Body

HOUSTON - A class of brain tumor that tends to emerge in younger patients but is less aggressive than others can be identified by examining DNA methylation of a specific set of genes, scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and colleagues with The Cancer Genome Atlas report today online at Cancer Cell.

(WASHINGTON, April 15, 2010) – The socioeconomic status of a country has long been considered a potentially significant factor in the availability of high-quality health-care interventions and even a determinant of long-term patient outcomes. A new study from the Acute Leukemia Working Party of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation reports that in Europe, socioeconomic factors have a direct correlation to the rates and outcomes of stem cell transplantation for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

More than two-thirds of patients in a British study were unaware they suffered a minor stroke and almost one-third delayed seeking medical attention for more than 24 hours, according to a report in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Eating more foods containing the B-vitamins folate and B-6 lowers the risk of death from stroke and heart disease for women and may reduce the risk of heart failure in men, according to Japanese research reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

"Japanese people need more dietary intake of folate and vitamin B-6, which may lead to the prevention of heart disease," said Hiroyasu Iso, M.D., professor of public health at Osaka University.

AUSTIN, Texas — American women who live along the U.S.-Mexico border frequently buy over-the-counter oral contraceptives from Mexican pharmacies because they don't need a prescription and can send a friend to pick up the pills, according to a study by researchers from two University of Texas campuses and Ibis Reproductive Health.

HOUSTON – (April 15, 2010) -- Nine-year-old Morgan LaRue is the first cancer patient in Texas to benefit from a groundbreaking procedure that will magnetically lengthen her leg, sparing her the possibility of up to 10 future surgeries as her body grows. The implant and extension took place at Texas Children's Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. To learn more about Texas Children's Cancer Center or the device, please see http://bit.ly/MorganLaRue.

Low levels of vitamin D are associated with lower lung function and greater medication use in children with asthma, according to researchers at National Jewish Health. In a paper published online this week in the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology, Daniel Searing, MD, and his colleagues also reported that vitamin D enhances the activity of corticosteroids, the most effective controller medication for asthma.

If your home region has a hot, wet climate and a lot of different kinds of birds and mammals living in it, there's a really good chance the region will also contain numerous kinds of pathogens that cause human diseases.

Organisms from yeast to rodents to humans all benefit from cutting calories. In less complex organisms, restricting calories can double or even triple lifespan. It's not yet clear just how much longer calorie restriction might help humans live, but those who practice the strict diet hope to survive past 100 years old.

La Jolla, CA-A multicellular green alga, Volvox carteri, may have finally unlocked the secrets behind the evolution of different sexes. A team led by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies has shown that the genetic region that determines sex in Volvox has changed dramatically relative to that of the closely related unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

A new switch that enables Salmonella bacteria to sabotage host cells is revealed in a study published today in the journal Science.

The researchers behind the study, from Imperial College London, say that the new finding could ultimately lead to drugs that interfere with the switch in order to combat Salmonella and possibly other bacterial infections.

In humans, Salmonella causes diseases ranging from gastroenteritis to typhoid fever. It also causes similar diseases in livestock.

Vienna, Austria, Thursday 15 April: Doctors could soon be prescribing a dose of dark chocolate to help patients suffering from liver cirrhosis and from dangerously high blood pressure in their abdomen, according to new research presented today at the International Liver CongressTM 2010, the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Liver in Vienna, Austria.

Hershey, Pa. -- The routine use of a screening urine dipstick to diagnose chronic kidney disease in healthy children is not a cost-effective test, confirm Penn State College of Medicine researchers, who validated an American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendation.

A research team has tested the utility of the short version of WHO-DAS II, a tool to assess within five minutes disability in patients with depression, "which in the case of primary care is even more practicable than the long version of the instrument." In Spain, more than 10% of the population suffer from severe depression.

PITTSBURGH, April 15 – Certain genetic variations may be linked to higher rates of tooth decay and aggressive periodontitis, according to two recently published papers by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine and their collaborators.