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Medicine4 Jan 2011

Use of amniotic membrane may cause complications in strabismus surgery

Philadelphia, PA, January 3, 2011 – Postoperative adhesions are a major complication in strabismus surgery. Amniotic membrane has been used in the hopes of preventing these adhesions by forming a biological barrier during healing. In an article in the December 2010 issue of the Journal of AAPOS, the Official Publication of the American Association of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, a team of researchers from Cairo University have discovered that the new approach may also have the opposite effect. Dr. Rehab Kassem and coauthors describe how they wrapped the extraocular ...

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Energy4 Jan 2011

FSU researchers helping electric-wheelchair users move more easily

Thick gravel, mud, snow, steep ramps or hills . . . They might get a pedestrian a little dirty or out of breath, but to someone in an electric wheelchair, they could mean terrain that's simply too difficult to cross alone. To address this problem, researchers at the Florida A&M University-Florida State University College of Engineering are working on technology that will enable electric-powered wheelchairs to detect hazardous terrain and automatically adjust their control settings to maneuver more safely. Emmanuel Collins is the John H. Seely Professor of Mechanical ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2011

Peptide delivers 1-2 punch to breast cancer in pre-clinical study

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center (WFUBMC) have discovered what may become a new weapon in the fight against breast cancer. For the first time, a peptide found in blood and tissue has been shown to inhibit the growth of human breast tumors in mice, according to a study recently published in the journal Cancer Research. Patricia E. Gallagher, Ph.D., and E. Ann Tallant, Ph.D., scientists in the Hypertension and Vascular Research Center at WFUBMC, demonstrated that the peptide angiotensin-(1-7) attacked breast cancer in two ...

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Science4 Jan 2011

Researchers measure quality of care in oral anticoagulation

(Boston) - Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and the Bedford VA Medical Center believe that risk-adjusted percent time in therapeutic range (TTR) should be used as part of an effort to improve anticoagulation control and thus improve patient outcomes. These findings appear in this month's issue of Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. Oral anticoagulation with warfarin is received by millions of Americans each year to treat blood clots and to prevent strokes. While warfarin is effective, it is difficult to thin a patient's blood ...

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Science4 Jan 2011

New research reveals unexpected biological pathway in glaucoma

(Baltimore, MD) — In a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Early Edition ahead of print), a team of researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Institute and four collaborating institutions, identified a new and unexpected biological pathway that appears to contribute to the development of glaucoma and its resulting vision loss. Prior research has suggested that the optic nerve head, the point where the cables that carry information from the eye to the brain first exit the eye, plays a role in glaucoma. In this study, researchers report ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2011

Wastewater treatment lowers pathogen levels

Madison, WI DECEMBER 30, 2010 – A recent study by a team of researchers at the University of Arizona has tracked the incident of pathogens in biosolids over a 19 year period in one major U.S. city. In the same study, the researchers also analyzed pathogen levels in biosolids at 18 wastewater treatment plants in the United States. Their analysis indicates pathogens levels have dropped since the implementation of federal regulations on treating sewage in 1993. These treatment guidelines have proven to be extremely effective with 94% to 99% of all pathogens in biosolids ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2011

Advancements in fertility preservation provide oncology patients new options

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Many young people who've just learned that they have cancer also are told that the therapies that may save their lives could rob them of their ability ever to have children. Infertility caused by chemotherapy and radiation affects a sizable population: Of the 1.5 million people diagnosed with cancer in 2009, nearly 10 percent were still in their reproductive years. The good news, according to an article in the January issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings (http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com ), is that techniques to harvest and store reproductive cells ...

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Social Science4 Jan 2011

Anti-bullying program reduces malicious gossip on school playgrounds

Elementary school students who participated in a three-month anti-bullying program in Seattle schools showed a 72 percent decrease in malicious gossip. The study, led by the University of Washington, is the first to show that the widely-used Steps to Respect bullying prevention program can curb children's gossip, an element of playground culture often seen as harmless but capable of causing real harm. "Gossip is an element of bullying, and it can lead to physical bullying," said Karin Frey, a UW research associate professor of educational psychology. "Kids will tell ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2011

Protein wields phosphate group to inhibit cancer metastasis

HOUSTON - By sticking a chemical group to it at a specific site, a protein arrests an enzyme that may worsen and spread cancer, an international research team led by scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reports in the January issue of Nature Cell Biology. In addition to highlighting a novel anti-cancer pathway, the team found that the same deactivation of the enzyme called EZH2 is necessary for the formation of bone-forming cells from the stem cells that make them and other tissues. "EZH2 is overexpressed in aggressive solid tumors and tied ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2011

Mothers key to college-age women receiving HPV vaccine

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Even after young women reach adulthood, their mothers can play a key role in convincing them to receive the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, new research suggests. A study found that college-aged women were more likely to say they had received the HPV vaccine if they had talked to their mother about it. "Mothers talking to their daughters were an important factor in whether young women were vaccinated," said Janice Krieger, lead author of the study and assistant professor of communication at Ohio State University. "It is an encouraging finding, ...

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Science4 Jan 2011

Some banks help keep mortgage holders out of default, studies find

COLUMBUS, Ohio – While the nation's foreclosure crisis has focused blame on bad loan practices by some lenders, new research shows how some banks may have actually reduced the default risk of their homebuyers. Researchers found that low-income homeowners who received a mortgage from a local lender were less likely to default on their loans than are those who borrowed from a more distant bank or mortgage company. Even if two similar homeowners received the same home loan, with the same interest rate, the one who got the loan at the local lender might be better off in ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2011

Parallels between cancers, infection suppression reported

Tiny parasitoid wasps can play an important role in controlling the populations of other insect species by laying their eggs inside the larvae of these species. A newly hatched wasp gradually eats the host alive and takes over its body. The host insect is far from defenseless, however. In Drosophila (fruit flies), larvae activate humoral immunity in the fat body and mount a robust cellular response that encapsulates and chokes off the wasp egg. New research by Dr. Shubha Govind, professor of biology at The City College of New York, and colleagues reveals parallels ...

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Science4 Jan 2011

Care of late-preterm preemies may be insufficient

MAYWOOD, Ill. – In the last 15 years the U.S has seen a sharp increase in the number of babies born as late-preterm infants, between 34 and 37 weeks' gestation. This is approximately 400,000 children each year, comprising over 70 percent of all preterm births. Often, late-preterm infants are treated the same as full-term infants since they are commonly a similar size and weight. Growing research is showing that this can be detrimental to a late-preterm infant's health and frequently results in readmission to the hospital within the first month of life. "Late-preterm infants ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2011

ATS issues statement on the treatment of pulmonary fungal infections

The American Thoracic Society has released a new official clinical policy statement on the treatment of fungal infections in adult pulmonary and critical care patients. The statement replaces ATS guidelines published in 1988, and takes into account new medications and treatment approaches, as well as provides an overview of emerging fungi. The statement appears in the January 1, 2011, issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Pulmonary fungal infections occur commonly in patients whose immune systems are compromised, either by an underlying ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2011

U-M study: Kids frequently exposed to medical imaging procedures that use radiation

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The rapid growth in use of medical diagnostic imaging, such as CT scans, has led to widespread concern about radiation exposure in adults and the potential for future cancer risk in patients undergoing these tests. A new study led by University of Michigan researchers now shows that kids also frequently receive these types of imaging procedures during their routine clinical care, and highlights the importance of initiatives to ensure that those tests being performed are necessary and use the lowest possible doses of radiation. "Our findings indicate ...

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Science4 Jan 2011

CHOP-led study detects dozens of genes for adult height

As much as 90 percent of variation in adult height may be caused by genetic inheritance, but a multitude of genes are involved. Most of these have yet to be discovered. Now a new meta-analysis of data from more than 100,000 people has identified variants in over two dozen genes that were not previously associated with height. The study also confirmed genetic associations in more than 30 previously known height genes. "Although the discoveries may not have immediate clinical use, the approach we used will undoubtedly be helpful in discovering genes that influence other ...

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Earth Science4 Jan 2011

January 2011 Geology and GSA Today highlights

Boulder, CO, USA - GEOLOGY studies ancient rain to understand uplift in the North American Cordillera; synchronous colonization of magnetotactic bacteria in four freshwater lakes in Norway; the role of ocean islands and coastal mountain ranges in organic carbon retention; the 4-million-year-old Godzilla megamullion; ice-free oases on Snowball Earth; rock hyrax middens as palaeoenvironmental archives; and levee failures along the Mississippi River corridor. GSA TODAY presents findings of microbial life inside fluid inclusions modern and ancient buried salt crystals. Keywords: ...

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Social Science4 Jan 2011

Transcriptome analysis, organ culture methods featured in Cold Spring Harbor Protocols

COLD SPRING HARBOR, N.Y. (Mon., Jan. 3, 2011) -- New technologies and methods are spurring a renaissance in the study of organogenesis. Organogenesis, essentially the process through which a group of cells becomes a functioning organ, has important connections to biological processes at the cellular and developmental levels, and its study offers great potential for medical treatments through tissue engineering approaches. The January issue of Cold Spring Harbor Protocols (http://cshprotocols.cshlp.org/TOCs/toc1_11.dtl) features a method from Washington University's Hila ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2011

Clinical decision support systems help control inappropriate medical imaging, study suggests

Researchers from Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, WA, have found that clinical decision support systems can help reduce inappropriate medical imaging, including unnecessary computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, according to a study in the January issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology (www.jacr.org). "Clinical decision support systems are point-of-order decision aids, usually through computer order entry systems, that provide real-time feedback to providers ordering imaging tests, including information on test ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2011

Medicare payments for medical imaging are higher to nonradiologist physicians than to radiologists

Researchers have found that Medicare payments for non-invasive medical imaging, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) scans, are now higher to non-radiologists than to radiologists, according to a study in the January issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology (www.jacr.org). "Radiologists have always been considered the physicians who "control" non-invasive diagnostic imaging (NDI) and are primarily responsible for its growth. Yet non-radiologists have become increasingly aggressive in their performance and interpretation ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2011

Study finds problems with reviewing medical images from portable media

Radiologists and referring clinicians frequently use portable media (CDs, DVDs) to review patient medical images acquired at outside imaging centers, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) scans, but issues regarding access, importability, and viewing of these portable media exist, according to a study in the January issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology (www.jacr.org). "Because of the multitude of user interface software applications, file formats, hardware configurations, security settings, and types of media in use ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2011

Study shows vitamin D deficiencies may impact onset of autoimmune lung disease

CINCINNATI—A new study shows that vitamin D deficiency could be linked to the development and severity of certain autoimmune lung diseases. These findings are being reported in the Jan. 4 edition of the journal Chest. Brent Kinder, MD, UC Health pulmonologist, director of the Interstitial Lung Disease Center at the University of Cincinnati and lead investigator on the study, says vitamin D deficiencies have been found to affect the development of other autoimmune diseases, like lupus and type 1 diabetes. "We wanted to see if lack of sufficient vitamin D would also ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2011

Estrogen may help precancerous cells spread in oral cavity

PHILADELPHIA — Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common type of cancer and is on the rise in some demographic groups, including young women without any known risk factors. Now, researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center report that estrogen may increase the movement of precancerous cells in the mouth and thus promote the spread of the disease within the oral cavity. The new results, published in the January issue of Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, may lead to novel chemoprevention strategies in the future. Margie ...

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Science4 Jan 2011

News briefs from the January issue of Chest

DATA SHOWS OMALIZUMAB SAFE AND EFFECTIVE FOR MODERATE TO SEVERE ASTHMA New research suggests that subcutaneous omalizumab is safe and effective an add-on treatment to corticosteroids for moderate to severe asthma in children and adults. Researchers from Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile performed a meta-analysis on eight trials where 1,883 patients received omalizumab and 1,546 received a placebo. At the end of the steroid reduction phase, patients taking omalizumab were more likely to have corticosteroids withdrawn completely compared with those taking placebo. Furthermore, ...

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Science4 Jan 2011

Riveting new memoir presents previously untold story of the auto racing careers of movie legend Paul Newman, actor Tom Cruise, and football legend Walter Payton

Decent Hill announces the publication of an exciting new memoir Racing with the Stars by A. J. Graziano. This memoir uncovers the untold racing careers of movie legend Paul Newman, actor Tom Cruise, and football legend Walter Payton. Racing with the Stars is now available in paperback and as an eBook at the following retailers: Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936085399 Powell's: http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9781936085408-0 Decent Hill: http://www.decenthill.net/Racing-with-the-Stars-Paperback-9781936085392.htm DRM-free PDF eBook: http://www.decenthill.net/Racing-with-the-Stars-PDF-eBook-9781936085408.htm ...

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