CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – A new study finds that combining the newer diabetes drug exenatide with insulin provides better blood sugar control in patients with type 2 diabetes than insulin alone and helps promote weight loss. "This study may be the best result ever for patients whose diabetes is inadequately controlled on a combination of pills and insulin," said John Buse, MD, PhD, lead author of the study and chief of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. "Until now, it was inconceivable that you ...

(ORLANDO, Fla.) – A personalized vaccine is a powerful therapy to prevent recurrence among certain follicular lymphoma patients, according to the latest results of ongoing research led by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The new findings show that when these patients – whose tumors are marked by a specific protein that may be present in up to half of people with this type of cancer -- receive a vaccine made from their own tumor cells, disease-free survival is improved by nearly two years, compared with patients who receive a placebo. Based on the new analysis, ...

MADISON — Bacteria are among the simplest organisms in nature, but many of them can still talk to each other, using a chemical "language" that is critical to the process of infection. Sending and receiving chemical signals allows bacteria to mind their own business when they are scarce and vulnerable, and then mount an attack after they become numerous enough to overwhelm the host's immune system. This system, called "quorum sensing," is an interesting example of sophistication among microbes, says Helen Blackwell, an associate professor of chemistry at the University ...

SEATTLE—Try to schedule your screening mammogram during the first week of your menstrual cycle. It might make breast cancer screening more accurate for pre-menopausal women who choose to have regular mammograms. This recommendation comes from an article published online December 3 in Radiology by Diana Miglioretti, PhD, a senior investigator at Group Health Research Institute. Dr. Miglioretti and her co-authors are working on an issue at the heart of recent controversies about breast cancer screening mammograms. In November 2009, new recommendations—including that women ...

Bioengineers from the University of California, San Diego developed an explanation for why some types of neurons die sooner than others in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease. These insights, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology on November 21, come from detailed models of brain energy metabolism developed in the Department of Bioengineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. The Alzheimer's insights demonstrate how fundamental insights on human metabolism can be gleaned from computer models that incorporate large genomic and proteomic ...

Reston, Va. — A study published in the December issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine identified positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scans as a potentially useful tool for predicting local recurrence in lung cancer patients treated with radiofrequency ablation (RFA). RFA, which uses localized thermal energy to kill cancer cells, is increasingly used as an alternative treatment for patients unable to undergo surgery or other therapies to treat lung cancer. "This study reinforces the utility of 18F-FDG-PET imaging in cancer detection and follow-up ...

In conversation, we often imitate each other's speech style and may even change our accent to fit that of the person we're talking to. A recent study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests that imitating someone who speaks with a regional or foreign accent may actually help you understand them better. "If people are talking to each other, they tend to sort of move their speech toward each other," says Patti Adank, of the University of Manchester, who cowrote the study with Peter Hagoort and Harold Bekkering from Radboud ...

In a few years, a sip of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Pinot Noir may include a taste of the "Show-Me" State. The state grape of Missouri – the Norton variety grown at many vineyards around the state – is resistant to powdery mildew, a fungal pathogen that affects winemaking grapes around the world. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri are working to identify valuable genes from the Norton grape for eventual transfer into other grapes to make them less susceptible to mildew, decrease fungicide use and increase world-wide grape production. Walter Gassmann, ...

The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) is pointing to a new study on low back pain in Medicare patients in its efforts to encourage the newly established Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to promptly launch a demonstration project on direct access to physical therapist services that was recommended in the recent health reform law. The study, published in the journal Spine, showed Medicare patients who received physical therapy in the acute phase following an episode of low back pain were less likely to receive epidural steroid injections, lumbar surgery, ...

URBANA – University of Illinois scientists have learned to mask the bitterness of ginseng, a common ingredient of energy drinks. "Consumers like to see ginseng on a product's ingredient list because studies show that it improves memory, enhances libido and sexual performance, boosts immunity, and alleviates diabetes. But the very compounds that make ginseng good for you also make it taste bitter," said Soo-Yeun Lee, a U of I associate professor of food science and human nutrition. In an earlier study, Lee and U of I professor of food chemistry Shelly J. Schmidt found ...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6—Recent progress in chalcogenide glass photonics has been driven by scientific and technological challenges in a variety of areas. These range from increased demand for bandwidth in optical communications, to the emergence of bio-health hazards associated with hazardous microorganisms that absorb at mid-infrared wavelengths, to defense applications that require bright mid-infrared sources. Additionally, chalcogenide glass provides a platform for fundamental investigations of light-matter interactions in nanophotonic structures, such as photonic crystals ...

Dead whales that sink down to the seafloor provide a feast for deep-sea animals that can last for years. Previous research suggested that such "whale falls" were homes for unique animals that lived nowhere else. However, after sinking five whale carcasses in Monterey Canyon, researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) found that most of the animals at these sites were not unique to whale falls, but were common in other deep-sea environments as well. Nonetheless, the whale-fall communities did include a few very abundant animals that were "bone ...

WHAT: The costly, time-consuming process of making, distributing and administering millions of seasonal flu vaccines would become obsolete if researchers could design a vaccine that confers decades-long protection from any flu virus strain. Making such a universal influenza vaccine is feasible but licensing it may require innovation on several fronts, including finding new ways to evaluate the efficacy of vaccine candidates in clinical trials, conclude scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. ...

HOUSTON -- (Dec. 6, 2010) -- With new tools that can grab individual strands of DNA and stretch them like rubber bands, Rice University scientists are working to unravel a mystery of modern genomics. Their latest findings, which appear in Physical Review Letters, offer new clues about the physical makeup of odd segments of DNA that have just one DNA base, adenine, repeated dozens of times in a row. These mysterious "poly(dA) repeats" are sprinkled throughout the human genome. Scientists have also found them in the genomes of animals, plants and other species over the ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Researchers have long argued that marriage generally reduces illegal and aggressive behaviors in men. It remained unclear, however, if that association was a function of matrimony itself or whether less "antisocial" men were simply more likely to get married. The answer, according to a new study led by a Michigan State University behavior geneticist, appears to be both. In the December issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, online today, S. Alexandra Burt and colleagues found that less antisocial men were more likely to get married. Once ...

Two toddlers are learning the word "cup." One sees three nearly identical cups; the other sees a tea cup, a sippy cup and a Styrofoam cup. Chances are, the second child will have a better sense of what a cup is and -- according to a new University of Iowa study -- may even have an advantage as he learns new words. Published this month in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, the research showed that 18-month-olds who played with a broader array of objects named by shape – for example, groups of bowls or buckets that were less similar ...

WASHINGTON, DC, December 1, 2010 — While the positive correlation between religiosity and life satisfaction has long been known, a new study in the December issue of the American Sociological Review reveals religion's "secret ingredient" that makes people happier. "Our study offers compelling evidence that it is the social aspects of religion rather than theology or spirituality that leads to life satisfaction," said Chaeyoon Lim, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who led the study. "In particular, we find that friendships built ...

WASHINGTON, DC, December 2, 2010 — A new study by a University of Kansas sociologist shows that U.S. employers fail to pay Asian American men as much as similarly qualified white men. "The most striking result is that native-born Asian Americans — who were born in the U.S. and speak English perfectly — their income is 8 percent lower than whites after controlling for their college majors, their places of residence and their level of education," said ChangHwan Kim, an assistant professor of sociology at KU, who led the study. Full results of the study — "Have Asian ...

LAWRENCE — A new study by a University of Kansas researcher shows that U.S. employers fail to pay Asian-American men as much as they pay similarly qualified white men. "The most striking result is that native-born Asian Americans — who were born in the U.S. and speak English perfectly — their income is 8 percent lower than whites after controlling for their college majors, their places of residence and their level of education," said ChangHwan Kim, assistant professor of sociology at KU, who led the study. Full results of the research appear in the December issue of ...

WASHINGTON, DC, December 6, 2010 — Mandatory genetic screening of newborns for rare diseases is creating unexpected upheaval for families whose infants test positive for risk factors but show no immediate signs of the diseases, a new UCLA study warns. "Although newborn screening undoubtedly saves lives, some families are thrown on a journey of great uncertainty," said UCLA sociology professor Stefan Timmermans, the study's lead author. "Rather than providing clear-cut diagnoses, screening of an entire population has created ambiguity about whether infants truly have ...

Two new studies raise public health concerns about increasing antiviral resistance among certain influenza viruses, their ability to spread, and a lack of alternative antiviral treatment options. The findings are published in the January 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases. (Please see below for links to these articles online.) Influenza viruses are treated with two classes of drugs: M2 blockers (adamantanes) and neuraminidase inhibitors (NAIs), including oseltamivir and zanamivir. While the spread of influenza strains with resistance to one class of drugs ...

Pittsburgh Pirate legend Roberto Clemente played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1955 through 1972. All of those games were for the Pirates. To say Pittsburgh fans loved the man is an understatement. Clemente won four batting titles and led the Pirates to world championships in 1960 and 1971. The right fielder was also the first Latino to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. "He was always where he was supposed to be, backing up, taking balls off the most difficult fences. His arm was powerful, but it was also deadly accurate. Nobody ran on him and when ...

1140 Broadway #1502 NY, New York 10001, Dec 05, 2010/ With the launch of Petflow website in 2009, it has been shipping pet food products to the different parts of the United States effectively and in time. To make it easy for the pet owners to get their pet food before getting out of stock, it delivers the pet food at their doorstep within 24 hours from the time of order. It was founded on the idea that properly feeding the pets should never be a chore and pet owners would never have to run to the store in last minute frenzy. They regard pets like their own children and ...

Direct Response (DRTV) advertising is still the single most effective way to get a product or service out to the masses quickly, create instant branding, and make money. And Stardust Broadcasting, with 23 years of TV media experience is offering DRTV advertisers 2 minute slots on The SoundTrack Channel to 6 million households so they can take advantage of the magic of TV advertising. The Soundtrack Channel is the new channel for cable, satellite and IPTV, featuring movie music soundtracks, entertainment news and sneak peaks at all the latest movies.It is aired in 84 ...

Hopes were high for 2010 at the start of this year as it seemed the fog of the Global Financial Crisis was finally lifting and shares were finally starting to regain some of their former value. Strong months of February and March seemed to back up this idea and bring some much needed confidence back to the trading floor. The end of April brought back plenty of bad memories for share traders as they watched the market tumble 700 points in the space of just over one month. The market, now sitting well below its starting point at the beginning of the year, did little to ...