Syndrome News and Research

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Absence of a gene called CD38 is a protective barrier to obesity

A search for the molecular clues of longevity has taken Mayo Clinic researchers down another path that could explain why some people who consume excessive calories don't gain weight.

27 Jun 2007

Autism reversed in mice

Scientists in the United States have been able to reverse the effects of autism in specially bred mice.

26 Jun 2007

Physicians have recognized scoliosis, the abnormal curvature of the spine, since the time of Hippocrates, but its causes have remained a mystery -- until now. For the first time, researchers have discovered a gene that underlies the condition, which affects about 3 percent of all children.

26 Jun 2007

Decline in mental health after SARS

Most patients who survived severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) had good physical recovery, but they or their caregivers often reported a decline in mental health one year later, according to a study in the June 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

26 Jun 2007

Protein C levels help predict severity of illness and risk of death in ICU patients

A simple laboratory test to measure protein C - a natural anti-blood-clotting substance that also reflects the level of inflammation in the body - may offer a useful new indicator of the severity of illness and risk of death among critically ill patients.

26 Jun 2007

MIT researchers reverse behavioral symptoms in mice

Researchers at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT have, for the first time, reversed symptoms of mental retardation and autism in mice.

26 Jun 2007

Patients with an alcohol-use disorder are more likely to require mechanical ventilation

More than 300,000 patients receive mechanical ventilation during intensive care per year in the United States, even though the hospital mortality rate for ventilated patients can approach 50 percent.

26 Jun 2007

Greater understanding of fibromyalgia as a true medical condition

Fibromyalgia, a chronic, widespread pain in muscles and soft tissues accompanied by fatigue, is a fairly common condition that does not manifest any structural damage in an organ.

26 Jun 2007

Cilia research may help find cure for inherited eye diseases

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified proteins in the rod and cones of the eye that could lead to the discovery of the genetic causes of a host of inherited eye diseases.

23 Jun 2007

DNA repair proteins monitored at double-strand break

St. Jude investigators recently had a molecule's eye view of the human cell's DNA repair kit as it assembled on a double-strand break to link together the broken ends.

23 Jun 2007

Goltz syndrome gene found

Researchers funded in part by the National Institutes of Health have identified the gene that accounts for most cases of Goltz syndrome, a rare skin disorder that can also affect bone and eye development.

23 Jun 2007

Obesity and wrist shape correlate with a higher prevalence of carpal tunnel syndrome

Weight loss in obese patients, however, does not bring relief of the syndrome. Experts suggest a genetic link between the two conditions, or a genetic profile that pre-disposes a patient to both conditions.

20 Jun 2007

Obese heart attack patients more likely to survive after treatment than normal weight patients

Obese and very obese patients have a lower risk of dying after they have been treated for heart attacks than do normal weight patients, according to research published in the European Heart Journal today (Wednesday 20 June).

20 Jun 2007

Post-holiday syndrome

Millions of people will leave their working places and start their holidays in the next weeks.

20 Jun 2007

Babies with parents who smoke have cotinine in their urine

British scientists say babies with parents who smoke have five times as much cotinine, a nicotine byproduct, in their urine than infants whose parents are non-smokers.

20 Jun 2007

Restricting hospital-based services during SARS outbreak had modest impact

Restrictions on the non-urgent use of hospital-based services that were imposed when a provincial health emergency was declared during the 2003 SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak in Toronto, Ontario, resulted in only modest reductions in overall admissions.

19 Jun 2007

Noninvasive screening in early pregnancy reduces Down's births by 50 percent

Non-invasive screening of pregnant women with ultrasound early in pregnancy, combined with maternal blood analysis, has reduced the number of children born in Denmark with Down Syndrome by 50%, a scientist will tell the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics today.

19 Jun 2007