ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Numerous studies have shown that the brain molecule neuropeptide Y (NPY) helps to restore calm after stressful events. A team of University of Michigan-led researchers has now found that people whose genes predispose them to produce lower levels of NPY are more responsive to negative stimuli in key brain circuits related to emotion – and are therefore less resilient in the face of stress and may be at higher risk for developing a major depressive disorder. The scientists hope the research will eventually help with early diagnosis and intervention for ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — As loved ones with dementia disappear into symptoms of aggression, agitation or delusions, families are left with few good medical solutions. A new generation of antipsychotic medications gained popularly in the 1990s because they avoided side effects such as Parkinson's syndrome associated with conventional antipsychotic medications used to treat dementia. But a new study led by University of Michigan and VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System researchers shows the use of these second-generation medications began to decline significantly in 2003, years ahead ...

The bone marrow stem cells responsible for generating new blood cells are less fixed and more flexible than previously thought, according to a paper published online on February 7 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (www.jem.org). Some earlier studies suggested that these hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) come in two distinct varieties: those that remain dormant during times of health but possess the ability to regenerate the whole blood system after trauma such as irradiation or chemotherapy, and those that divide frequently and contribute to new blood production during ...

Never before has a therapy proven more beneficial for women than men in preventing heart disease – until now. A new study, published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, found that women receive a significantly greater benefit – a 70 percent reduction in heart failure and a 72 percent reduction in death – from cardiac resynchronization therapy with defibrillator (CRT-D) than men. "In prior cardiac studies, men and women generally received similar benefit from preventive medical therapy," said cardiologist Arthur J. Moss, M.D., professor of Medicine ...

In a finding of significant worldwide public-health consequence, researchers at the UC Davis School of Medicine and in the Academy of Sciences in the Czech Republic have found that emissions from the indoor use of coal for heating and cooking may impair early childhood growth and development. The research, published online today in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, a JAMA Archives journal, found that children reared in homes where coal was the primary fuel source exhibited shorter stature at 36 months of age when compared with children reared in households ...

Berkeley – New experiments at the University of California, Berkeley, may one day lead to anti-viral treatments that involve swallowing Salmonella bacteria, effectively using one bug to stop another. Researchers at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health have reprogrammed Salmonella, the same foodborne pathogen that can cause diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps, to safely transport virus-stopping enzymes into cells without causing disease. Not only did this technique effectively treat mice infected with cytomegalovirus, it worked as an oral solution that was swallowed ...

Grenoble (France) – A novel X-ray imaging technology is helping scientists better understand how in the course of evolution snakes have lost their legs. The researchers hope the new data will help resolve a heated debate about the origin of snakes: whether they evolved from a terrestrial lizard or from one that lived in the oceans. New, detailed 3-D images reveal that the internal architecture of an ancient snake's leg bones strongly resembles that of modern terrestrial lizard legs. The results are published in the 8 February issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. The ...

A diet, high in fats, sugars, and processed foods in early childhood may lower IQ, while a diet packed full of vitamins and nutrients may do the opposite, suggests research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. The authors base their findings on participants in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), which is tracking the long term health and wellbeing of around 14,000 children born in 1991 and 1992. Parents completed questionnaires, detailing the types and frequency of the food and drink their children consumed ...

Care home residents are more than four times as likely to get the wrong dose of medicine when it is in liquid form as they are when given pills/capsules provided in a dispenser, indicates research published online in BMJ Quality and Safety. Dispensers, known as monitored dosage systems or MDS for short, comprise a tray or cassette with compartments for one or more doses for a particular day or a given time. They are intended to simplify drug rounds for care home staff and cut the risk of mistakes. But swallowing difficulties mean that some elderly people need to take ...

Up to three quarters of hospital tests are not being followed up, suggests a systematic review of international evidence, published in BMJ Quality and Safety. This failure can have serious implications for patients, including missed or delayed diagnoses and even death, the study shows. The authors base their findings on a systematic review of evidence published in English between 1990 and 2010, and available on reputable research databases. Analysis of the findings of the 12 studies which were suitable for inclusion indicated that between 20% and 61% of inpatient ...

San Diego, CA, February 8, 2011 – When the FDA proposed new rules restricting outdoor tobacco advertising near schools and playgrounds in 2009, the tobacco industry argued that such rules would lead to a near complete ban on tobacco advertising in urban areas. An article in the March 2011 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine shows that the effect of these rules would be less severe than the industry contends. "It is critical to point out one subtle, but important difference between the analysis that the tobacco industry conducted and the analysis presented ...

Cannabis use appears to be associated with an earlier onset of psychotic illness, according to a meta-analysis of previously published studies posted online today that will appear in the June print issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. More than 16 million Americans use cannabis on a regular basis, most of whom began using this and other drugs during their teenage years, according to background information in the article. "There is little doubt about the existence of an association between substance use and psychotic illness. National ...

Men and women who have had contact with the criminal justice system—even if they have never received a jail or prison sentence or a guilty verdict—appear to have a significantly higher rate of suicide than the general population, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the June print issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Most published research on suicide and the criminal justice system focuses on prisoners during their incarceration or soon after release, according to background information in the article. Few ...

Patients with schizophrenia who take antipsychotic medications appear to lose a small but measurable amount of brain tissue over time, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Schizophrenia affects 1 percent of the worldwide population and remains a leading cause of chronic disability among young adults, according to background information in the article. Progressive changes in brain volume observed in patients with schizophrenia have been thought to be an effect of the disease. "However, recent ...

A warning issued by the Food and Drug Administration regarding the use of atypical antipsychotics for the treatment of dementia was associated with a significant decline in the use of these medications for treating dementia symptoms in elderly patients, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "In 2001, more than 70 percent of U.S. atypical antipsychotic prescriptions were written for off-label indications such as dementia, and atypical antipsychotics accounted for 82 percent of antipsychotic prescriptions ...

Use of medical, mental health and case management services for young adults with an autism spectrum disorder appears to decline after high school, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "The number of young adults in the United States diagnosed as having an autism spectrum disorder is increasing rapidly as ever-larger cohorts of children identified as having an autism spectrum disorder age through adolescence," according to background information in the article. "Regardless of the ...

Children raised in homes using indoor coal for cooking or heating appear to be about a half-inch shorter at age 36 months than those in households using other fuel sources, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the June print issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Use of coal for indoor heating is widely prevalent in some countries, exposing millions of people to indoor air pollution from coal smoke," the authors write as background information in the article. "Coal combustion emits chemicals ...

Children placed with a relative after being removed from their home for maltreatment have fewer behavioral and social skills problems than children in foster care, but may have a higher risk for substance use and pregnancy as teenagers, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. These relatives—known as kinship caregivers—appear more likely to be single, unemployed, older, and live in poorer households, yet receive fewer support services than do foster caregivers. Most children who are ...

Air hybrids, or pneumatic hybrids as they are also known, are not yet in production. Nonetheless, electric cars and electric hybrid cars already make use of the brake energy, to power a generator that charges the batteries. However, according to Per Tunestål, a researcher in Combustion Engines at Lund University in Sweden, air hybrids would be much cheaper to manufacture. The step to commercialisation does not have to be a large one. "The technology is fully realistic. I was recently contacted by a vehicle manufacturer in India which wanted to start making air hybrids", ...

The same has been found with regard to exposure to music and fashion on the Internet, and to harmful programs on TV. The study also reveals that the risk of developing eating disorders in adolescent girls is moderated when there is more parental supervision over viewing habits. The more time adolescent girls spend in front of Facebook, the more their chances of developing a negative body image and various eating disorders, such as anorexia, bulimia and exaggerated dieting. This has been shown in a new study from the University of Haifa. Eating disorders include a wide ...

Patients with kidney tumours larger than four centimetres are much more likely to enjoy good long-term renal function if they undergo nephron-sparing surgery rather than radical nephrectomy, according to a study in the February issue of the urology journal BJUI. Researchers from the Department of Urology at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, studied 166 patients for up 19 years, with a median follow up of five-and-a-half years. The participants were split into two groups - 81 "younger" patients up to 55 and 85 "older" patients aged 65 and over. They ...

This release is available in Spanish. When we think of rapprochements with science fiction, almost instantly numerous references come to mind in the area of the narrative literature or film. Notwithstanding, since its origins until today, the literature of the theater has given a place to all types of genres and forms, including the genre of science fiction. That is the aim of this research, recently published in Insula, the most widely disseminated literary Hispanist review in the world. The study's author, Julio Enrique Checa, from the Department of Humanities: ...

Jerusalem, February 7, 2011 -- A low cost, nanometer-sized drug to treat chronic wounds, such as diabetic foot ulcers or burns, has been developed by a group of scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Harvard Medical School and others in the U.S. and Japan. Diabetes is a rapidly growing medical problem affecting close to 3 percent of the world's population. Poor blood circulation arising from diabetes often results in skin wounds which do not heal, causing pain, infection and at times amputation of limbs. Several proteins, called growth factors, have ...

Tel Aviv — Ask anyone who has ever tried to squash a skittering cockroach — they're masters of quick and precise movement. Now Tel Aviv University is using their maddening locomotive skills to improve robotic technology too. Prof. Amir Ayali of Tel Aviv University's Department of Zoology says the study of cockroaches has already inspired advanced robotics. Robots have long been based on these six-legged houseguests, whose nervous system is relatively straightforward and easy to study. But until now, walking machines based on the cockroach's movement have been influenced ...

Acupuncture and physical exercise improve hormone levels and menstrual bleeding pattern in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), reveals research from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. PCOS is a common disorder that affects up to 10% of all women of child-bearing age. Women with PCOS frequently have irregular ovulation and menstruation, with many small immature egg follicles in the ovaries. This causes the ovaries to produce more testosterone which, in turn, leads to troublesome hair growth and acne. Obesity, insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease are ...