Studies have shown that regions spending more on medical care, such as Miami, do not have better health outcomes than regions that spend relatively less, such as Minneapolis. However, less is known about how medical spending affects health at certain critical times, such as in the immediate period after a patient is admitted to the hospital with a life-threatening condition. When hospitalized for a major acute medical condition — including heart attack, stroke and pneumonia — patients were less likely to die in high-spending hospitals, according to a new study appearing ...

LA JOLLA, CA—In analyzing the molecular sensor for the plant growth hormone brassinolide, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies discovered that although plants took an evolutionary path different from their animal cousins, they arrived at similar solutions to a common problem: How to reliably receive and process incoming signals. The team's findings, published in the February 1, 2011 issue of Genes and Development, revealed that so-called tyrosine phosphorylation—used as an "on" or "off" switch and long thought to be a feature unique to animal cells—is ...

A study published today shows that African Americans have a better survival rate compared to whites after being hospitalized for a stroke. This conclusion contradicts prevailing wisdom and is one piece in a growing body of evidence that points to the important role that patients – and the decision they and their families make in terms of treatment – may play on mortality rates. The study found that – after adjusting data for variables such as age, socioeconomic status, and risk factors – that African Americans who were hospitalized for acute ischemic stroke had a significantly ...

PITTSBURGH, PA., and CHAMPAIGN, ILL.—A new study shows that one year of moderate physical exercise can increase the size of the brain's hippocampus in older adults, leading to an improvement in spatial memory. The project—conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, University of Illinois, Rice University, and Ohio State University—is considered the first study of its kind focusing on older adults who are already experiencing atrophy of the hippocampus, the brain structure involved in all forms of memory formation. The study, funded through the National ...

Scientists have discovered that molecules called reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by the energy factories, or mitochondria, in cells, may play a role in a rare inherited disorder in which uncontrolled inflammation damages the body's tissues. Their research in human and mouse cells suggests that blocking these molecules could reduce inflammation in TNF receptor-associated periodic syndrome (TRAPS) and possibly other inflammatory diseases. The work, published online on January 31 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (www.jem.org), was supported by the National ...

A protein that protects stem cells in the gut relieves a potentially lethal complication of bone marrow transplantation in mice, according to a study published online on January 31 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (www.jem.org). Bone marrow transplantation can cure diseases such as leukemia but it can also lead to a potentially fatal complication known as graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). A group led by Takanori Teshima at Kyushu University in Japan found that mice treated with a protein called R-spondin1 developed less severe GVHD after bone marrow transplantation. ...

A Johns Hopkins-led safety checklist program that virtually eliminated bloodstream infections in hospital intensive-care units throughout Michigan appears to have also reduced deaths by 10 percent, a new study suggests. Although prior research showed a major reduction in central-line related bloodstream infections at hospitals using the checklist, the new study is the first to show its use directly lowered mortality. "We knew that when we applied safety science principles to the delivery of health care, we would dramatically reduce infections in intensive care units, ...

Berkeley — A research team led by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and San Francisco State University has unlocked the genetic code of the highly invasive Argentine ant, providing clues as to why this species has been so successful. The draft genome of the Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) – the tiny brown insect that homeowners so frequently find marching en masse through their kitchens – is among a trio of ant genomes being published the week of Jan. 31 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The other two ant species are ...

Widespread screening or routine ultrasound for blocked neck arteries to determine stroke risk isn't necessary, according to new guidelines from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, American College of Cardiology and other groups. Carotid stenting and carotid endarterectomy are reasonable and effective ways to treat blocked neck arteries, though some patients may be a better candidate for one procedure over the other, the guidelines also state. When the carotid arteries on the side of the neck or vertebral arteries alongside the spinal column ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A study from MIT neuroscientists reveals that high-functioning autistic adults appear to have trouble using theory of mind to make moral judgments in certain situations. Specifically, the researchers found that autistic adults were more likely than non-autistic subjects to blame someone for accidentally causing harm to another person. This shows that their judgments rely more on the outcome of the incident than on an understanding of the person's intentions, says Liane Young, an MIT postdoctoral associate and one of the lead authors of the study, which ...

The wilful neglect of any patient should become a criminal offence for doctors and nurses in England, as it is in France, suggest ethicists in a leading article published online in the Journal of Medical Ethics. Normally, healthcare professionals in England can only face prosecution if a serious error results in the death of a patient, say the authors from the University of Manchester's Centre for Social Ethics and Policy. But under current mental health legislation, nurses, doctors, and managers can be charged with the criminal offence of wilful neglect, which is ...

A head injury can blight the chances of survival up to 13 years after the event, especially among younger adults, finds research published online in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. Injury severity seems to make little difference over the longer term, the findings show. The research team tracked over 2,000 people, 757 of whom had sustained a head injury that required admission to one of five hospitals in Glasgow between 1995 and 1996. The rest of the group were split between those who had been admitted to hospital for other reasons, but for the ...

Dogs can sniff out bowel cancer in breath and stool samples, with a very high degree of accuracy - even in the early stages of the disease - reveals research published online in the journal Gut. The findings prompt the authors to suggest that chemical compounds for specific cancers circulate throughout the body, which opens up the prospect of developing tests to pick up the disease before it has had the chance to spread elsewhere. A specially trained Labrador retriever completed 74 sniff tests, each comprising five breath (100 to 200 ml) or stool samples (50 ml) at ...

DURHAM, N.C. – Scientists at Duke Cancer Institute have discovered that genetic mutations found in brain tumors can alter tumor metabolism. This work could help lead to new designs for anti-cancer drugs based on the unique properties of these tumors. "Malignant glioma appears to be at least two large subclasses of diseases – one that involves mutations in the IDH1 and IDH2 genes and one that doesn't," said Hai Yan, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor in the Duke Department of Pathology who led a collaborative group of researchers to conduct the study. "The IDH mutation ...

The process we use to store memories is more complex than previously thought, New York University neuroscientists have found. Their research, which appears in the journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, underscores the challenges in addressing memory-related ailments, such as post-traumatic stress disorder. The researchers looked at memory consolidation and reconsolidation. Memory consolidation is the neurological process we undergo to store memories after an experience. However, memory is dynamic and changes when new experiences bring to mind old ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Are some children genetically tuned to be overweight, or is lifestyle to blame for childhood obesity? Check-ups of 1,003 Michigan 6th graders in a school-based health program showed children who are obese were more likely to consume school lunch instead of a packed lunch from home and spend two hours a day watching TV or playing a video game. The results were compiled by the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center and suggests unhealthy habits are feeding the childhood obesity trend. "For the extremely overweight child, genetic screening may ...

When the body can't distinguish its right side from its left during development, a child can develop a condition called heterotaxy in which the heart is severely malformed, leading to congenital heart disease. To improve survival in these children, researchers at Yale School of Medicine sought to identify the genes that cause heterotaxy. They have shown in a new study that patients with heterotaxy have considerably more copy number variations (CNVs) on their genomes than do control patients. The findings are published January 31 in Proceedings of the National Academy ...

The presence of introns in genes requires cells to process "messenger RNA" molecules before synthesizing proteins, a process that is costly and often error-prone. It was long believed that this was simply part of the price organisms paid for the flexibility to create new types of protein but recent work has made it clear that introns themselves have a number of important functions. And so attention is gradually shifting to asking why some organisms have so few introns and others so many. It seems likely that new introns are added to DNA when double-stranded DNA breaks ...

The next big thing in medical diagnostics could be minutes particles of rust, iron oxide, coated with the material from which sand is formed, silicon dioxide. These magnetic nanoparticles, a mere 29 to 230 nanometers across, can be used to trap antibodies to the virus that causes cervical cancer and to the bacteria that causes potentially lethal diarrhea. According to scientists in Vietnam, it is relatively straightforward to immobilize on nanoparticles, synthetic or monoclonal antibodies that respond to the human papilloma virus, HPV18, and the toxic gut microbe Escherichia ...

Bulky present generation satellite dishes and ground terminals could become relics of the past thanks to research currently being conducted for the European Space Agency (ESA) by Queen's University Belfast's Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT) aimed at developing discrete self-aligning flat antennas. It is hoped the work could lead to a one-size-fits all solution that could be optimised for a variety of technologies presently used to deliver satellite broadband and television to travellers as well as customers in broadband 'not spots'. ECIT ...

Research by the University of Exeter has revealed that ants have a big impact on their local environment as a result of their activity as 'ecosystem engineers' and predators. The study, published in the Journal of Animal Ecology, found that ants have two distinct effects on their local environment. Firstly, through moving of soil by nest building activity and by collecting food they affect the level of nutrients in the soil. This can indirectly impact the local populations of many animal groups, from decomposers such as Collembola, to species much higher up the food ...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common malignancy in the world and is estimated to cause approximately half a million deaths annually. Undoubtedly, the best available treatment for all liver tumors is complete surgical resection. However, the synthetic somatostatin analogue octreotide has been found effective in inhibiting tumor growth in a variety of experimental models. It has been reported that octreotide inhibits the proliferation and induces apoptosis of different HCC cell lines in vitro. The mechanisms of apoptosis induction however are not well understood. A ...

T-regulatory lymphocytes (Tregs) are a subset of T lymphocytes that are involved in the mechanism of immunotolerance to self- and allo-antigens. Activity of these cells is one of the mechanisms of immune evasion of tumors, which inhibits the antitumor activity of effector cells. Tregs are among the tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and circulate in the peripheral blood. In various cancer types, increased prevalence of Tregs has been observed, and in some studies, this has been reported as a prognostic factor. A research article published on January 21, 2011 in the World ...

Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction (SOD) is a pathological syndrome that is usually classified into the biliary type or the pancreatic type according to the Milwaukee criteria. However, this classification has some drawbacks in clinical practice, some of which result in flawed classification and failure to properly guide diagnosis and treatment. A research article published on January 21, 2011 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question. The authors proposed a new classification system for SOD according to anatomy, symptoms, endoscope tests and radiological ...

Patients undergoing liver surgery have long been considered to be at low risk of venous thromboembolism. However, pulmonary embolism has recently emerged as an increasingly frequent and potentially fatal complication following liver resections. A research article published on January 21, 2011 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question. The authors shed a new light on this discrepancy by reporting two patients who developed thrombi in their hepatic veins following hepatectomy. The report indicated that thrombosis may occur in hepatic veins after ...