The formaldehyde added to fabrics to keep clothing looking fresh and wrinkle-free is unlikely to pose a health risk to consumers, according to an article in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS' weekly newsmagazine. C&EN Senior Correspondent David J. Hanson notes that manufacturers have added formaldehyde to fabrics for almost a hundred years to make fabrics easier to care for, particularly to reduce wrinkling in cotton and prevent stains. But concern has emerged over formaldehyde's potential for causing allergic reactions such as skin rashes ...

High testosterone levels in CEOs negotiating mergers and acquisitions are linked to a higher rate of dropped deals and an increase in hostile takeover attempts, according to a new study in the current issue of Management Science, a journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®). "Deal or No Deal: Hormones and the Mergers and Acquisitions Game" is by Maurice Levi, Kai Li, and Feng Zhang of the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia. The study appears in the current issue of Management Science. A podcast ...

Elimination of a molecular gatekeeper leads to the development of arthritis in mice, scientists report in a study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. The newly discovered gatekeeper is a protein that determines the fate – survival or death – of damaging cells that mistakenly attack the body's own tissues and lead to autoimmune disorders such as arthritis. Better understanding how arthritis develops will offer scientists an opportunity to explore new types of treatments for patients whose arthritis has not been effectively treated with current therapies. "This ...

JUPITER, FL, September 8, 2010 – A team led by a Scripps Research Institute scientist has for the first time identified a new gene that is required for memory formation in Drosophila, the common fruit fly. The gene may have similar functions in humans, shedding light on neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease or human learning disabilities. The study was published in the September 9, 2010 edition (Vol. 67, No. 5) of the journal Neuron. "This is the first time we have a new memory and learning gene that lies outside what has been considered the most fundamental ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The wasting disease associated with some cancers that is typically seen affecting skeletal muscles can also cause significant damage to the heart, new research in mice suggests. Before now, cachexia, characterized by muscle wasting and dramatic weight loss, was believed to spare the heart. But an Ohio State University study showed that the condition reduces heart function and changes the heart muscle structure in mice with colon cancer. Previous studies have suggested that cachexia is responsible for between one-fifth and one-third of all cancer deaths. ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Almost three out of four cats in a new study wore collars consistently during a six-month study, suggesting that most cats will tolerate a collar even if their owners are skeptical about its success. In fact, in almost 60 percent of cases, the animals' tolerance of collars exceeded owners' expectations that their cat would keep the collar on without much trouble. The researchers suggest that, armed with this data, veterinarians should include a discussion about the importance of identification during annual wellness exams of pet cats. They also say ...

Two opportunistic pathogens that were once thought to be very different have evolved some sexual reproduction and disease-causing habits that are not only similar but also suggest that in the microbial world sex and virulence are closely linked, according to a review published this week in the online journal mBio™. "Although the mechanisms used by bacterial and fungal species to promote genetic exchange are distinct, recent studies have uncovered surprising parallels between pheromone signaling in these species," says Richard Bennett of Brown University who co-authored ...

Obesity and infertility frequently go hand in hand. Now, researchers reporting on studies of mice in the September issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, might have figured out why that is, and the results come as something of a surprise. "There was a sense that the reproductive dysfunction was due to insulin resistance," said Andrew Wolfe of Hopkins Children's. "What we propose is a fundamentally new model showing that different tissues respond to obesity differently and that while cells in the liver and muscle become insulin resistant, cells in the pituitary ...

New findings reported in the September issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, appear to explain why people who carry specific and common versions of a single gene are more likely to have high cholesterol and to suffer a heart attack. Studies in mice show that the gene, known as sortilin (SORT1), controls the release of LDL (a.k.a. "bad") cholesterol from the liver into the bloodstream. The findings suggest that SORT1 may be a good target for new cholesterol-lowering drugs, according to the researchers. "The vast majority – some 95 percent -- of cardiovascular ...

In children with wrist fractures, a splint is as effective as a cast and provides greater comfort and easier hygiene, found a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj100119.pdf. Distal radius fractures — wrist fractures — are the most common break in children and a frequent reason for emergency department visits. The usual treatment is a short arm cast for four to six weeks with follow up visits to an orthopaedic surgeon. The study, a randomized controlled trial with 92 children aged 5 to ...

Researchers at the Buck Institute for Age Research have discovered a novel way in which insulin affects cell metabolism and cell survival. Surprisingly the insulin signaling pathway, which is involved in aging, diabetes and stress response, is active at a deeper level of cell activity than scientists expected. The study appears in the September 8th issue of Cell Metabolism. Insulin is vitally involved in many cell functions. Buck Institute faculty and lead author Gordon Lithgow, PhD, says scientists have known for years that insulin is involved at the level of cell activity ...

Alcohol abuse and dependence are often associated with a high body mass index (BMI). A new study shows that alcohol-related brain injury may result from a complicated fusion of hazardous drinking, chronic cigarette smoking, and even elevated BMI. Prior research has shown that alcohol abuse and dependence are typically associated with higher rates of obesity, as evidenced by a high body mass index (BMI). Findings from a new study of the relationship between BMI and regional measures of brain structure, metabolite concentrations, and cerebral blood flow suggest that ...

Alcohol consumption, withdrawal, and abstinence can all raise stress hormones in humans and animals. A review has described how stress hormones called glucocorticoids are associated with neurotoxicity during abstinence after withdrawal from alcohol dependence. Glucocorticoid receptor antagonism may therefore represent a pharmacological option for recovery. Both drinking and withdrawal from chronic drinking can raise circulating glucocorticoid levels, known as cortisol in humans and corticosterone in rodents. Prolonged and high concentrations of glucocorticoids can ...

Driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol is a major public health problem. New findings show that people who had relapsed to DUI have subtle deficits in their decision-making abilities. These deficits tend to go undetected through conventional neuropsychological testing. Driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol is a major public health problem. A study of people who had relapsed to DUI found subtle deficits in their decision-making abilities that tend to go undetected through conventional neuropsychological testing. Results will be published in the ...

In one of the first international studies to compare the link between formal education and heart disease and stroke, the incidence of these diseases and certain risk factors decreased as educational levels increased in high-income countries, but not in low- and middle-income countries. Researchers — who reported their study in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association — also found that smoking rates unexpectedly increased with greater education level among women in high-income and low-and middle-income regions. Furthermore, highly educated women in low-and-middle-income ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers have identified a new target for the treatment of lymphoma and are testing a potential new drug in pet dogs afflicted with the disease. At low doses, the compound, called S-PAC-1, arrested the growth of tumors in three of six dogs tested and induced partial remission in a fourth. The results of the study, conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois, appear this month in the journal Cancer Research. The new compound targets a cellular enzyme, procaspase-3, that when activated spurs a cascade of reactions that kill the cell, said ...

The first academic analysis of the 1500 documents unsealed in recent litigation against the pharmaceutical giant Wyeth (now part of Pfizer) reveals unprecedented insights into how pharmaceutical companies use ghostwriters to insert marketing messages into articles published in medical journals. Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman, associate professor in the Department of Physiology at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington DC, analyzed dozens of ghostwritten reviews and commentaries published in medical journals and journal supplements that were used to promote unproven ...

Evaluating the quality of care delivered by individual physicians without accounting for such factors as their patients' socioeconomic status or insurance coverage risks undervaluing the work of those caring for a higher proportion of vulnerable patients. In the Sept. 8 Journal of the American Medical Association a team of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers describe finding that primary care physicians' rankings on common quality measures appear to be associated with the characteristics of the patients they care for. Adjusting physician rankings based on ...

An international consortium of researchers has completed the majority of the genome sequence of the domesticated turkey, publishing it in the online open-access journal PLoS Biology next week. In 2008, the research consortium set out to map the genetic blueprint for the domesticated turkey, the fourth-most popular source of meat in the United States. The complete genome sequence, rapidly acquired using 'next-generation' sequencing technology, promises new data for avian researchers and, ultimately, a better quality product for turkey producers and consumers. "To date, ...

Obese women have a well-known risk for infertility, but a new Johns Hopkins Children's Center study has unraveled what investigators there believe is the mechanism that accounts for the risk. The research, conducted in mice and published online on Sept. 8 in the journal Cell Metabolism, shows that the pituitary gland actively responds to chronically high insulin levels, triggering a cascade of hormonal changes that disrupt ovarian function and impair fertility. The findings challenge the widely held belief that infertility is a result of insulin resistance — a body's ...

An analysis of data from influenza cases in Wisconsin indicates individuals with 2009 H1N1 infections were younger than those with H3N2 (2007-2008), and that the risk of most serious complications was not higher in adults or children with 2009 H1N1 compared with recent seasonal strains, according to a study in the September 8 issue of JAMA. "The pandemic 2009 influenza A(H1N1) virus caused widespread transmission in the United States and other countries. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 43 million to 89 million infections occurred in ...

Patients panels (used to rate the quality of care of physicians) with greater proportions of underinsured, minority and non-English speaking patients were associated with lower physician quality rankings, according to a study in the September 8 issue of JAMA. Physicians have increasingly become the focus of quality performance measurement. Many health care systems now use physician clinical performance assessment as part of their re-credentialing process, and public reporting programs have become widely adopted approaches to influence clinician performance. "These programs ...

Infants who received heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccination (PCV-7) at 2, 4, and 11 months were more likely than unvaccinated controls to have nasopharyngeal (in the nasal passages and upper part of the throat behind the nose) acquisition of pneumococcal serotype 19A, a leading cause of respiratory pneumococcal disease, according to a study in the September 8 issue of JAMA. "A rapid increase in the presence of pneumococcal serotype 19A strains that are often multiresistant to antibiotics has been observed over the last decade. In the United States, serotype 19A ...

Fetal exposure to radiation and the risk of childhood cancer: what is the likelihood of a risk? A new study published in this week's PLoS Medicine aims to evaluate the possibility that exposure of a fetus to computed tomography or radionuclide imaging performed during pregnancy might increase subsequent risk of childhood cancer. The researchers concluded that despite the very large size of their study they were unable to exclude the possibility of a very slight risk, and advise that beta hCG testing (blood pregnancy test) should continue to be done in all potentially ...

There is an association between taking statins (lipid lowering drugs), and reduced risk of developing the chronic inflammatory disease, rheumatoid arthritis. These are the findings of a study by Gabriel Chodick and colleagues, published in this week's PLoS Medicine. The researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study among the 1.8-million members of Maccabi Healthcare Services (a health maintenance organization [HMO]) in Israel to identify adults who regularly took statins and did not have rheumatoid arthritis. Using Maccabi's large automated datasets, the researchers ...