ATS 2012, SAN FRANCISCO – Prior treatment with inhaled corticosteroids in patients with respiratory disorders who develop community acquired pneumonia (CAP) is associated with a lower incidence and severity of parapneumonic effusion, according to a new study from researchers in Spain. A parapneumonic effusion is a type of pleural effusion (excess fluid that accumulates between the two pleural layers, the fluid-filled space that surrounds the lungs) that arises as a result of a pneumonia, lung abscess, or bronchiectasis. "Long-term treatment with inhaled corticosteroids ...

ATS 2012, SAN FRANCISCO – A tiny, resilient metal wire designed to gather and compress diseased lung tissue may offer relief to patients with severe heterogeneous emphysema, a subtype of the disease that involves specific, usually isolated areas of the lungs, according to the results of a multicenter international trial conducted in the Netherlands, Germany and France. The wire, called a lung volume reduction coil (LVRC), can be easily implanted and is designed to take the place of more invasive procedures used to improve the lung function of emphysema patients. The study ...

ATS 2012, SAN FRANCISCO – Researchers in the United Kingdom have determined that azithromycin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic that also has anti-inflammatory properties, can be an effective treatment option for patients suffering from bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS), a life-threatening complication that occurs in the majority of patients following lung transplantation. BOS is the leading cause of mortality after the first year following transplantation, and occurs in part when the body repeatedly rejects the transplanted lung tissue. The syndrome causes the airways ...

ATS 2012, SAN FRANCISCO – Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who become infected with the bacterium Pseudomonas aerguinosa are more likely to have worse clinical outcomes and experience more hospitalizations during the course of their disease than COPD patients who are not infected, according to researchers from Buffalo, N.Y. The study will be presented at the ATS 2012 International Conference in San Francisco. Bacterial bronchial infection plays a key role in the course of COPD, causing chronic inflammation as well as acute exacerbations of ...

ATS 2012, SAN FRANCISCO – The expanded use of antiretrovirals, potent drugs used to treat retroviral infections such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), has been linked to significant decreases in hospital mortality rates among severely ill HIV-positive(HIV+) patients nationwide, primarily due to a decrease in opportunistic infections, according to a new study by researchers at Stanford University. Despite these encouraging data, the study also revealed that in this population, chronic diseases and bloodstream infections are on the rise. The study results will be presented ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides an indication of a breast tumor's response to pre-surgical chemotherapy significantly earlier than possible through clinical examination, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology. Women with breast cancer often undergo chemotherapy prior to surgery. Research has shown that women who receive this treatment, known as neoadjuvant chemotherapy, are more likely to achieve breast conservation than those receiving chemotherapy after surgery. Clinicians track a patient's response to neoadjuvant ...

Researchers at New York University and Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered new ways neurons work together to ease the transition between sleep and wakefulness. Their findings, which appear in the journal Neuron, provide additional insights into sleep-wake patterns and offer methods to explore what may disrupt them. Their study explored the biological, or circadian, clocks of Drosophila fruit flies, which are commonly used for research in this area. This is because it is relatively easy to find mutants with malfunctioning biological ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic researchers will present findings on prostate cancer risk, screening, treatment and other urological research at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association May 19-23 in Atlanta. Mayo Clinic urologists will also be available to provide expert comment for reporters covering the conference. Mayo Clinic studies that will be presented and their embargo dates include: No negative impact on overall survival from post-prostate surgery hormone therapy Embargoed until 10:30 a.m. ET Monday, May 21 In a first-of-its-kind study ...

A new study finds that transplanting embryonic cells into adult mouse spinal cord can alleviate persistent pain. The research, published by Cell Press in the May 24th issue of the journal Neuron, suggests that reduced pain results from successful integration of the embryonic cells into the host spinal cord. The findings open avenues for clinical strategies aimed not just at treating the symptoms of chronic debilitating pain, but correcting the underlying disease pathology. There are two major classes of chronic pain: inflammatory pain that results from injury to tissue, ...

A new study unravels a link between a protein that can modify cellular metabolism in the brain and seizure susceptibility. The research, published by Cell Press in the May 24th issue of the journal Neuron, may lead to the development of new treatments for epilepsy. Epilepsy is a disorder characterized by seizures, unpredictable and abnormal bursts of electrical activity in the brain. Some cases of epilepsy are resistant to traditional drug treatments but can be improved by a "ketogenic" diet. This type of diet, which is very low in sugars and high in fat, forces neurons ...

As the U.S. presidential election campaigns heat up, the economic debate is dominated by bailouts, austerity and, inevitably, taxation. Now a new study published in Symbolic Interaction asks why tax is such an important issue to voters and explores the moral ideas which underpin their views. Americans are famously hostile to taxes even though they are not heavily taxed in comparison to Canadians and the British. In their study Dr Jeff Kidder and Dr Isaac Martin, from Northern Illinois University and the University of California-San Diego, explore how middle class feelings ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- A Duke University-led study of North Carolina toddlers suggests that exposure to potentially toxic flame-retardant chemicals may be higher in nonwhite toddlers than in white toddlers. The study also suggests that exposure to the chemicals is higher among toddlers whose fathers do not have a college degree, a proxy measure of lower socioeconomic background. Hand-to-mouth activity may account for a significant amount of the children's exposure to the contaminants, according to the study, which appears Wednesday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. ...

The limitations of conventional and current solar cells include high production cost, low operating efficiency and durability, and many cells rely on toxic and scarce materials. Northwestern University researchers have developed a new solar cell that, in principle, will minimize all of these solar energy technology limitations. In particular, the device is the first to solve the problem of the Grätzel cell, a promising low-cost and environmentally friendly solar cell with a significant disadvantage: it leaks. The dye-sensitized cell's electrolyte is made of an organic ...

Lunge feeding in rorqual whales (a group that includes blue, humpback and fin whales) is unique among mammals, but details of how it works have remained elusive. Now, scientists from the Smithsonian Institution and University of British Columbia have solved the mystery. They discovered a sensory organ in the chin of rorqual whales that communicates to the brain. The organ orchestrates the dramatic changes and adjustments needed in jaw position and throat-pouch expansion to make lunge feeding successful. The team's research will be the featured cover story in the May 24 ...

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are molecules produced in the skin to fend off infection-causing microbes. Vitamin D has been credited with a role in their production and in the body's overall immune response, but scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say a hormone previously associated only with maintaining calcium homeostasis and bone health is also critical, boosting AMP expression when dietary vitamin D levels are inadequate. The finding, published in the May 23, 2012 online issue of Science Translational Medicine, more fully explains ...

Leading provider of corporate gifts and customizable incentives Leighmans this week reports that it is on course for GBP1m revenues during the current financial year. Leighmans specializes in innovative corporate gifts and this year has seen demand for products rise despite the continuing economic climate. Customers have been requesting items, from pens to mugs, post-it notes to badges and polo shirts - in increasing numbers. Leighmans has been operating for more than 10 years now and the company has enjoyed steady growth. According to founder Darren Leigh, the company ...

Dr. Charles Scholler, dentist in Camarillo, is pleased to be able to offer his patients a $500 discount on Invisalign treatment. He hopes the promotion will spur some of his patients to make the decision to undergo treatment to straighten their teeth with Invisalign. "I am happy and excited to be able to offer this promotion to our patients. Invisalign is a great way for patients to straighten their teeth without having to wear braces. I hope that this promotion will encourage some of our patients to make the decision to undergo Invisalign treatment," said ...

For decades, neurologists have known that a diet high in fat and extremely low in carbohydrates can reduce epileptic seizures that resist drug therapy. But how the diet worked, and why, was a mystery—so much so that in 2010, The New York Times Magazine called it "Epilepsy's Big, Fat Miracle." Now, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School have proposed an answer, linking resistance to seizures to a protein that modifies cellular metabolism in the brain. The research, to be published in the May 24th issue of the journal Neuron, may lead to ...

Children are more likely to have more body fat during childhood if their mother has low levels of Vitamin D during pregnancy, according to scientists at the Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit (MRC LEU), University of Southampton. Low vitamin D status has been linked to obesity in adults and children, but little is known about how variation in a mother's status affects the body composition of her child. Low vitamin D status is common among young women in the UK, and although women are recommended to take an additional 10μg/day of vitamin D in ...

Dr. Daniel Micheals, Frederick podiatrist from the Reconstructive Foot & Ankle Institute, is happy to be able to offer weekly newsletters to his patients. The newsletters are designed to increase patients' awareness of different foot-related topics. With topics ranging from stress fractures to athlete's foot, the Frederick, MD podiatrist's newsletters are designed to cover a large range of topics. It is very important to take care of your feet and ankles and Dr. Michaels hopes that the newsletters help to educate his patients to give them the knowledge necessary ...

The influence of the ground beneath us on the air around us could be greater than scientists had previously thought, according to new research that links the long-ago proliferation of oxygen in Earth's atmosphere to a sudden change in the inner workings of our planet. Princeton University researchers report in the journal Nature that rocks preserved in the Earth's crust reveal that a steep decline in the intensity of melting within the planet's mantle — the hot, heat-transferring rock layer between the crust and molten outer core — brought about ideal conditions for the ...

Jeanne T. from Minnesota had spent too many hours at big box stores looking for something beyond the common and generic vanities they offered to complete her dream home renovation. Eventually, she knew she had to shop online. Still though, after perusing a few online stores and finding all of the same boring options, she was ready to give up. It was just then that she stumbled upon Unique Online Furniture's site at Unique Vanities. She later admitted to a Product Specialist, "I was so excited to find you guys! I felt like I had looked at 800 vanities... and they were ...

Scientists at the University of British Columbia and the Smithsonian Institution have discovered a sensory organ in rorqual whales that coordinates its signature lunge-feeding behaviour – and may help explain their enormous size. Rorquals are a subgroup of baleen whales – including blue, fin, minke and humpback whales. They are characterized by a special, accordion-like blubber layer that goes from the snout to the navel. The blubber expands up to several times its resting length to allow the whales to engulf large quantities of prey-laden water, which is then expelled ...

TEMPE, Ariz. – The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University and a committee of scientists from around the world announced their picks for the top 10 new species described in 2011. This is the fifth year for the top 10 new species list, which was released May 23 to coincide with the anniversary of the birth of Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist who was responsible for the modern system of plant and animal names and classifications. On this year's top 10 new species list are a sneezing monkey, a beautiful but venomous jellyfish, an ...

Researchers have shown in mice how immune cells in the brain target and remove unused connections between brain cells during normal development. This research, supported by the National Institutes of Health, sheds light on how brain activity influences brain development, and highlights the newly found importance of the immune system in how the brain is wired, as well as how the brain forms new connections throughout life in response to change. Disease-fighting cells in the brain, known as microglia, can prune the billions of tiny connections (or synapses) between neurons, ...