Genomic signature sequences used by clinical researchers to detect, quantify and diagnose nucleic acid sequences are not inclusive enough. New research published today in BioMed Central's open access journal Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials shows that many published sequences are of unacceptably low sensitivity for most clinical applications.
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An infant diet that includes fish before the age of 9 months curbs the risk of developing eczema, indicates research published ahead of print in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
The prevalence of atopic eczema and other allergic disease has risen sharply in developed countries in recent decades, say the authors. Environmental and dietary factors are thought to play a part.
A weak bladder is putting many young women off participating in sport, or prompting them to give it up altogether, suggests research published ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
The prevalence of urinary stress incontinence, defined as an involuntary leakage of urine, is relatively high among women, with some research putting the figure as high as 46%.
The researchers asked 679 Italian women about whether they had ever had urinary stress incontinence. All them were still having regular periods, and took part in non-competitive sports.
In an editorial response to a report in the September 25 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine on the efficacy of intravenous thrombolysis treatment in the hours after acute ischemic stroke, Patrick Lyden, M.D., professor of neurosciences and director of the UC San Diego Stroke Center, cautions that the study should not be interpreted to mean that such therapy can be withheld for hours or even minutes.
Kidneys from older donors often do not survive long after transplantation because of certain structural dysfunctions that can occur as the kidney ages, according to a study appearing in the January 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). The findings indicate that the number of functioning glomeruli—the filtering units of the kidney—drops significantly with age, leading to a self-perpetuating injury in the rest of the kidney.
A landmark study indicating that angioplasty may not be cost effective for some stable heart disease patients and research indicating individualized consent forms may help patients make better decisions are among topics reported in the debut issue of Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.
The majority of infertility patients are in favor of using left-over embryos for stem cell research and would also support selling left-over embryos to other couples, according to a recent survey.
The survey is published in two related studies in the September issue of the journal Fertility and Sterility.
COLLEGE STATION, Sept. 24, 2008 — America's war on terror includes fighting the dark side of deadly chemical agents, and Texas A&M University chemist Dr. Frank Raushel is helping with the fight by developing an enzyme that might neutralize one such chemical agent, the organophosphates.
Ottawa, Canada - September 24, 2008 -Microbiologically contaminated water plagues approximately 1.1 billion people in rural and peri-urban populations in developing countries. Roughly 2.2 million people without safe access to drinking water die each year from the consumption of unsafe water, and most of them are children under 5 years of age.
St. Louis, Sept. 24, 2008 — Calorie restriction, a diet that is low in calories and high in nutrition, may not be as effective at extending life in people as it is in rodents, according to scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
The use of a robot to assist with the most commonly performed weight-loss surgery appears to significantly lower a patient's risk of developing a rare but serious complication, according to a study published in the most recent edition of the Journal of Robotic Surgery.
Participants in the role-playing game EverQuest II defy the stereotype of the overweight male teenager, researchers reported this month in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication.
The average age of the 7,000 players surveyed was 31, said first author Dmitri Williams, assistant professor in the USC Annenberg School for Communication.
"We found that older players were more typical," Williams said. There were more players in their 30s than in their 20s, and playing time tended to increase with age.
BOSTON -- Young women with DCIS, a common form of early breast cancer that arises in and is confined to the mammary ducts, are presumed more likely to have recurrences than older women with the same diagnosis. But a new study from Fox Chase Cancer Center rebuffs this conventional thinking.
BOSTON - Early-stage breast cancer patients who exhibit limited lymph node involvement may not require post-surgery radiation therapy (RT) when they receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy before a mastectomy, according to researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
The findings were reported today at the 50th Annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.
Emory University researchers are participating in a nationwide study to explore an investigational treatment for advanced widespread emphysema. The EASE (Exhale Airway Stents for Emphysema) Trial focuses on airway bypass, a minimally invasive procedure designed to reduce excessive lung inflation and shortness of breath – typical complications of emphysema - by making new pathways for trapped air to exit the lungs.