ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered two mutations responsible for a devastating neurological condition they first identified 15 years ago. The researchers say their study -- appearing in Nature Genetics -- has revealed a new neural pathway that may help understand a variety of similar conditions. "We were able to do this now because of Next Generation genomic sequencing technology," says Christopher Klein, M.D., Mayo Clinic neurologist and lead author of the study. "We also had the invaluable help of our international collaborators who helped ...

PALM BEACH, FL (May 1, 2011)––Some studies have shown that blood-thinning medications, such as aspirin, can reduce biochemical failure––cancer recurrence that is detected by a rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level––the risk of metastasis and even death in localized prostate cancer. These studies, although very telling, have all emphasized the need for more data. Now, with researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center having concluded the largest study on this topic, and there is substantial data suggesting that aspirin improves outcomes in prostate cancer patients who ...

Children who are exposed to secondhand smoke are more likely to need intensive care and intubation when hospitalized with influenza, according to new research by the University of Rochester Medical Center presented today at the Pediatric Academic Society meeting in Denver. The children also had longer hospital stays. "We know secondhand smoke contributes to chronic illnesses like asthma, but we haven't quantified the extent of what it can do to children with the flu," said Karen Wilson, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of Pediatrics at URMC and author of the abstract, ...

DALLAS – May 2, 2011 – Taking two medications for depression does not hasten recovery from the condition that affects 19 million Americans each year, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found in a national study. "Clinicians should not rush to prescribe combinations of antidepressant medications as first-line treatment for patients with major depressive disorder," said Dr. Madhukar H. Trivedi, professor of psychiatry and chief of the division of mood disorders at UT Southwestern and principal investigator of the study, which is available online today and ...

Bar Harbor, Maine -- Jackson Laboratory researchers and their collaborators have reported their discovery of a gene implicated in an acute and severe form of glaucoma known as angle-closure glaucoma (ACG). The gene's activity points to previously unsuspected mechanisms involved in both ACG and infant eye development. Glaucoma is one of the most common eye diseases and a leading cause of blindness. An increase in fluid pressure in the eye (intraocular pressure or IOP) leads to damage to the optic nerve, causing loss of vision. Most people with the more familiar chronic ...

Sheraton Atlanta Perimeter Hotel North, located near Dunwoody, GA, offers convenient accommodations to parents and guests attending Oglethorpe University's spring 2011 Commencement Ceremony. The event will be held at 9:00am on Saturday, May 7 in the Academic Quadrangle. Oglethorpe University is a private liberal arts institution located in the Brookhaven area of northeast Atlanta and enrolls just over 1,100 students. The university confers Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science undergraduate degrees and a Master of Arts in Teaching- Early Childhood Education. Their ...

Alexandria, VA —Though there have been significant improvements in the treatment of head and neck cancer, there is still a lack of data on the experience of end of life care for head and neck cancer patients, according to a new study published in the May 2011 issue of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. As discussed in this study, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs group has developed the Family Assessment of Treatment at the End of life (FATE) survey, which is administered to families of deceased veterans. The purpose of the survey is to assess the quality ...

The results are part of a survey of 1,248 Americans ages 18-44 on their attitudes about health, including influences of and beliefs about health behaviors and their risks for stroke. Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in America. Eight in 10 people between ages 25-44 years old believe they're living healthy lifestyles and are more likely to engage in healthy behaviors than 18-24 year olds participating in the survey. "This survey shows the dangerous disconnect that many young Americans have about how their behaviors affect their risks for stroke and ...

With the high prevalence of drug abuse and trafficking in major cities throughout the world, one new study shows how advanced CT with 3D scanning can help radiologists better identify ingested or hidden contraband items more effectively. These advanced imaging techniques can help law enforcement officers fight international drug trafficking, identify medical complications caused by ingested drug packets, and reduce contraband smuggling within the penal system, said Dr. Barry Daly, lead researcher for the study. "Newer techniques for wrapping drug packets make them harder ...

The Hampton Inn & Suites Atlanta Airport Hotel (North, I-85) offers nearby lodging to parents and guests attending Georgia State University's Spring 2011 Commencement Ceremonies. The Ph.D. Commencement and Hooding Ceremony will take place at 9:00am on Saturday, May 7 in The Rialto Center for the Arts. The Bachelor, Master and Specialist Commencement Ceremony is scheduled for 2:00pm at The Georgia Dome. Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, will serve as Georgia State University's spring commencement speaker for the 2:00pm ceremony. Carter served ...

A recent study revealed that the "cognitive reserve" in early-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) and PET-CT examinations can be used to effectively to identify early-onset AD patients. "Although early-onset Alzheimer's dementia is quite rare, it can be devastating to the patients that carry the diagnosis," said Dr. Jacob Richard Hodge, lead researcher for this study at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. "Symptoms are often unexpected and support networks are generally directed towards an older population." In patients presenting with similar clinical severities of the ...

Two new studies reveal that the United States Preventative Services Task Force's (USPSTF) recommendation to no longer screen women ages 40-49 for breast cancer using mammograms has begun to negatively affect the number of yearly mammograms performed in this age group and thus decrease the benefits of early detection. After the USPSTF delivered their recommendations in November 2009, researchers at the University of Colorado saw a significant drop in mammograms in women in the 40-49 age range. "In the nine months after the guidelines, we saw 205 fewer women in the 40-49 ...

DENVER – New research is shedding light on why young black males who have sex with males have among the highest rates of HIV infection in the United States, even though their reported use of condoms is similar to males of other racial and ethnic backgrounds. A key factor may be black men's cultural beliefs about masculinity, which may influence how they choose their sex partners, make judgments about HIV risk and make decisions about condom use, according to a study to be presented Monday, May 2, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Denver. Young ...

Global Fiberglass Solutions, Inc., Bellevue, WA based company announces that it is now narrowed down a preliminary list of states that it will introduce its new technology to build and manage facilities to collect and recycle fiberglass on a national basis, once collected will employ up to approximately 250 workers per plant. The technology and process is proprietary and not being utilized by any other company or government agency, this will change the way fiberglass and other previously non-recyclable materials will be disposed of and save landfills from hundreds of ...

DENVER – Parents shouldn't let up when it comes to discouraging their kids from smoking. That's the message of a study to be presented Monday, May 2, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Denver. Previous research has shown that parents can deter adolescents from smoking by monitoring them and enforcing anti-smoking practices at home. Researchers, led by E. Melinda Mahabee-Gittens, MD, an emergency medicine physician at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, sought to determine if family factors continue to protect adolescents as they ...

VIDEO: The high cost of health care is deterring parents from taking their children to the doctor or buying prescription medication, regardless of how much money they make or whether they... Click here for more information. DENVER – The high cost of health care is deterring parents from taking their children to the doctor or buying prescription medication, regardless of how much money they make or whether they have health insurance, according to a study to be presented Sunday, ...

KDH Defense Systems, Inc. (KDH), a leading manufacturer of American-made custom body armor solutions for military, law enforcement and federal agencies, today announced that the Company will sponsor an online promotion, "Body Armor Saves Lives - Save Story Contest," where law enforcement officers, federal agents, Soldiers and Marines can share their personal stories of how body armor saved their lives. "In recent months, we have seen a dramatic rise in the number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty," stated David Herbener, President ...

DENVER – Most injured children are not being treated at pediatric trauma centers, arguably the most appropriate location of care for young patients, according to a study to be presented Monday, May 2, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Denver. Regional trauma centers, especially those with pediatric qualifications, have resources and expertise to provide emergency medical services to young patients with severe and life-threatening injuries. Trauma centers are designated as Levels I through IV, with Level I centers capable of providing the highest ...

DENVER – Trying to figure out what's going on inside the mind of an adolescent can be challenging, to say the least. A new study shows that simply asking them what they wish for could be eye-opening. The question: "If you could have three wishes, what would they be?" is included on a questionnaire designed to be given to adolescent patients before a doctor's visit. The survey, which is part of the American Medical Association's Guidelines for Adolescent Preventive Services program, also includes questions about medical history, health, school, safety and substance use. ...

DENVER – Nutrition during the first days or weeks of life may have long-term consequences on health, potentially via a phenomenon known as the metabolic programming effect, according to a study to be presented Monday, May 2, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Denver. Metabolic programming is the concept that differences in nutritional experiences at critical periods early in life can program a person's metabolism and health for the future. In this study, researchers compared growth, body composition and blood pressure in three groups of healthy, ...

Young black men who have sex with men (MSM) get infected with HIV nearly five times more often than MSM from other races, even though they don't have more unprotected sex. The discrepancy has long mystified public health experts but a new study by investigators at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere now offers a possible explanation for it. The study found that young black MSM -- a group that includes openly gay and bisexual men, as well as those who have sex with men but do not identify themselves as gay or bisexual -- select partners and judge these partners' HIV status in ...

Reston, VA (April 28, 2011) — The latest American College of Radiology white paper, Strategies for Radiologists in the Era of Health Care Reform and Accountable Care Organizations, published in the May issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology, offers strategies for successful radiologist participation in accountable care organizations (ACOs). ACOs are intended to create incentives for health care providers to work together to treat an individual patient across care settings — including doctor's offices, hospitals and long-term care facilities. There ...

CHESTNUT HILL, MA (5/2/2011) – Multitaskers who think they can successfully divide their attention between the program on their television set and the information on their computer screen proved to be driven to distraction by the two devices, according to a new study of media multitasking by Boston College researchers. Placed in a room containing a television and a computer and given a half hour to use either device, people on average switched their eyes back and forth between TV and computer a staggering 120 times in 27.5 minutes – or nearly once every 14 seconds, Carroll ...

Reston, VA (April 28, 2011) — A summary of the National Council on Radiation Protection's (NCRPs) workshop on the appropriate use of computed tomography (CT) in emergency medicine, and a list of recommendations from participating organizations to help control the inappropriate use of CT in the emergency department, is now available via the May issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology. As a generalization, the benefit-risk estimates for CT scanning favor its use over most other imaging procedures and many other types of diagnostic technology. However, ...

Contact: Sherry D. Gibbs SDGibbs@cmh.edu 816-346-1340 Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics 2 tests better than 1 to diagnose diabetes in overweight children More than two-thirds of high-risk patients missed if recommended hemoglobin A1C test used alone Kansas City, MO – May 2, 2011 – A new study found that the recommended blood test may not be enough to catch type 2 diabetes in overweight children, missing more than two-thirds of children at high-risk for the condition. Researchers from Children's Mercy Hospital and Clinics found that performing two tests – both ...