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New prostate cancer imaging shows real-time tumor metabolism

A UCSF research collaboration with GE Healthcare has produced the first results in humans of a new technology that promises to rapidly assess the presence and aggressiveness of prostate tumors in real time, by imaging the tumor's metabolism.

This is the first time researchers have used this technology to conduct real-time metabolic imaging in a human patient and represents a revolutionary approach to assessing the precise outlines of a tumor, its response to treatment and how quickly it is growing.

Researcher explores the evolution of largest mammals over the past 100 million years

Researchers have demonstrated that the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago paved the way for mammals to get bigger – about a thousand times bigger than they had been.

The study, released today in the prestigious journal Science, is the first to quantitatively explore the patterns of body size of mammals after the demise of the dinosaurs.

Will this be the end of hamburger disease?

Women with personal history of breast cancer should be screened with MRI

CHICAGO – Women with a personal history of breast cancer should consider annual screening with MRI in addition to mammography, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

Study suggests that being too clean can make people sick

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Young people who are overexposed to antibacterial soaps containing triclosan may suffer more allergies, and exposure to higher levels of Bisphenol A among adults may negatively influence the immune system, a new University of Michigan School of Public Health study suggests.

First-ever covalent irreversible inhibition of a protease central to hepatitis C infection

WALTHAM, MA – November 28, 2010 – Avila Therapeutics™, Inc., a biotechnology company developing novel targeted covalent drugs, has published research in Nature Chemical Biology demonstrating the first-ever selective irreversible inhibition of a viral protease using a targeted covalent drug.

A high BMI in childhood linked to greater heart disease risk in adolescence

Children who have a high body mass index (BMI) between 9 and 12 years of age are more likely to have high blood pressure, cholesterol and blood insulin levels (all risk factors for developing heart disease) by the time they reach adolescence, according to a study published on bmj.com today.

Reassuringly, say the authors, children with a high BMI who shed the weight by the time they reach adolescence have better heart disease risk profiles than those who remain overweight.

Experts question whether patients will use performance data to choose their care

Expectations are high that the public will use performance data to choose their health providers and so drive improvements in quality. But in a paper published on bmj.com today, two experts question whether this is realistic.

They think patient choice is not at present a strong lever for change, and suggest ways in which currently available information can be improved to optimise its effect.

Giants among us: Paper explores evolution of the worlds largest mammals

Athens, Ga. – The largest mammal that ever walked the earth¬—Indricotherium transouralicum, a hornless rhinoceros-like herbivore that weighed approximately seventeen tons and stood about eighteen feet high at the shoulder—lived in Eurasia almost 34

Whale sharks do the math to avoid that sinking feeling

They are the largest fish species in the ocean, but the majestic gliding motion of the whale shark is, scientists argue, an astonishing feat of mathematics and energy conservation. In new research published today in the British Ecological Society's journal Functional Ecology marine scientists reveal how these massive sharks use geometry to enhance their natural negative buoyancy and stay afloat.

Fatal blood clot genetic risk breakthrough announcement

Fatal blood clot genetic risk breakthrough announcement

An international team led by researchers from the Universities of Leicester and Cambridge has announced a breakthrough in identifying people at risk of developing potentially fatal blood clots that can lead to heart attack.

Each 5-degree temperature rise boosts kids' hospital admissions for serious injury by 10 percent

Every 5°C rise in maximum temperature pushes up the rate of hospital admissions for serious injuries among children, reveals one of the largest studies of its kind published online in Emergency Medicine Journal.

Conversely, each 5° C drop in the minimum daily temperature boosts adult admissions for serious injury by more than 3%, while snow prompts an 8% rise, the research shows.

New study reveals how cannabis suppresses immune functions

An international team of immunologists studying the effects of cannabis have discovered how smoking marijuana can trigger a suppression of the body's immune functions. The research, published in the European Journal of Immunology, reveals why cannabis users are more susceptible to certain types of cancers and infections.

Growth-factor gel shows promise as hearing-loss treatment

A new treatment has been developed for sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL), a condition that causes deafness in 40,000 Americans each year, usually in early middle-age. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Medicine describe the positive results of a preliminary trial of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1), applied as a topical gel.

Proton-pump inhibitors and birth defects -- some reassurances, but more needed warns epidemiologist

(Boston) - Despite the reassurances of Pasternak and Hviid in their study, "Use of Proton-Pump Inhibitors (PPI) in Early Pregnancy and the Risk of Birth Defects," featured in the Nov. 24 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, an epidemiologist from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) believes that further studies are needed.