An international team of scientists and physicians used a combination of sophisticated emerging technologies and data analysis to detect 14 simple metabolites with high accuracy to predict in early pregnancy which women are at risk of developing preeclampsia in later pregnancy, according to a study reported in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association. Currently there is no predictive test for the condition and no cure other than delivery of the baby. Preeclampsia is a life-threatening condition characterized by high blood pressure and high levels of protein ...

Publicly available information about board certification, education and malpractice claims appear to provide consumers with little information about the quality of care individual physicians provide, according to a report in the September 13 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "To improve the quality of care received by their beneficiaries, some health plans use physician report cards and tiered physician networks to steer their members toward physicians who provide high-quality care. However, most patients do not have access to ...

A lifestyle intervention incorporating exercise training and diet counseling in primary health care settings appears to improve quality of life among adults at moderate to high risk for heart disease and appears cost-effective compared to standard care, according to a report in the September 13 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Most individuals in developed countries do not reach recommended levels of physical activity, and are thus at higher risk of illness and death, according to background information in the article. "Extensive ...

An initial analysis suggests that biomarkers in blood serum can be combined with clinical information to accurately classify patients with Alzheimer's disease, according to a report in the September issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "There is clearly a need for reliable and valid diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease, and in recent years, there has been an explosive increase of effort aimed at identifying such markers," the authors write as background information in the article. "It has been previously argued that, ...

Adding albuterol, a compound commonly used to treat asthma and other respiratory diseases, to an existing treatment for patients with multiple sclerosis appears to improve clinical outcomes, according to a report in the September issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by the degeneration of myelin, which coats nerve cells in the white matter of the central nervous system. Patients with the condition have been found to have elevated levels of interleukin-12, a biological ...

A pilot study suggests the diabetes medication pioglitazone is generally well tolerated and may warrant further study as a treatment for patients with Alzheimer's disease, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the January 2011 print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Alzheimer's disease is an immense and growing public health problem," the authors write as background information in the article. "Although prescription drug therapy for the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease has been available since 1993, these agents ...

Taking oral antiviral medications following infection with the herpes simplex virus may be associated with a reduced risk of recurring eye-related manifestations of the disease, according to a report in the September issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a common cause of corneal disease and is the leading infectious cause of corneal blindness among developed nations," the authors write as background information in the article. After the initial exposure to the virus and the resulting systemic infection, ...

STANFORD, Calif. - Repeated use of an antibiotic that is considered generally benign, because users seldom incur obvious side effects, induces cumulative and persistent changes in the composition of the beneficial microbial species inhabiting the human gut, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found. By a conservative estimate, something like 1,000 different varieties of microbes coexist harmoniously within a typical healthy person's gut, said David Relman, MD, professor of medicine and of microbiology and immunology at the medical school and ...

Unlike adults, children are able to keep information from their senses separate and may therefore perceive the visual world differently, according to research published today. Scientists at UCL (University College London) and Birkbeck, University of London have found that children younger than 12 do not combine different sensory information to make sense of the world as adults do. This does not only apply to combining different senses, such as vision and sound, but also to the different information the brain receives when looking at a scene with one eye compared to both ...

In work suggesting a new approach to treating polycystic kidney disease (PKD), a leading cause of kidney failure, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston were able to block the formation of fluid-filled cysts, the hallmark of the disease, in a mouse model. Their findings, using a compound that inhibits a receptor known as c-Met, will be published in the September 13th online edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation. PKD is the most common fatal genetic disease affecting Caucasians in the U.S. Currently, there is no approved treatment to halt cyst growth, which ...

Cognitive scientists from the University of Rochester have discovered that playing action video games trains people to make the right decisions faster. The researchers found that video game players develop a heightened sensitivity to what is going on around them, and this benefit doesn't just make them better at playing video games, but improves a wide variety of general skills that can help with everyday activities like multitasking, driving, reading small print, keeping track of friends in a crowd, and navigating around town. In an upcoming study in the journal Current ...

(New York, NY) Nearly half the surgeons who made at least $1 million in payments from orthopedic device companies did not have that relationship published in their scientific articles, according to a study released today in the on-line edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine. The study shows that readers are not being adequately informed about conflicts of interest even when the funds involved are significant. The study, conducted by researchers at the New York-based Institute on Medicine as a Profession (IMAP), is the first of its kind to use company records ...

New York (September 13, 2010) - According to a new study a protein crucial for the immune response appears to be a key player in the progression of a devastating form of childhood leukemia called T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). Suppressing the activity of the protein kills the leukemic cells, the study shows, opening a potential avenue to new drugs that could prevent progression of the disease. Led by Iannis Aifantis, PhD, associate professor of pathology and director of the Cancer Stem Cell Program at the NYU Cancer Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center, ...

DALLAS – Sept. 13, 2010 – A tiny molecule that spurs the progression of non-small-cell lung cancer could become a player in fighting the disease, say researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center, who published a study on how the molecule behaves in mice in the Sept. 14 issue of Cancer Cell. Scientists have known that the molecule microRNA-21, or miR-21, is present in overabundant quantities in human tumors, including non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Until now, however, it was unclear whether miR-21 contributed to the development of lung cancer, or whether it was simply ...

DAVIS--A research team from the University of California, Davis and Peking University, China, has discovered a novel mechanism as to why the long-term, high-dosage use of the well-known arthritis pain medication, Vioxx, led to heart attacks and strokes. Their groundbreaking research may pave the way for a safer drug for millions of arthritis patients who suffer acute and chronic pain. Using metabolomic profiling to analyze murine (rodent) plasma, the scientists discovered that Vioxx causes a dramatic increase in a regulatory lipid that could be a major contributor to ...

A study led by researchers at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) at St. Paul's Hospital and the University of British Columbia has found that supervised injection facilities such as Vancouver's Insite connect clients with addiction treatment, which in turn resulted in greater likelihood of stopping injection drug use for at least six months. The study, recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, is the first ever to examine the link between a supervised injection facility and injection cessation. "Extensive research has ...

Researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have discovered key plant enzymes that normally make the energy stored in wood, straw, and other non-edible parts of plants difficult to extract. The findings, published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, can be used to improve the viability of sustainable biofuels that do not adversely affect the food chain. The team based at the University of Cambridge, and now part of the BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre (BSBEC), has identified and studied the genes for ...

An antibiotic appears to be a safe treatment for stroke and a good companion therapy for tPA, the clot buster that is currently the only FDA-approved drug therapy, researchers report. A safety study in 60 stroke patients in Georgia, Kentucky and Oregon found the drug well tolerated even at three-and-one-half times the dose currently used for conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, according to a research team led by the Medical College of Georgia and the University of Georgia. "It's cheap, safe, well tolerated, easy to administer and can be given with tPA," said Dr. ...

The theory holds that one of the best ways to attract foreign capital consists in the adoption of a reduced level of taxes in certain cases, and above all, in the provision of legal certainty. This aim of attracting foreign investment inspired the measures for the the Entidades Tenedoras de Valores Extranjeros (ETVE) or Spanish holding companies, adopted in Spain in the late 1990's and which led to the establishment of these companies in Spain by multinational companies. However, things are changing, according the head of the UC3M Research Group of Taxation and Finance ...

Mom's advice about cleaning your hands may finally be starting to get through. In the latest observational study sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology and the American Cleaning Institute® (formerly The Soap and Detergent Association), 85% of adults washed their hands in public restrooms, compared with 77% in 2007. The 85% total was actually the highest observed since these studies began in 1996. The results were announced at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, an infectious disease meeting sponsored by the American Society ...

Albany, NY—September 13, 2010— New research on the children of LGBTQ people (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) has unequivocally revealed that they are not only psychologically healthy, but often appear to exhibit better social and academic adjustment and a significantly lower incidence of social problems than their peers. A new article published in the journal Family Process critically examines this research, and how it impacts LGBTQ families. According to Family Therapist and Social Work professor, Arlene Istar Lev these excellent outcomes might be masking ...

RUSTON, La – Dr. Bogdan Strimbu, assistant professor of biometrics and quantitative silviculture at Louisiana Tech University's School of Forestry, recently organized and conducted a technical session at the International Union of Forest Research Organization's (IUFRO) XXIII World Congress in Seoul, South Korea. The Congress, held every five years, brings together industry leaders from the IUFRO's eight divisions to help form the future research direction for the global field of forestry. The group also decides the organization's general course of research and associated ...

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. (September 13, 2010) – USGI Medical, Inc., the Incisionless Surgery company, today announced that updated multi-center results confirm durability of the company's Expandable Tissue Anchors™ up to a year or more in a variety of incisionless gastrointestinal (GI) procedures, including use of a ROSE procedure (Repair of Surgery, Endolumenal) to repair dilated tissue after gastric bypass. These findings, which demonstrate long-term, secure tissue approximation with this scarless "through the mouth" approach in the largest cohort of patients ever reported, ...

Gardeners are used to cross-breeding flowers to produce pretty petals or sweet scents – now scientists have shown the importance of nature's talent for producing new types of flowers. DNA analysis of wild evergreen rhododendrons in the Himalayas has suggested that hundreds of species of the plant could be derived from hybrids – cross-breeds between different species. Their findings may help explain the rich biodiversity of the natural world, as it shows how random pairings of wild plants millions of years ago has led to the development of hundreds of new species that ...

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators have identified a novel structure in cells that serves as a control switch in the body's system for eliminating damaged cells and also offers new therapeutic potential. The findings provide fresh insight into the machinery at work as cells ramp up production of p53 protein following DNA damage. The p53 protein plays a critical role in how cells respond to the stress that damages DNA. The gene that carries instructions for making p53 protein is the most commonly mutated gene in human cancers. Investigators also identified ...