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Researchers find inherited genetic variation in nicotine addiction

A new study from the Abramson Cancer Center and Department of Psychiatry in the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine shows that smokers who carry a particular version of a gene for an enzyme that regulates dopamine in the brain may suffer from concentration problems and other cognitive deficits when abstaining from nicotine - a problem that puts them at risk for relapse during attempts to quit smoking.

10 Dec 2008

Panel blasts Bush administration's nanotech risk strategy

A National Research Council (NRC) committee has issued a highly critical report describing serious shortfalls in the Bush administration's strategy to better understand the environment, health and safety (EHS) risks of nanotechnology and to effectively manage those potential risks.

10 Dec 2008

Children who are overweight or obese have increased risk of arm and leg injuries following motor vehicle crash

Children who are overweight or obese are over two and a half times more likely to suffer injuries to their upper and lower extremities following a motor vehicle crash compared with normal weight children, according to a new report from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Injury Research and Policy.

10 Dec 2008

Vitamin C or E do not reduce prostate cancer, or other cancers risk

In a major cancer prevention study, long-term supplementation with vitamin E or C did not reduce the risk of prostate or other cancers for nearly 15,000 male physicians.

10 Dec 2008

Research looks at neighborhoods and obesity in later life

Living in an affluent neighborhood with a higher educated population and higher valued homes may play a protective role against obesity for older men and women, according to UMDNJ researchers.

10 Dec 2008

Accelerating progress in the development of vaccines

This week the Elsevier Journal Vaccine, the most comprehensive and pre-eminent journal for those interested in vaccines and vaccination, organized the 2nd Vaccine Global Congress in Boston MA, USA.

10 Dec 2008

$Thiazolidinediones doubles risk of fractures in women$

Thiazolidinediones doubles risk of fractures in women

New findings out of Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of East Anglia show that long-term use of a popular class of oral diabetic drugs doubles the risk of fractures in women with type 2 diabetes.

10 Dec 2008

Reforms needed in adolescent health care

Current health services for adolescents are fragmented and poorly designed to meet the health needs of all of the nation's adolescents, says a new report from the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine.

10 Dec 2008

Quantros acquires MEDMARX from United States Pharmacopeia

U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) Convention, an official public standards-setting authority for all prescription and over-the-counter medicines sold in the United States, on December 4, 2008 transferred all rights, ownership and management of the overall MEDMARX reporting program to Quantros.

10 Dec 2008

Conquering cancer: A global effort

Despite the recent good news that cancer incidence and death rates for men and women in the United States continue to decline, cancer is projected to become the leading cause of death worldwide in the year 2010, and low- and middle-income countries will feel the impact of higher cancer incidence and death rates more sharply than industrialized countries.

10 Dec 2008

New Web-based tool for tracking blood safety

The Georgia Tech College of Computing, working in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has developed a Web-based tool for tracking blood safety.

10 Dec 2008

Exercise and no TV may reduce type 2 diabetes in African-American women

Researchers from Boston University's Slone Epidemiology Center have found that reducing time spent watching television and increasing time spent walking briskly or engaged in vigorous physical activity may reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes in African-American women.

8 Dec 2008

Contraceptive methods and women's sexuality

New data from The Kinsey Institute at Indiana University demonstrate that many women think condoms undermine sexual pleasure, but those who use both hormonal contraception and condoms report higher overall sexual satisfaction.

8 Dec 2008

Presbyopia may affect more than 1 billion worldwide

It is estimated that more than 1 billion individuals worldwide in 2005 had presbyopia, or age-related difficulty in seeing objects nearby, with an estimated 410 million with the condition unable to perform tasks requiring near vision, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

8 Dec 2008

Promising trials of malaria vaccine in East Africa lead to calls for phase 3 development

Experts are recommending that a malaria vaccine progress to Phase 3 trials following the successful trial of the RTS, S/AS01E malaria vaccine among 5-17 month old children in Korogwe, Tanzania and coastal Kenya, which is reported in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

8 Dec 2008

United States can learn from Dutch healthcare system

The United States can learn from the Dutch Health Insurance System model, according to an article by Pauline V. Rosenau, Ph.D., in the December issue of the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law.

8 Dec 2008

Discovery of six novel genetic variants associated with lipid levels

A new study presages a real aim of genetics: to look at whole populations to in order determine the significance of individual genetic variants for individual health.

8 Dec 2008

New approaches to prevent blood clots

The largest study ever to examine the preventive use of blood-thinning medication to help prevent deadly blood clots in patients with cancer undergoing chemotherapy presented December 7 during the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology in San Francisco, CA.

8 Dec 2008

Scientists find 12 new genes with potential as drug targets

Scientists have identified 12 new genes that are somewhat strange bedfellows: Some link gallstones and blood cholesterol levels, others link melatonin and sleep patterns to small increases in glucose levels and larger jumps in the risk of diabetes.

8 Dec 2008