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Tongue measurements may help dentists determine oral appliance therapy success for sleep apnea

WESTCHESTER, Ill. – According to new research that will receive the Graduate Student Research Award on Saturday, June 5, at the 19th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine, the ratio between tongue volume and bony enclosure size in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may help dentists calculate oral appliance treatment success.

Although mandibular advancement splints (MAS) have been shown to be a safe and effective treatment for OSA, predicting efficacy in individual patients is problematic.

Vandetanib shows clinical benefit when combined with docetaxel for lung cancer

Vandetanib shows clinical benefit when combined with docetaxel for lung cancer

HOUSTON - When combined with standard chemotherapy, an international Phase III trial has shown that the oral targeted therapy vandetanib improves progression-free survival for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, according to research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Status symbols of house sparrows

The size of the black breast bib – the badge - and bill colour of male House Sparrows change over the course of the year. Such ornaments usually signal quality and dominance of a male to his conspecifics and are correlated with his testosterone levels. These levels are generally higher before and during breeding season than for example during moult in autumn. A team of scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen, Germany, recently demonstrated in a detailed study that only bill colour was correlated with the amount of testosterone in the blood.

Study of microRNA helps NIH scientists unlock secrets of immune cells

With the rapid and continuous advances in biotechnology, scientists are better able to see inside the nucleus of a cell to unlock the secrets of its genetic material. However, what happens outside of the nucleus has, in many ways, remained a mystery. Now, researchers with the National Institutes of Health are closer to understanding how activity outside of the nucleus determines a cell's behavior. They looked at mouse immune cells and examined the types, amount, and activity of microRNAs, genetic components that help regulate the production of proteins.

Introducing the good food guide for cockroaches

It is often striking how little we know about our closest neighbour. Until now, it was assumed that cockroaches forage on their own to find food and water. However, this work shows how groups of the insects seem to make a collective choice about the best food source, explaining why we so commonly find them feeding en masse in the kitchen late at night.

Gene related to aging plays role in stem cell differentiation

(PHILADELPHIA) A gene shown to play a role in the aging process appears to play a role in the regulation of the differentiation of embryonic stem cells, according to researchers from the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and the Department of Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University.

Fox Chase clinical trial tests first of its kind antibody

CHICAGO, IL. (June 7, 2010)––Patients with HER2-positive cancers can have dramatic responses to HER2-targeted drugs but eventually develop resistance to the agents. With that problem in mind, Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers are testing a novel type of antibody called MM-111 in patients with HER2-positive disease who have progressed on standard therapy.

John Theurer Cancer Center experts present new cancer research at ASCO Annual Meeting

HACKENSACK, N.J. (June 3, 2010) —The John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center announced today important research findings that will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting taking place June 4 – 8, 2010 in Chicago. Research highlights include a comparison of first-line treatments for an aggressive form of lymphoma, the efficacy and safety of a new genetically engineered cancer therapy, and the value of a commonly used tool for staging lymphoma.

Stroke prevention study in children with sickle cell anemia, iron overload stopped early

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has stopped a clinical trial evaluating a new approach to reduce the risk of recurrent stroke in children with sickle cell anemia and iron overload because of evidence that the new treatment was unlikely to prove better than the existing treatment.

Coral transplantation the simple and cheap solution to reef restoration

It is a question asked by marine scientists from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Barrier Reef; how best to restore coral reefs and marine habitat once it has been damaged or even killed? Now research published in Restoration Ecology reveals how 'transplantation' may be a cheap and simple solution that can be used by conservation volunteers to repair damaged reefs.

Link identified between lower IQ scores and attempted suicide in men

Low IQ scores in early adulthood are associated with an increased risk of attempted suicide in men, according to new research funded by the Wellcome Trust.

In the largest study of its kind, a team of researchers studied the medical records of over one million men in Sweden dating back over a period of twenty four years and compared rates of hospital admission for attempted suicide against IQ scores. The research is published today in the British Medical Journal.

Low-dose HRT patches carry less risk of stroke than tablets

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) skin patches containing low doses of oestrogen carry less risk of stroke than oral therapy and may represent a safer alternative to tablets, suggests a study published on bmj.com today.

However, the risk increases significantly with high dose patches.

MS drugs scheme 'a costly failure' for the NHS

The multiple sclerosis risk sharing scheme is "a costly failure" and should not be continued, according to researchers on bmj.com today.

They argue that the biggest losers are the other NHS patients who would otherwise have benefited from the money spent on the scheme, estimated to be around £50m per year since it was set up in 2002.

They also point out that, if an assessment had been completed after the first two years, the NHS could have already saved around £250m.

Lack of skilled birth care costs 2 million lives each year

A lack of skilled attendants at birth accounts for two million preventable maternal deaths, stillbirths and newborn deaths each year, according to the newly released Countdown to 2015 Decade Report (2000-2010).

The report shows that nearly 50 percent of women in the 68 countries carefully tracked in the Countdown report —most of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia— still give birth without the aid of a trained midwife, nurse, doctor, or other skilled birth attendant.

Growth hormone safe for infants with chronic kidney failure

Infants with chronic renal failure (CRF) grow slowly, a problem that usually improves with aggressive nutritional therapy. When it doesn't, growth hormone is a safe and effective treatment to promote growth, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN).

"Early treatment with growth hormone improves growth retardation and bone mineral density without short-term undesirable effects," comments Fernando Santos, MD, PhD (Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, Oviedo, Spain).