Over the past 2 decades the prevalence of diabetic kidney disease in the U.S. increased in direct proportion to the prevalence of diabetes itself, according to a study in the June 22/29 issue of JAMA. Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is a common complication of diabetes and the leading cause of chronic kidney disease in the developed world. Approximately 40 percent of persons with diabetes develop DKD, which also accounts for nearly half of all new cases of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in the United States. "Over time, the prevalence of DKD may increase due to the expanding ...

In a study that included nearly 14,000 patients with rheumatoid arthritis or psoriasis, the use of certain disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs was found to lower the risk of diabetes, according to a study in the June 22/29 issue of JAMA. Two common systemic inflammatory conditions, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriasis, predispose patients to insulin resistance and may place patients at risk for diabetes mellitus (DM). The treatment of psoriasis and RA includes disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors, which are ...

Boston, MA – A new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and University of California, San Francisco, researchers suggests that men with prostate cancer who smoke increase their risk of prostate cancer recurrence and of dying from the disease. A link also was found between smoking at the time of prostate cancer diagnosis and aggressive prostate cancer, overall mortality (death) and cardiovascular disease mortality. "In our study, we found similar results for both prostate cancer recurrence and prostate cancer mortality," said Stacey Kenfield, lead author ...

This year, in the case of McDonald v City of Chicago, the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment extends throughout the United States and protects gun owners in every state and municipality. The Court unequivocally affirmed an individual's right to own handguns for self-defense. While gun-control laws may still be legal, the Court has also effectively prohibited states and localities from complete bans on gun ownership. In short, gun control efforts will be subjected to constitutional scrutiny and analysis. If restrictions go too far, courts are likely to find such ...

Diabetic kidney disease has become more prevalent in the United States over the past 20 years, despite a substantial increase in the use of medications for the treatment of people with diabetes, according to a study to be published June 22 in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association. These medications include drugs that lower glucose, blood pressure and lipids. The widespread application of medications proven to improve health in clinical trials has markedly bettered the control of blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol in the diabetic population ...

After two days of testimony by members of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the United States Marshals Service (USMS), the United States District Court in Detroit granted the defendant's motion to dismiss the indictment, and immediately released Jesus Manuel Caro-Villalobos of Silt, Colorado, from custody. The Court ruled that the government clearly violated Mr. Caro's constitutional right to a speedy-trial. See U.S. v. Caro-Villalobos, EDMI, # 00-80572. Regarding the Court's decision, Mr. Caro's attorney, former federal prosecutor John Freeman of Troy, remarked, ...

Researchers in Australia have discovered that mothers who smoke during pregnancy are causing developmental changes to their unborn babies that lead to them having lower levels of the type of cholesterol that is known to protect against heart disease in later life – high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. The research, published online today in the European Heart Journal [1], showed that, by the age of eight years, children born to mothers who smoked while they were pregnant had HDL cholesterol levels of about 1.3 millimoles per litre (mmol/L), compared to the more ...

Every year more than 20,000 people in Indiana sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Nationwide, about one million people experience a TBI each year. Medical advancements have reduced fatalities from brain injuries, but as a result many people are now living with disabilities stemming from brain injuries. A TBI is defined by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an injury that occurs when "impact to the head results in disruption of brain functioning." There are a variety of causes of TBI, with motor vehicle accidents being one of the most common. ...

Using barium oxide nanoparticles, researchers have developed a self-cleaning technique that could allow solid oxide fuel cells to be powered directly by coal gas at operating temperatures as low as 750 degrees Celsius. The technique could provide a cleaner and more efficient alternative to conventional power plants for generating electricity from the nation's vast coal reserves. Solid oxide fuel cells can operate on a wide variety of fuels, and use hydrocarbons gases directly – without a separate reformer. The fuel cells rely on anodes made from nickel and a ceramic ...

Thousands of patients in Scotland who are particularly vulnerable to adverse drug events (ADEs) were prescribed high-risk medications by their GPs which could potentially cause them harm, according to research published on BMJ.com today. Although at least some of this prescribing will be appropriate because prescribers and patients are balancing risks and benefits when there may be no clearly 'correct' course of action, the study also finds that there was significant variation in the prescribing practices between the GPs surgeries surveyed. This variation could not ...

BOSTON, MA – Individuals with systemic inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriasis, experience a 1.5 to 2-fold increased rate of cardiovascular disease. Previous research suggests that inflammation and insulin resistance, linked with these conditions, likely accelerate the development of cardiovascular risk and diabetes. Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) sought to determine whether commonly used disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), which are directed against inflammation, might reduce the risk for developing diabetes ...

When people hear the term "mild brain injury" they may assume that such an injury is not that serious. The basic misunderstanding stems from the fact that "mild" is used to indicate to neurosurgeons that the injury is not life-threatening and does not require emergent surgery. "Mild" does not intend to describe the seriousness of the consequences resulting from the injury. In fact, a mild traumatic brain injury can potentially cause serious and long-term damage to the functioning of an individual's brain. What is a Mild Brain Injury? A ...

Tampa, FL (June 21, 2011) – A yet unidentified component of coffee interacts with the beverage's caffeine, which could be a surprising reason why daily coffee intake protects against Alzheimer's disease. A new Alzheimer's mouse study by researchers at the University of South Florida found that this interaction boosts blood levels of a critical growth factor that seems to fight off the Alzheimer's disease process. The findings appear in the early online version of an article to be published June 28 in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. Using mice bred to develop symptoms ...

LOS ANGELES—(June 21, 2011)—In a study that increases the understanding of the link between fetal development and obesity later in life, researchers at Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed) found altering the levels of two common hormones, insulin and leptin, in utero changes the cellular development in the region of the brain that regulates appetite. Their study using fetal neural stem cells from animal models, which was published online by the journal, Endocrinology, found that altered levels of leptin or insulin may have ...

The Hilton Garden Inn Atlanta Airport Hotel (North, I-85) provides nearby lodging to runners and fans attending the 2011 Peachtree Road Race. The annual event will take place on July 4 and will include approximately 60,000 participants and 150,000 spectators. It is the world's largest 10K. In addition, the AJC Peachtree Road Race has been selected to host the USA Men's 10 km Championship sponsored by Atlanta Track Club. The AJC Peachtree Road Race begins in Buckhead by Lenox Square Mall. It continues south 6.2 miles into midtown, finishing at Piedmont Park. After the ...

Scientists from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and the University of Lund have discovered that the community composition of bumble bee species and their relative abundances have changed drastically over the last 70 years in Sweden. Over the same period, the average seed yield of red clover has declined and variation in yield has doubled, suggesting that the current dependence on few species for pollination of red clover has been detrimental especially to stability in seed yield. The study was published this week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society ...

The regulation of personal data varies hugely across countries and sectors, research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) reveals. The study, which was conducted by Professor Andreas Busch of Oxford University, examined privacy regulations in four countries across three different areas - the use of Closed Circuit TV cameras in public places; Radio Frequency Identification Technology chips in consumer goods, such as electronic toll collection tags; and the introduction of biometric features in passports and identity cards. The policies in the United ...

Broadcasters failed to prepare audiences for events in North Africa and the Middle East, according to new research from the International Broadcasting Trust (IBT) and the University of East Anglia (UEA). Published today (Weds June 22), the Outside the Box report looks in detail at the nature of non-news factual coverage on all the main television channels in 2010 and finds that some countries like Libya and Yemen received little or no coverage at all. In 2010, five out of the 12 countries which have experienced revolutions, civil uprisings or major protests to date were ...

Rodriguez MD, a new Lawrenceville clinic and bilingual Lawrenceville family practice near Gwinnett Medical Center now offers Saturday hours. Located in Terrace Park Medical Center at 771 Old Norcross Rd., Suite 250, the practice has a physician on-site and available to see patients the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month from 8:00am - 12 noon. Upcoming Saturday dates include: - Saturday, July 2 - Saturday, July 16 - Saturday, August 6 - Saturday, August 20 Saturday hours are perfect for people who have weekday conflicts that make scheduling a medical check-up difficult ...

Advanced crafting of stone spearheads contributed to the development of new ways of human thinking and behaving. This is what new findings by archaeologists at Lund University have shown. The technology took a long time to acquire, required step by step planning and increased social interaction across the generations. This led to the human brain developing new abilities. 200 000 years ago, small groups of people wandered across Africa, looking like us anatomically but not thinking the way we do today. Studies of fossils and the rate of mutations in DNA show that the ...

TORONTO, Ont., June 21, 2011—Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital have found more evidence of the benefits of home dialysis for patients with kidney failure. Cells that help protect blood vessels work better in patients who undergo dialysis at home during the night than those who undergo standard daytime dialysis in a hospital, according to Dr. Darren Yuen, a nephrologist. This is important for patients with kidney failure, which causes damage to the endothelial cells that line blood vessels and help control the flow of blood. While standard dialysis in hospital is ...

PITTSBURGH—Driver assistance technologies, such as adaptive cruise control and automatic braking, promise to someday ease traffic on crowded routes and prevent accidents. Proving that these automated systems will work as intended is a daunting task, but computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have now demonstrated it is possible to verify the safety of these highly complex systems. To do so, the researchers first developed a model of a distributed car control system in which computers and sensors in each car combine to control acceleration, braking and lane ...

Scientists at The University of Nottingham have discovered a molecular mechanism which could bring about the development of new treatments for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) — a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. Dr Bruno Gran, a Clinical Associate Professor in the Division of Clinical Neurology in the School of Clinical Sciences, working in collaboration with Professor Paul Moynagh from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, has discovered a synthetic chemical compound which inhibits the pro-inflammatory signals produced by the immune system ...

New Haven, Conn.—Astronomers have probed into the distant universe and discovered that galaxies display one of two distinct behaviors: they are either awake or asleep, actively forming stars or are not forming any new stars at all. Scientists have known for several years that galaxies in the nearby universe seem to fall into one of these two states. But a new survey of the distant universe shows that even very young galaxies as far away as 12 billion light years are either awake or asleep as well, meaning galaxies have behaved this way for more than 85 percent of the ...

Jumeirah Restaurants has announced that the highly anticipated Ivy restaurant is set to open its doors in Dubai, taking forward the long-standing tradition of the international brasserie in London. The Ivy in Dubai will share the same standards of food, ambience and service as The Ivy in London, but will also take on board the best that Dubai has to offer. Located on the ground floor of The Boulevard, Jumeirah Emirates Towers, which is one of Jumeirah's Dubai hotels, The Ivy has been welcoming diners since 9 June, 2011. Designed by Martin Brudnizki, the restaurant ...