Bethesda, MD— Being underweight at birth may have consequences above and beyond the known short-term effects says a research report published in the October 2012 issue of The FASEB Journal. The report shows that rats with a low birth weight have an increased long-term risk for developing cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, and diabetes. What's more, older females are at higher risk of developing high blood pressure before and during pregnancy, which in turn, may restrict growth in the womb, putting offspring at risk for being born at a low birth weight. "Ensuring ...

Using biological markers--genetic characteristics that are associated with some patients with breast cancer--can increase the success rate of clinical trials for breast cancer drugs by almost 50 per cent, says new research from the University of Toronto Mississauga. "It's been increasingly difficult for pharmaceutical companies to bring new drugs to market," says Jayson Parker, a faculty member in the Department of Biology and medical biotechnology analyst at the University of Toronto. "On average, about 80 per cent of drugs fail at some point in the clinical trial process." There ...

MAYWOOD, Il. - Loyola University Medical Center has launched the first clinical trial in the Midwest of an experimental melanoma treatment that genetically engineers a patient's immune system to fight the deadly cancer. A batch of the immune system's killer T cells will be removed from the patient and genetically modified in a Loyola lab. Two genes will be inserted into the T cells so that they will recognize tumor cells as abnormal. The patient will undergo high-dose chemotherapy to kill most of his or her remaining T cells. This will make room for the genetically modified ...

The following highlights summarize research papers that have been recently published in Geophysical Research Letters (GRL), Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth (JGR-B), Journal of Geophysical Research - Oceans (JGR-C), and Water Resources Research (WRR). In this release: 1. The pros and cons of trading water: A case study in Australia 2. Linking typhoon tracks with rainfall patterns and flood timing 3. Novel observations of currents and drag generated by a tsunami 4. More water stored along major rivers during El Nino years 5. Model suggests Earth ...

PHILADELPHIA - The hormone prolactin is produced by the pituitary gland in the brain and then travels via the bloodstream to cells throughout the body, where it exerts multiple reproductive and metabolic effects, most notably on the breast where it is the master regulator of lactation. In recent years researchers have found that prolactin is also produced by some tissues outside the brain, however little is known about the functions of extra-pituitary prolactin or how its production is regulated in these tissues. Now, the laboratory of Lewis A. Chodosh, MD, PhD, chair ...

Changes in ocean and climate systems could lead to smaller fish, according to a new study led by fisheries scientists at the University of British Columbia. The study, published today in the journal Nature Climate Change, provides the first-ever global projection of the potential reduction in the maximum size of fish in a warmer and less-oxygenated ocean. The researchers used computer modeling to study more than 600 species of fish from oceans around the world and found that the maximum body weight they can reach could decline by 14-20 per cent between years 2000 and ...

Researchers at Queen Mary, University of London have discovered how a key molecule controls the body's inflammatory responses. The molecule, known as p110delta, fine-tunes inflammation to avoid excessive reactions that can damage the organism. The findings, published in Nature Immunology today (30 September), could be exploited in vaccine development and new cancer therapies. A healthy immune system reacts to danger signals – from microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses, or from the body's own rogue cells, such as cancer cells. This tightly controlled reaction starts ...

CINCINNATI—Researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center have found a new genetic mutation responsible for deafness and hearing loss associated with Usher syndrome type 1. These findings, published in the Sept. 30 advance online edition of the journal Nature Genetics, could help researchers develop new therapeutic targets for those at risk for this syndrome. Partners in the study included the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), Baylor College of Medicine and the University of ...

A new study out today (Sunday 30 September) reveals that the emergence and spread of a rapidly evolving invasive intestinal disease, that has a significant mortality rate (up to 45%) in infected people in sub-Saharan Africa, seems to have been potentiated by the HIV epidemic in Africa. The team found that invasive non-Typhoidal Salmonella (iNTS) disease is caused by a new form of the bacteria Salmonella Typhimurium that has spread from two different focal hubs in Southern and Central Africa beginning 52 and 35 years ago, respectively. They also found that one of the ...

Combine the tree-ring growth record with historical information, climate records, and computer-model projections of future climate trends, and you get a grim picture for the future of trees in the southwestern United States. That's the word from a team of scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory, the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Arizona, and other partner organizations. If the Southwest is warmer and drier in the near future, widespread tree death is likely and would cause substantial changes in the distribution of forests and of species, the researchers ...

Two proteins previously found to contribute to ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, have divergent roles. But a new study, led by researchers at the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, shows that a common pathway links them. The discovery reveals a small set of target genes that could be used to measure the health of motor neurons, and provides a useful tool for development of new pharmaceuticals to treat the devastating disorder, which currently has no treatment or cure. Funded in part by ...

Vibration-induced white finger disease (VWF) is caused by continued use of vibrating hand held machinery (high frequency vibration >50 Hz), and affects tens of thousands of people. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Clinical Epigenetics finds that people with a genetic polymorphism (A2191G) in sirtuin1 (SIRT1), a protein involved in the regulation of endothelial NOS (eNOS), are more likely to suffer from vibration-induced white finger disease. VWF (also known as hand arm vibration syndrome (HAVS)) is a secondary form of Raynaud's disease involving ...

Human epidermal growth factor (HER2) positive breast cancers are often treated with the same therapy regardless of hormone receptor status. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Breast Cancer Research shows that women whose HER2 positive cancer was also hormone (estrogen and progesterone) receptor (HR) negative had an increased risk of early death, and that their cancer was less likely to recur in bone than those whose cancer retained hormone sensitivity. Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease with many different subtypes. HR positive cancer ...

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Over the last two decades, scientists have come to understand that the genetic code held within DNA represents only part of the blueprint of life. The rest comes from specific patterns of chemical tags that overlay the DNA structure, determining how tightly the DNA is packaged and how accessible certain genes are to be switched on or off. As researchers have uncovered more and more of these "epigenetic" tags, they have begun to wonder how they are all connected. Now, research from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine has established ...

STANFORD, Calif. — The older we get, the weaker our immune systems tend to become, leaving us vulnerable to infectious diseases and cancer and eroding our ability to benefit from vaccination. Now Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have found that blocking the action of a single protein whose levels in our immune cells creep steadily upward with age can restore those cells' response to a vaccine. This discovery holds important long-term therapeutic ramifications, said Jorg Goronzy, MD, PhD, professor of rheumatology and immunology and the senior author of ...

PHILADELPHIA — Researchers validated a method of noninvasive imaging that provides valuable information about interstitial fluid pressure of solid tumors and may aid in the identification of aggressive tumors, according to the results of a study published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Many malignant solid tumors generally develop a higher interstitial fluid pressure (IFP) than normal tissue. High IFP in tumors may cause a reduced uptake of chemotherapeutic agents and resistance to radiation therapy. In addition, a high ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- A virtual monopoly held by some drug manufacturers in part because of the way treatment protocols work is among the reasons cancer drugs cost so much in the United States, according to a commentary by two Mayo Clinic physicians in the October issue of the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Value-based pricing is one potential solution, they write. VIDEO ALERT: Video of Dr. Rajkumar discussing the commentary is posted on the Mayo Clinic News Network. Cancer care is not representative of a free-market system, and the traditional checks and balances that ...

WASHINGTON, DC, September 27, 2012 — Republican strength in Congress increases the share of income held by the top 1 percent, but the president's political affiliation has no effect, suggests a new study in the October issue of the American Sociological Review that looks at the rise of the super-rich in the United States. "This points to the central role that Congress has in the legislative process," said study co-author Thomas W. Volscho, an Assistant Professor of Sociology at CUNY-College of Staten Island. "The president has limited ability to make the sort of legislative ...

WASHINGTON, DC, September 27, 2012 — Patient-led advocacy has created a shift in the way the U.S. government has prioritized funding for medical research, and significantly changed the way policymakers think about who benefits the most from these dollars, a University of Michigan School of Public Health fellow in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholars in Health Policy Research Program found. In "Disease Politics and Medical Research Funding: Three Ways Advocacy Shapes Policy," a paper published in the October issue of the American Sociological Review, Rachel Kahn ...

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (October 1, 2012) – When children suffer from dust mite induced allergies and asthma, finding relief can seem impossible. While there isn't a complete cure for childhood respiratory allergies, researchers have found that long term control of allergic asthma can occur after only three years of allergy shots. According to a new study, published in the October issue of Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the scientific publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), long-term relief can be achieved by administering ...

According to an article in the October issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology, radiologists at Emory University Hospital, in Atlanta, and Georgia Health Sciences University, in Augusta, Ga., have developed evidence-based guidelines to assist physicians with the process of managing patients with acute low back pain. Low back pain is one of the most common reasons for visits to physicians in the outpatient setting. "The approach to the workup and management of low back pain by physicians and other practitioners is inconstant. In fact, there is significant ...

Most people are completely unaware of one of stroke's most common, debilitating but invisible impairments, according to the first awareness survey of its kind in Canada released today at the Canadian Stroke Congress. Thirty community volunteers trained by the York-Durham Aphasia Centre, a March of Dimes Canada program, collaborated with researchers from two Ontario universities in a survey of 832 adults in southern Ontario. They found that only two per cent of respondents could correctly identify aphasia as a communication disorder affecting the ability to speak, understand, ...

To be published online Monday, Oct. 1, a special issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology will focus on health policy and radiology's role in health care reform. Topics to be covered include utilization management in radiology, clinical decision support, value-based health care payment systems and patient-centered outcomes in imaging. The October health policy issue was guest edited by Ruth Carlos, MD, MS, FACR, and James Rawson, MD, FACR. "Health care reform will continue to be a central issue in society regardless of the outcome of the election in ...

The fat- and sugar-rich Western diet leads to a lifetime of health problems, dramatically increasing the risk of stroke or death at a younger age, according to a study presented today at the Canadian Stroke Congress. Researchers found that a high-calorie, high-sugar, high-sodium diet nicknamed the 'cafeteria diet' induced most symptoms of metabolic syndrome – a combination of high levels of cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure and obesity – in rats after only two months. The animals were at an age roughly equivalent to 16 to 22 years in humans at the time of disease ...

Physicians are prescribing anti-depressants for stroke patients without first giving them a proper diagnosis, they are over-treating some patients, and overlooking others, according to a study presented today at the Canadian Stroke Congress. "A lot of people are being treated for depression, but we don't know if they're the right ones," says lead researcher Ms. Katherine Salter of Parkwood Hospital in London, Ontario. "This study found that 40 per cent of stroke patients were treated for depression, but most were not screened or diagnosed. Who are we treating?" Researchers ...