Townsville, Australia, 10 November 2008: Coral reef scientists and policy makers from the world's most prominent coral reef nations are meeting in Australia this week to develop urgent action plans to rescue the world's richest centre of marine biodiversity from gradual decline.
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NEW ORLEANS - After studying the sleep characteristics of nearly 11,000 adults in an overnight sleep laboratory, Mayo Clinic researchers suggest that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) - and, in particular, the low nighttime oxygen saturation of the blood it causes - may be a risk factor for sudden cardiac death (SCD).
OSA is a condition that disrupts breathing during sleep and is associated with obesity.
The study identified OSA as one of two traits that contribute to the highest risk of SCD. The other is age - patients who are 60 years old or older.
Dense networks of blood vessels thought to spur cancer's growth could actually hinder rather than promote tumor progression, according to a new study at the University of California, San Diego.
The findings partly explain why drugs designed to treat cancer by strangling its blood supply have been disappointing when used alone and why those treatments are more effective when combined with traditional chemotherapy.
Inside every axon is a dendrite waiting to get out. Hedstrom et al. converted mature axons into dendrites by banishing a protein crucial for neuron development. The results suggest that this transformation could occur after nerve cell damage.
The study, to be published in the Nov. 17 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology, will be available online Nov. 10.
Use of radiology imaging tests has soared in the past decade with a significant increase in newer technologies, according to a new study that is the first to track imaging patterns in a managed care setting over a substantial time period.
Study results are reported in the November/December 2008 issue of the journal Health Affairs, which focuses on the pros and cons of the medical technology boom, the biggest driver of increasing healthcare costs.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- An Indiana University study found that young, female breast cancer survivors often suffer from sexual and intimate relationship issues and are interested in using sexual enhancement products to treat these problems.
The study, "Young Female Breast Cancer Survivors: Their sexual function and interest in sexual enhancement products and services," was published Nov. 4 in the journal Cancer Nursing.
The study was funded by The Patty Brisben Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering research related to women's sexual health.
Flu shots may reduce the risk of blood clots forming in veins by 26 percent, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2008.
"Our study suggests for the first time that vaccination against influenza may reduce the risk of venous thrombotic embolism (VTE)," said Joseph Emmerich, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the study and professor of vascular medicine at the University Paris Descartes and head of the INSERM Lab 765, which investigates thrombosis. "This protective effect was more pronounced before the age of 52 years."
Heart failure is reaching epidemic levels among seniors in the United States, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2008.
In a report on progress towards the first Census of Marine Life, more than 2,000 scientists from 82 nations announce astonishing examples of recent new finds from the world's ocean depths.
As more than 500 delegates gather for the World Conference on Marine Biodiversity (Valencia, Spain Nov. 11-15), organized by the Census's European affiliate program on
HIV is a master of disguise, able to rapidly change its identity and hide undetected in infected cells. But now, in a long-standing collaborative research effort partially-funded by the Wellcome Trust, scientists from Oxford-based Adaptimmune Limited, in partnership with the Universities of Cardiff and Pennsylvania have engineered immune cells to act as "bionic assassins" that see through HIV's many disguises.
PHILADELPHIA – Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and colleagues in the United Kingdom have engineered T cells able to recognize HIV-1 strains that have evaded the immune system. The findings of the study, published online in the journal Nature Medicine, have important implications for developing new treatments for HIV, especially for patients with chronic infection who fail to respond to antiretroviral regimens.
Researchers have developed a new type of small-scale electric power generator able to produce alternating current through the cyclical stretching and releasing of zinc oxide wires encapsulated in a flexible plastic substrate with two ends bonded.
BOSTON -- The question of whether or not to continue to pursue the development of T-cell-based HIV-1 vaccines has been a source of controversy following last year's widely publicized failure of the field's most promising candidate, a vaccine developed by Merck known as V520.
Now a study led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) provides the proof-of-concept that a T-cell-based strategy remains a viable course to follow.
Neither vitamin E nor vitamin C supplements reduced the risk of major cardiovascular events in a large, long-term study of male physicians, according to a study in the November 12 issue of JAMA. The article is being released early online November 9 to coincide with the scientific presentation of the study findings at the American Heart Association meeting.
Low-dose aspirin as primary prevention did not appear to significantly reduce the risk of a combined end point of coronary, cerebrovascular and peripheral vascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a new study in JAMA. However, aspirin did significantly reduce the combination of fatal coronary and fatal cerebrovascular events. The article is being released early online Sunday, November 9 to coincide with its scientific presentation at the American Heart Association meeting. The study will appear in the November 12 print issue of JAMA.