Culture | Science Codex

Severe asthma patients less responsive to treatment

Barcelona, Spain: People with severe asthma, who are often described as 'steroid-dependent', are actually less likely to respond to the treatment they depend on, when compared to people with mild asthma.

The study, presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Annual Congress in Barcelona today (9 September 2013), represents the first analysis of a cohort of patients from an unparalleled research project that will collect over 3 million samples from 300 children and 700 adults with severe and non-severe asthma, and without asthma.

Is bigger really better when it comes to size of labor wards?

New research reveals that large labor wards—those handling 3,000 to 3,999 deliveries annually—have better overall approval rates compared to small, intermediate or very large obstetric units. The study, appearing in Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, a journal published by Wiley on behalf of the Nordic Federation of Societies of Obstetrics and Gynecology, suggests that greater access to in-house obstetricians and auxiliary specialists contributes to the lower obstetric injury claims from patients at large labor wards in Denmark.

Young adults reminisce about music from before their time

Music has an uncanny way of bringing us back to a specific point in time, and each generation seems to have its own opinions about which tunes will live on as classics. New research suggests that young adults today are fond of and have an emotional connection to the music that was popular for their parents' generation.

Better tests for liver toxicity would mean more medicines -- and safer medicines -- for patients

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 8, 2013 — How many breakthrough new drugs never reach patients because tests in clinical trials suggested a high risk of liver damage when the drug actually was quite safe?

A strategy for combating drug-resistant cancers

Many cancer therapies function by activating proteins like Caspase-3 (CASP3) that promote cell death. Several forms of cancer develop resistance to these drugs by down regulating CASP3 through an unknown mechanism.

In the absence of CASP3, tumor cells produce another cell death promoting protein CASP7, but it is rendered inactive by the X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP). In the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Po-Huang Liang and colleagues at Academia Sinica identify a compound (I-Lys) that disrupts the interaction between CASP7 and XIAP.

Upcoming research to be presented at the 2013 Breast Cancer Symposium

SAN FRANSISCO, CA – Five additional studies of note are among those that will be presented at the 2013 Breast Cancer Symposium, taking place September 7-9, 2013 at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis in San Francisco, California. Two studies examine cognitive function in women who undergo treatment for early-stage breast cancer; a third evaluates impact of tumor genotyping on clinical trial enrollment; and the final two evaluate the outcomes of different treatment approaches.

Saturday, September 7 Presentations

Research findings point to new therapeutic approach for common cause of kidney failure

Washington, DC -- New research has uncovered a process that is defective in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, a common cause of kidney failure. The findings, which appear in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN), point to a new potential strategy for preventing and treating the disease.

UCLA researchers describe new form of irritable bowel syndrome

UCLA researchers have described a new form of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) that occurs after an acute bout of diverticulitis, a finding that may help lead to better management of symptoms and relief for patients.

Study IDs trouble areas, aims to speed up construction projects

Research from North Carolina State University identified factors that cause construction site managers to schedule more time than necessary for specific tasks. Understanding these factors and whether they can be reduced or eliminated could help the industry complete construction projects more quickly.

Health information laws can be coordinated with health system delivery improvements under EPSDT

WASHINGTON, DC (September 5, 2013) -- A new analysis by researchers at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) examines the relationship between health information laws and health system improvements for children and adolescents under Medicaid's Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) benefit.

Atypical symptoms: Why black women have a higher risk of death from heart disease

Among a group of women with symptoms of angina who were tested for a suspected coronary blockage, nearly 3 times as many black women as white women died of heart disease.

The study determined whether differences in the women's angina symptoms could affect the risk of death in these two groups, and the researchers report their findings in Journal of Women's Health.

Weird academics says religious leaders can bring about conservation "miracles"

Leaders of the major world religions can play a key role in preserving biological diversity, says a new paper by ecologists.

If the world's religious leaders wished to bring about a change, they would be ideally positioned to do so, and so the ecologists allege they have a moral obligation to do so..

China's clean-water program benefits people and the environment, Stanford research shows

The brown, smog-filled skies that engulf Beijing have earned China a poor reputation for environmental stewardship. But despite China's dirty skies, a study led by Stanford environmental scientists has found that a government-run clean water program is providing substantial benefit to millions of people in the nation's capital.

Heart attack death rates unchanged in spite of faster care at hospitals

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Heart attack deaths have remained the same, even as hospital teams have gotten faster at treating heart attack patients with emergency angioplasty, according to a study in this week's New England Journal of Medicine.

Hospitals across the country have successfully raced to reduce so-called door-to-balloon time, the time it takes patients arriving at hospitals suffering from a heart attack to be treated with angioplasty, to 90 minutes or less in the belief that it would save heart muscle and lives.

Data suggests Abbott's test may help more accurately diagnose heart attacks in women

AMSTERDAM, Sept.