Older patients with lower rates of left ventricular ejection fraction (a measure of how well the left ventricle of the heart pumps with each contraction) appear more likely than younger patients to have significantly reduced verbal memory function, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Three decades ago, researchers began investigating the association of heart failure with cognitive decline, according to background information in the article. Thirty to 80 percent of patients with heart failure may experience ...

In patients with acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), blood loss from greater use of phlebotomy (blood drawn for diagnostic testing) appears to be independently associated with the development of hospital-acquired anemia (HAA), according to a report published Online First by Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The article is part of the journal's Less Is More series. Anemia (low red blood cell count or low hemoglobin level) is associated with greater mortality and worse health status in patients with AMI, whether the condition is chronic ...

A new risk assessment model may help predict development of advanced age-related macular degeneration, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of blindness in the United States and the Western world, according to background information in the article. "As progress in designing better preventive measures and earlier treatment options accelerates and new gene associations are identified that add to currently known risk factors, the desirability ...

In patients with glaucoma, frequent visual field testing may be associated with earlier detection of the condition's progression, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. According to background information in the article, visual field testing is one of the main ways of monitoring patients with glaucoma for progression. "Estimating rates of progression can help identify patients who are progressing at a faster pace and are therefore at serious risk of developing visual disability during their lifetime," ...

Soy isoflavone tablets do not appear to be associated with a reduction in bone loss or menopausal symptoms in women within the first five years of menopause, according to a report in the August 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The beginning stages of menopause are often accompanied by rapid bone loss, hot flashes, vaginal dryness and sleep disturbances among other symptoms, according to background information in the article. "Estrogen therapy with or without progesterone prevents most of these changes. However, as a result of ...

Patient demand for care from safety-net providers (such as community health centers and public hospitals) in Massachusetts has increased, even though the number of patients with health insurance also increased following the state's passage of health care reform, according to a report in the August 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The article is part of the journal's Health Care Reform series. According to background information in the article, a disproportionate share of patients who do not have health insurance obtain care ...

Some vaccines are once-in-a-lifetime; others need a booster shot or two to maintain their potency. And then there's the flu vaccine, which only lasts a year. Strains of influenza virus change so much from year-to-year that new vaccines must be developed annually to target the strains of virus that are most likely to cause illness. But Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) scientists have now discovered a human antibody that recognizes many different flu strains. Understanding more about this antibody may help scientists design a longer-lasting vaccine against the influenza ...

Washington, D.C.—Meteorites hold a record of the chemicals that existed in the early Solar System and that may have been a crucial source of the organic compounds that gave rise to life on Earth. Since the 1960s, scientists have been trying to find proof that nucleobases, the building blocks of our genetic material, came to Earth on meteorites. New research, published next week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, indicates that certain nucleobases do reach the Earth from extraterrestrial sources, by way of certain meteorites, and in greater diversity ...

EUGENE, Ore. -- (Aug. 8, 2011) -- Shape and alignment are everything. How nanometer-sized pieces fit together into a whole structure determines how well a living cell or an artificially fabricated device performs. A new method to help understand and predict such structure has arrived with the successful use a new imaging tool. Coupling laser-driven, two-dimensional fluorescence imaging and high-performance computer modeling, a six-member team -- led by University of Oregon chemist Andrew H. Marcus and Harvard University chemist Alan Aspuru-Guzik -- solved the conformation ...

University of Guam ecologist Thomas Marler recently mobilized efforts to characterize the vegetation that has recovered following the eruption of Mount Pinatubo, Philippines. "My interest was sparked by the paradox that this volcano's cataclysmic 1991 eruption was so powerful it changed global climate, yet after a full 15 years the biology of the recovering ecosystem had not been studied," said Marler. The void of research motivated the Guam ecologist to spend a majority of 2006 conducting botanical surveys on the mountain. Marler then teamed up with University of Washington ...

Heavy metal pollution of lakes has a seriously detrimental impact on people and ecosystems that rely on such bodies of water. According to a study published in the current issue of Interdisciplinary Environmental Review, researchers have focused on the physicochemical properties and toxicology of water from and around Thane City of Maharashtra. Environmental chemist Pravin Singare of Bhavan's College, in Mumbai, and colleagues highlight the fact that fresh water bodies all over the world are becoming increasingly polluted day by day and that this represents a growing ...

Bladder cancer patients who have radical surgery at university hospitals can benefit from excellent local control of the disease, acceptable clinical outcomes and low death rates, according to research in the August issue of the urology journal BJUI. Researchers studied 2,287 patients who had radical cystectomy surgery, where the bladder is removed, together with nearby tissue and organs as required. The surgery was performed at eight Canadian academic centres between 1998 and 2008. The study found that there were three independent factors, apart from pathological ...

Researchers can now watch molecules move in living cells, literally millisecond by millisecond, thanks to a new microscope developed by scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany. Published online today in Nature Biotechnology, the new technique provides insights into processes that were so far invisible. By combining light-sheet microscopy and single molecule spectroscopy, the new microscope can record the fluorescence of every pixel within view, and take snapshots at intervals of less than one millisecond. With it, scientists ...

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found that male fruitflies experience a type of 'paranoia' in the presence of another male, which doubles the length of time they mate with a female, despite the female of the species only ever mating with one male. Females in many species of animal have multiple mates and males have evolved particular reproductive characteristics to ensure their sperm are successful when in competition with the sperm of other males. Adaptations include physical traits that result in increased sperm count, as well as behavioural alterations ...

Calculating the surface area of Gran Canaria is no easy task for a 14-year-old. It's not simply a question of learning the right formula. Students have to develop a strategy that enables them to put mathematical theory into practice – working out the information that is important and applying the right geometric models and tools. Realizing that the island has an almost circular shape and so its surface area can be approximated using the area of a circle is not as straightforward as it sounds. Are schoolchildren capable of developing these kinds of solutions themselves or ...

In Anna Gudmundsdottir's laboratory at the University of Cincinnati, dedicated researchers endeavor to tame the extremely reactive chemicals known as radicals. Highly reactive radicals are atoms, molecules or ions frantically trying to become something else. Their lifetimes are measured in fractions of seconds and typically occur in the middle of a chain of chemical reactions. They are also known as reactive intermediates. Much of Gudmundsdottir's work has focused on a family of radicals known as triplet nitrenes. "Triplet nitrenes are reactive intermediates with high ...

A new study from the University of Haifa has found that walking around the ward during hospitalization significantly reduces the length of the older patient's stay. "Given the over-occupancy of many hospitals, this finding can be of great importance," the researchers stated. Walking around the ward during hospitalization reduces the length of geriatric patients' stay in internal wards. This has been shown in a new study by Dr. Efrat Shadmi and Dr. Anna Zisberg of the University of Haifa's Department of Nursing, funded by the Israeli Science Foundation and published in ...

Nearly half of all women scientists and one-quarter of male scientists at the nation's top research universities said their career has kept them from having as many children as they had wanted, according to a new study by Rice University and Southern Methodist University (SMU). The study, "Scientists Want More Children," was authored by sociologists Elaine Howard Ecklund of Rice and Anne Lincoln of SMU and appears in the current issue of the journal PLoS ONE. For the past three years, Ecklund and Lincoln have been studying what junior and senior scientists in physics, ...

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists are using a technology known as "Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflection" (FTIR-ATR) spectroscopy to rapidly identify with 95 percent accuracy citrus plant leaves infected with the devastating disease known as citrus greening. Scientists from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Subtropical Plant Pathology Research Unit in Fort Pierce, Fla., and the agency's Quality and Safety Assessment Research Unit in Athens, Ga., collaborated on the use of FTIR-ATR spectroscopy to identify citrus greening in plants. ...

OTTAWA – August 8, 2011 – There are increasing pressures for health care providers to make individual-level data readily available for research and policy making. But Canadians are more likely to allow the sharing of their personal data if they believe that their privacy is protected. A new report by Dr. Khaled El Emam, the Canada Research Chair in Electronic Health Information at the University of Ottawa and the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, suggests that Canadians can be uniquely identified from their date of birth, postal code, and gender. ...

A liquid does not have to be a disordered bunch of particles: A team of researchers at Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) and the University of Vienna has discovered intriguing structures formed by tiny particles floating in liquids. Under mechanical strain, particle clusters in liquids can spontaneously form strings and dramatically alter the properties of the liquid. What is common to blood, ink and gruel? They are all liquids in which tiny particles are suspended – so called "colloids". In some of these liquids, the particles form groups (clusters), which ...

Hospitals vary markedly when it comes to the rate at which diagnostic coronary angiography or catheterization – an invasive procedure that allows doctors to see the vessels and arteries leading to the heart – actually finds obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) in people without known heart disease. In fact, while some U.S. hospitals report that 100 percent of patients undergoing this procedure were found to have CAD, others had rates as low as 23 percent, meaning the majority of patients selected for elective catheterization did not have blockages, according to ...

CINCINNATI—A new study supports the use of a DNA-based "biomarker" blood test as a complement to the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test currently offered to screen men for prostate cancer. University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers report their findings online ahead of print in the British Journal of Cancer. Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of existing published data related to DNA methylation in bodily fluids. The goal was to evaluate a specific cancer biomarker—known as GSTP1—as a screening tool for prostate cancer. The study was a cross-disciplinary collaborative ...

Nearly half of men undergoing surgery for prostate cancer expect better recovery from the side effects of the surgery than they actually attain one year after the operation, a University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center study finds. In addition, prior to surgery, a small proportion of men had expected to have better urinary continence and sexual functions a year after the surgery than they had before it – the exact opposite of what typically happens. "This is a belief that does not reflect preoperative counseling which, on the contrary, alerts men to urinary ...

FINDINGS: Whitehead Institute researchers have uncovered a novel association between two fungal recognition receptors on the surface of certain immune cells, called macrophages. The interaction of these receptors (dectin-1 and galectin-3) sheds new light on how the innate immune system discriminates between non-pathogenic and pathogenic fungi. RELEVANCE: Invasive fungal infections are a rising source of morbidity and mortality in healthy individuals, as well as in patients suffering from chronic diseases, such as cancer or AIDS. Research into the role of the dectin-1/galectin-3 ...