Body

Montreal, December 3, 2008 – Days when schoolchildren walked to neighbourhood schools are long gone. A new study by a team of researchers led by Paul Lewis, a professor of Urban Planning at the Université de Montréal, shows that only 30 percent of children attending elementary school reach school on foot or by bicycle.

Deerfield, IL, December 3, 2008 – Today, the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), the world's leading professional organization of stem cell researchers, released new guidelines for the responsible development of safe and effective stem cell therapies for patients. A Commentary article that summarizes the Guidelines for the Clinical Translation of Stem Cells will be published by Cell Press in the December issue of Cell Stem Cell, the official affiliated journal of the ISSCR.

Budesonide sprays can be regarded as safe for pregnancy - other asthma drugs have not been as well studied though

Up to 10% of children starting school suffer from sleep disturbances and these may lead to poor performance or behavioral difficulties. In the current edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2007; 105[47]: 809-14), the child and adolescent psychiatrist Gerd Lehmkuhl and his colleagues present the results of a study from Cologne, Germany.

Better targeted, more cost-effective osteoporosis treatment could soon be a reality worldwide. A new method (1) for determining more accurately at which point someone needs further diagnostic tests, or when immediate treatment is warranted, has been developed by The National Osteoporosis Guideline Group in the UK.

Recent media reports based on a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (27 November 2008 issue) have announced that "noninvasive CT scans cannot replace imaging of coronary artery blockages by conventional invasive angiography".

In response, imaging specialist Professor Juhani Knuuti, spokesperson for the European Society of Cardiology and Past-Chair of the ESC Working Group on Nuclear Cardiology and Cardiac CT, emphasizes the following points.

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. – Natural changes in voltage that occur across the membrane of adult human stem cells are a powerful controlling factor in the process by which these stem cells differentiate, according to research published by Tufts University scientists.

London, UK, 03 December 2008 - The "cost" of top-up payments to the NHS are not confined to the cost of the drug and require the NHS to make some long overdue changes or risk financial failure, argue two editorials published in Clinical Oncology, by Elsevier.

Addressing the discrimination against HIV-positive teachers in Africa is a key aim of a new documentary and accompanying book being launched in Senegal today by the Partnership for Child Development based at Imperial College London.

More than 95 per cent of men who took degarelix for prostate cancer saw their testosterone levels fall dramatically as early as three days after they started treatment, according to a paper in the December issue of BJU International.

They also experienced much greater falls in their prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels at 14 and 28 days than men taking leuprolide.

Researchers from Canada, the USA, France, Denmark and the Netherlands studied 610 men as part of the Phase Three trial, randomly assigning them to one of three study groups.

Berkeley -- An anti-cancer compound found in broccoli and cabbage works by lowering the activity of an enzyme associated with rapidly advancing breast cancer, according to a University of California, Berkeley, study appearing this week in the online early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The compound, indole-3-carbinol, is already undergoing clinical trials in humans because it was found to stop the growth of breast and prostate cancer cells in mice.

Chevy Chase, MD—In addition to its strong associations with hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes, pediatric obesity may induce alterations in thyroid function and structure, according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

Chevy Chase, MD—Diets that are high in protein and cereal grains produce an excess of acid in the body which may increase calcium excretion and weaken bones, according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). The study found that increasing the alkali content of the diet, with a pill or through a diet rich in fruits and vegetables has the opposite effect and strengthens skeletal health.

CHICAGO – Minimally invasive, image-guided treatment is a safe and precise method for removal of self-inflicted foreign objects from the body, according to the first report on "self-embedding disorder," or self-injury and self-inflicted foreign body insertion in adolescents. The findings will be presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

CHICAGO – Breast-specific gamma imaging (BSGI) is effective in the detection of cancers not found on mammograms or by clinical exam, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).