ATS 2012, SAN FRANCISCO – The link between prenatal exposure to air pollution and childhood lung growth and respiratory ailments has been established by several studies in recent years, and now a new study suggests that these prenatal exposures can be especially serious for children with asthma. The study will be presented at the ATS 2012 International Conference in San Francisco. "In this study, we found that prenatal exposures to airborne particles and the pollutant nitrogen dioxide adversely affect pulmonary function growth among asthmatic children between 6 and ...

SAN DIEGO – On September 12, 2011, a Springfield, Virginia man arrived at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital (MGUH) in the early stages of liver failure. The man had mistakenly eaten poisonous mushrooms, handpicked from his yard. He would be the first of four patients in the course of two weeks to seek treatment at MGUH for mushroom (amanitin) poisoning. Their clinical course, management, and outcomes were presented today at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) in San Diego, the largest international gathering of physicians and researchers in the field of gastroenterology, ...

Statins prevent cancer and reduce death from all causes in heart transplant recipients. The findings were independent of cholesterol levels. The research was presented at the Heart Failure Congress 2012, 19-22 May, in Belgrade, Serbia. The Congress is the main annual meeting of the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology. Cancer is the leading cause of death late after heart transplantation. Skin cancer is particularly common, but solid organ cancers including colorectal cancer, prostate cancer and lymphoma also occur. The increased rate of ...

Madison, Wis. and San Francisco — Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), commonly known as sleep apnea, is associated with an increased risk of cancer mortality, according to a new study. While previous studies have associated SDB with increased risks of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, depression, and early death, this is the first human study to link apnea with higher rate of cancer mortality. Lead author Dr. F. Javier Nieto, chair of the department of population health sciences at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, says the study showed a nearly five times ...

A combination of three drugs used worldwide as the standard of care for a serious lung disease puts patients in danger of death or hospitalization, and should not be used together to treat the disease, called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, according to the surprising results of a rigorous independent study. The study, which will appear online May 20 in the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Thoracic Society, was conducted by IPF Clinical Research Network, funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute ...

A team of researchers from UCSF and UC San Diego has identified an approved arthritis drug that is effective against amoebas in lab and animal studies, suggesting it could offer a low-dose, low cost treatment for the amoebic infections that cause human dysentery throughout the world. Based on these results, the team has received Orphan Drug Status for the drug, known as auranofin, from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and has applied for approval to start clinical trials to treat both amebiasis and the parasite Giardia in humans. The findings, which showed that ...

Research by a collaborative group of scientists from UC San Diego School of Medicine, UC San Francisco and Wake Forest School of Medicine has led to identification of an existing drug that is effective against Entamoeba histolytica. This parasite causes amebic dysentery and liver abscesses and results in the death of more than 70,000 people worldwide each year. Using a high-throughput screen for drugs developed by the research team, they discovered that auranofin – a drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration 25 years ago for rheumatoid arthritis – is very effective ...

Helen E. Davies, M.D., of the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, and colleagues compared the effectiveness of treatments to relieve breathing difficulties among patients with malignant pleural effusion (presence of fluid in the pleural cavity [space between the outside of the lungs and the inside wall of the chest cavity], as a complication of malignant disease). The treatments compared were chest tube drainage and talc slurry for pleurodesis (a procedure in which the pleural space is obliterated) vs. indwelling pleural catheters (IPCs). Malignant pleural effusion ...

Peter B. Bach, M.D., of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, and colleagues conducted a systematic review to examine the evidence regarding the benefits and harms of low-dose computerized tomography (LDCT) screening for lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer death. "Most patients are diagnosed with advanced disease, resulting in a very low 5-year survival rate," the authors write. "Renewed enthusiasm for lung screening arose with the advent of LDCT imaging, which is able to identify smaller nodules than can chest radiographs." For the review, ...

Margaret Rosenfeld, M.D., M.P.H., of Seattle Children's Hospital, and colleagues conducted a study to examine if hypertonic saline would reduce the rate of pulmonary exacerbations in children younger than 6 years of age with cystic fibrosis (CF). Inhaled hypertonic saline is recommended as therapy for patients 6 years or older with CF, but its efficacy has not been evaluated in patients younger than 6 years. In the randomized trial, the active treatment group (n = 158) received 7 percent hypertonic saline and the control group (n = 163) received 0.9 percent isotonic saline, ...

To learn its signature melody, the male songbird uses a trial-and-error process to mimic the song of its father, singing the tune over and over again, hundreds of times a day, making subtle changes in the pitch of the notes. For the male Bengalese finch, this rigorous training process begins around the age of 40 days and is completed about day 90, just as he becomes sexually mature and ready to use his song to woo females. To accomplish this feat, the finch's brain must receive and process large quantities of information about its performance and use that data to precisely ...

A new study led by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery identifies the mechanism by which a cell signaling pathway contributes to the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In addition, the study provides evidence that drugs under development for diseases such as cancer could potentially be used to treat RA. Rheumatoid arthritis, a systemic inflammatory autoimmune disease that can be crippling, impacts over a million adults in the United States. "We uncovered a novel mechanism by which the Notch pathway could contribute to RA, said Xiaoyu Hu, M.D., Ph.D., a ...

Internationally recognized fitness enthusiast, Flavia Del Monte, has spent years helping women learn how their bodies work, proper nutrition for women and how to exercise in a way that benefits women. As the founder of Flavilicious Fitness she has been creating workout and nutrition programs specifically designed for the needs of women. Flavia Del Monte's newest workout and nutrition program, Curvalicious, is the first to target metabolic fat loss while increasing both Myogenic and Neurogenic muscle tone. Myogenic muscle tone is the residual tension in a muscle at rest. ...

Barcelona, 20 May 2012. The Stem Cells and Cancer Research Group headed by Dr Héctor G. Palmer at the Vall d'Hebrón Institute of Oncology (VHIO) has identified the molecular mechanisms that determine patients' response to certain drugs used in clinical trials for colon cancer treatment. The study led by VHIO also benefited from the collaboration with Professor Alberto Muñoz´s laboratory at the Instituto de Investigaciones Biomedicas Alberto Sols, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IIB-CSIC-Madrid). Published today in Nature Medicine, this work identifies biomarkers ...

The histone de-acetylase (HDAC) inhibitor panobinostat is able to target and destroy triple negative breast cancer, reveals a new study published in BioMed Central's open access journal Breast Cancer Research. Researchers from Tulane University Health Sciences Center have shown that panobinostat was able to destroy breast cancer cells and reduce tumor growth in mice. Approximately 15% of breast cancers are found at diagnosis to be triple negative. These aggressive tumours are missing both the estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor, which means that they do not respond ...

Finding the right clothes at the right price can be an inconvenient chore for those that do not know where to look. It will not take much to be forced to overpay, especially when on the search for wholesale apparel that is stylish and fashion forward. With some of the huge discounts of up to 60 percent now offered by the leading wholesale clothing retailer, ApparelUS.com, customers are now finding the outfits that they need while staying within their budget. Purchasing wholesale clothes in person can turn into a lengthy ordeal with pushy salespeople and second-rate items. ...

Modern day soldiers who mutilate enemy corpses or take body-parts as trophies are usually thought to be suffering from the extreme stresses of battle. But, research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) shows that this sort of misconduct has most often been carried out by fighters who viewed the enemy as racially different from themselves and used images of the hunt to describe their actions. "The roots of this behaviour lie not in individual psychological disorders," says Professor Simon Harrison who carried out the study, "but in a social history ...

NEW YORK, CAMBRIDGE, Mass., AND BOSTON (May 20, 2012) -- A collaborative expedition into the deep genetics of prostate cancer has uncovered a distinct subtype of the disease, one that appears to account for up to 15 percent of all cases, say researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In the study, published online May 20 by the journal Nature Genetics, investigators describe how they discovered novel mutations in the SPOP ("S-pop") gene in numerous patient tumors, saying this alteration is ...

The teeth whitening industry has become very popular in recent years as individuals are now looking for the most effective and pain-free treatments that will create a bright and lustrous smile. Finding a dental practice that is going to put a patient at ease and provide affordable and effective services at the same time can be difficult though, but the choice is now just a little bit easier for residents of Los Angeles. Dr. Afar, Los Angeles dentist, is now offering free in-office teeth whitening to all new patients that would like a vibrant smile this summer. Visit WilshireDentalCare.com ...

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus (MRSA) nasal colonization is associated with longer hospital stays and an increase in surgical site infections (SSI) in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery, according to a new study from Scott and White Memorial Hospital, Temple, TX. Antibiotic-resistant organisms such as MRSA can cause infections after surgery. Many studies have shown that MRSA nasal colonization increases the risk of developing SSI, and there has been an effort to conduct swab testing to isolate those patients and decontaminate or reduce the risk ...

BOSTON – Treatment of early stage prostate cancer can also result in improved quality of life for a subgroup of men who suffer from lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), according to an abstract of a Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center-led study presented to the American Urological Association. LUTS, which includes problems of frequent or urgent urination, particularly at night, is a common problem that affects approximately 40 percent of men, a percentage that rises with age. It is not a reason to suspect prostate cancer. "Possible benefits of prostate cancer treatment ...

For the first time, scientists at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute have shown that an experimental bariatric surgery can lower blood sugar levels in rats with type 1 diabetes. A team led by Dr. Tony Lam and Dr. Danna Breen, a post- doctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Lam, used a rat model to study novel nutrient-sensing signals in the jejunum, located in the middle of the intestine. Dr. Lam and his team demonstrate that duodenal-jejunal bypass surgery activates novel nutrient-sensing signals in the jejunum and rapidly lowers blood sugar levels in non-obese ...

Many of those with misaligned teeth or gaps in their smile may be hesitant about seeking out treatment due to the fact that they would like to steer clear from traditional metal braces. Even though these appliances work wonderfully for those that would like a straight and balanced smile, they do come with a handful of drawbacks. For those that are looking for an affordable alternative, Dr. Afar, North Hollywood dentist, is now offering huge discounts on Invisalign aligners, one of the most advanced teeth straightening systems in the world. Visit BestNorthHollywoodDentist.com ...

Hanan M. Isaacs, P.C. with offices located in Kingston, New Jersey, is proud to announce their hiring of the newest attorney member of the firm, Misty Velasques. Ms. Velasques will focus on family law and employment law, while supporting other areas of general civil practice. Ms. Velasques graduated from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 2011. She worked for a general practice law firm while attending law school in Lansing, Michigan. Additionally, she participated in the law school's Mock Trial Board and the Disaster Relief Legal Association. Recently, Ms. Velasques sat ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A pioneering study to gauge the toxicity of quantum dots in primates has found the tiny crystals to be safe over a one-year period, a hopeful outcome for doctors and scientists seeking new ways to battle diseases like cancer through nanomedicine. The research, which will appear on May 20 in Nature Nanotechnology online, is likely the first to test the safety of quantum dots in primates. The study and information in this press release are embargoed until Sunday, May 20, 2012 at 1 p.m. U.S. Eastern Standard Time. In the study, scientists found that four ...