Research: Overdiagnosis and mistreatment of malaria among febrile patients at primary healthcare level in Afghanistan: observational study Substantial overdiagnosis and mistreatment of malaria is evident in south and central Asia, warns a study published on bmj.com today. With more than two billion people at risk of malaria in this part of Asia – larger than that of Africa - this is a major public health problem which needs to be confronted, say the authors. Malaria remains one of the most important infectious diseases of poverty. Recent global malaria treatment ...

CHICAGO --- A new class of drug developed at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine shows early promise of being a one-size-fits-all therapy for Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and traumatic brain injury by reducing inflammation in the brain. Northwestern has recently been issued patents to cover this new drug class and has licensed the commercial development to a biotech company that has recently completed the first human Phase 1 clinical trial for the drug. The drugs in this class target a particular type of brain inflammation, ...

BOSTON (July 24, 2012, 5:00PM EST)—A study, performed in mice and utilizing post-mortem samples of brains from patients with Alzheimer's disease, found that a single event of a moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) can disrupt proteins that regulate an enzyme associated with Alzheimer's. The paper, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, identifies the complex mechanisms that result in a rapid and robust post-injury elevation of the enzyme, BACE1, in the brain. These results may lead to the development of a drug treatment that targets this mechanism to slow ...

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 25, 2012) — In a study published June 25 in the Journal of Neuroscience, a collaborative team of researchers led by Linda J. Van Eldik, director of the University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, and D. Martin Watterson of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, present results showing that a new central nervous system drug compound can reduce Alzheimer's pathology in a mouse model of the disease. The drug, called MW-151, is a selective suppressor of brain inflammation and overproduction of proinflammatory molecules from glial ...

Alexandria, VA – December 21, 2012 – the purported last day of a 5,125-year cycle in the Mesoamerican calendar – has been added to an endless list of days when the world has been expected to end. But what are our real chances of being wiped out by a catastrophic event – the kind that has happened in the past and will inevitably occur again someday? In the August issue of EARTH, we explore four of the most probable global events that could change life on Earth forever. Near-Earth objects (NEOs), super-eruptions, solar storms and cataclysmic earthquakes all pose serious ...

University of Michigan heart researchers are shedding light on a safer method for steadying an abnormal heart rhythm that prevents collateral damage to healthy cells. Irregular heart rhythms, or arrhythmias, set the stage for a common, debilitating disorder called atrial fibrillation that puts adults as young as age 40 at risk for fatigue, fainting, cardiac arrest, and even death. Medications can help, but doctors also use catheter ablation in which electrical impulses are delivered to a region of the heart to disrupt the arrhythmia. However, studies show half of patients ...

For Immediate Release – July 24, 2012 – (Toronto) – An ongoing survey of Ontario students in grades 7 to 12 conducted for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) shows that while the majority of students have healthy relationships and report overall good mental and physical health, some negative trends, especially among girls, have raised concerns. The 2011 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (OSDUHS) Mental Health and Well-Being Report released today reveals important trends in mental and physical health and risk behaviours among Ontario students. Psychological ...

An airtight, reusable plastic bag that protects stored rice from moisture, pests, and rats, and keeps rice seeds viable, is now available to Filipino farmers in almost 200 retail stores nationwide. IRRI Super Bags reduce losses incurred after harvest that usually stem from poor storage conditions – helping prevent physical postharvest losses that can be around 15%. On top of these losses, farmers also experience loss in quality. Developed by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)'s postharvest experts in collaboration with GrainPro Inc., the IRRI Super Bag ...

Arguments over how best to train horses have raged for centuries. Two years ago, the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) was even moved to ban the practice of hyperflexion as a result of a petition signed by over 40,000 people claiming that it caused the animals unnecessary discomfort. The FEI did make a distinction between hyperflexion by the use of extreme force and what it termed "low, deep and round" (LDR), which essentially achieves the same position without force. How forceful hyperflexion should be distinguished from permissible LDR training was not clearly ...

Up to 50% of deaths from cardiovascular disease in Europe could be avoided by implementing population level changes such as taxation and regulation of advertising. Population level prevention will produce greater impacts on CVD than individualised approaches, according to the European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention & Rehabilitation (EACPR) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Cardiovascular disease is still the main cause of death in Europe, leading to more than 4.3 million deaths each year and costing at least €190 billion. But 80-90% of all cardiovascular ...

Researchers at NPL have demonstrated for the first time a monolithic 3D ion microtrap array which could be scaled up to handle several tens of ion-based quantum bits (qubits). The research, published in Nature Nanotechnology, shows how it is possible to realise this device embedded in a semiconductor chip, and demonstrates the device's ability to confine individual ions at the nanoscale. As the UK's National Measurement Institute, NPL is interested in how exotic quantum states of matter can be used to make high precision measurements, of for example, time and frequency, ...

Mimicking the way mother of pearl is created in nature, scientists have for the first time synthesised the strong, iridescent coating found on the inside of some molluscs. The research was published today in the journal Nature Communications. Nacre, also called mother of pearl, is the iridescent coating that is found on the inside of some molluscs and on the outer coating of pearls. By recreating the biological steps that form nacre in molluscs, the scientists were able to manufacture a material which has a similar structure, mechanical behaviour, and optical appearance ...

Philadelphia, PA, July 24, 2012 – The traditional approach to psychiatric diagnosis is based on grouping patients on the basis of symptom clusters. This approach to diagnosis has a number of problems, as symptoms are not necessarily specific to a single diagnosis. Symptoms may vary among patients with a particular diagnosis, and there are no clear diagnostic biomarkers or tests for psychiatry as there are for other areas of medicine. With this in mind, Steve Chang, along with colleagues from Duke University, introduces a new classification scheme for psychiatric symptoms ...

A new diabetes study at the University of Leicester has discovered that South Asians (people of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Sri Lanka origin) have higher levels of blood sugar than white Europeans independent of risk factors that influence sugar levels. The study of 4,688 white Europeans and 1,352 South Asians was led by Dr. Samiul A Mostafa, of the University of Leicester, Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, and was published in Diabetes Care, a journal of the American Diabetes Association. According to the study South Asians had higher levels of three measures ...

In a special issue of ZooKeys, initiated by the Natural History Museum London, Vince Smith and Vladimir Blagoderov bring together 18 papers by 81 authors to look at progress and prospects for mass digitising entire natural history collections. Centuries of exploration and discovery have documented the diversity of life on Earth. Records of this biodiversity are, for the most part, distributed across varied and distinct natural history collections worldwide. That has made the task of assessing the information in these collections an immense challenge, the largest of which ...

New research from North Carolina State University shows that informal social networks play an important role when it comes to finding jobs in both the United States and Germany, but those networks are significantly more important for high-paying jobs in the United States – which may contribute to economic inequality. "It is interesting to note that the open market system in the United States, with minimal labor regulations, actually sees people benefiting more from patronage – despite the expectation that open markets would value merit over social connections," says ...

CLEMSON — Clemson researchers redesigned and modified a mobile drill press to retrofit a section of a runway that halts overrun aircraft, ultimately minimizing aircraft damage and passenger injury. The process of retrofitting the end of a runway at Greenville Downtown Airport required more than 80,000 holes to be drilled in the concrete. Pace Pavement Technologies Inc. recognized that manually drilling the holes was not an option and there needed to be a more efficient and accurate way to drill. "We visited several machine shops and pneumatic suppliers and received ...

VIDEO: For older adults, loneliness is a major risk factor for health problems -- such as cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer's -- and death. Initial attempts to diminish loneliness with social networking... Click here for more information. PITTSBURGH—For older adults, loneliness is a major risk factor for health problems — such as cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer's — and death. Attempts to diminish loneliness with social networking programs like creating community ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Researchers have found a way to use GPS to measure short-term changes in the rate of ice loss on Greenland – and reveal a surprising link between the ice and the atmosphere above it. The study, published in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, hints at the potential for GPS to detect many consequences of climate change, including ice loss, the uplift of bedrock, changes in air pressure – and perhaps even sea level rise. The team, led by earth scientists at Ohio State University, pinpointed a period in 2010 ...

DETROIT — Neuroscientists from Wayne State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are taking a deeper look into how the brain mechanisms for memory retrieval differ between adults and children. While the memory systems are the same in many ways, the researchers have learned that crucial functions with relevance to learning and education differ. The team's findings were published on July 17, 2012, in the Journal of Neuroscience. According to lead author Noa Ofen, Ph.D., assistant professor in WSU's Institute of Gerontology and Department of Pediatrics, ...

Scientists have identified what may be the Peyton Manning of prostate cancer. It's a protein that's essential for the disease to execute its game plan: Grow and spread throughout the body. Like any good quarterback, this protein has command over the entire field; not only does it control cell growth in tumors that are sensitive to hormone therapy, a common treatment for men with advanced disease, but also in tumors that grow resistant to such treatment – a dismal development that leaves men and their doctors with no good options to turn to. In a study published in ...

If you are a steak lover, enjoy your meat while you can. An article by Susan Wolver, MD, and Diane Sun, MD, from Virginia Commonwealth University in the US, and colleagues, explains why if you have been bitten by a tick, you may develop an allergy to red meat. Their article1 elucidates this connection and discusses the journey of the discovery. Their work appears online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine², published by Springer. Delayed anaphylaxis - a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction - to meat is a new syndrome identified initially in the southeastern ...

Today, the 12-member U.S. Antarctic Program Blue Ribbon Panel, commissioned by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) released their report, More and Better Science in Antarctica through Increased Logistical Effectiveness. The report is a comprehensive document based on several months of research, containing numerous specific recommendations for the U.S. logistics system for improved support of scientific research in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. "The Antarctica Blue Ribbon Panel encourages us to take ...

A rare accounting document, half-concealed beneath a coat of arms design, has revealed the activities of Italian bankers working in early 15th century London, decades before the capital became a financial powerhouse. The discovery was made by economic historians at Queen Mary, University of London. Among the pages of a bound collection of traditional English crests held at the London College of Arms - the headquarters of British heraldry - are several papers belonging to a book of debtors and creditors for Florentine merchant-banking company, Domenicio Villani & Partners. The ...

(Washington) – "Repeal of Medicare's Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) is essential, but repeal by itself will not move Medicare to better ways to deliver care," David L. Bronson, MD, FACP, president of the American College of Physicians (ACP), today told the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health. "We need to transition from a fundamentally broken physician payment system to one that is based on the value of services to patients, building on physician-led initiatives to improve outcomes and lower costs." Dr. Bronson described how physician organization's efforts and ...