Today Bruegger's Enterprises Inc. announced a new partnership with Children's Miracle Network, a charity that raises funds for 170 children's hospitals throughout North America. October 27 will kick off Bruegger's first company-wide fundraising program with Children's Miracle Network. The bagel chain, with 299 locations in 26 states, will support the charity by donating a portion of proceeds from sales of its popular Bottomless Mug Club. Guests who purchase the mug will not only receive unlimited free refills of coffee, tea or soft drinks for a full year -- they'll ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The impact of China's devastating 2008 earthquake was substantially lessened by environmental conservation programs for some of the country's most fragile habitats, according to research published in a journal of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science this week. Analysis of satellite imagery and field data by scientists at Michigan State University and in China show the quake – and the resulting landslides – affected 10 percent of the forests covering the mountains that are home to endangered species, including the beloved giant panda. But it could ...

A new study in the Journal of General Physiology (JGP) shows that the contribution of odorant receptors (ORs) to olfactory response in mammals is much more complex than previously thought, with important consequences for odorant encoding and information transfer about odorants to the brain. The study appears online on October 25 (www.jgp.org). ORs, which provide a system for mammals to discriminate between many different odors, form a large, diverse group of G protein–coupled receptors corresponding to around 1,000 functionally distinct receptors in rodents and 350 in ...

High erythropoietin levels in people over age 85 indicate a higher risk of death, according to a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj100347.pdf. Erythropoietin is a hormone created in the kidneys to stimulate production of red blood cells. Production is triggered by impaired oxygen delivery to the kidney because of anemia or low blood oxygen levels. In patients with chronic heart failure, high erythropoietin levels predict higher mortality. The researchers looked at data from the Leiden ...

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Ever wonder why some people breeze along on four hours of sleep when others can barely function? It may be in our genes, according to new research and an accompanying editorial published in the October 26, 2010, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study looked at people who have a gene variant that is closely associated with narcolepsy, a sleep disorder that causes excessive daytime sleepiness. However, having the gene variant, called DQB1 *0602, does not mean that a person will develop narcolepsy; ...

A new study reveals that two enzymes help immune cells deploy pathogen-killing traps by unraveling and using the chromatin (DNA and its associated proteins) contained in the cells' nuclei to form defensive webs. The study appears online on October 25 in The Journal of Cell Biology (www.jcb.org). Neutrophils, the most common type of white blood cells, are difficult to study because they live for only about six hours. So Arturo Zychlinsky and colleagues, from the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, created a cell-free system that includes neutrophil nuclei ...

Washington, DC – Studies have shown higher survival rates for people with head and neck cancers that test positive for HPV when they are treated with systemic chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Now a new study suggests outcomes are also better when radiation therapy is combined with cetuximab, a targeted therapy. The data will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology, October 31st through November 4th in San Diego. The study, conducted at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, analyzed tumors from sequentially treated ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Fertility procedures such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) require a couple and the doctor to place the risky bet that the multiple eggs they choose to fertilize will produce an embryo that will thrive in the uterus. Researchers cannot biopsy eggs directly because that would destroy them, but a new discovery by professors at Brown University and Women & Infants Hospital could lead to new insights about how eggs develop and ultimately inform judgments about how the embryos they produce will fare. The idea is to examine the genetic material ...

A team of researchers, led by Ashley Moffett, at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, has shed new light on genetic factors that increase susceptibility to and provide protection from common disorders of pregnancy, specifically recurrent miscarriage, preeclampsia, and fetal growth restriction. A key step in the initiation of a successful pregnancy is the invasion of the lining of the uterus by fetal cells known as trophoblasts, which become the main cell type of the placenta. Recurrent miscarriage, preeclampsia, and fetal growth restriction are thought to result ...

Platelets are cells in the blood that have a key role in stopping bleeding. Thrombocytopenia is the medical term used to describe the presence of abnormally low numbers of platelets in the blood. Platelet transfusion is used to treat several causes of thrombocytopenia, but there is a shortage of donors. Mortimer Poncz and colleagues, at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, working with mice, have now identified a potential new approach to platelet replacement therapy that circumvents the problem of donor shortage. Platelets in the blood arise from cells known as megakaryocytes. ...

EDITOR'S PICK: Pregnancy outcome affected by immune system genes A team of researchers, led by Ashley Moffett, at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, has shed new light on genetic factors that increase susceptibility to and provide protection from common disorders of pregnancy, specifically recurrent miscarriage, preeclampsia, and fetal growth restriction. A key step in the initiation of a successful pregnancy is the invasion of the lining of the uterus by fetal cells known as trophoblasts, which become the main cell type of the placenta. Recurrent miscarriage, ...

October 25, 2010 (Oakland, Calif.) – Heavy smoking in midlife is associated with a 157 percent increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and a 172 percent increased risk of developing vascular dementia, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. This is the first study to look at the long-term consequences of heavy smoking on dementia. Researchers followed an ethnically diverse population of 21,123 men and women from midlife onward for an average of 23 years. Compared with non-smokers, those who had smoked more than ...

Contrary to common assumptions, the risk of cancer associated with radiation exposure in middle age may not be lower than the risk associated with exposure at younger ages, according to a study published online October 25 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. It is well known that children are more sensitive than adults to the effects of radiation and that they have a greater risk of developing radiation-induced cancer than adults. Some data also suggest that, in general, the older a person is when exposed to radiation, the lower their risk of developing a radiation-induced ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Weather systems in the Southern and Northern hemispheres will respond differently to global warming, according to an MIT atmospheric scientist's analysis that suggests the warming of the planet will affect the availability of energy to fuel extratropical storms, or large-scale weather systems that occur at Earth's middle latitudes. The resulting changes will depend on the hemisphere and season, the study found. More intense storms will occur in the Southern Hemisphere throughout the year, whereas in the Northern Hemisphere, the change in storminess ...

UBC researchers have identified the world's largest marine virus--an unusually complex 'mimi-like virus' that infects an ecologically important and widespread planktonic predator. Cafeteria roenbergensis virus has a genome larger than those found in some cellular organisms, and boasts genetic complexity that blurs the distinction between "non-living" and "living" entities. "Virus are classically thought of small, simple organisms in terms of the number of genes they carry," says UBC professor Curtis Suttle, an expert in marine microbiology and environmental virology ...

Black men who are offered a blood pressure check while at the barbershop appear more likely to improve control of hypertension, according to a report posted online today that will be published in the February 28 print issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Uncontrolled hypertension is one of the most important causes of premature disability and death among non-Hispanic black men," the authors write as background information in the article. "Compared with black women, men have less frequent physician contact for preventive care and ...

Clinician's wages appear to vary significantly across physician specialties and are lowest for those in primary care, according to a report in the October 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Numerous studies have documented substantial income disparities between primary care and other physician specialties. Such disparities may impede health care reform by undermining the sustainability of a vigorous primary care workforce," the authors write as background information in the article. Comparing clinicians' annual income may not ...

Different formulations of red yeast rice, a supplement marketed as a way to improve cholesterol levels, appear widely inconsistent in the amounts of active ingredients they contain, according to a report in the October 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. In addition, one in three of 12 products studied had detectable levels of a potentially toxic compound. "Chinese red yeast rice, also known as Hong Qu, is a medicinal agent and food colorant made by culturing a yeast, Monascus purpureus, on rice," the authors write as background ...

Heavy smoking in middle age appears to be associated with more than double the risk for Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia two decades later, according to a report posted online today that will be published in the February 28 print issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Current estimates suggest smoking is responsible for several million deaths per year from causes such as heart disease and cancer, according to background information in the article. Although smoking increases risks of most diseases and of death, some studies ...

Hospital visits following outpatient gastrointestinal endoscopies may be more common than previously estimated, according to a report in the October 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. About 15 to 20 million endoscopic procedures, in which a clinician uses a tube-like instrument called an endoscope to see inside a patient's body, are performed each year in the United States, according to background information in the article. However, data on the safety of these procedures and the complications occurring afterward are limited. ...

A national survey finds most physicians believe Medicare reimbursement is inequitable, but there appears to be little consensus regarding proposed reforms, according to a report in the October 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Across the political spectrum, there is general agreement that the cost of health care has risen to untenable levels and is threatening the future of Medicare and the economic well-being of the United States," the authors write as background information in the article. Clinicians account for one-fifth ...

LOS ANGELES (STRICTLY EMBARGOED UNTIL 3 PM CDT ON OCT. 25, 2010) – Neighborhood barbers, by conducting a monitoring, education and physician-referral program, can help their African-American customers better control high blood pressure problems that pose special health risks for them, a new study from the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute shows. The study -- the first to subject increasingly popular barbershop-based health programs to a scientific scrutiny with randomized, controlled testing -- demonstrates the haircutters' heart health efforts work well enough that they ...

Dietary supplementation with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) on the morning of a tennis match allows athletes to maintain their edge. A randomized, controlled trial reported in BioMed Central's open access Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition found that those players who received the supplement showed no decline in skilled tennis performance after a simulated match. Chen-Kang Chang from the National Taiwan College of Physical Education, Taiwan, worked with a team of researchers to carry out the study. He said, "We found that sodium bicarbonate supplementation ...

Those who are proud to have a piece of amber that holds a little animal trapped in it maybe should not continue to read this. For what can be seen in the millions of years-old tree resin is almost always just a paper-thin façade. If sliced down the middle, you would find no more than a hollow space covered in some sort of "insect photo wallpaper." This does not apply to the amber Bonn paleontologist Professor Dr. Jes Rust and his colleagues have been looking at for two years. The lumps that resemble herbal cough drops are "full of it," containing numerous insect bodies, ...

Statins, the family of drugs used to lower cholesterol, might also reduce the risk of epileptic seizures in people with cardiovascular disease, according to a new statistical study by a drug safety expert at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute. The findings could provide the basis for randomized, controlled clinical trials to test the efficacy of the drugs as anti-epileptic medication. The study, based on a database of 2,400 Quebec residents aged 65 and older, showed that those taking statins were 35 per cent less likely ...