Body

The diabetes drug pioglitazone is associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer, finds a study published by The BMJ today. The findings suggest that the risk increases with increasing duration of use and dose.

No increased risk was seen for a similar drug (rosiglitazone).

It's time to regulate the use of whole body electrical stimulation, argue doctors in The BMJ today, after treating several people for muscle damage at their hospital.

Whole body electrical stimulation (ES) has recently emerged as an alternative form of physical exercise for improving fitness and health in healthy people, write Dr Nicola Maffiuletti and colleagues.

LOS ANGELES -- Research from Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC) suggests that hormone therapy, when taken within six years of menopause, may slow the progression of subclinical atherosclerosis, the buildup of plaque in the arteries. The study, entitled "Vascular Effects of Early versus Late Postmenopausal Treatment with Estradiol," is published in the March 31, 2016 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

PHILADELPHIA -- The U.S. presidential campaign season has reignited debates on how best to deliver cost-effective, high quality care. A new perspective paper in the New England Journal of Medicine advocates for a comprehensive approach to recognize and manage "therapeutic illusion" to improve use of medical treatments. The therapeutic illusion--an unjustified belief in treatment--has been proven in previous studies in different environments. Consistently, physicians have reported overestimating the benefits of inappropriate tests and treatments.

PHILADELPHIA--(March 30, 2016)--For years, clinical data have shown that African Americans have a higher death rate and shorter period of survival among patients with commonly diagnosed cancers. While studies have focused on whether socioeconomic factors contribute to these statistics, researchers have been diligently trying to determine a genetic basis for these disparities.

Researchers from Michigan State University believe they have invented a better -- or at least a cheaper -- version of the proverbial mouse trap. Except instead of a mouse trap, it's a moth trap. The new device is described in the Journal of Insect Science.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (March 30, 2016)--Two recently discovered compounds have shown promise in preclinical studies for treating Ewing sarcoma, a rare cancer that predominantly affects children and adolescents.

White grubs, commonly known as masked chafers, are fat, cream-colored, brown-headed larvae that can be pests of turfgrass.

Now gardeners, golf-course owners, and growers who have been battling masked chafers for decades have a new resource. An article in the Journal of Integrated Pest Management delves into five of these turfgrass pest species and the options for managing them.

DALLAS, March 30, 2016 -- In the United States, adults of different Hispanic/Latino backgrounds, at high risk for heart disease, varied significantly in their use of widely-prescribed cholesterol-lowering medications known as statins, according to new research in the Journal of the American Heart Association. The difference was based on whether or not they had health insurance.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - March 30, 2016 - According to doctors at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, medications and treatments long considered safe to treat pregnant women with migraines may not be.

"We hope this review of medical treatments will serve as a guide for doctors and patients on how to interpret new findings, especially regarding four treatment options that doctors have commonly used for their pregnant patients with migraines," said Rebecca Erwin Wells, M.D., assistant professor of neurology at Wake Forest Baptist and lead author of the paper.

A special statistical series in the journal Obesity identifies common scientific and statistical errors in obesity-relate studies, challenges assumptions about weight loss, and calls for increased application of control arms in obesity intervention studies.

A University of Guelph professor has uncovered the "secret" to staying strong as we age - superb fitness.

Geoff Power found elderly people who were elite athletes in their youth or later in life - and who still compete as masters athletes -- have much healthier muscles at the cellular level compared to those of non-athletes.

His research was published recently in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

Lake Nona, Fla., March 30, 2016 -- Researchers at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have identified a protein complex that is required for conversion of "bad" white fat to "good" brown fat. The findings, published online in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, could help treat metabolic disorders such as obesity.

MADISON, Wis. -- If there is an animal emblematic of the northern winter, it is the snowshoe hare.

A forest dweller, the snowshoe hare is named for its big feet, which allow it to skitter over deep snow to escape lynx, coyotes and other predators. It changes color with the seasons, assuming a snow-white fur coat for winter camouflage.

A drug currently being trialled in cancer patients could also be used to treat an often incurable condition that can cause painful blood vessel overgrowths inside the skin, finds new research in mice led by UCL, Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center in New York and the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) in Barcelona.

The findings are published in two independent but complementary papers in Science Translational Medicine, led by UCL and MSK respectively.