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Unique animal species can survive in space

Water bears (tardigrades) are the first animals in the world to have survived exposure to the vacuum and radiation of space. This has been established by Ingemar Jönsson, a researcher at Kristianstad University in Sweden.

It has been nearly a year since the ecologist Ingemar Jönsson had some 3,000 microscopic water bears sent up on a twelve-day space trip. The aim of the research project, which was supported by the European Space Agency, was to find out more about the basic physiology of tardigrades by seeing if they can survive in a space environment.

Extend Medicare to cut waiting lists, up competition

Extending Medicare to include private hospitals could lower Australians' reliance on private health insurance and reduce waiting lists, a health economics expert says.

Professor Jim Butler, Director of the Australian Centre for Economic Research on Health (ACERH) based at ANU, says that opening up private hospitals to more patients will have a double benefit: reducing queues for public hospitals, and making public and private hospitals more competitive.

5 new studies at major medical meeting further demonstrate clinical experience for JANUVIA

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New drug hope for cystic fibrosis patients

A new drug therapy may represent a tremendous step forward in the treatment of some 70,000 cystic fibrosis (CF) patients worldwide, Dr David Sheppard from the University of Bristol will tell an audience at the BA Festival of Science in Liverpool tomorrow [9 September].

Speaking ahead of the conference, Dr Sheppard said:

'The early results with VX-770 suggest that drug therapies which target defects at the root of the disease have the potential to improve greatly the quality of life of CF patients.'

Community-based diabetes prevention program shows promise

San Diego, September 9, 2008 – With over 60 million Americans diagnosed with prediabetes, putting them at increased risk for diabetes, cardiovascular events and other obesity-related ailments, finding ways to help large populations avoid these complications is an important initiative. In an article published in the October 2008 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine report that organizations such as the YMCA can be an effective vehicle for diabetes-prevention education.

Nanoscale silver: No silver lining?

Washington, DC — Widespread use of nanoscale silver will challenge regulatory agencies to balance important potential benefits against the possibility of significant environmental risk, highlighting the need to identify research priorities concerning this emerging technology, according to a new report released today by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN).

Lung cancer death rates among never smokers higher in men than women

Death rates from lung cancer are higher among men who have never smoked than women who have never smoked, says new research published in this week's PLoS Medicine. The research also reports that among lifelong nonsmokers, African Americans and Asians living in Asia (but not in the USA) have higher death rates from lung cancer than people of European descent.

Safety of anti-malarial drugs in pregnancy must be monitored

There is an urgent need to develop systems to assess the safety of antimalarials in early pregnancy, says a new essay in this week's PLoS Medicine.

Feiko ter Kuile (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK) and colleagues report that the anti-malarial drugs artemisinins are effective and commonly used, but they have been shown to be toxic to embryos in animal models. Their safety in early human pregnancies remains uncertain, despite up to 10% of embryos being exposed to anti-malarial drugs in malaria endemic countries.

UK children's physical activity levels hugely overestimated

UK children's physical activity levels have been greatly overestimated, with true levels likely to be around six times lower than national data suggest, finds research published ahead of print in the Archives of Disease in Childhood .

Annual health survey data are used to inform UK public health policy and practice, and the figures indicate that the UK population takes a lot of exercise, and that children have been increasingly physically active over the past few years.

Bilingual children more likely to stutter

Children who are bilingual before the age of 5 are significantly more likely to stutter and to find it harder to lose their impediment, than children who speak only one language before this age, suggests research published ahead of print in Archives of Disease in Childhood.

The researchers base their findings on 317 children, who were referred for stutter when aged between 8 and 10.

All the children lived in Greater London, and all had started school in the UK at the age of 4 or 5.

Brush your teeth to reduce the risk of heart disease

Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. However, many people with cardiovascular disease have none of the common risk factors such as smoking, obesity and high cholesterol. Now, researchers have discovered a new link between gum disease and heart disease that may help find ways to save lives, scientists heard today (Tuesday 9 September 2008) at the Society for General Microbiology's Autumn meeting being held this week at Trinity College, Dublin.

Enzyme detectives uncover new reactions, products

UPTON, NY -- If your experiment doesn't go the way you expect, take a closer look -- something even more interesting may have happened. That strategy has led scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory to discover a fundamental shift in an enzyme's function that could help expand the toolbox for engineering biofuels and other plant-based oil products. The results will be published online the week of September 8, 2008, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Diet may eliminate spasms for infants with epilepsy

Baltimore, Md. – September 08, 2008 – Infantile spasms are a severe and potentially devastating epilepsy condition affecting children aged typically 4-8 months. In a new study appearing in Epilepsia, researchers have found that the ketogenic diet, a high fat, low carbohydrate diet more traditionally used for intractable childhood epilepsy, is an effective treatment for this condition before using drugs. The study is the first description of the ketogenic diet as a first-line therapy for infantile spasms.

Better care of sickest patients can actually save hospitals money, says largest study of its kind

New York, NY (Sept. 4, 2008) – A new study finds hospitals can save more than $300 a day taking care of seriously ill patients while giving them even better care.

The Archives of Internal Medicine will publish the study by the Center to Advance Palliative Care and National Palliative Care Research Center in its September 8 issue.

Air pollution can hinder heart's electrical functioning

Microscopic particles in polluted air can adversely affect the heart's ability to conduct electrical signals in people with serious coronary artery disease, researchers reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

In a recent study of 48 Boston-area patients, all of whom had coronary artery disease, 24-hour Holter monitors were used to examine electrocardiograms for the conductivity change called an ST-segment depression, which may indicate inadequate blood flow to the heart or inflamed heart muscle.