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Protein pair may be prognostic biomarker for identifying smoking-related lung cancers

Mayo Clinic researchers have shown that a specific protein pair may be a successful prognostic biomarker for identifying smoking-related lung cancers. The protein — ASCL1 — is associated with increased expression of the RET oncogene, a particular cancer-causing gene called RET. The findings appear in the online issue of the journal Oncogene.

20 Sep 2013

State highlights: Penn State ends health plan penalty

After weeks of vociferous objections by faculty members, Pennsylvania State University said on Wednesday it was suspending part of a new employee wellness program that some professors had criticized as coercive and financially punitive (Singer, 9/18).

20 Sep 2013

Toxoplasma infection makes mice fearless

The Toxoplasma parasite can be deadly, causing spontaneous abortion in pregnant women or killing immune-compromised patients, but it has even stranger effects in mice.

19 Sep 2013

Use of intensive pesticide in banana plantations leads to contamination

Shoppers spend over -10 billion on bananas annually and now this demand is being linked to the contamination of Central America's crocodilians. New research, published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, analyses blood samples from spectacled caiman in Costa Rica and finds that intensive pesticide use in plantations leads to contaminated species in protected conservation areas.

19 Sep 2013

Seniors' loss of driving independence negatively affects their ability to work

For many senior drivers, it is only a matter of time before they are forced to give up their car keys due to failing eyesight or other health issues. Now, University of Missouri researchers have studied how aging adults' driving cessation influences their work and social lives.

19 Sep 2013

Contact Precautions used to prevent spread of infections create negative perception of care

Patient satisfaction has an increasing impact on hospitals' bottom lines, factoring into Medicare reimbursement of hospital care. A new study finds patients placed in Contact Precautions (Contact Isolation) were twice as likely to report perceived problems with care compared to patients without Contact Precautions, placing the common infection control practice at odds with hospital interests.

19 Sep 2013

Dust storms in Africa affect air quality in US and the Caribbean

You might find it hard to believe that dust clouds from the African Sahara can travel thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean, but it does every year and in large quantities. In a recent study, Joseph Prospero, professor emeritus at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and collaborators at the University of Houston and Arizona State University found that the average air concentrations of inhalable particles more than doubled during a major Saharan dust intrusion in Houston, Texas.

19 Sep 2013

SHBG protein indicates risk of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome years in advance

Over the last decade researchers have amassed increasing evidence that relatively low levels of a protein called sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) can indicate an elevated risk of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome years in advance.

19 Sep 2013

Researchers identify the way FMRP contributes to progression of breast cancer

A research team led by scientists from VIB/KU Leuven, Belgium, and the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy, in collaboration with several research centers and hospitals in Italy, the United Kingdom and, Belgium, has identified the way Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein or FMRP contributes to the progression of breast cancer.

18 Sep 2013

Study reveals that composition of skin microbiota is controlled by host genome

Numerous recent studies linked gut microbiota with various diseases such as obesity or diabetes. Little is known, however, on how gut and skin microbiota composition is controlled.

18 Sep 2013

Young women with critical mothers likelier to have disordered eating attitudes

Young women with critical, over-involved mothers likelier to have poor social skills and disordered eating attitudes.

18 Sep 2013

Emotional stress, cognitive impairment linked to early hospital readmission of heart patients

Heart patients' mental state and thinking abilities may help predict whether costly and potentially dangerous early hospital readmission will follow their release after treatment, according to the results of a significant new study by Henry Ford Hospital researchers.

18 Sep 2013

RedHill Biopharma to initiate phase III trial of RHB 104 in Crohn's disease patients

UCF College of Medicine professor Dr. Saleh Naser soon will participate in a clinical trial to test whether a new antibiotic therapy acquired by RedHill Biopharma can be used to treat Crohn's disease patients.

18 Sep 2013

VBP15 drug shows early promise for treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy

A preclinical study led by researchers at Children's National Medical Center has found that a new oral drug shows early promise for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

18 Sep 2013

Spinal injuries present in 11% of Iraq/Afghanistan casualties

Spinal injuries are present in 1 out of 9 U.S. military personnel sustaining combat injuries in Iraq or Afghanistan -- a much higher rate than in previous wars, according to a report in the Sept. 15 issue of Spine. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

17 Sep 2013

Understanding essential role of gut microbes in immune system

A new understanding of the essential role of gut microbes in the immune system may hold the key to dealing with some of the more significant health problems facing people in the world today, Oregon State University researchers say in a new analysis.

17 Sep 2013

High exposure to swine manure in crop fields linked with increased risk of MRSA, soft-tissue infection

High exposure to swine manure spread in crop fields and proximity to high-density swine livestock operations appear to be associated with increased risk of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and skin and soft-tissue infection in humans, according to a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.

17 Sep 2013

Repeated exposure to low level blasts causes harmful effects in brain

Repeated exposure to low level blasts (LLB) can cause symptoms similar to sports concussion. Soldiers or law enforcement officers called "breachers" receive training in using low level blasts for forced entry.

17 Sep 2013

Researchers identify gene mutation linked to age-related macular degeneration

An international team of researchers, led by scientists at The Genome Institute at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor, has identified a gene mutation linked to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in Americans over age 50.

17 Sep 2013

Researchers find that people affected by cold sores have mutation in gene

Why some people are troubled by cold sores while others are not has finally been explained by scientists. Cold sores affect around one in five people but, until now, no one has been sure why some are more prone to the virus that causes them.

17 Sep 2013