CAMBRIDGE, MA -- A team led by MIT neuroscientists has developed a way to monitor how brain cells coordinate with each other to control specific behaviors, such as initiating movement or detecting an odor. The researchers' new imaging technique, based on the detection of calcium ions in neurons, could help them map the brain circuits that perform such functions. It could also provide new insights into the origins of autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder and other psychiatric diseases, says Guoping Feng, senior author of a paper appearing in the Oct. 18 issue of the journal ...

The use of electronic health records is linked to significantly higher quality care, according to a new study¹ by Lisa Kern and her team, from the Health Information Technology Evaluation Collaborative in the US. Their work appears online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine², published by Springer. Electronic health records (EHRs) have become a priority in the US, with federal incentives for 'meaningful' use of EHRs. Meaningful use entails tracking and improving specific patient outcomes, as well as gathering and storing information. Kern and colleagues examined ...

It's a common lament among parents: Kids are growing up too fast these days. Parents worry about their kids getting involved in all kinds of risky behavior, but they worry especially about their kids' forays into sexual relationships. And research suggests that there may be cause for concern, as timing of sexual development can have significant immediate consequences for adolescents' physical and mental health. But what about long-term outcomes? How might early sexual initiation affect romantic relationships in adulthood? Psychological scientist Paige Harden of the ...

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Oct. 17, 2012 — Researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory have devised a method to use cosmic rays to gather detailed information from inside the damaged cores of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors, which were heavily damaged in March 2011 by a tsunami that followed a great earthquake. In a paper in Physical Review Letters, researchers compared two methods for using cosmic-ray radiography to gather images of nuclear material within the core of a reactor similar to Fukushima Daiichi Reactor No. 1. The team found that Los Alamos' scattering method ...

New Rochelle, NY, October 17, 2012—SELEX is a rapid, efficient, and iterative high-throughput method for screening large libraries of molecules to identify those with the potential to be developed as drug compounds or research tools. Advances in SELEX technology that have enabled screening in live cells, called Cell-SELEX, are explored in a comprehensive Review article published in BioResearch Open Access, a bimonthly peer-reviewed open access journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The article is available free on the BioResearch Open Access website. Cell-SELEX uses live ...

PASADENA, Calif.—Imagine navigating through a grocery store with your cell phone. As you turn down the bread aisle, ads and coupons for hot dog buns and English muffins pop up on your screen. The electronics industry would like to make such personal navigators a reality, but, to do so, they need the next generation of microsensors. Thanks to an ultrasensitive accelerometer—a type of motion detector—developed by researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the University of Rochester, this new class of microsensors is a step closer to reality. Beyond ...

(Boston) – A study led by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) provides novel insight into the impact that Huntington's disease has on the brain. The findings, published online in Neurology, pinpoint areas of the brain most affected by the disease and opens the door to examine why some people experience milder forms of the disease than others. Richard Myers, PhD, professor of neurology at BUSM, is the study's lead/corresponding author. This study, which is the largest to date of brains specific to Huntington's disease, is the product of nearly 30 ...

NEW YORK (October 17, 2012) — A new study co-authored by the Wildlife Conservation Society identifies countries most vulnerable to declining coral reef fisheries from a food-security perspective while providing a framework to plan for alternative protein sources needed to replace declining fisheries. The study looked at 27 countries around the world and found two common characteristics: nations with low incomes that lack the ability to adapt to alternative protein sources; and middle-income nations with higher adaptive capacity but higher sensitivity to climate change. ...

One of the most frequent is the existence of tumours that induce an over-secretion of this hormone. These women present with chronic infertility due to anovulation. Thanks to the work of the Inserm researchers from unit 693 "Steroid receptors: endocrinian and metabolic physiopathology", the intimate mechanism of the hyperprolactinaemia alterations affecting reproduction in mice has been discovered. This work has been published in the journal JCI. Hyperprolactinaemia is a major cause of anovulation and is responsible for menstruation disorders and infertility. However, ...

Arlington, Va. — A new 90-day intravaginal ring has been developed — that for the first time — enables the long-lasting vaginal delivery of tenofovir (TFV), the only topical prophylactic shown to be effective at reducing the sexual transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) when formulated in a short-lasting gel. This research is being presented at the 2012 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Annual Meeting and Exposition in Chicago, Ill., Oct. 14 – 18. Lead researcher Patrick Kiser and colleagues from the University of Utah, in collaboration ...

Contact: Gabriele Ende, Dr.rer.nat gabi.ende@zi-mannheim.de 49.621.1703.2971 (Germany) Central Institute of Mental Health Natalie May Zahr, Ph.D. nzahr@stanford.edu 650.859.5243 Stanford University Recovery of brain volumes with abstinence may vary for different brain regions A new study examined what brain volume recovery may take place during the first 14 days of abstinence from alcohol. Findings indicate that recovery of cerebral gray matter volume can begin for alcoholic patients after only a few days of detoxification. Recovery may vary among ...

Contact: Ulrich John, Ph.D. ujohn@uni-greifswald.de 49.3834.867700 (Germany) University Medicine Greifswald Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research Alcohol dependence seems to shorten life more than smoking, especially among women While researchers and clinicians know that the mortality rates among alcohol dependent (AD) individuals are high, most of that knowledge is based on studies of clinical populations. A new study is the first to examine excess mortality and its predictors among AD individuals in the general population throughout a 14-year span, ...

Contact: Sarah N. Mattson, Ph.D. smattson@sunstroke.sdsu.edu 619.594.7228 San Diego State University Piyadasa W. Kodituwakku, Ph.D. pkodituwakku@salud.unm.edu 505.272.1861 University of New Mexico School of Medicine Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research A family history of alcoholism may add to damaging effects of prenatal alcohol exposure Prenatal exposure to alcohol (PAE) can lead to serious deficiencies, including deficits in spatial working memory (SWM). This is the first study to examine the role of family history of alcoholism (FHP) ...

Contact: Simon Levey s.levey@imperial.ac.uk 44-122-344-2837 Imperial College London Tree of life branches out online Exploring the evolutionary tree of life is now as easy as navigating an online map, thanks to a new interactive website called OneZoom, which goes live Tuesday 16 October at www.onezoom.org. The launch is accompanied by an explanatory article in the 'Cool Tools' series of the open access journal PLOS Biology. All living species on Earth descended from a common ancestor that lived in the distant past. Since Darwin, biologists have struggled to draw ...

Researchers at the University of Helsinki believe they have discovered stem cells that play a decisive role in the growth of new blood vessels. If researchers learn to isolate and efficiently produce these stem cells found in blood vessel walls, the cells could offer new opportunities for developing therapeutics to treat diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. The study reporting the discovery of these stem cells is published in the open access journal PLOS Biology on October 16. The growth of new blood vessels, known as neoangiogenesis, occurs during the ...

Researchers at the University of Helsinki, Finland, believe they have discovered stem cells that play a decisive role in new blood vessel growth. If researchers learn to isolate and efficiently produce these stem cells found in blood vessel walls, the cells offer new opportunities in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, cancer and many other diseases. The study will be published in the PLOS Biology journal on 16 October 2012. The growth of new blood vessels, also known as angiogenesis, is needed in adults when repairing damaged tissue or organs. Unfortunately, malignant ...

ANAHEIM, Calif. — A new noninvasive test for colorectal cancer screening demonstrated high sensitivity for detecting colorectal cancer, in particular precancers that are most likely to develop into cancer, according to data presented at the 11th Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research, held here Oct. 16-19, 2012. "This test measures different kinds of DNA changes, known as methylation and mutation, along with a measure of fecal blood. By combining these measures, we can look for the kinds of biological changes that are most frequently ...

CHICAGO – An analysis of nationally-representative data indicates that between 1988 and 2010 there has been a trend of declining average levels of total cholesterol, non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol for U.S. adults overall, according to a study in the October 17 issue of JAMA. "Epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that high concentrations of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and total cholesterol (TC) and low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) are major risk factors for coronary heart disease ...

CHICAGO – In a comparison of strategies to identify individuals with Lynch syndrome, the most common form of hereditary colorectal cancer (CRC), caused by mutations in certain genes (DNA mismatch repair [MMR] genes), universal tumor MMR testing among certain CRC patients had a greater sensitivity for the identification of Lynch syndrome compared with multiple alternative strategies, although the diagnostic improvement was modest, according to a study in the October 17 issue of JAMA. Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer worldwide and the second leading cause ...

CHICAGO – In a pilot study assessing the effect of different levels of chloride in intravenous fluids administered to critically ill patients in an intensive care unit, restricting the amount of chloride administration was associated with a significant decrease in the incidence of acute kidney injury and the use of renal replacement therapy, according to a study in the October 17 issue of JAMA. "The administration of intravenous chloride is ubiquitous in critical care medicine," according to background in the article. Many of the fluids used for hydration and resuscitation ...

Boston, MA – A new study by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers suggests that, for HIV patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) to treat HIV, there is no benefit from high- vs. standard-dose micronutrient supplementation—and that, in fact, high-dose supplements may cause harm. The study is the first large randomized trial to look at how high-dose multivitamin supplementation affects clinical outcomes among people on HAART. The study appears in the October 17, 2012 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Previous ...

Carrying out general health checks does not reduce deaths overall or from serious diseases like cancer and heart disease, according to Cochrane researchers. The researchers, who carried out a systematic review on the subject for The Cochrane Library, warn against offering general health checks as part of a public health programme. In some countries, general health checks are offered as part of standard practice. General health checks are intended to reduce deaths and ill health by enabling early detection and treatment of disease. However, there are potential negative ...

Cranberry juice is unlikely to prevent bladder and kidney infections, according to an updated systematic review published in The Cochrane Library. The authors analysed the most up-to-date evidence and concluded that any benefit, if present at all, is likely to be small and only for women with recurrent UTI. Urinary tract infections (UTIs) affect the bladder, as in cystitis, and sometimes the kidneys. Cranberries and cranberry juice have been used to prevent UTIs for decades, although it is not clear how they might help protect against infection. According to one theory, ...

On average, new treatments perform better in clinical trials only slightly more often than existing treatments, according to a new systematic review published in The Cochrane Library. The fact that experimental treatments are not more effective may seem disappointing, but the authors of the review say their findings satisfy an important ethical requirement for clinical trials. Randomised trials compare the effects of one treatment to another. In a randomised trial patients are randomly allocated to different treatment groups to ensure that like will be compared with like. ...

HOUSTON — Enzyme levels in the blood routinely monitored by physicians as liver function indicators are also the best predictor of liver cancer risk for the general population, a team of scientists in Taiwan and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reports today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institutet. "These two enzymes alone predicted 91 percent of liver cancer cases in our prospective study," said paper senior author Xifeng Wu, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of MD Anderson's Department of Epidemiology. "If our research is confirmed in other ...