STANFORD, Calif. -- A week ago, you started a new prescription medication for acne. Today, you feel dizzy and short of breath and have difficulty concentrating. Your symptoms are not listed in the package insert as possible side effects of the drug, but why else would you be feeling so odd? Unfortunately, there's no easy answer. Clinical trials are designed to show that a drug is safe and effective. But even the largest trials can't identify irksome or even dangerous side effects experienced by only a tiny proportion of those people taking the drug. They also aren't designed ...

Menlo Park, Calif. — Researchers from Stanford University and the U.S. Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have created the first-ever system of "designer electrons" – exotic variants of ordinary electrons with tunable properties that may ultimately lead to new types of materials and devices. "The behavior of electrons in materials is at the heart of essentially all of today's technologies," said Hari Manoharan, associate professor of physics at Stanford and a member of SLAC's Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, who led the research. ...

Families throughout the nation continue to struggle financially. In fact, the prospect of economic stability continues to look so grim professionals have coined this period of time the Great Recession. Many depend on unemployment benefits to make ends meet during these difficult times, but what happens when they run out? Now, more and more people are looking to Social Security Disability benefits when their unemployment ends. Whether people were disabled before their unemployment began or became disabled while receiving unemployment, Social Security Disability offers ...

In preclinical studies, researchers at SRI International and Astraea Therapeutics have recently evaluated the role of a new drug receptor target that shows promise for the treatment of drug addiction. This potential new drug target belongs to a class of receptors called the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). One subtype of nAChRs, called alpha4beta2 is a well-known target for nicotine's addictive effects and the therapeutic effect of the smoking cessation drug varenicline. SRI researchers are now studying another, lesser-known subtype, called alpha3beta4 nAChR, ...

Dehydration is one of the most common forms of nursing home neglect. The risk of dehydration is particularly acute in patients who suffer from health problems that render them incapable of properly communicating their needs. Nursing home dehydration can happen for a number of different reasons. Some patients aren't physically able to drink from a glass, either because they have difficulty swallowing or because they are unable to sit upright. In other cases, patients with cognitive or emotional difficulties may refuse certain beverages. In the worst cases the neglect ...

WASHINGTON—March 14, 2012—More than half of likely voters doubt that the United States will be the No. 1 world leader in science, technology and health care by the year 2020, according to a new national public opinion poll commissioned by Research!America. The findings reveal deep concerns among Americans about the country's ability to maintain its world-class status in innovation, research and development before the next decade. "A lackluster investment in science and innovation is driving fears among Americans about our world dominance in the years ahead," said Research!America ...

Researchers at the RIKEN Omics Science Center (OSC) have successfully developed and demonstrated a new experimental technique for producing cells with specific functions through the artificial reconstruction of transcriptional regulatory networks. As an alternative to induced pluripotent stem cells, the technique promises to enable faster and more efficient production of functional cells for use in cancer therapy and a variety of other areas. Starting with the first-ever production of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) in 2006, cell reprogramming - the genetic ...

LA JOLLA, Calif., March 14, 2012 – In a healthy immune system, invading pathogens trigger a cascade of alerts and responses to fight off the infection. Sensors called toll-like receptors, or TLRs, act as one of the first lines of defense. Two of these sensors, known as TLR7 and TLR9, specifically recognize and respond to microbial RNA and DNA, respectively. But what determines how these TLRs get where they need to be and sound the alarm for pathogen infection? To answer this question, a team led by Sumit Chanda, Ph.D. and colleagues at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute ...

Recent breakthroughs in Chikungunya research spearheaded by scientists at A*STAR's Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) have made great strides in the battle against the infectious disease. Working in close collaborations with Singapore clinician-scientists and international researchers , Dr Lisa Ng, Principal Investigator of the Chikungunya research group at SIgN, led the team to discover a direct biomarker which serves as an early and accurate prognosis of patients who have a higher risk of the more severe form of Chikungunya fever (CHIKF). This means that doctors can ...

What if a man has been named the father of a child, but has to pay child support because he missed court or was misled into signing a paternity statement without a DNA test? Although the Texas Family Code covers a wide range of legal issues from divorce, child custody and spousal support to modifications of custody and visitation because of parental relocation, one Texas paternity provision was recently changed regarding the need to correct paternity mistakes with DNA testing. Prior to the passage of Texas Senate Bill 785, a man could only request a paternity test prior ...

The United Nations (UN) global carbon market requires substantial reform because it too often fails to support the projects and people it is meant to help, according to new research from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The research findings are released as the UN, which has designated 2012 the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All, begins a policy dialogue about its Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), under which companies are allocated tradable credits if they pay others to cut their carbon emissions. The CDM is designed to help finance ...

A scale developed to measure the potential harm caused by invasive placebos in local anaesthesia research has been successfully tested by a group of 43 independent clinicians, according to research published in the April issue of Anaesthesia. The consultant anaesthetists were asked to assess the risk of harm posed by control group interventions described in ten published clinical anaesthesia studies using the Serious Harm and Morbidity (SHAM) scale. There was substantial agreement between the 22 consultants who were given clinical examples to illustrate the scale ...

An exclusive right to produced work is cemented within the Constitution. When works of art, works of authorship or screenplays are produced, the creators have the right to protect their works. These protections are provided by the federal Copyright Act, which has a broad reach, including both small, individual works and colossal, multimillion-dollar movie productions. Just as the range of protected work varies, so do the resources available to bring lawsuits claiming copyright infringement. Those attempting to file suits for relatively small claims are often dissuaded ...

The stomachs of wild honey bees are full of healthy lactic acid bacteria that can fight bacterial infections in both bees and humans. A collaboration between researchers at three universities in Sweden – Lund University, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Karolinska Institutet – has produced findings that could be a step towards solving the problems of both bee deaths and antibiotic resistance. The researchers have now published their results in the scientific journal PLoS ONE and the legendary science photographer Professor Lennart Nilsson from Karolinska ...

Developing nations experiencing economic and social growth might also see growing waistlines among their poorest citizens, according to a new study from Rice University and the University of Colorado. The researchers found that while growth of developing countries may improve conditions such as malnutrition and infectious disease, it may increase obesity among people with lower socio-economic status. "It's a troubling finding," said Rice sociology professor Justin Denney, who co-authored the study with University of Colorado sociology professors Fred Pampel and Patrick ...

DURHAM, N.H. – Researchers from the University of New Hampshire have found that many African farmers inaccurately perceive changes in climate and rainfall when compared with scientific data, highlighting the need for better climate information to assist them to improve farming practices. "Quantifying local people's perceptions to climate change, and their assessments of which changes matter, is fundamental to addressing the dual challenge of land conservation and poverty alleviation in densely populated tropical regions," said Joel Hartter, assistant professor of geography ...

Fecal transplantation through colonoscopy is an effective treatment for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), according to a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association. Additionally, the mortality rate in this study does not appear to be greater than in some previously reported series, suggesting that fecal transplantation itself seems to be a rather safe procedure. CDI is a common cause of both community- and hospital-acquired diarrhea, usually occurring after exposure to antibiotics. "Our results suggest ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- One in four HIV patients was found to have been sexually abused as a child, according to a two-year Duke University study of more than 600 HIV patients. Traumatic childhood experiences were also linked to worse health outcomes among these patients, who are aged 20 to 71. More than half of these patients in the Coping with HIV/AIDS in the Southeast (CHASE) study had experienced sexual or physical abuse in their lifetimes, according to researchers from the Duke Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research (CHPIR). Half of the patients had experienced ...

Every cell is enclosed by a thin double layer of lipids that separates the distinct internal environment of the cell from the extracellular space. Damage to this lipid bilayer, also referred to as plasma membrane, disturbs the cellular functions and may lead to the death of the cell. For example, downhill walking tears many little holes into the plasma membranes of the muscle cells in our legs. To prevent irreparable damage, muscle cells have efficient systems to seal these holes again. Researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Heidelberg University have ...

The dangers of offshore drilling are well known. And, because of their isolated locations, work accidents can be devastating. One such accident occurred in September 2011 in the Gulf of Mexico and resulted in the death four workers. The media is bringing renewed attention to the accident not because of the death toll, but because of the company's recent activity in the courtroom. The company that owned the operation filed a petition in federal court to limit liability in the fatal drilling rig accident. Details of Accident The accident involved a liftboat, which ...

A large international study indicates that anti-inflammatory drugs may become a new tool for preventing and treating coronary heart disease (CHD), the leading global cause of death. In investigating a specific gene variant linked to inflammation and heart disease, the researchers used the Cardiochip, a gene analysis tool designed by Brendan J. Keating, Ph.D., a researcher in the Center for Applied Genomics at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and co-author of the study. Scientists already knew that inflammation is associated with atherosclerosis, the buildup of ...

Coronary artery bypass surgery performed whilst the heart is still beating may carry an increased likelihood of death, according to a systematic review by Cochrane researchers. The researchers suggest beating heart surgery should not be recommended except in specific cases where stopping the heart might be risky. Heart surgery in patients with heart disease caused by narrowed arteries has for many years been performed "on-pump", by stopping the heart and introducing a bypass to artificially pump the patient's blood. It is now possible to perform surgery without stopping ...

In the wilds of New York City — or as wild as you can get so close to skyscrapers — scientists have found a new leopard frog species that for years biologists mistook for a more widespread variety of leopard frog. While biologists regularly discover new species in remote rain forests, finding this one in the ponds and marshes of Staten Island, mainland New York and New Jersey — sometimes within view of the Statue of Liberty — is a big surprise, said the scientists from UCLA, Rutgers University, UC Davis, and The University of Alabama who worked together to make the unexpected ...

The difficulties that many women describe as memory problems when menopause approaches are real, according to a study published today in the journal Menopause, the journal of the North American Menopause Society. The findings won't come as a surprise to the millions of women who have had bouts of forgetfulness or who describe struggles with "brain fog" in their late 40s and 50s. But the results of the study, by scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center and the University of Illinois at Chicago who gave women a rigorous battery of cognitive tests, validate ...

NEW YORK, MARCH 14, 2012 – Researchers have identified a set of genetic abnormalities in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) that doctors can use to more accurately predict patients' prognoses and select treatments that are most likely to benefit them. The study, led by investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, will be published in the March 22 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. "Our study shows that genetic profiling makes it possible to more precisely categorize which patients are most likely to have their leukemia return after treatment," ...