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Magnetic therapy shown to significantly reduce swelling after tissue trauma

A recent study by University of Virginia researchers demonstrates that the use of an acute, localized static magnetic field of moderate strength can result in significant reduction of swelling when applied immediately after an inflammatory injury.

4 Jan 2008

Need for greater recognition of the use of placebos

In the first study examining American physicians' use of placebos in clinical practice in the 21st Century, 45 percent of Chicago internists report they have used a placebo at some time during their clinical practice researchers report in the January issue of Journal of General Internal Medicine.

4 Jan 2008

Drinking games and themed parties associated with higher levels of drinking at college

Most studies of college-student drinking have looked at the individual, and have relied on self reports. New findings gathered from on-the-spot observations show that parties with drinking games can predict higher blood-alcohol concentrations (BrACs). Young women at theme parties, especially with sexualized themes and costumes, drink more heavily than men.

4 Jan 2008

Peptide hormone found in the body prevents obesity and diabetes

A new study finds that a chemical found in the body is capable of promoting weight loss, improving insulin resistance and reversing diabetes in an animal model.

4 Jan 2008

New clues for an effective AIDS vaccine

Two simple changes in its outer envelope protein could render the AIDS virus vulnerable to attack by the immune system, according to research from Kenya and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center published in PLoS Medicine.

4 Jan 2008

Gene therapy can reduce long-term drinking among rodents

Just as the risk of developing alcoholism is strongly influenced by genetic factors, mutations in gene coding - such as the aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2*2) allele - also appear to protect against the risk.

4 Jan 2008

Down syndrome points to a new way of repressing cancer growth

Researchers at Johns Hopkins and Ohio State University have found that the number of copies of a particular gene can affect the severity of colon cancer in a mouse model. Publishing in the Jan. 3 issue of Nature, the research team describes how trisomy 21, or Down syndrome in humans, can repress tumor growth.

4 Jan 2008

Study shows how climate change will increase human mortality

A Stanford scientist has spelled out for the first time the direct links between increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and increases in human mortality, using a state-of-the-art computer model of the atmosphere that incorporates scores of physical and chemical environmental processes.

4 Jan 2008

$11.3 million autism study launched

Autism researchers at the University of Washington will take the initial step in attempting to prevent the developmental disorder when they launch an $11.3 million study this week.

4 Jan 2008

FDA reviews new data on risks of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reviewing new data from two studies that provide further evidence of the risks of anemia drugs known as erythropoiesis-stimulating agents, or ESAs.

4 Jan 2008

Big pharma spends almost twice as much on marketing drugs than on research and development

The pharmaceutical industry spends almost twice as much on the marketing and promotion of drugs than on research and development, according to a new analysis in this week's PLoS Medicine.

4 Jan 2008

Daily alcohol use causes changes in sexual behavior

A team of researchers at Penn Sate has used an animal model to reveal, for the first time, a physiological basis for the effect of alcohol on male sexual behavior, including increased sexual arousal and decreased sexual inhibition.

4 Jan 2008

Study looks at earliest exposure to alcohol - sipping or tasting

Very little is known about alcohol use by children. New findings show that the introduction to alcohol use may occur as early as eight or 10 years of age, and is an experience that typically occurs in the home.

4 Jan 2008

Urinary tract infections from the catheter - most common hospital-acquired infection

One in four Americans in the hospital right now has a urinary catheter. One percent of them will get a urinary tract infection from that catheter.

4 Jan 2008

Carnegie Mellon study identifies where thoughts of familiar objects occur inside the human brain

A team of Carnegie Mellon University computer scientists and cognitive neuroscientists, combining methods of machine learning and brain imaging, have found a way to identify where people's thoughts and perceptions of familiar objects originate in the brain by identifying the patterns of brain activity associated with the objects.

4 Jan 2008