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About half of U.S. adults age 20 and older have refractive errors, or eye problems that result in less than 20/20 vision, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Americans with vision problems who have health insurance appear equally or more likely to access eye care services than Canadians with vision problems, whereas Americans without health insurance visit eye care professionals at lower rates, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — For patients with clogged heart arteries who take long-term, low-dose aspirin to prevent a cardiac event, adding a stomach acid-blocking drug to their daily routine has been shown to reduce their risk for upper gastrointestinal bleeding – an infrequent, but serious side-effect of regular aspirin use.

But do the benefits of these acid blockers – called proton pump inhibitors, or PPIs – outweigh their long-term costs?

DURHAM, N.C. – Race, age, and geography appear to play important roles in who receives cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), a proven treatment for some patients with heart failure, say researchers at Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI).

U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton may do more for U.S. Senator Barack Obama than Ralph Nader did for Al Gore: she could give him an unintended boost. Clinton sought the presidency and then, unlike Nader, exited the race. New research from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management demonstrates that when an option enters and then leaves a market, the most similar remaining option -- in this case Obama -- stands to benefit.

Does your neighborhood have a lot of fast food outlets, few sidewalks, and no parks? If yes, your physical neighborhood may be hampering your ability to be physically active and placing you at increased risk for obesity. According to a research study conducted in Portland, Oregon by scientists at Oregon Research Institute (ORI), neighborhoods with lower mixed-land use and higher densities of fast-food outlets were more likely to have residents who were overweight/obese.

Baltimore, MD—Scientists have known for decades that certain genes (called transposons) can jump around the genome in an individual cell. This activity can be dangerous, however, especially when it arises in cells that produce eggs and sperm. Such changes can threaten the offspring and the success of a species. To ensure the integrity of these cells, nature developed a mechanism to quash this genetic scrambling, but how it works has remained a mystery.

Scientists from the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease (GICD) and UCSF have identified a key regulatory factor that controls development of the human vascular system, the extensive network of arteries, veins, and capillaries that allow blood to reach all tissues and organs. The research, published in the latest issue of Developmental Cell, may offer clues to potential therapeutic targets for a wide variety of diseases, such as heart disease or cancer, that are impacted by or affect the vascular system.

A team of Monash University researchers has uncovered the role of a family of enzymes in the mutation of benign or less aggressive tumours into more aggressive, potentially fatal, cancers in the human body.

The discovery, published today in the international journal Cancer Cell, provides valuable insights into how cancer cells develop and mutate, and could ultimately change treatment options for sufferers around the world.

CINCINNATI – Researchers have discovered a central molecular switch in fruit fly embryos that opens new avenues for studying the causes of birth defects and cancer in humans. Writing about their study in the Aug. 12 Developmental Cell, scientists at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center determined the switch to be a main tuning mechanism for instructing cells whether to form sensory nerves or blood cells in different parts of the body.

A recent study by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) suggests that old female elephants—and perhaps their memories of distant, life-sustaining sources of food and water—may be the key to survival during the worst of times.

In particular, experienced elephant matriarchs seem to give their family groups an edge in the struggle for survival in periods of famine and drought, according to a recently published paper in The Royal Society's Biology Letters.

U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton may do more for U.S. Senator Barack Obama than Ralph Nader did for Al Gore: she could give him an unintended boost. Clinton sought the presidency and then, unlike Nader, exited the race. New research from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management demonstrates that when an option enters and then leaves a market, the most similar remaining option -- in this case Obama -- stands to benefit.

Blacksburg, Va. – Researchers at the University of Newcastle, England, and the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech in the United States have revealed a large reservoir of mitochondrial DNA mutations present in the general population. Clinical analysis of blood samples from almost 3,000 infants born in north Cumbria, England, showed that at least 1 in 200 individuals in the general public harbor mitochondrial DNA mutations that may lead to disease.

Tarrytown, NY (August 11, 2008) – Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: REGN) today announced the publication of the results of three studies which supported the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory submission for ARCALYST® (rilonacept) Injection for Subcutaneous Use for the treatment of Cryopyrin-Associated Periodic Syndromes (CAPS).