Health, Medicine & Diseases
Feeds updated every 4 hours
(
American Academy of Sleep Medicine) Neurobehavioral impairments such as delayed reaction times accumulated across a period of five days when sleep was restricted to less than four hours per night. Measures of alertness improved significantly after a night of recovery sleep, with larger doses of sleep producing greater gains. Yet some neurobehavioral deficits continued to linger after the maximum recovery dose of 10 hours in bed, during which participants slept for an average of about nine hours.
(
University of Rochester) A new membrane developed at the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics blocks gas from flowing through it when one color of light is shined on its surface, and permits gas to flow through when another color of light is used. It is the first time that scientists have developed a membrane that can be controlled in this way by light.
(
American Academy of Sleep Medicine) The risk of any cardiovascular disease for adults who reported sleeping five hours per day or less was more than two times higher than that of people who reported a daily sleep duration of seven hours (adjusted odds ratio = 2.20). Participants who reported sleeping nine hours or more per day also had an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease (adjusted OR = 1.57). Results were adjusted for potential confounders including smoking, diabetes, hypertension and depression.
(
American Academy of Sleep Medicine) At 2 to 4 weeks of age, the mean strength of a pulsatile air-jet stimulus that was required to induce arousal during quiet sleep was significantly lower in male infants than female infants. At 2 to 3 months of age when the SIDS risk peaks, this gender difference in arousal threshold was no longer significant. Results suggest that there are no gender differences in arousability that could increase the vulnerability of male infants to SIDS.
High schools throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania are invited to join Shire's The Great Food Fight!, the first regional student food drive to fight hunger. The goal: to collect 25 tons of food - the equivalent of 50,000 meals - for Philabundance and the thousands of local families who rely on the food services they provide. Shire will present the school that collects the most food per student a grand prize of $10,000.
Practitioners of clinical medicine are familiar with learning curves, and strategies like simulation are increasingly used to minimize learning-curve effects on clinical care. Because similar learning curves have been hinted at in some clinical trials, researchers at Duke University Medical Center studied the phenomenon in the data record of a large, multi-site clinical trial. Their findings point to ways to improve the quality of future trials through better training and simulation exercises.
Complete Genomics, Inc. announced today that it has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission relating to the proposed initial public offering of shares of its common stock. The shares of common stock to be sold in this offering are proposed to be sold solely by Complete Genomics, Inc.
Local ice cream entrepreneur Nathan Heron's popular ice cream concession on Blackpool's famous South Pier will see the launch of a world first - Omega Ice Creams. 'Blackpool is the world's No.1 ice cream eating city.' says Nathan, 'And I love coming up with new ideas - and making a great summer treat like an ice cream healthier with a squeeze of Omega-3 sauce is a great idea!'
bioMerieux, a world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics, and Hyglos GmbH, the leader in applied phage protein technology, today announced that a team of scientists who developed a new diagnostic tool for food microbiologists is the recipient of the 2010 Food Safety Innovation Award given by the International Association of Food Protection.
mBeach Software Inc. today announced a strategy of targeting new international market opportunities. In particular, the company has identified the emerging markets of Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States.
Hockey fans likely would assume that body-checking -- intentionally slamming an opponent against the boards -- causes the most injuries in youth ice hockey. But they would be wrong.
The National Labor Relations Board has scheduled a government-protected mail ballot election beginning Sept. 13 for nearly 44,000 Kaiser Permanente workers to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers and kick out the incumbent union SEIU.
The Annual ACA Convention attendees will be the first to see 2 new products from Prime Coat Coating Systems. Path-O-Cide and Fiber Coat with Kevlar will revolutionize the way that correctional facilities are constructed and refurbished for the near future.
Teenage years have long been linked with a heightened concern with appearance. Some reality TV shows take full advantage and tout happiness as just a nip/tuck away. A Rutgers-Camden psychologist has found that teens fond of these kinds of programs are more likely to join the millions who go under the knife each year. For bodies - and minds - still in development, these drastic decisions could have implications way after prom.
An RNA fragment known to be implicated in Parkinson's has been shown to cause the death of neurons in the brains of fruit flies

(
UT Southwestern Medical Center) Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have uncovered a key step in the creation of new red blood cells in an animal study.
(
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) Pediatric researchers have discovered a new biological pathway in which small segments of RNA, called microRNA, help protect red blood cells from injury caused by chemicals called free radicals. The microRNA seems to have only a modest role when red blood cells experience normal conditions, but steps into action when the cells are threatened by oxidant stress. The study illustrates how microRNA fine-tunes gene activity.
(
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute) Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researchers in Melbourne, Australia, have made a discovery that has upended scientists' understanding of programmed cell death and its role in tumor formation.
(
World Journal of Gastroenterology) Vanishing bile duct syndrome (VBDS) is an important cause of jaundice, and results from destruction of bile ducts in the liver. However, this syndrome is rare in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection. Nevirapine, an anti-retroviral that is being increasingly used, was implicated as the cause of VBDS in a patient described in a recent report.
(
Michigan State University) With the help of a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, Michigan State University is creating a cross-discipline, mentored program designed to increase the number and diversity of researchers in women's health.
(
Infectious Diseases Society of America) A new, drug-resistant strain of E. coli is causing serious disease, according to a new study, now available online, in the Aug. 1, 2010, issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.
(
Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres) Researchers from the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat in Munich have shown that the ADAM10 protein can inhibit the formation of beta-amyloid, which is responsible for Alzheimer's disease. ADAM10 acts like a pair of molecular scissors to cut the protein from which beta-amyloid is formed, effectively preventing the formation of beta-amyloid. This makes ADAM10 a key molecule in Alzheimer's therapy.
The personal genomics industry has been bruised by the US Congress, but embracing sensible regulation could shift it to the heart of clinical medicine

A pathologist in the UK who argues that symptoms of "shaken baby syndrome" can have an innocent cause has been prevented from testifying in court

Attempts to treat the world's most common form of dementia may have been attacking its symptoms, not its root cause

(
Harvard University) Public immunization efforts may be much more sensitive than previously realized to small changes in the perceived costs or risks of vaccination, scientists at Harvard University report this week. In some cases, the spread of vaccine avoidance via social networks can make the difference between a minor, localized outbreak and an epidemic four times as large.
(
McGill University) The key to the fate of the macrophages is the balance between two kinds of eicosanoids. Eicosanoids are molecules that contribute to the control of our immune system. The genetic code of TB bacteria enables it to tip this balance in favor of necrosis, and human genetic analysis revealed that modification in eicosanoids production is associated with susceptibility or resistance to TB. Fortunately, drugs that target the production of eicosanoids are already in use for treating other inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.
(
Elsevier Health Sciences) New research shows that individuals with mild H1N1 infection may go undetected using standard diagnostic criteria, according to a study in the August issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. The study concludes that coughing or other respiratory symptoms are more accurate in determining influenza infection than presence of a fever.
(
University of Washington) Researchers have discovered a novel mechanism in Salmonella that affects is virulence and its susceptibility to antibiotics. The mechanism changes the bacteria's production of proteins in a previously unheard of manner. It allows Salmonella to selectively change its levels of certain proteins to respond to inhospital conditions. Although the mechanism had not been recognized before, scientists found evidence of a similar mechanism in all five kingdoms of life. The mechanism appears to have been conserved throughout the course of evolution.
Australian public health watchdog says campaigners' claims about vaccines are misleading, inaccurate and may be dangerous to public health

The UK Medical Research Council saw test-tube baby researchers Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards as "publicity hounds" and their work as irrelevant

A device that picks up a person's sniffs could help those with locked-in syndrome control wheelchairs or surf the web

(
Public Library of Science) To take full advantage of recent increased financial commitments from some governments, international agencies, and philanthropies, accurate and up-to-date mapping of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) needs to be implemented to help improve the precision of decision-making in NTD control and elimination, says a new editorial, "The Global Atlas of Helminth Infection: Mapping the Way Forward in Neglected Tropical Disease Control," published July 27 in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
(
Public Library of Science) Rogier van Doorn and colleagues from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, present a Learning Forum article in this week's PLoS Medicine that describes three unusual cases of patients with listerial meningitis.
(
University of Pennsylvania) The mechanism by which a herpes virus invades cells has remained a mystery to scientists, but now researchers reveals the unusual structure of a key member of the protein complex that allows a herpes virus to invade cells. The new map details an essential piece of the herpes virus "cell-entry machinery," providing scientists with a new target for antiviral drugs.
(
Journal of Clinical Investigation) This release contains summaries, links to PDFs, and contact information for papers to be published July 26, 2010, in the JCI: "Reducing the health risks of obesity without serious side effects"; "Predicting drug responsiveness in cancer patients"; "Flushing out key limitations to a drug that protects against heart attack"; "Function of rare immune cell uncovered"; and "The protein Sema3E: the black sheep in the Sema3 family."
(
Albert Einstein College of Medicine) For the third time in four months, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health has awarded Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University a research grant aimed at helping people infected with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.
It's OK to fly even if you have serious heart problems, according to this week's advice from the British Cardiovascular Society

Mice lacking rod and cone cells can still navigate mazes. They must be using a third light receptor previously thought to have no role in vision
Using clinical and embryo data from a failed IVF attempt could better predict the likelihood of subsequent success
