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Mass spectrometry can help visualize how drugs work inside living cells to kill infectious microbes

Weill Cornell Medical College researchers report that mass spectrometry, a tool currently used to detect and measure proteins and lipids, can also now allow biologists to "see" for the first time exactly how drugs work inside living cells to kill infectious microbes.

3 Nov 2012

Studies show standardizing computer programs help improve genetic testing for Lynch Syndrome

Many patients who have genetic testing for Lynch syndrome, a hereditary predisposition to colon cancer, receive the inconclusive result "variants of uncertain clinical significance."

3 Nov 2012

Toilet training method not related to urinary accidents in children

Parents: stop worrying about which toilet training method to use - where urinary accidents in children are concerned, it doesn't matter. This clearly-stated message, published today in Clinical Pediatrics by physician researchers from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ)-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, emphasizes that the method of training chosen by parents is not the cause of urinary accidents in children.

3 Nov 2012

Bypass surgery offers people with diabetes better long-term survival than stents

People with diabetes mellitus who undergo heart bypass surgery for multiple blocked arteries have a significantly better 5-year-survival rate than diabetic patients who undergo angioplasty with drug-eluting stents (DES), according to a study published in the November 2012 issue of The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

3 Nov 2012

Hurricane Sandy's aftermath leaves older adults particularly vulnerable

Older adults left in the wake of Hurricane Sandy will likely suffer disproportionately in the days ahead, based on data from other recent natural disasters.

3 Nov 2012

New article asserts concerns about revisions to gestational diabetes diagnostic criteria

A number of important questions and issues should be addressed before changes are made to the guidelines for the diagnosis of gestational diabetes, according to a new article by University of Maryland School of Medicine Dean E. Albert Reece, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., published online in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology on Oct. 31. The article publishes in advance of a new National Institutes of Health (NIH) initiative to reconsider diagnostic guidelines for the condition.

3 Nov 2012

Sexual obsessions linked to suicidality

Sexual obsessions are associated with an increased risk for suicidal behaviour, especially in patients with mood disorders or schizophrenia, research shows.

2 Nov 2012

Hurricane Sandy’s impact on home care: an interview with Joanne Cunningham

Home care agencies, like all health providers, have only a matter of days to prepare for a specific weather event like Hurricane Sandy. However, disaster preparedness planning is a core function of home care service providers.

2 Nov 2012

CD22 protein could prove to be important new target for anti-cancer therapy

A team of UC Davis investigators has discovered a protein on the surface of lung cancer cells that could prove to be an important new target for anti-cancer therapy. A series of experiments in mice with lung cancer showed that specific targeting of the protein with monoclonal antibodies reduced the size of tumors, lowered the occurrence of metastases and substantially lengthened survival time.

2 Nov 2012

Soy products do not prevent onset of vasomotor symptoms in women

A team of investigators led by UC Davis found that eating soy products such as soy milk and tofu did not prevent the onset of hot flashes and night sweats as women entered menopause.

2 Nov 2012

Global wealth inequality threatens progress made in reducing child mortality, Save the Children report says

While progress has been made worldwide in reducing child mortality, the effects have been unequal across income groups, and wealth inequalities are at the highest level in 20 years and increasing, according to a report from Save the Children U.K., BBC News reports.

2 Nov 2012

NIH grant increases support of SDSU program that prepares students for doctoral and science careers

Funded by a $2.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the Initiative for Maximizing Student Development supports 30 students studying in the fields of biomedical and behavioral sciences.

2 Nov 2012

Apolipoprotein E plays a major role in maintaining arterial softness

Arterial stiffening has long been considered a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Keeping arteries soft and supple might reduce disease risk, but the mechanisms of how arteries stave off hardening has remained elusive.

2 Nov 2012

Viewpoints: George Will: Dems' 'reservoir of condenscension' focused on women; One disabled voter questions assisted suicide referendum

Much of the Democratic Party's vast reservoir of condescension is currently focused on women, who are urged not to trouble their pretty little heads about actual problems but instead to worry that, 52 years after birth control pills went on the market and 47 years after access to contraception became a constitutional right, reproductive freedom is at risk. This insult may explain the shift of women toward Romney.

1 Nov 2012

Better access to fresh, local food urged for underprivileged families

Initiatives that improve the ability of socially disadvantaged families to obtain local produce are sorely needed, say US researchers.

1 Nov 2012

Acupuncture shows promise in head and neck patients with xerostomia

Acupuncture significantly relieves the symptoms of xerostomia, or dry mouth, compared with oral care education in patients who have undergone radical or adjuvant radiotherapy for head and neck cancer, indicate the results of a randomized crossover trial.

1 Nov 2012

Study finds link between severe sepsis and chronic diseases

It's a major cause of death, yet few of us have ever heard of it. Sepsis occurs when a patient's immune system overreacts to an infection, triggering a potentially fatal, system-wide inflammation. Severe sepsis strikes about 750,000 Americans each year, most of them older and often ill, with as many as half of these patients dying as septic shock shuts down their organs. Furthermore, patients in many Southern states are about twice as likely to develop sepsis for reasons unknown.

1 Nov 2012

Blocking hyaluronidase activity can help repair brain damage associated with MS

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have discovered that blocking a certain enzyme in the brain can help repair the brain damage associated with multiple sclerosis and a range of other neurological disorders.

1 Nov 2012

Dysfunction in SRGAP3 protein causes developmental brain disorders

A new research discovery has the potential to revolutionize the biological understanding of some childhood psychiatric disorders. Specifically, scientists have found that when a single protein involved in brain development, called "SRGAP3," is malformed, it causes problems in the brain functioning of mice that cause symptoms that are similar to some mental health and neurological disorders in children.

1 Nov 2012

CSHL scientists discover new way to specifically target and kill cancer cells

Cancer cells grow fast. That's an essential characteristic of what makes them cancer cells. They've crashed through all the cell-cycle checkpoints and are continuously growing and dividing, far outstripping our normal cells. To do this they need to speed up their metabolism.

1 Nov 2012