OKLAHOMA CITY – The dean of the University of Oklahoma College of Public Health and a team of scientists worldwide have found a better way to prevent deadly blood clots after joint replacement surgery – a major problem that results in thousands of unnecessary deaths each year. The research appears this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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As a result of a major inter-laboratory study, the standards body ASTM International has been able to update its guidelines for a commonly used technique for measuring the size of nanoparticles in solutions. The study, which was organized principally by researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory of the National Cancer Institute, enabled updated guidelines that now include statistically evaluated data on the measurement precisions achieved by a wide variety of laboratories applying the ASTM guide.
GALVESTON, Texas — University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers have found that a single enzyme is apparently critical to most allergen-provoked asthma attacks — and that activity of the enzyme, known as aldose reductase, can be significantly reduced by compounds that have already undergone clinical trials as treatments for complications of diabetes.
During about the last 20 years, the risk of delivery-related death at birth or shortly thereafter for term infants has decreased nearly 40 percent in Scotland, with the largest contributing factor being a decrease in the number of deaths caused by a lack of oxygen for the baby during the childbirth process, according to a study in the August 12 issue of JAMA.
A commonly held belief that severe influenza pandemics are preceded by a milder wave of illness arose because some accounts of the devastating flu pandemic of 1918-19 suggested that it may have followed such a pattern. But two scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, say the existing data are insufficient to conclude decisively that the 1918-19 pandemic was presaged by a mild, so-called spring wave, or that the responsible virus had increased in lethality between the beginning and end of 1918.
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new calibration technique that will improve the reliability and stability of one of NIST's most versatile technologies, the microhotplate. The novel NIST device is being developed as the foundation for miniature yet highly accurate gas sensors that can detect chemical and biological agents, industrial leaks and even signs of extraterrestrial life from aboard a planetary probe.
University of Central Florida researchers have shown for the first time that light energy can gently guide and change the orientation of living cells within lab cultures. That ability to optically steer cells could be a major step in harnessing the healing power of stem cells and guiding them to areas of the body that need help.
New research out of the University of Cincinnati is a rare examination of the social impact of armed conflict and militarization. Steve Carlton-Ford, a UC associate professor of sociology, presented the findings Aug. 11 at the 104th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA) in San Francisco.
New York, NY (August 11, 2009) Researchers from the field in South Africa demonstrate that threatened big cats truly can be saved through strategic and science-based conservation practices, according to a study published this week in the scientific journal Biological Conservation.
Taking dexamathasone prophlyactically may improve exercise capacity in some mountaineers, according to Swiss researchers. Dexamathasone, known popularly to climbers as "dex," has been used for years to treat altitude-related symptoms in mountaineers, but has never been tested for its ability to improve exercise capacity at high altitude.
A public survey conducted in Europe found that the vast majority of people overestimate the life-saving benefits of breast and prostate cancer screening, according to a new study published online August 12 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Canadian scientists uncover alarming invasion of round goby into Great Lakes tributaries: impact on endangered fishes likely to be serious
A team of scientists from the University of Toronto, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and the University of Guelph has identified a drastic invasion of round goby into many Great Lakes tributaries, including several areas of the Thames, Sydenham, Ausable and Grand Rivers. A number of the affected areas are known as "species-at-risk" hot spots.
A new experimental treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) completely reverses the devastating autoimmune disorder in mice, and might work exactly the same way in humans, say researchers at the Jewish General Hospital Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research and McGill University in Montreal.
MS is an autoimmune disease in which the body's own immune response attacks the central nervous system, almost as if the body had become allergic to itself, leading to progressive physical and cognitive disability.
Researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (The Neuro), McGill University have discovered a genetic mutation underlying late-onset Leigh syndrome, a rare inherited metabolic disorder characterized by the degeneration of the central nervous system. The study published in Nature Genetics, provides vital insights into the cell biology of this neurological disorder and will lead to the development of diagnostic and predictive tests allowing for family and genetic counseling.
Pain therapy for cancer patients – whether inpatient or outpatient – is often inadequate. At Heidelberg University Hospital, the use of an innovative electronic system – combined with guidance by an experienced clinical pharmacist – has been successfully tested. The treatment of the patients showed little variance from international guidelines on pain therapy. In addition, patients reported having less pain. The results of the study have been published in the journal Pain.