin, but little is known about a multivitamin's long-term affect on chronic diseases. Now, new research from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) finds that daily multivitamin use does not reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in men. A similar BWH study, announced last month, found daily multivitamin use can reduce a man's risk of cancer by 8 percent. The cardiovascular disease findings will be presented Nov. 5 at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2012 and published simultaneously ...

BINGHAMTON, NY -- Binghamton University researcher Ron Miles invented a tiny directional microphone — suitable for use in hearing aids — that filters out unwanted sounds. Now, with help from the SUNY Technology Accelerator Fund, he hopes to bring the idea to the marketplace. Technology for the hearing-impaired is hardly perfect. The small microphones contained within hearing aids do a good job of boosting volume, but that can be a problem in a noisy restaurant as background sounds get boosted as much as your dinner date's conversation. Miles used a tiny structure found ...

Philadelphia, Pa. (November 5, 2012) - Pharmaceutical health services research goes beyond studying the effects of individual drugs, to looking at the complex and interrelated effects of medications on the health of patients and the population. The special November issue of Medical Care highlights important new papers in key areas of pharmaceutical health services research. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. The 14 papers in the special issue cover a wide range of topics related to the health effects of marketed ...

Philadelphia, Pa. (November 5, 2012) - Modern contact lens materials are prone to drying when exposed to air, which contributes to the buildup of deposits on contact lenses, according to a study – "The Impact of Intermittent Air Exposure on Lipid Deposition", appearing in the November issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. With significant differences between materials, the buildup of lipid deposits on contact lenses is affected ...

A study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) indicated that many Hispanic/Latino adults living in the United States are at high risk for heart attack or stroke. This risk is highest in men and in older people, born in the US or that have lived in the US more than 10 years, that prefer to speak English, are lower income, or never finished high school. "The finding that longer residence in the US increases disease risk may seem counterintuitive, but has previously been reported," says study co-author Schneiderman, James L. Knight Professor ...

Sexual harassment is devastating in and of itself for its victims, but new research shows there can be an even more insidious and troubling consequence that goes along with it: When confronted with sexual harassment, we don't stand up for ourselves to the extent we believe we will, and because we use false predictions as a benchmark, we condemn others who are passive in the face of sexual harassment, according to a new study co-authored by Ann Tenbrunsel, professor of business ethics at the University of Notre Dame. In "Double Victimization in the Workplace: Why ...

College Park, Md. – A team led by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Public Health has found that the "superbug" methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is prevalent at several U.S. wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). MRSA is well known for causing difficult-to-treat and potentially fatal bacterial infections in hospital patients, but since the late 1990s it has also been infecting otherwise healthy people in community settings. "MRSA infections acquired outside of hospital settings – known as community-acquired MRSA or CA-MRSA– are on the ...

New Rochelle, NY, November 5, 2012—At least 2 million people worldwide will be infected with HIV this year, driving the need for better HIV prevention strategies to slow the global pandemic. A better understanding of how to prevent HIV transmission using antiviral drugs led to approval of the first oral pill for HIV prevention, and microbicides delivered as topical gels or via intravaginal rings are in clinical testing and have yielded both positive and negative results. The complex factors involved in the sexual transmission of HIV, the urgent need for new preventive approaches, ...

According to an article in the November issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology, a medical imaging facility in San Diego, Imaging Healthcare Specialists, has implemented a successful radiation dose reduction program, reducing radiation exposure by up to 90 percent in some patients. "In the past decade, there have been unparalleled technological advances and growth in CT imaging, with many lives saved and more costly and invasive procedures avoided. This growth in CT imaging, however, has also been accompanied by an unavoidable increase in cumulative ...

ENVIRONMENT – Ozone affecting watersheds . . . U.S. Forest Service and Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists have found that rising levels of ozone may amplify the impacts of higher temperatures and reduce streamflow from forests to rivers, streams and other water bodies. Such effects could potentially reduce water supplies available to support forest ecosystems and people in the southeastern United States. Using data on atmospheric water supply and demand and statistical models, researchers with the Forest Service and ORNL were able to show what effects ozone, categorized ...

(Toronto – Nov. 4, 2012) – An international, clinical research trial has shown that patients with diabetes whose multi-vessel coronary artery disease is treated with bypass surgery live longer and are less likely to suffer severe complications like heart attacks than those who undergo angioplasty. The findings are published online today in The New England Journal of Medicine (10.1056/NEJMoa1211585). The study – co-led by researchers at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital and Toronto's Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, University Health Network (UHN) – is known as the FREEDOM trial. "We've ...

LA JOLLA, Calif. – New findings from a 15-year series of studies led by care providers at Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute reveal that culturally tailored community-created programs are effective at reducing health-related costs and delivering higher quality care. Results from "Community-Created Programs: Can They Be the Basis of Innovative Transformations in Our Health Care Practice?" were published in the fall issue of Clinical Diabetes, and also posted on its website. The journal article discusses the results of a series of studies involving approximately 18,000 ...

CHICAGO --- If you have optimal heart health in middle age, you may live up to 14 years longer, free of cardiovascular disease, than your peers who have two or more cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study. The study was published Nov. 5 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). "We found that many people develop cardiovascular disease as they live into old age, but those with optimal risk factor levels live disease-free longer," said John T. Wilkins, M.D., first author of the study. "We need to do everything ...

After a natural disaster occurs, we often find ourselves glued to the TV, seeking out details about the extent of the damage and efforts at recovery. While research has shown that exposure to this kind of coverage is associated with symptoms of traumatic stress in youths, new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests that the relationship isn't quite so simple. The new study finds that while the amount of exposure to disaster coverage matters, children's preexisting symptoms of posttraumatic stress also ...

Administering to patients stem cells derived from their own bone marrow either three or seven days after a heart attack is safe but does not improve heart function six months later, according to a clinical trial supported by the National Institutes of Health. The results of the trial, called Transplantation In Myocardial Infarction Evaluation (TIME), mirror a previous, related study, LateTIME, which found that such cells (called autologous stem cells) given two to three weeks after a heart attack did not improve heart function. Both TIME and LateTIME were conducted by ...

Results of a new study show that episodes of reduced precipitation in the Southern Rocky Mountains, especially during the 2001-2002 drought, greatly accelerated a rise in numbers of mountain pine beetles. The overabundance is a threat to regional forests. The research is the first to chart the evolution of the current pine beetle epidemic in the southern Rocky Mountains. It compared patterns of beetle outbreaks in the two primary host species, the ponderosa pine and lodgepole pine, said University of Colorado at Boulder (CU-Boulder) researcher Teresa Chapman. A paper ...