Houston, Tex. – November 24, 2008 – A new study finds that youth populations with sickle cell disease (SCD) are receiving inadequate healthcare, and thus may fail to benefit from scientific advances. The study, published in Pediatric Blood & Cancer, finds that the patients, mostly African Americans, often lack insurance or access to specialized sickle cell centers for treatment.
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Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered that a drop in blood potassium levels caused by diuretics commonly prescribed for high blood pressure could be the reason why people on those drugs are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes. The drugs helpfully accelerate loss of fluids, but also deplete important chemicals, including potassium, so that those who take them are generally advised to eat bananas and other potassium-rich foods to counteract the effect.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The vacancy sign is on, but the lowlifes who check in never check out.
Scientists at the University of Florida and the University of New Mexico have created tiny microscopic spheres that trap and kill harmful bacteria in a manner the scientists liken to "roach motels" snaring and killing cockroaches. The research could lead to new coatings that will disinfect common surfaces, combat bioterrorism or sterilize medical devices, reducing the devices' responsibility for an estimated 1.4 million infection-related deaths each year.
LA JOLLA, CA—November 24, 2008—Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have figured out how a macromolecular machine is able to unwind the long and twisted tangles of DNA within a cell's nucleus so that genetic information can be "read" and used to direct the synthesis of proteins, which have many specific functions in the body.
The scientists say that their findings, published in the November 23, 2008 online issue of Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, provide important new insights into this critical DNA unwinding.
Biochemists at North Carolina State University have answered a fundamental question of how important bacterial proteins make life-and-death decisions that allow them to function, a finding that could provide a new target for drugs to disrupt bacterial decision-making processes and related diseases.
HOUSTON - A new species of bacterium that causes leprosy has been identified through intensive genetic analysis of a pair of lethal infections, a research team reports in the December issue of the American Journal of Clinical Pathology.
All cases of leprosy, an ancient disease that still maims and kills in the developing world, previously had been thought to be caused by a single species of bacterium, said lead author Xiang-Yang Han, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in Laboratory Medicine at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Female flies can turn back the biological clock and extend their lifespan at the same time, University of Southern California biologists report.
Their study, published online this month in Molecular Genetics and Genomics, casts doubt on the old notion of a tradeoff between reproduction and longevity.
Popular wisdom and scientific opinion have held that "the more you reproduce, the shorter you're going to live," said senior author John Tower, associate professor of biological sciences at USC College.
PHILADELPHIA - Flip open any biology textbook and you're bound to see a complicated diagram of the inner workings of a cell, with its internal scaffolding, the cytoskeleton, and how it maintains a cell's shape. Yet the fundamental question remains, which came first: the shape, or the skeleton?
Now a research team led by Phong Tran, PhD, Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has the answer: Both.
Troy, N.Y. – There was something peculiar about dolphins that stumped prolific British zoologist Sir James Gray in 1936.
He had observed the sea mammals swimming at a swift rate of more than 20 miles per hour, but his studies had concluded that the muscles of dolphins simply weren't strong enough to support those kinds of speeds. The conundrum came to be known as "Gray's Paradox."
STANFORD, Calif. — Physicians and policy-makers know that drugs are frequently prescribed to treat certain diseases despite a lack of FDA approval — a practice known as off-label prescribing. Yet they say the problem is so big they don't know how to begin tackling it.
College Park, MD – November 24, 2008 – A new study in the Journal of Marriage and Family examined differences in the amount and type of time that single, cohabiting, and married mothers spend with their children. Cohabiting and married mothers spend similar amounts of time caring for their children. Results show that single mothers spend less time with their children than married mothers. However, if single mothers had the same level of education and employment as married mothers, they would spend the same amount of time with their children.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A new study involving health care systems in 21 countries -- and the prospects for change in response to such common pressures as rising costs and aging populations -- casts doubt on the possibility of major overhauls of any of these systems because of the history and traditions that created them.
NovoCure Ltd. presented results yesterday evaluating the Novo-TTF device in vitro and in a pilot clinical trial that showed the device enhanced the efficacy of standard chemotherapy (temozolomide) treatment in newly-diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) patients. When used in combination with standard chemotherapy, the Novo-TTF, a non-invasive medical device that uses low intensity alternating electric fields to destroy cancer cells, enhanced the anti-tumor effects of standard chemotherapy, thus prolonging time to disease progression and extending survival.
Chicago, IL – November 24, 2008 – A new study in the journal Family Relations examined the effects of a mother's psychological control on the risk for depression of African American adolescents. Researchers found that girls whose mothers played mental games with them like making them feel guilty or withdrawing expressions of love reported much higher levels of depressive symptoms and lower levels of personal agency.
Psychological control did not affect the psychological well-being of boys.
OAK BROOK, Ill. – November 24, 2008 – A cost-effectiveness analysis conducted by researchers at Stanford University Hospital in Calif., shows that an initial double-balloon enteroscopy (DBE) is a cost-effective approach for patients with obscure gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. However, capsule-directed DBE (which is when the findings from an initial small bowel capsule endoscopy exam are used to guide the DBE procedure) may be preferred as the initial test due to the potential for fewer complications and decreased utilization of endoscopic resources.