In a study published this week in the open-access medical journal, PLoS Medicine, Petteri Hovi and colleagues from the National Institute for Health and Welfare Helsinki, Finland evaluated skeletal health in 144 adults (ages ranging from 18 to 27 years) who were born preterm with very low birth weight. They show that as adults these individuals have significantly lower bone mineral density than do their term-born peers and suggest that this finding translates into increased risk for osteoporosis in adulthood for these individuals.
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A study of 7,689 admissions from 178 adult intensive care units in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has revealed the factors associated with a higher mortality rate in haematological malignancy. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Critical Care found that certain factors have a significant impact on the risk of death.
Elevated levels of GLI1 (glioma-associated oncogene homolog 1) protein in human breast cancer are associated with unfavorable prognosis and progressive stages of disease. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Cancer found increased expression of GLI1 in samples taken from more advanced and less survivable tumors.
Marketers have always known they must carefully choose where they place their ads, but a new study in Journal of Consumer Research shows that even the nearby content in a publication—its difficulty and design—affect consumers' perception and acceptance of the ad message. They also found that the ad's relationship to the editorial material affected consumer acceptance.
From running shoes to ceiling fans, consumers are becoming the designers of their own products. A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research looks at the ways consumers compare their creations to those designed by professionals.
What types of messages are most persuasive? For example, would you be more likely to buy a TiVo if an ad described it as offering you freedom or if it explained how you could replay sports events? A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research says the key to an effective message is finding the fit between the consumers' goals and the level of abstraction.
Obese men are at increased risk for erectile dysfunction (ED), likely caused by atherosclerosis-related hypertension and cardiovascular disease, as well as hormonal changes associated with obesity, as described in an article published in Obesity and Weight Management (www.liebertpub.com/owm)
A new study by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) has found that the life-long effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy may occur by specific changes in DNA patterns. The study appears in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Proteins are essential for all biological activities and the health of the cell. Misfolded and damaged proteins spell trouble and are common to all human neurodegenerative diseases and many other age-associated diseases.
A new Northwestern University study reports that protein damage can be detected much earlier than we had thought, long before individuals exhibit symptoms. The study also suggests if we intervene early enough, the damage could be delayed. The results will be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Even as low-carbohydrate and high-protein diets have proven successful at helping individuals rapidly lose weight, little is known about the diets' long-term effects on vascular health.
A team of scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health has successfully grown multiple types of retina cells from two types of stem cells — suggesting a future in which damaged retinas could be repaired by cells grown from the patient's own skin.
Soon, the discovery will lead to laboratory models for studying genetically linked eye conditions, screening new drugs to treat those conditions and understanding the development of the human eye.
New findings from nutrition researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggest that it's not whether body fat is stored in the belly that affects metabolic risk factors for diabetes, high blood triglycerides, and cardiovascular disease, but whether it collects in the liver.
Two of the most powerful approaches to cancer treatment (stem cell transplant and an immune system-stimulating vaccine) appear to reinforce one another in patients with an aggressive, hard-to-control form of leukemia, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists have found.
A research team led by Associate Professor Jonathan Sebat, Ph.D., of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has developed a sensitive and accurate way of identifying gene copy number variations (CNVs). The method, which is described in a paper published in Genome Research, uses new DNA sequencing technologies to look for regions of the genome that vary in copy number between individuals in the population.
Current clinical evidence for using cranberry juice to combat urinary tract infections is 'unsatisfactory and inconclusive', according to Raul Raz.
"An apple a day..." Not all medical problems require a state-of-the-art solution, and it would be nice to think that products from the corner shop could treat a widespread and uncomfortable ailment. Cranberry juice and related products have been touted as a simple solution for urinary tract infections, but Raul Raz, a member of F1000 Medicine, finds little to support this claim.