Boston, MA – The 2010 Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO of the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF), the largest meeting of ear, nose, and throat doctors in the world, will convene September 26-29, 2010, in Boston, MA. Featuring more than 305 scientific research sessions, 594 posters, and several hundred instruction course hours for attendees, the annual meeting is a unique opportunity for journalists from around the world to cover breaking science and medical news. Reporters will have access to the latest research and clinical advances ...

Inner Ear Stem-Cell Transplantation in Cochlear Cultures Presenters: Dylan K. Chan, MD, PhD; Saku Sinkkonen, MD, PhD; Alan G. Cheng, MD; Stefan Heller, PhD Time: 9:46 am Location: Room 209 Boston, MA – Researchers have developed an in vitro system to investigate hair-cell regeneration techniques and evaluate the ability of transplanted inner-ear stem-cell spheres to integrate into the organ of Corti and differentiate into mature hair cells. In a presentation at the 2010 AAO-HNSF Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO in Boston, researchers revealed that co-culture between inner-ear ...

Intestinal worms sidestep the immune system by inducing the development of suppressive T cells, according to a study published on September 27th in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (www.jem.org). Immune T cells are essential for the clearance of invading microbes, including intestinal worms, but turning off immune responses is essential for avoiding collateral tissue destruction. This job falls in part to a population of suppressive T cells called regulatory T (T reg) cells. A team of researchers, led by Rick Maizels at the University of Edinburgh, show that gut-invading ...

Acupuncture does not appear to aid in stroke recovery, according to a new study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj091113.pdf Acupuncture is often used to supplement traditional stroke rehabilitation, although its effectiveness is uncertain. It is necessary to have evidence of effectiveness from rigorous randomized clinical trials to recommend routine therapeutic use. This study, perhaps the most comprehensive to date as it includes trials published in English language and Asian journals, was ...

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Learning mindfulness meditation may help people who have multiple sclerosis (MS) with the fatigue, depression and other life challenges that commonly accompany the disease, according to a study published in the September 28, 2010, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. In the study, people who took an eight-week class in mindfulness meditation training reduced their fatigue and depression and improved overall quality of life compared to people with MS who received only usual medical care. The positive effects ...

One approach to an HIV vaccine is to teach the immune system to recognize certain protein structures on the viral surface and produce antibodies that bind to those structures and neutralize HIV. A strategy for designing such a vaccine involves identifying the key viral surface structures, snipping them off and developing a method to present these fragments to the immune system. When some parts of the surface of HIV are removed, however, they change shape such that antibodies no longer recognize and bind to them. A research team led by investigators at the Vaccine Research ...

Aging disrupts the balance between bone formation and bone destruction, resulting in osteoporosis, which is characterized by reduced bone mass and increased risk of fracture. Recent data have suggested that this imbalance is a result of a decrease in formation of bone forming osteoblast cells from mesenchymal cells upon aging. Instead, these cells form more fat cells. Insight into this age-related switch in cell type generation has now been provided by a team of researchers, led by Hiroshi Takayanagi, at Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan, working in mice. The data ...

EDITOR'S PICK: Controlling bone formation to prevent osteoporosis Aging disrupts the balance between bone formation and bone destruction, resulting in osteoporosis, which is characterized by reduced bone mass and increased risk of fracture. Recent data have suggested that this imbalance is a result of a decrease in formation of bone forming osteoblast cells from mesenchymal cells upon aging. Instead, these cells form more fat cells. Insight into this age-related switch in cell type generation has now been provided by a team of researchers, led by Hiroshi Takayanagi, at ...

RICHMOND, Va. (Sept. 27, 2010) – Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine and VCU Massey Cancer Center researchers have shown that the impotence drug Viagra, in combination with doxorubicin, a powerful anti-cancer drug, enhances its anti-tumor efficacy in prostate cancer while alleviating the damage to the heart at the same time. For more than four decades the chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin has been used to treat a number of human cancers, including that of the prostate. Despite doxorubicin's clinical efficacy for cancer treatment, its use is associated ...

Researchers have shown that LIM kinase (LIMK), an important regulator of actin cytoskeleton dynamics, plays a key role in cancer metastasis. The study appears online on September 27 in The Journal of Cell Biology www.jcb.org. Cancer metastasis is a multi-stage process that starts with the invasion of tumor cells into their surrounding tissue. The ability of metastatic cells to invade requires reorganization of the actin-myosin cytoskeleton, which is controlled by a sophisticated network of signals sent between a number of cellular components. LIMK has been shown previously ...

STANFORD, Calif. - Add pine-bark extract to the list of dietary supplements that don't live up to their promises of improved health. A new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine shows that pine-bark extract had no effect in lowering blood pressure or reducing other risk factors for heart disease. Senior author Randall Stafford, MD, PhD, said the findings are part of a growing body of evidence that antioxidant supplements don't improve heart function. "While there's a good biological basis to presume that antioxidant supplements might have a beneficial ...

In about 40 percent of research participants undergoing medical imaging, radiologists may detect a tumor or infection unrelated to the study but that may be meaningful to the individual's health, according to a report in the September 27 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "An incidental finding in human subjects research is defined in a major consensus project as an observation 'concerning an individual research participant that has potential clinical importance and is discovered in the course of conducting research, but is beyond ...

An intensive lifestyle intervention appears to help individuals with type 2 diabetes lose weight and keep it off, along with improving fitness, control of blood glucose levels and risk factors for cardiovascular disease, according to a report in the September 27 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Improving blood glucose control and cardiovascular risk factors in patients with type 2 diabetes is critical in preventing long-term complications of the disease, according to background information in the article. Emphasis has been placed ...

While both black patients and white patients appear to benefit from end of life discussions with their physician, black patients are less likely to experience end-of-life care that accurately reflects their preferences, according to a report in the September 27 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Although black patients are also more likely than white patients to desire life-prolonging measures, receipt of life-prolonging care at the end of life is associated with greater distress and with poorer quality of life," the authors write ...

Home-based exercises followed by voluntary home training seem to be associated with long-term effects on balance and gait (manner of walking), and may help protect high-risk, elderly women from hip fractures, according to a report in the September 27 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Falls are responsible for at least 90 percent of all hip fractures," the authors write as background in the article. "Hip fractures place the greatest demands on resources and have the greatest effect on patients because they are associated with high ...

Use of pine bark extract, at a dose of 200 milligrams per day, appears safe but did not improve risk factors for heart disease, according to a report in the September 27 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Although traditional strategies such as prescription medications, dietary changes and physical activity have proven benefits for reducing cardiovascular disease risk, a substantial population seeks alternative therapies, including various dietary supplements, to lower cardiovascular disease risk," the authors write as background ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---The more complex a plant or animal, the more difficulty it should have adapting to changes in the environment. That's been a maxim of evolutionary theory since biologist Ronald Fisher put forth the idea in 1930. But if that tenet is true, how do you explain all the well-adapted, complex organisms---from orchids to bower birds to humans---in this world? This "cost of complexity" conundrum puzzles biologists and offers ammunition to proponents of intelligent design, who hold that such intricacy could arise only through the efforts of a divine designer, ...

Software downloaded during a routine office visit cuts the risk of inappropriate shocks by 50 percent for patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD), according to research reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. "Hundreds of patients have been saved from unnecessary shocks by software that is safe and can be painlessly downloaded in one minute during a standard defibrillator check," said Charles D. Swerdlow, M.D., lead author of the study and a cardiac electrophysiologist at the Cedars Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles and ...

Using data from more than 270,000 hospital stroke admissions, scientists have identified how to predict which patients are at greatest risk of dying in the hospital after stroke. Before their study, well validated models to predict in-hospital death risk after stroke were lacking, the researchers reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. "A mortality risk assessment tool for hospitalized stroke patients is important to clinicians, hospitals and patients," said Eric E. Smith, M.D., M.P.H., lead author of the study and assistant professor of neurology ...

VIDEO: In a few tenths of a second, Sclerotinia expels hundreds of thousands of spores in a plume that can rise 20 cm, much higher than any single spore by itself.... Click here for more information. Long before geese started flying in chevron formation or cyclists learned the value of drafting, fungi discovered an aerodynamic way to reduce drag on their spores so as to spread them as high and as far as possible. One fungus, the destructive Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, ...

In a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Cary Institute aquatic ecologist Dr. Emma Rosi-Marshall and colleagues report that streams throughout the Midwestern Corn Belt are receiving insecticidal proteins that originate from adjacent genetically modified crops. The protein enters streams through runoff and when corn leaves, stalks, and plant parts are washed into stream channels. Genetically-modified plants are a mainstay of large-scale agriculture in the American Midwest, where corn is a dominant crop. In 2009, more than ...

Burness Communications Godwin Atser g.atser@cgiar.org 234-803-443-0027 CGIAR Scientists arrive in Senegal to give African hunger a black eye At the World Cowpea Research Conference, crop experts embrace one of agriculture's oldest legumes -- prized for protein and resilience to hot, dry climates -- as food for people, livestock and astronauts This release is available in French. DAKAR, SENEGAL (27 September 2010)—A long neglected crop with the potential to halt hunger for millions in Africa, sustain the livestock revolution underway in developing countries, ...

Researchers in the Midwest are developing microelectronic circuitry to guide the growth of axons in a brain damaged by an exploding bomb, car crash or stroke. The goal is to rewire the brain connectivity and bypass the region damaged by trauma, in order to restore normal behavior and movement. Pedram Mohseni, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Case Western Reserve University, and Randolph J. Nudo, a professor of molecular and integrative physiology at Kansas University Medical Center, believe repeated communications between distant neurons in ...

Baby boomers appear to be driving a dramatic rise in suicide rates among middle-aged people, a new study finds. The suicide rate for middle-aged people – a group considered relatively protected from suicide and with historically stable suicide rates – took an upward jump between 1999 and 2005, according to research by sociologists Ellen Idler of Emory University and Julie Phillips of Rutgers University. Their study has been published in the September/October issue of the journal Public Health Reports. "The findings are disturbing, because they're a reversal of a long-standing ...

A report presented today by Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner John Dalli to the Agriculture Council concludes that specific measures relating to storing and the application of isolation distances can help limit or avoid the co-mingling of genetically modified (GM) maize with conventional and organic maize. In particular, the Best Practice Document, prepared by the European Coexistence Bureau (ECoB) and published by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), notes that storing seeds adequately and applying spatial isolation are the best ways to limit or ...