ST. PAUL, Minn. – A new study shows that vitamin B12 may protect against Alzheimer's disease, adding more evidence to the scientific debate about whether the vitamin is effective in reducing the risk of memory loss. The research will be published in the October 19, 2010, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. "Our findings show the need for further research on the role of vitamin B12 as a marker for identifying people who are at increased risk of Alzheimer's disease," said study author Babak Hooshmand, MD, MSc, with Karolinska ...

Post-menopausal breast cancer patients with hormone-sensitive cancers who consumed high amounts of soy isoflavones had a lower risk of recurrence, found a research study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj091298.pdf. Soy isoflavones are similar to estrogen in chemical structure and may stimulate or inhibit estrogen-like action in tissues. Consumption of soy isoflavones, found in soybeans and soy products, has increased in recent years and there are concerns about the effect of soy consumption ...

Analysis of H1N1 antibody levels (seroprotection rates) after the 2009 pandemic suggest that a third wave is unlikely in 2010, although adults over age 50, particularly those with chronic conditions, should be immunized for the fall flu season, states a research paper in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj100910.pdf. The study, by researchers from the BC Centre for Disease Control, University of British Columbia and BC Biomedical Laboratories, compared blood levels of antibodies against the H1N1 influenza ...

The H1N1 pandemic influenza provided several important lessons that may help in preparing for future influenza outbreaks, write Drs. Donald Low and Allison McGeer in an analysis in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj100900.pdf. Although the death rate was lower than initially projected, the years of life lost was significant because "deaths from the 2009 pandemic were skewed toward younger ages than deaths from seasonal influenza," write the authors, both affiliated with Mount Sinai Hospital and the University ...

Lowering levels of a key protein involved in regulating learning and memory—STtriatal-Enriched tyrosine Phosphatase (STEP)—reversed cognitive deficits in mice with Alzheimer's disease, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in the October 18 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "This finding provides a rationale for drug discovery and for developing therapeutic agents that could inhibit STEP proteins and might improve the outlook for Alzheimer's disease patients," said senior author of the study Paul Lombroso, M.D., professor in the Yale Child ...

CHICAGO—Today's Scientific Program of the 2010 American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) - Middle East-Africa Council of Ophthalmology (MEACO) Joint Meeting includes a report on beta carotene's ability to improve vision in people with certain incurable retinal diseases. The AAO-MEACO meeting–the world's largest, most comprehensive ophthalmic education conference–is in session October 16 through 19 at McCormick Place, Chicago. 9-cis Beta-Carotene Mat Boost Vision in Some Patients with Incurable Retinal Disease Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a cluster of hereditary disorders ...

New findings settle one of the arguments about Open Access (OA) research publications: Are they more likely to be cited because they were made OA, or were they made OA because they were more likely to be cited? The study, which will be published in PLoS ONE on the first day of Open Access Week (18 October), was carried out by a bi-national team of researchers from the University of Southampton's School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) in the UK and l'Université du Québec à Montréal in Canada. The results show that the OA citation impact advantage is just ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Michigan hospitals reduced surgical complications by nearly 10 percent at a time when the rest of the nation saw no change in complication rates, according to a new study out next week in the Archives of Surgery. Complications dropped at hospitals participating in what's called the Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative, a group of 16 hospitals led by the University of Michigan Health System that agreed to pool data and share information about what keeps patients safe. The fewer patients suffering ventilator associated pneumonias alone, among the ...

Bethesda, Maryland (October 14, 2010) – Many of the world's preeminent gastroenterologists will gather for the American College of Gastroenterology's (ACG) 75th Annual Scientific Meeting at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas starting Monday October 18, 2010, to review the latest scientific advances in gastrointestinal research, treatment of digestive diseases and clinical practice management. Innovative technologies for the diagnosis and treatment of digestive diseases; insights into digestive health conditions, their causes and how they impact ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- A group of Mayo Clinic (http://www.mayoclinic.org/about/) researchers conducted the first controlled trial of swallowed fluticasone nasal spray (also known as Flonase) on people with the allergic esophageal condition called eosinophilic esophagitis (http://www.mayoclinic.org/eosinophilic-esophagitis/). Research showed that the aerosolized swallowed allergy drug helped treat the cause of the throat condition, but symptoms lingered. The researchers' findings were presented today at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology ...

Breast cancers can be divided into different subtypes based on several criteria, including whether or not they express the protein to which the female hormone estrogen binds; that is, the estrogen receptor (ER). Patients with ER-negative breast tumors have a worse outlook than those with ER-positive breast tumors. However, even among ER-negative breast tumors, those characterized as basal-like are the most aggressive and difficult to treat. New therapeutic targets for this subtype of breast cancer are urgently needed. Now, a team of researchers, led by Stefan Ambs, at the ...

EDITOR'S PICK: The protein NOS2 isn't good for ER-negative breast cancer patients Breast cancers can be divided into different subtypes based on several criteria, including whether or not they express the protein to which the female hormone estrogen binds; that is, the estrogen receptor (ER). Patients with ER-negative breast tumors have a worse outlook than those with ER-positive breast tumors. However, even among ER-negative breast tumors, those characterized as basal-like are the most aggressive and difficult to treat. New therapeutic targets for this subtype of breast ...

Information available on a government Web site designed to help patients choose high-quality hospitals does not appear to help Medicare beneficiaries identify facilities with better outcomes for high-risk surgeries, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. In an effort to reduce variations in surgical quality, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) now requires hospitals to report data from the national Surgical Care Improvement Project involving measures taken to prevent infection and blood clots, ...

Individuals with co-occurring psychiatric illnesses, especially anxiety and depression, appear to have an increased risk of death within 30 days of surgery, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Psychiatric illnesses occur along with physical complaints in an estimated 5 percent to 40 percent of hospitalized patients, according to background information in the article. Having a psychiatric condition is independently associated with an increased risk of illness and death. Previous studies of these conditions ...

A survey of patients undergoing skin cancer screening shows that women were more likely to seek screening because of a skin lesion, a family history of skin cancer, or concern about sun exposure, whereas men age 50 and older, a group at highest risk for melanoma, may only seek screenings after a previous skin cancer diagnosis, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. In 2008, more than 62,000 Americans were diagnosed with the skin cancer melanoma and almost 8,500 died from the disease, according to background ...

Patients with basal cell nevus syndrome, which predisposes them to develop non-melanoma skin cancers, appear to be at increased risk for vitamin D deficiency if they take steps to protect themselves from sunlight, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with an increased risk of autoimmune disease, fractures, cancer, cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality," the authors write as background information in the article. "There is increasing concern that sun ...

A simple, eight-item pre-operative questionnaire could help identify patients at risk for complications following surgery, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Individuals prone to the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome as determined by the questionnaire appear to have an increased risk of heart, lung and other complications following elective surgery. Obstructive sleep apnea, a disorder in which individuals periodically stop breathing during sleep, occurs in approximately 5 percent ...

High fat diets cause a dramatic immune system overreaction to sepsis, a condition of systemic bacterial infection. An experimental study in mice, published in the open access journal BMC Physiology, has shown that a diet high in saturated fat, sugars and cholesterol greatly exaggerates the inflammatory response to sepsis. Chantal Rivera, PhD Associate Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-Shreveport, said that "Mortality due to sepsis in morbidly obese subjects is estimated to be 7 times more prevalent compared ...

Despite widespread use of pneumococcal vaccination, some children still develop deafness following pneumococcal meningitis, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Based on a small case series, early evaluation and simultaneous cochlear implantation in both ears may be a successful treatment strategy. Since the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) became widely used in the United States in 2001, cases of meningitis and other related diseases have dramatically declined, according ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — If women had no prolactin receptors on cells in their mammary glands, they would not produce milk when they were nursing. Prolactin receptors are also found in other organs including the lung and the colon. The only problem is that these receptors are sort of like cellular wiring, and when the wrong conditions bring them together, the resulting short circuit can produce cancer. In new research published online Oct. 18, 2010, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, a team led by researcheres at Brown University and Rhode ...

San Antonio, Texas, October 18, 2010 – A systematic review of the medical literature supports the hypothesis that statins, cholesterol‐lowering drugs used to prevent cardiac problems, are associated with reduced risk of colon and rectal cancers. A comprehensive analysis by investigators at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, included 22 scientific studies with more than 2.5 million combined participants. "Statin use was associated with a statistically significant reduction in colorectal cancer," explained Jewel Samadder, M.D., MSc. The relative risk was 0.88 ...

In five different studies presented at the American College of Gastroenterology's (ACG) 75th Annual Scientific meeting in San Antonio, researchers explored the impact of various factors on increasing rates of Clostridium difficile infection (C. difficile), such as the use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and the substantial increase in antibiotic use due to new National Hospital Quality Measures; strategies to combat high rates of C. difficile infections; and cutting‐edge treatments for this potentially deadly—and quite common—infection. Five studies were featured ...

Watching violent films, TV programmes or video games desensitises teenagers, blunts their emotional responses to aggression and potentially promotes aggressive attitudes and behaviour, according to new research published online today in the Oxford Journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (Tuesday 19 October). Although previous research has suggested that people can become more aggressive and desensitised to real-life violence after repeatedly viewing violent media programmes, little is known about how the extent of watching such programmes and the severity ...

San Antonio, Texas (October 18, 2010) – Fructose intolerance, or fructose malabsorption, is common in children with recurrent or functional abdominal pain, but the condition can be effectively managed with a low‐fructose diet, according to the results of a new study unveiled today at the American College of Gastroenterology's (ACG) 75th Annual Scientific meeting in San Antonio, Texas. The study, "Fructose Intolerance/Malabsorption and Recurrent Abdominal Pain in Children," investigated a total of 245 patients with unexplained chronic abdominal pain alone or associated ...

Research on obesity examining the role of hormones and the autonomic functions of the digestive system was presented at the 75th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American CoIlege of Gastroenterology. Gastric function, as well the activities of the autonomic nervous system that regulates digestion, are impaired in obese individuals in both fasting and fed states, according to a study from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, "Altered Postprandial Gastric and Autonomic Functions in Obese Subjects." Measures of gastric myoelectrical activity (GMA) by electrogastrography ...