WHAT: A special media phone briefing with leading infectious disease scientists and healthcare-associated infection experts who will headline the 2011 Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America's (SHEA) Annual Meeting WHO: Arjun Srinivasan, MD, Associate Director of Healthcare-associated Infection Prevention Programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Steven Gordon, MD, President, Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America Makoto Jones, MD, Salt Lake City VA Healthcare System Dawn Terashita, MD, MPH, Los Angeles County Department of ...

Bingo Wonga will offer a new lotto results section which will feature all the latest UK Lotto draws including Lotto, Euro Millions, Thunderball, Plus 5, Daily Play and Hotpicks. The new section will also contain a history of results for each draw. Bingo Wonga was launched during May 2010 and in less than a year has become one of the most popular online bingo review sites. Unlike most other bingo review sites, Bingo Wonga only promote the very best UK bingo brands such as Sky Bingo, Sky Vegas and Virgin Bingo. Bingo Wonga also make available to their readers a large ...

Young adult patients with genetic heart diseases, such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), substantially benefitted from therapeutic hypothermia, which could further extend the role for this treatment strategy in new patient populations, according to a scientific presentation at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Scientific Sessions in New Orleans, April 1-3. In patients with HCM, despite rapid cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) with defibrillation, survival following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest has been particularly unfavorable, explained the study authors. ...

The sickle cell trait could be a cause—albeit rare—of sudden death in young African-American competitive athletes, most commonly during football training, according to a scientific poster that will be presented at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Scientific Sessions, April 1-3, in New Orleans. The sickle cell trait (SCT), which affects approximately 8 percent of African-Americans in the U.S., has been associated with sudden death in military recruits undergoing vigorous exercise. Due to the potential hypothesis that SCT may also cause sudden death in young highly ...

ORLANDO, Fla. — Scientists have uncovered a genetic characteristic of metastatic prostate cancer that defines a rare sub-type of this disease. These findings are published in Cancer Discovery, the newest journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, which will debut at the AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011, held April 2-6. Arul M. Chinnaiyan, M.D., Ph.D., an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and director of the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology, and colleagues identified an oncogenic gene fusion of KRAS, one of the most studied and ...

ORLANDO, Fla. — Scientists at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute have identified a mutation in the DDR2 gene that may indicate which patients with squamous cell lung cancer will respond to dasatinib. The findings are published in Cancer Discovery, the newest journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, debuting here at the AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011, from April 2-6. According to lead researcher Matthew Meyerson, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pathology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, there are currently no targeted therapies for squamous cell lung cancer, ...

ORLANDO, Fla. — A study published in Cancer Discovery, the newest journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, debuting here at the AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011, held April 2-6, showed how evaluating the immune response in the tumor microenvironment may help researchers better target therapy in breast cancer. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, demonstrated that the level of macrophages and CD8+ T-cells, two key components of the human immune system, can help predict recurrence and overall survival. New biologic-targeted therapies ...

ORLANDO, Fla. — Scientists have identified digoxin as a possible therapy for prostate cancer, using a combination of laboratory science and epidemiology that is unprecedented in its cooperative nature. "Epidemiologists and basic scientists often do not understand each other, as we often are only clear on our own strengths and the other's weaknesses," said Elizabeth Platz, Sc.D., M.P.H, professor of epidemiology and the Martin D. Abeloff, M.D., scholar in cancer prevention at Johns Hopkins University. For the current paper, published in Cancer Discovery, the newest ...

Dallas, TX (April 3, 2011) – A large, multi-year study of antibiotic use in Veterans Health Administration's acute care facilities demonstrates dramatically increased use of carbapenems, a powerful class of antibiotics, over the last five years. These drugs are often considered the last treatment option for severe infections with multi-drug resistant pathogens. The increased carbapenem use, which has also been described in non-VA facilities in the US, is alarming because carbapenem-resistant bacteria are becoming more common. Overuse of these drugs could weaken their efficacy, ...

A new way of understanding the structure of proteins, polymers, minerals, and engineered materials will be published in the May 2011 issue of the journal Nature Materials. The discovery by two Penn State University researchers is a new type of symmetry in the structure of materials, which the researchers say greatly expands the possibilities for discovering or designing materials with desired properties. The research is expected to have broad relevance in many development efforts involving physical, chemical, biological, or engineering disciplines including, for example, ...

Johns Hopkins scientists and their colleagues paired laboratory and epidemiologic data to find that men using the cardiac drug, digoxin, had a 24 percent lower risk for prostate cancer. The scientists say further research about the discovery may lead to use of the drug, or new ones that work the same way, to treat the cancer. Digoxin, made from the foxglove plant, has been used for centuries in folk medicine and for decades to treat congestive heart failure and heart rhythm abnormalities. It also emerged as a leading candidate among 3,000 drugs screened by the Johns ...

Boston, MA - Tiny particles only billionths of a meter in diameter—about two thousand would fit across the width of a human hair—could offer big hope in a small package to the many millions of people who are allergic to the nickel in everything from jewelry to coins and cell phones, say scientists at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH). In the April 3 online issue of Nature Nanotechnology, the team will report a new approach to preventing the common skin allergy. Approximately ten to fifteen percent of the US population, or over 30 to 45 million people, plus many more ...

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The Heart of New Ulm Project, which is merging environmental, peer leadership and individual interventions across an entire rural Minnesota community with the assistance of a healthcare system, worksites and the general community to prevent coronary heart disease, has shown a 24 percent reduction in the number of acute heart attacks in a five-quarter period, compared with the previous five-quarter period of evaluation. This study will be presented at the 60th annual American College of Cardiology (ACC) Scientific Sessions in New Orleans on April 3. “Hearts Beat Back: ...

Videogameprices.co.uk is a new online resource for PC and console gamers dedicated to helping them track down the best current prices on popular titles. Taking its cue from the huge success of UK price comparison sites such as gocompare.com and comparethemarket.com in the realms of finance and insurance products, Videogameprices.co.uk has set out to provide UK gamers with a streamlined service tailored specifically to their interests, aggregating the latest comparative prices from the most competitive, reputable games retailers. The company's founder, David Newstead, ...

LA JOLLA, CA – April 3, 2011 – In the constantly morphing field of protein structure, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute offer yet another surprise: a common "chaperone" protein in cells thought to help other proteins fold has been shown instead to loosen them. The study was published in the April 3 issue of Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. The research offers the first structural insights into the shape of a "client" protein in the presence of a helper or "chaperone" protein. Specifically, the study examined the client protein p53 tumor suppressor ...

CHICAGO — In the largest study of its kind, researchers from a consortium of 44 universities and research institutions in the United States, including Rush University Medical Center, identified four new genes linked to Alzheimer's disease. Each gene individually adds to the risk of having this common form of dementia later in life. The findings, published in the April issue of Nature Genetics, offer new insight into the underlying causes of Alzheimer's disease. "This is a major advance in the field thanks to many scientists across the country working together over ...

PHILADELPHIA – In the largest study of its kind, researchers from a consortium led by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, the University of Miami, and the Boston University School of Medicine, identified four new genes linked to Alzheimer's disease. Each gene individually adds to the risk of having this common form of dementia later in life. These new genes offer a portal into what causes Alzheimer's disease and is a major advance in the field. The study, conducted by the Alzheimer's Disease Genetics Consortium, reports genetic analysis of more than 11,000 ...

Contact: John Ascenzi Ascenzi@email.chop.edu 267-426-6055 Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Rick Cushman Richard.Cushman@jefferson.edu 215-955-2240 Thomas Jefferson University Potential treatment found for debilitating bone disease in wounded soldiers and children Promising new research reveals a potentially highly effective treatment for heterotopic ossification (HO), a painful and often debilitating abnormal buildup of bone tissue. HO comes in two main forms—one that appears in children and is congenital, another that strikes wounded military personnel ...

After a successful 2010 campaign that saw buyers sail away in the stunning MARY-JEAN, a 2011 finalist at the World Superyacht Show as well as the classic ATHOS sailing yacht, YPI Group were again pleased to announce the delivery of a new 60m luxury yacht to a delighted owner. Patrick Renard was the yacht manager assigned to the project that saw him spending months overseeing the yacht's construction and exacting the buyers wishes, "after months on a project, especially of this size and nature, it is always a great feeling knowing that we were able to give the client ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — With the first observation of thermoelectric effects at graphene contacts, University of Illinois researchers found that graphene transistors have a nanoscale cooling effect that reduces their temperature. Led by mechanical science and engineering professor William King and electrical and computer engineering professor Eric Pop, the team will publish its findings in the April 3 advance online edition of the journal Nature Nanotechnology. The speed and size of computer chips are limited by how much heat they dissipate. All electronics dissipate heat ...

Murray, UT (4/03/11) – Fasting has long been associated with religious rituals, diets, and political protests. Now new evidence from cardiac researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute demonstrates that routine periodic fasting is also good for your health, and your heart. Today, research cardiologists at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute are reporting that fasting not only lowers one's risk of coronary artery disease and diabetes, but also causes significant changes in a person's blood cholesterol levels. Both diabetes and elevated ...

(NEW YORK, NY, April 3, 2011) – In the largest study of its kind, researchers from a consortium that includes Columbia University Medical Center identified four new genes linked to late-onset Alzheimer's disease. Each of these genes adds to the risk of developing this most common form of the disease, and together they offer a portal into the causes of Alzheimer's. Their identification will help researchers find ways to determine who is at risk of developing the disease, which will be critical as preventive measures become available, and to identify proteins and pathways ...

A leading UK scientist's search for factors that increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's has uncovered five new genes to help pinpoint what's going wrong in the brain. Professor Julie Williams from Cardiff University's MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics has identified an additional five new genes – bringing the total number of genes that increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's to ten. "What we did in this study is to follow-up previous work in around 20,000 people with Alzheimer's and 40,000 well individuals and identified a further ...

NEW YORK (April 3, 2011) – Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have developed a new way to stimulate neuron production in the adult mouse brain, demonstrating that neurons acquired in the brain's hippocampus during adulthood improve certain cognitive functions. In recent years, scientists have been exploring whether stimulating neurogenesis (the formation of new neurons) in the adult brain has a beneficial effect on cognition or mood. Until now, studies have relied on interventions, such as exercise and enriched environments, that affect numerous other processes ...