It's seen as a sign of getting old, but scientists have discovered that arthritis is not just a human problem as a study lasting 50 years reveals how moose suffer from an identical form of the condition. The research, published in Ecology Letters, also casts new light on how malnutrition early in life can lead to the disorder in both moose and humans.
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In this week's BMJ, a group of senior doctors say they have no evidence that the four hour A&E target benefits clinical care. They also argue that it has encouraged target led rather than needs led care.
The UK four hour standard for processing patients attending emergency departments was introduced at 90% in 2004 and has sat at 98% since 2005, write Suzanne Mason and colleagues in a letter to the journal.
Last week, this target was relaxed to 95% by the new coalition government.
Suicide barriers on bridges might not reduce overall suicide rates by jumping from heights, as people may change location for their suicide attempt, according to a new study published on bmj.com today.
Researchers from Canada found that the overall suicide rate (by any means) in Toronto reduced after a barrier was erected at one particular bridge known for a high suicide rate, but suicides from jumping remained the same.
In the fourth of five papers in the PLoS Medicine series on maternal, neonatal, and child health in sub-Saharan Africa, Valerie Snewin from the Wellcome Trust and colleagues discuss the challenges of implementation and research capacity in Africa. While technical knowledge about what could be done to address death and disability associated with maternal, newborn, and child health is available, actual implementation is neither straightforward nor easy in the often difficult circumstances on the ground, say the authors.
In 2007, an estimated 656 million fevers occurred in African children aged 0-4 years, with 78 million children of the 183 million attending a public health care facility likely to have been infected with P. falciparum (range 60-103 million), the parasite that causes the most dangerous form of malaria. These findings come from a modelling system devised by Peter Gething and colleagues from the Malaria Atlas Project, a multinational team of researchers funded mainly by the Wellcome Trust.
Researchers at NUI Galway have made a discovery that could lead to the development of more effective treatments for a number of diseases. They have shown that a protein produced when cells are stressed interacts with a stress sensor allowing cells to survive conditions of intense stress. Understanding this interaction may help scientists interfere with cancer cells so the cells can no longer survive exposure to stressful conditions. These findings are published next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology.
In this study, Shuichi Takeda at Nagoya University and colleagues present the X-ray crystal structures of the actin capping protein (CP) complexed with its inhibitors, V-1 and CARMIL, and demonstrate that the two regulators modulate the filament capping activity in very different manners. These findings will be published next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology.
Chapel Hill, NC – In its early stages, prostate cancer requires androgens (hormones that promote the development and maintenance of male sex characteristics) for growth, and current first-line therapies target the receptor for these hormones to slow cancer's development and spread.
However, advanced prostate cancers are often androgen-independent, meaning that androgen-blocking therapies are ineffective.
There is significant variation among lung transplant centers in the U.S. in the 5-year survival rate of patients, with a higher number of procedures performed at a center only partly associated with longer survival of patients, according to a study in the July 7 issue of JAMA.
A new study suggests that shorter length of leukocyte telomeres – chromosome markers of biological aging – are associated with an increased risk of cancer and death from cancer, according to a study in the July 7 issue of JAMA. A leukocyte is a type of blood cell.
Patients with hypertension, diabetes and coronary artery disease who maintained their systolic blood pressure at less than 130 mm Hg did not have improved cardiovascular outcomes compared to patients with usual blood pressure control, according to a study in the July 7 issue of JAMA.
"Hypertension guidelines advocate treating systolic blood pressure (BP) to less than 130 mm Hg for patients with diabetes mellitus; however, data are lacking for the growing population who also have coronary artery disease (CAD)," according to background information in the article.
Philadelphia, PA, July 6, 2010 – Few medical investigations have had the impact of the Framingham Heart Study. This study, started in 1948, was designed as a cohort, observational study of cardiovascular disease, then recognized as a growing health threat but now has emerged as much more. The Framingham Heart study came to revolutionize thinking about cardiovascular disease, change the study of epidemiology, and even force the biostatistics community to develop multivariate analysis.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Scientists have designed a nanoparticle that appears to effectively deliver genetic material into cells with minimal toxic effects.
In lab experiments, the researchers have found that this device, a vector, is able to deliver DNA deeply enough into a cell to allow genetic material to be activated – a critical step in gene therapy. This vector is between 2 ½ and 10 times more effective than other experimental materials, according to the research.
A treatment plan used to prevent potentially dangerous blood clots in recovering surgical patients can also benefit some patients immobilized by acute medical illness, doctors have found in a multi-institutional study.
In women, patients age 75 or older, and patients strictly confined to 24-hour bed rest, a month of extended treatment with a blood thinner significantly reduced the chances of blood clots while only slightly increasing the risk of bleeding.
Deworming lambs can be minimized with rotational grazing and checking the animals' eye color, according to an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) study.
Animal scientist Joan Burke at the ARS Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Center in Booneville, Ark., and colleagues made this finding as part of a continuing collaboration with scientists, veterinarians, and extension agents from the Southern Consortium for Small Ruminant Parasite Control.