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Closer to understanding age-related memory loss and drug to boost memory

The world's scientific community may be one step closer to understanding age-related memory loss, and to developing a drug that might help boost memory. In an editorial published May 7 in Science, J. David Sweatt, Ph.D., chair of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Neurobiology, says that drugs known as histone deacetylase inhibitors are showing great promise in stopping memory loss - and even in boosting the formation of memory in animal models.

7 May 2010

Researchers investigate effects of fatigue on neurosurgery resident performance

There are more than 6,000 U.S. hospitals, with approximately 3,500 actively practicing board-certified neurosurgeons serving a population of over 303 million people. About 150 neurosurgery residents graduate every year from the 99 accredited U.S. neurosurgery training programs.

7 May 2010

DNA capture techniques enable sequencing of ancient Neandertal DNA

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute (MPI), Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), Agilent Technologies Inc., and other prestigious institutions worldwide have shown that DNA capture techniques can greatly enable the sequencing of ancient Neandertal DNA, providing new insight into the nature of these prehistoric hominids.

7 May 2010

First 25 recipients of Frank Lanza Memorial Scholarship Program announced

The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, with the generous support of METI and L-3 Communications, Inc., have announced the first 25 recipients of the Frank Lanza Memorial Scholarship Program. The scholarships recognize the accomplishments of students enrolled in allied health programs offered by regionally accredited community colleges. Twenty-five students received scholarships of $1,000 each.

7 May 2010

First clinical trial results of camera chip implanted under retina presented at 2010 ARVO meeting

Retina Implant, AG, a leading developer of subretinal implants for the visually impaired, today announced the presentation of findings from their first clinical trial in which blind patients were able to view and focus on objects as their eye and head naturally moved as opposed to needing to constantly move their head to scan a scene, which is the case for other implants in which a camera is mounted to the patient's head.

7 May 2010

Minimally invasive scopes to detect cancer

Just as cameras and televisions have been reinvented in the last decade with improved optics, sharpness and brightness, so have the tiny imaging scopes that physicians use to peer into the body's nooks and crannies -- its organs and digestive system.

7 May 2010

Gene patenting policies affect patient access to testing for disease-causing genes: Study

Policies allowing genes to be patented can make it more difficult for patients to access testing for important disease-causing gene mutations, according to a series of papers in a special online supplement published by Genetics in Medicine, the official peer-reviewed journal of The American College of Medical Genetics.

7 May 2010

Ohio scientists demonstrate existence of effective technology for nationwide newborn screening of SMA

Scientists in Ohio studying Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) have concluded that the technology now exists to carry out nationwide screening of newborn children and pregnant mothers. The study, published in the American Journal of Medical Genetics, reveals that effective screening may allow parents to find proactive treatments before the symptoms become irreversible.

7 May 2010

MMI-USA expands worldwide patent, trademark programs

MMI-USA, a subsidiary of Memometal Technologies S.A., France, a global leader in the manufacture and development of extremity orthopedics, announced today the expansion of its U.S. and worldwide patent and trademark programs. Memometal recognizes the value of its intellectual property and is committed to protecting its products through aggressive procurement and enforcement of patent and trademark rights.

7 May 2010

Inadvertent reprogramming of genes in peripheral nervous system may cause chronic pain

Chronic pain severely limits patients' quality of life and is among the cost drivers in U.S. health care. Patients can suffer pain without an apparent cause and often fail to respond to available treatments. Mayo Clinic researchers and collaborators now report that chronic pain may be caused by the inadvertent reprogramming of more than 2,000 genes in the peripheral nervous system. The research findings appear in the current issue of the journal Genome Research.

7 May 2010

SBMC 2010 to focus on systems-biological analysis of processes in mammalian cells

More targeted drug development thanks to systems biology - scientists at the SBMC 2010 in Freiburg explain how this works. Systems biology has finally come of age. Evidence for this is the third Conference on Systems Biology of Mammalian Cells (SBMC), which will take place on June 3-5, 2010 at the Concert Hall Freiburg (Konzerthaus) under the auspices of Prof. Dr. Annette Schavan, German Federal Minister of Education and Research.

7 May 2010

Neurons' complicated tree-like structure formation unravelled

A breakthrough about the formation and maintenance of tree-like nerve cell structures could have future applications in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and the repair of injuries in which neurons are damaged. The findings by the international team led by Prof. Benjamin Podbilewicz of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology Faculty of Biology are published in the May 6th issue of Science Express.

7 May 2010

AACN hosts NTI conference to discuss emerging trends in patient care

Latest advances in complex medical treatments and delivering safe, patient-centered, cost-effective care will be among the hot topics as thousands of nurses who care for high acuity and critically ill patients and their families convene this month in Washington, D.C.

7 May 2010

Survey reveals low awareness of postherpetic neuralgia amongst Americans

The American Pain Foundation (APF) announced today at the American Pain Society (APS) Annual Meeting the results of a national survey that showed postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), also known as after-shingles pain, continues to be a condition with low awareness amongst Americans, demonstrating a need for health care provider (HCP) intervention.

7 May 2010

Nokia launches Ovi Life Tools in China

Nokia today announced the launch of Ovi Life Tools in China. Designed for the emerging markets, Ovi Life Tools offers a wide range of information services covering healthcare, agriculture, education and entertainment.

7 May 2010

Lifegene project launched to study origin of disease

The unique resources available in the Nordic region, such as civic registration numbers and the registries of genetically informative populations and health outcomes, make it an epidemiological goldmine. The LifeGene project is being coordinated by the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet to take advantage of Sweden's competitive edge in this field.

7 May 2010

Neuroscientists show how individual neurons carry significant aspects of sensory processing

Pioneering a novel microscopy method, neuroscientist Arthur Konnerth and colleagues from the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) have shown that individual neurons carry out significant aspects of sensory processing: specifically, in this case, determining which direction an object in the field of view is moving.

7 May 2010

THI at St. Luke's reveals new insights on how adult stem cells repair damaged hearts following heart attack

Physician scientists at the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital (THI at St. Luke's) are publishing research this week that reveals new insights into how a particular set of human adult stem cells helps repair damaged hearts following a heart attack in laboratory mice.

7 May 2010

Peptides: A new clue on the origins of life

Emory University scientists have discovered that simple peptides can organize into bi-layer membranes. The finding suggests a "missing link" between the pre-biotic Earth's chemical inventory and the organizational scaffolding essential to life.

7 May 2010

54% of liver cirrhosis patients experience neurocognitive impairments

More than half of patients who have cirrhosis of the liver also display neurocognitive impairments such as short term memory loss, a study led by a Loyola University Health System researcher has found.

7 May 2010