NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is now almost seven years into its 9.5-year journey across the solar system to explore Pluto and its system of moons. Just over two years from now, in January 2015, New Horizons will begin encounter operations, which will culminate in a close approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015, and the first-ever exploration of a planet in the Kuiper Belt. As New Horizons has traveled through the solar system, its science team has become increasingly aware of the possibility that dangerous debris may be orbiting in the Pluto system, putting NASA's New Horizons ...

A new clinical study published in BioMedCentral's open access journal Arthritis Research and Therapy provides preliminary evidence that vitamin D supplementation could be considered an immunomodulatory agent for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a debilitating autoimmune disease characterized not only by skin, joint, neurological and renal symptoms, but also by inflammation of tissue linings in the body. SLE is a T- and B-cell-dependent disease that causes an appearance of autoantibodies, causing the body to attack itself. Patients present with a depletion of regulatory ...

Muscle relaxants given to millions of patients during general anaesthesia are associated with an increased risk of serious breathing problems after surgery, finds a study published on bmj.com today. The results also suggest that giving drugs to reverse the muscle relaxants after surgery may increase the risk further. But an accompanying editorial argues that, in modern medicine, general anaesthesia is an extremely safe procedure and it would be a mistake to change clinical practice on the basis of this one study, however large and well executed. Known as intermediate ...

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have found that medications currently used to immobilize patients during surgery can increase the risk of postoperative respiratory complications. Their study being published online in the journal BMJ also found that the agent most commonly used to reverse the action of the immobilizing drug does not prevent and may possibly increase the risk that patients will need to receive postoperative respiratory support. "Neuromuscular blocking agents are used during surgery for a variety of reasons, including allowing placement ...

Smokers who have tried to quit and failed may be tempted to just give up, particularly if they hear statistics like the fact that most quit attempts will be unsuccessful. But smokers today have many options to help them quit, and those who think they have "tried it all" usually have not. In a report in the Oct. 17 issue of JAMA, Nancy Rigotti, MD, director of the Tobacco Research and Treatment Center of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Department of Medicine, outlines currently available resources and recommends strategies that can help smokers who are struggling ...

ARLINGTON, VA -- CONRAD researchers, in collaboration with engineers at the University of Utah, have designed a 90-day intravaginal ring that can be used by women to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV. A study of the ring used sheep to determine whether safe, effective and steady doses of the antiretroviral drug tenofovir can be released over 90 days. This research is being presented at the 2012 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Annual Meeting and Exposition in Chicago, Ill., Oct. 14 – 18 and will be published in the 12th issue of Antimicrobial ...

New research at the University of Southampton aims to develop a way of predicting who is more at risk of getting cancer. Led by Paul Little, Professor of Primary Care Research, the CANcer DIagnosis Decision rules (CANDID) study, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) School for Primary Care Research (NIHR SPCR), will collect and analyse clinical information and blood samples from 20,000 patients who have had lung or colon cancer. The aim is to determine which signs and symptoms are most predictive of those who go on to be diagnosed with the disease. ...

Scientists at the Universities of Liverpool, Manchester, and Kings College, London, have found that mothers who stroke their baby's body in the first few weeks after birth may change the effects that stress during pregnancy can have on an infant's early-life development. Researchers world-wide have been studying whether stress in pregnancy can lead to emotional and behavioural problems in children for many years. Attention is now moving towards how parents might alter these effects after birth. Researchers are aiming to improve understanding of the issues to help ...

Scientists at Queen Mary, University of London have discovered that the characteristic shape of a man's urine stream could be used to help diagnose urinary problems. The research, published in PLOS One today (16 October) is the first study to analyse the specific pattern a man's urine makes and whether it could be used to detect prostate problems. Co-author Dr Martin Knight from Queen Mary's School of Engineering and Materials Science explained: "The characteristic shape is due to the surface tension in the urine and the elliptical shape of the urethra. "The computer ...

NEW ORLEANS — New insights into the wiring and firing of the "social brain" in humans and primates reveals the brain areas important in altruistic motives and behavior, and the brain regions that respond to the pain of discrimination. The findings were presented at Neuroscience 2012, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world's largest source of emerging news about brain science and health. The social brain consists of the structures and circuits that help people understand others' intentions, beliefs, and desires, and how to behave appropriately. ...

NEW ORLEANS — Studies released today explore the neurological component of dietary disorders, uncovering evidence that the brain's biological mechanisms may contribute to significant public health challenges — obesity, diabetes, binge eating, and the allure of the high-calorie meal. The findings were presented at Neuroscience 2012, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world's largest source of emerging news about brain science and health. Scientists are ultimately searching for new ways to treat diet-related disorders while raising awareness that ...

NEW ORLEANS — New findings presented today report the important role sleep plays, and the brain mechanisms at work as sleep shapes memory, learning, and behavior. The findings were presented at Neuroscience 2012, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world's largest source of emerging news about brain science and health. One in five American adults show signs of chronic sleep deprivation, making the condition a widespread public health problem. Sleeplessness is related to health issues such as obesity, cardiovascular problems, and memory problems. Today's ...

Pain in the lower extremities - feet, ankles, knees and hips - contributes to both poor physical function and a reduced quality of life in obese children, according to a new study by Dr. Sharon Bout-Tabaku and colleagues, from Nationwide Children's Hospital and The Ohio State University in the US. Their work shows that obese children with lower extremity pain have worse physical function and poorer psychological health than obese children without lower extremity pain. Their findings appear online in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research®, published by Springer. Obese ...

A team of researchers at the IRCM, supervised by Dr. Jacques Drouin, reprogrammed the identity of cells in the pituitary gland and identified critical mechanisms of epigenetic cell programming. This important discovery, published yesterday by the scientific journal Genes & Development, could eventually lead to new pharmacological targets for the treatment of Cushing's disease. Dr. Drouin's team studies the pituitary gland, which is the master gland located at the base of the skull that secretes hormones to control all other glands of the endocrine system. Disruption ...

OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA — Routine screening for type 2 diabetes in adults at low and moderate risk is not recommended, although it is recommended for people at high and very high risk of the disease, state new diabetes screening guidelines published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) http://www.cmaj.ca/content/184/15/1687.full. The guidelines suggest using a risk calculator and then screening based on the predicted risk of diabetes. "These new guidelines bring precision and convenience with web-based risk calculators and nonfasting A1C to diabetes screening," ...

Researchers investigating the long-term consequences of child abuse have identified some protective factors that can improve the health of victims during their adulthood. Men and women in their 30s who had been abused or neglected as children reported worse mental and physical health than their non-abused peers. But being married or having graduated from high school buffered the severity of their symptoms. The researchers also found that adults who experienced child abuse reported less happiness and self-esteem, more anger and other psychological damage, indicating ...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16, 2012 — A new episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS') popular Prized Science video series features a virtuoso in teaching the next generation of scientists, who must discover tomorrow's life-saving medicines and new fuels and help solve other global challenges. The videos from the world's largest scientific society are available at www.acs.org/PrizedScience and by request on DVD. Titled Prized Science: How the Science Behind American Chemical Society Awards Impacts Your Life, the fourth episode of the 2012 series features the work of Diane ...

PHILADELPHIA (October 16, 2012)— Researchers at Drexel University have identified the physical forces in red blood cells and blood vessels underlying the painful symptoms of sickle cell disease. Their experiment, the first to answer a scientific question about sickle cell disease using microfluidics engineering methods, may help future researchers better determine who is at greatest risk of harm from the disease. They report their findings in Cell Press's Biophysical Journal today. Capillary Blockage Conundrum Like many scientific questions, this discovery began with ...

Philadelphia, PA, October 16, 2012 – Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is considered a precursor lesion for invasive breast cancer if untreated, and is found in approximately 45% of patients with invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). Patients with DCIS only (not accompanied by invasive disease) have a 5-year-survival of nearly 100%, compared to 89% for all stages of invasive breast cancer (24% for patients with distant metastasis). A new study has found that despite an enormous degree of intercellular heterogeneity in both DCIS and IDC, the evolution from noninvasive to invasive ...

Multinational corporations that choose not to disclose geographic earnings are more likely to engage in income-shifting activities, says a study from UofT's Rotman School. Toronto – Policy makers, lobby groups and citizens should take note—those who understand corporate tax avoidance behavior will be in a better position to deter it. A recent study by Prof. Ole-Kristian Hope, who holds the Deloitte Professorship of Accounting at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, along with Mark (Shuai) Ma and Wayne B. Thomas from the Michael F. Price College ...

The humble fruit fly may have something to teach us about forgoing empty calories for more nutritional ones – especially when we're hungry. While the flies initially prefer food with a sweet flavour, they quickly learn to opt for less sweet food sources that offer more calories and nutritional value, according to new research by University of British Columbia zoologists. The findings, published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience, are the first to measure the shift in food preference over time, and the first to find that flies opt for nutritious food more quickly ...

Chapel Hill, NC – Patient-reported outcomes should be a standard part of evaluating the comparative effectiveness of cancer treatments, according to recommendations put forward by a multi-institution research group. In an early release article published this week online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, a research group led by Ethan Basch, MD, Director of the Cancer Outcomes Research Program at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, recommends that patient-reported symptoms and health-related quality of life measures should be assessed in comparative effectiveness ...

In many pathologies of the nervous system, there is a common event - cells called microglia are activated from surveillant watchmen into fighters. Microglia are the immune cells of the nervous system, ingesting and destroying pathogens and damaged nerve cells. Until now little was known about the molecular mechanisms of microglia activation despite this being a critical process in the body. Now new research from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital – The Neuro - at McGill University provides the first evidence that mechanisms regulated by the Runx1 gene control ...

Older black patients are three times more likely than older white patients to suffer poorer outcomes after surgery, including death, when cared for by nurses with higher workloads, reports research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. The large-scale study showed higher nurse workloads negatively affected older surgical patients generally and that the rate was more significant in older black individuals. When the patient-to-nurse ratio increased above 5:1, the odds of patient death increased by 3 percent per additional patient among whites and by 10 percent ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – October 16, 2012 – A new study shows that endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) before radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a safe and effective treatment option for patients with nodular Barrett's esophagus (BE) and advanced neoplasia. The performance of EMR before RFA was not associated with a diminished likelihood of success of therapy or an increased rate of stricture compared with those with advanced neoplasia undergoing RFA alone. The study appears in the October issue of GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the ...