WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University researchers have reproduced portions of the female breast in a tiny slide-sized model dubbed "breast on-a-chip" that will be used to test nanomedical approaches for the detection and treatment of breast cancer. The model mimics the branching mammary duct system, where most breast cancers begin, and will serve as an "engineered organ" to study the use of nanoparticles to detect and target tumor cells within the ducts. Sophie Lelièvre, associate professor of basic medical sciences in the School of Veterinary Medicine, and ...

Baltimore, Md. (January 24, 2011) – A research effort designed to prevent the introduction of viruses to blue crabs in a research hatchery could end up helping Chesapeake Bay watermen improve their bottom line by reducing the number of soft shell crabs perishing before reaching the market. The findings, published in the journal Diseases of Aquatic Organisms, shows that the transmission of a crab-specific virus in diseased and dying crabs likely occurs after the pre-molt (or 'peeler') crabs are removed from the wild and placed in soft-shell production facilities. Crab ...

MAYWOOD, Ill. -- The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) has released new medical guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis. Loyola physician Pauline Camacho, MD, was part of a committee that developed the guidelines to manage this major public health issue. These recommendations were developed to reduce the risk of osteoporosis-related fractures and improve the quality of life for patients. They explain new treatment options and suggest the use of the FRAX tool (a fracture risk assessment tool developed by the World ...

They said it could be done and now they've done it. What's more, they did it with a GRIN. A team of researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California, Berkeley, have carried out the first experimental demonstration of GRIN – for gradient index – plasmonics, a hybrid technology that opens the door to a wide range of exotic optics, including superfast computers based on light rather than electronic signals, ultra-powerful optical microscopes able to resolve DNA molecules with visible ...

Congresswomen consistently outperform their male counterparts on several measures of job performance, according to a recent study by University of Chicago scholar Christopher Berry. The research comes as the 112th Congress is sworn in this month with 89 women, the first decline in female representation since 1978. The study authors argue that because women face difficult odds in reaching Congress – women account for fewer than one in six representatives – the ones who succeed are more capable on average than their male colleagues. Women in Congress deliver more federal ...

Current legal restrictions significantly compromise the clinical effectiveness of advance directives, according to a study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco. Advance directives allow patients to designate health care decision-makers and specify health care preferences for future medical needs. However, "the legal requirements and restrictions necessary to execute a legally valid directive prohibit many individuals from effectively documenting their end-of-life wishes," said lead author Lesley S. Castillo, BA, a geriatrics research assistant ...

MAYWOOD, Ill. -- As the population ages, neurologists will be challenged by a growing population of patients with stroke, dementia, Parkinson's disease and epilepsy. The expected increase in these and other age-related neurologic disorders is among the trends that Loyola University Health System neurologists Dr. José Biller and Dr. Michael J. Schneck describe in a January, 2011, article in the journal Frontiers in Neurology. In the past, treatment options were limited for patients with neurological disorders. "Colloquially, the neurologist would 'diagnose and adios,'" ...

EUGENE, Ore. -- (Jan. 25, 2011) -- A child's taste preferences begin at home and most often involve salt, sugar and fat. And, researchers say, young kids learn quickly what brands deliver the goods. In a study of preschoolers ages 3 to 5, involving two separate experiments, researchers found that salt, sugar and fat are what kids most prefer -- and that these children already could equate their taste preferences to brand-name fast-food and soda products. In a world where salt, sugar and fat have been repeatedly linked to obesity, waiting for children to begin school ...

A workhorse of modern biology is sick, and scientists couldn't be happier. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the Jacques Monod Institute in France and Cambridge University have found that the nematode C. elegans, a millimeter-long worm used extensively for decades to study many aspects of biology, gets naturally occurring viral infections. The discovery means C. elegans is likely to help scientists study the way viruses and their hosts interact. "We can easily disable any of C. elegans' genes, confront the worm with a virus and ...

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is a life-threatening disease of the blood system. The condition is caused by the presence of ultralarge multimers of the protein von Willebrand factor, which promote the formation of blood clots (thrombi) in small blood vessels throughout the body. Current treatments are protracted and associated with complications. However, a team of researchers, led by José López, at the Puget Sound Blood Center, Seattle, has generated data in mice that suggest that the drug N-acetylcysteine (NAC), which is FDA approved as a treatment for chronic ...

EDITOR'S PICK: Possible new approach to treating a life-threatening blood disorder Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is a life-threatening disease of the blood system. The condition is caused by the presence of ultralarge multimers of the protein von Willebrand factor, which promote the formation of blood clots (thrombi) in small blood vessels throughout the body. Current treatments are protracted and associated with complications. However, a team of researchers, led by José López, at the Puget Sound Blood Center, Seattle, has generated data in mice that suggest ...

Patients who had an ischemic stroke and were admitted to hospitals designated as primary stroke centers had a modestly lower risk of death at 30 days, compared to patients who were admitted to non-designated hospitals, according to a study in the January 26 issue of JAMA. Stroke is the leading cause of serious long-term disability and the third leading cause of death in the United States. Responding to the need for improvements in acute stroke care, the Brain Attack Coalition (BAC) published recommendations for the establishment of primary stroke centers in 2000, and ...

An analysis of data on more than 45,000 patients who underwent coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery at an academic medical center over the past 30 years finds that the occurrence of stroke after CABG has declined, despite an increase in risk profiles of patients, according to a study in the January 26 issue of JAMA. Stroke is a devastating and potentially preventable complication of CABG surgery. Because it increasingly is being reserved for elderly patients with extensive coronary disease and co-existing conditions, prevalence of stroke after CABG is likely to ...

Cholera vaccination beneficial, post-outbreak Researchers newly report evidence that vaccination against cholera can be beneficial even after an outbreak has begun. Rita Reyburn, Dr. Lorenz von Seidlein, Dr. John Clemens and colleagues at the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) in Seoul, Korea analyze the impact that vaccination could have had on recent outbreaks around the globe in "The case for reactive mass oral cholera vaccinations", and Drs. Dang Duc Anh and Anna Lena Lopez and colleagues at IVI and in Vietnam report on the impact of such "reactive" use of vaccine ...

Hospitals with designated stroke centers are associated with up to 20 percent higher survival rate for patients with ischemic stroke and significantly greater use of acute stroke therapy. That is the conclusion of a study appearing today in the Journal of the American Medical Association which compares treatment and outcomes in stroke care between hospitals in New York State. "The basic premise of stroke centers and stroke care – that coordinated care delivered around a specific disease can likely improve outcomes – is widely accepted," said University of Rochester ...

Over the last 25 years, life expectancy in the U.S. has been rising at a slower rate than in many other high-income countries, such as Japan and Australia, despite our spending more on health care than any other nation. EXPLAINING DIVERGENT LEVELS OF LONGEVITY IN HIGH-INCOME COUNTRIES, a new report from the National Research Council, identifies factors that contribute to the U.S. shortfall in life expectancy. ###Reporters who wish to obtain copies should contact the Office of News and Public Information at 202-334-2138 or e-mail news@nas.edu. Advance copies will be available ...

A study published today in The Lancet Infectious Diseases finds that methods to protect pregnant women from malaria are still underutilised in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). A review of national control strategies by a team of international researchers, led by the Malaria in Pregnancy Consortium and funded by the Consortium and the Wellcome Trust, has concluded that despite major efforts, coverage is still inadequate in many areas and needs to be scaled up. Malaria infection in pregnancy can lead to devastating consequences for both mother and child. The World Health Organization's ...

AUSTIN, Texas—Young staghorn coral that fluoresce redder are less likely to settle and develop into coral polyps than their greener peers, University of Texas at Austin biologists have discovered. The finding may help scientists monitor how corals adapt to global warming because the less likely coral larvae are to settle, the more likely they will disperse from their reef of origin. "By simply looking at the color of a larval population, we may soon be able to say which larvae are going to be long-range dispersers and which will be short-range dispersers," says Mikhail ...

A workhorse of modern biology is sick, and scientists couldn't be happier. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the Jacques Monod Institute in France and Cambridge University have found that the nematode C. elegans, a millimeter-long worm used extensively for decades to study many aspects of biology, can be targeted by naturally occurring viral infections. The discovery means C. elegans is likely to help scientists study the way viruses and their hosts interact. The findings will be published next week in the online, open access journal ...

Kyoto, Japan -- Certain types of pollution monitoring may soon become considerably easier. A group of researchers centered at Kyoto University has shown in a recent Nature Communications paper that a newly-formulated entangled framework of porous crystals (porous coordination polymers, or PCPs) can not only capture a variety of common air pollutants, but that the mixtures then glow in specific, easily-detected colors. Lead author for the paper was Dr. Yohei Takashima. Until now, chemical sensors have generally needed to be custom-designed to recognize specific compounds, ...

Certain strains of the food pathogen Listeria are uniquely adapted to infect heart tissues and may put people at a higher risk from serious cardiac disease, according to a new study published in the Journal of Medical Microbiology. Developing new diagnostic tests to identify these potentially fatal strains could protect those most at risk, such as those with heart valve replacements. Researchers from the University of Illinois, Chicago have shown that a sub-population of the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes display an enhanced ability to infect cardiac tissue. They found ...

Exposure to noise from road traffic can increase the risk of stroke, particularly in those aged 65 years and over, according to a study published online today (Wednesday 26 January) in the European Heart Journal [1]. The study, which is the first to investigate the links between road traffic noise and the risk of stroke, found that for every 10 decibels more noise the risk of having a stroke increased by 14% among the 51,485 study participants. When the Danish researchers looked at the data more closely, they found that for people aged less than 65 years there was no ...

January 25, 2011 (Toronto) – A workplace's key employees may be at the greatest risk of experiencing high levels of work stress, according to a new study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). In a survey of 2,737 workers, 18 per cent reported that their job was "highly stressful." The odds of having high stress were greater if workers were managers or professionals, if they thought their poor job performance could negatively affect others, or if they worked long or variable hours. The study was published in this month's International Journal of Occupational ...

Targets set for GPs to improve the care of patients with high blood pressure have had no impact, according to a new study published on bmj.com today. Researchers found that nationally set targets in the UK, that have financial rewards for GPs if they are met, have made no discernible difference to improving care and outcomes for patients with hypertension (high blood pressure). Around half of people aged over 50 have hypertension, which is one of the most treatable, but undertreated cardiovascular risk factors. The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) for general ...

The government's "nudge" approach to public health may struggle to make much impression on improving population health, warn experts on bmj.com today. An accompanying editorial argues that the notion of nudging adds nothing to existing approaches and risks wasting resources. Theresa Marteau, Director of the Behaviour and Health Research Unit at Cambridge University (the Department of Health Policy Research Unit on Behaviour and Health), and colleagues ask whether the concept stands up to scientific scrutiny as a basis for improving population health. Nudging involves ...