A SCUBA expedition in Australia and New Zealand to find the rare embryos of an unusual shark cousin enabled American and British researchers to confirm new developmental similarities between fish and mammals. Elephant fish, a relative of sharks, utilize the same genetic process for forming skeletal gill covers that lizards and mammals use to form fingers and toes, researchers at the University of Chicago and the University of Cambridge found. The precise timing of when and where that gene is expressed during embryonic development produces dramatic anatomical differences ...

The search for a universal flu vaccine has received a boost from a surprising source: the 2009 H1N1 pandemic flu strain. Several patients infected with the 2009 H1N1 strain developed antibodies that are protective against a variety of flu strains, scientists from Emory University School of Medicine and the University of Chicago have found. The results were published online Monday in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. "Our data shows that infection with the 2009 pandemic influenza strain could induce broadly protective antibodies that are only rarely seen after seasonal ...

Nursing home closures eliminated about 5 percent of available beds between 1998 and 2008, with closures concentrated in minority and poor communities, according to a report posted online today that will be published in the May 9 print issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Regulatory oversight, reinforced by market forces and an increased focus on transparency and public reporting, is designed to eliminate poorly performing nursing homes," the authors write as background information in the article. "A small fraction of U.S. nursing ...

Converting hospital intensive care units (ICUs) to private rooms is associated with a reduction in the rate at which patients acquire infections, according to a report in the January 10 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Health care associated infections occur in about 30 percent of patients in intensive care units (ICUs) and are associated with substantial morbidity and mortality," the authors write as background information in the article. "In ICU patients, these infections are associated with an increased length of stay of ...

More than half of the recommendations in current practice guidelines for infectious disease specialists are based on opinions from experts rather than on evidence from clinical trials, according to a report in the January 10 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "During the past half century, a deluge of publications addressing nearly every aspect of patient care has both enhanced clinical decision making and encumbered it owing to the tremendous volume of new information," the authors write as background information in the article. ...

A computer decision model suggests that for patients with a history of bleeding within the brain, the risk of recurrence associated with statin treatment may outweigh the benefit of the drug in preventing cardiovascular disease, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the May print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The benefits of statins for reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke are well established, but more widespread use of statin therapy remains controversial, according to background information in the ...

Most anti-epileptic drugs are associated with an increased risk of non-traumatic fracture in individuals 50 years of age and older, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Anti-epileptic drugs are considered a secondary risk factor for osteoporosis, according to background information in the article, because epilepsy is highly prevalent in older adults, a population already at risk for osteoporosis. Additionally, anti-epileptic drugs are associated with greater bone density reduction in post-menopausal women ...

An estimated 6.5 percent of Americans age 40 and older have the eye disease age-related macular degeneration, a lower rate than was reported 15 years ago, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Despite new medical and surgical interventions, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) remains an important cause of loss of vision in the United States," the authors write as background information in the article. The last nationally representative estimates of prevalence of AMD were based on the 1988-1994 Third ...

An implant that releases the medication dexamethasone within the eye appears safe and effective for the treatment of some types of uveitis (swelling and inflammation in the eye's middle layer), according to a report posted online today that will appear in the May print issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Uveitis refers to a group of intraocular inflammatory diseases that cause 10 percent to 15 percent of blindness in the developed world," the authors write as background information in the article. "Despite advances in immunosuppressive ...

Bottle rockets can cause significant eye injuries in children, often leading to permanent loss of vision, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the May print issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Of the estimated 9,200 emergency department admissions resulting from fireworks-related injuries each year, about 1,400 cases involve the eyes, according to background information in the article. A disproportionate number of these injuries are caused by bottle rockets. Bottle rockets are about half the size of a normal ...

Although the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic infected an estimated 60 million people and hospitalized more than 250,000 in the United States, it also brought one significant benefit—clues about how to make a vaccine that could protect against multiple strains of influenza. In the Jan. 10, 2011, issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, researchers from the University of Chicago and Emory University report that people who were infected with pandemic H1N1 and recovered had an extraordinary immune response, producing antibodies that are protective against a variety of ...

All secondary school students should be required to be trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and receive an overview of automated external defibrillators (AEDs), according to an American Heart Association science advisory. The advisory, published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, calls for state legislatures to mandate that CPR and AED training be required for graduation, and to provide funding and other support to ensure the educational standard is met. Last school year, 36 states had a law or curriculum standard encouraging CPR training ...

If you smoke around your children, they could have high blood pressure or be headed in an unhealthy direction before learning their ABC's, according to research reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. The study is the first to show that breathing tobacco smoke increases the blood pressure of children as young as 4 or 5 years old. "The prevention of adult diseases like stroke or heart attack begins during childhood," said Giacomo D. Simonetti, M.D., first author of the study at the University of Heidelberg in Germany and currently assistant ...

Teenagers who consume a lot of added sugars in soft drinks and foods may have poor cholesterol profiles — which may possibly lead to heart disease in adulthood, according to first-of-its-kind research reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. "Added sugars" are any caloric sweeteners added to foods or beverages by the manufacturer during processing or the consumer. The National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES) of 2,157 teenagers (ages 12 to 18) found the average daily consumption of added sugars was 119 grams (28.3 tsp or 476 calories), ...

According to an Emory University study, teenagers with high sugar diets may be in store for heart problems as adults. A study published in the Jan. 10 online issue of the journal Circulation finds teens who consume elevated amounts of added sugars in drinks and foods are more likely to have poor cholesterol and triglyceride profiles now which may lead to heart disease later in life. The study also finds that overweight or obese teens with the highest levels of added sugar intake had increased signs of insulin resistance, often a precursor to diabetes. According to ...

Melt off from small mountain glaciers and ice caps will contribute about 12 centimetres to world sea-level increases by 2100, according to UBC research published this week in Nature Geoscience. The largest contributors to projected global sea-level increases are glaciers in Arctic Canada, Alaska and landmass bound glaciers in the Antarctic. Glaciers in the European Alps, New Zealand, the Caucasus, Western Canada and the Western United Sates--though small absolute contributors to global sea-level increases--are projected to lose more than 50 per cent of their current ice ...

A Spanish study has challenged the long-held belief that people in the Mediterranean all enjoy more healthy diets and lifestyles, after discovering alarmingly high cardiovascular risk factors similar to those found in the UK and USA. Research published in the January issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice, also found strong links between low levels of education and increased risk. "Cardiovascular diseases account for 33 per cent of deaths in Spain, making it the main cause of mortality in the country" says Dr Ricardo Gómez-Huelgas from the Internal ...

A strange, glowing green cloud of gas that has mystified astronomers since its discovery in 2007 has been studied by Hubble. The cloud of gas is lit up by the bright light of a nearby quasar, and shows signs of ongoing star formation. One of the strangest space objects ever seen is being scrutinised by the penetrating vision of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. A mysterious, glowing green blob of gas is floating in space near a spiral galaxy. Hubble uncovered delicate filaments of gas and a pocket of young star clusters in the giant object, which is the size of the ...

Hope for new ways of treating devastating neurodegenerative disorders such as Huntington's disease has been raised by a trans-Atlantic team of researchers thanks to the use of cutting-edge genetic techniques. Led by the University of Leicester, scientists from the University of Lisbon (led by Dr Tiago Outeiro) and University of California at San Francisco (led by Dr Paul Muchowski) collaborated to generate novel approaches for tackling the diseases. Their work, funded by the Medical Research Council, is published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry. At Leicester, ...

New research published today, shows how light can be used to control the electrical properties of graphene, paving the way for graphene-based optoelectronic devices and highly sensitive sensors. This year's Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded for research into graphene, recognising its potential for many applications in modern life, from high-speed electronics to touchscreen technology. The UK's National Physical Laboratory, along with a team of international scientists, have further developed our understanding of graphene by showing that when this remarkable material ...

A team of researchers has demonstrated that the brain predicts consequences of our eye movements on what we see next. The findings, which appear in the journal Nature Neuroscience, have implications for understanding human attention and applications to robotics. The study was conducted by researchers at University Paris Descartes, New York University's Department of Psychology, and Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. Our eyes jump rapidly about three times each second to capture new visual information, and with each jump a new view of the world falls onto the retina—a ...

The federal peer review system, by which research proposals are judged worthy for funding, may be "over stretched" and "susceptible to error," said Elmer Yglesias, a researcher at the Science and Technology Policy Institute and author of "Improving Peer Review in the Federal Government," published in the current issue of TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION, Proceedings of the National Academy of Inventors ™, (www.academyofinventors.org) now available on-line at: http://www.cognizantcommunication.com/filecabinet/Technology/techinnovation.html According to Yglesias, the federal ...

The number and scale of forest fires has increased dramatically in recent decades. Who can forget last summer's television images of blazing infernos devouring miles and miles of forest in Russia, Australia and California? In Germany, too, several regions are under threat precipitated by climate change – Brandenburg, for example, is one of the areas of Europe that are most at risk. Often, fires can only be contained from the air. In order to fight them in a targeted way, firefighting planes need to be given precise information on where the flames are at their worst. Infrared ...

The so-called "superstreet" traffic design results in significantly faster travel times, and leads to a drastic reduction in automobile collisions and injuries, according to North Carolina State University researchers who have conducted the largest-ever study of superstreets and their impacts. Superstreets are surface roads, not freeways. It is defined as a thoroughfare where the left-hand turns from side streets are re-routed, as is traffic from side streets that needs to cross the thoroughfare. In both instances, drivers are first required to make a right turn and ...

Monday, January 10, 2011 – Cleveland – Researchers have discovered a method for more precise identification of individuals who should undergo testing for genetic mutations of the tumor suppressor gene PTEN, which associates with a variety of conditions including several types of cancers. The research has created a diagnostic scoring system that improves on established criteria. Led by Charis Eng, M.D., Ph.D., Chair of the Genomic Medicine Institute at the Lerner Research Institute of Cleveland Clinic, the study – the largest clinical study to date on the identification ...