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Exposure to harmful quantities of lead may lead to juvenile delinquency

Lead is a common element but is found in old paints (including those once used on children's toys), soil, old piping, water, and the atmosphere from lead-containing vehicular fuels, even drinking vessels. At high dose it is lethal but also causes seemingly trivial symptoms such as headaches. However, in children lead can also lead to irreversible damage to the organs, the kidneys in particular, and the nervous system including the brain.

13 Feb 2013

GSK, Vanderbilt partner to develop and commercialize new therapies for severe obesity

Vanderbilt University announced today that it has signed a collaboration agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapies for severe obesity.

13 Feb 2013

Boston College biologist receives $2.7M NIH grant to continue HIV and AIDS research

Boston College biologist Ken Williams, whose research focuses on the role of immunological cells in a range of illnesses that strike people living with HIV and AIDS, has been awarded a five-year, $2.7 million grant from the NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

12 Feb 2013

Frozen/thawed embryo replacement better than fresh in vitro fertilization

In a study to be presented on February 14 between 1:15 p.m., and 3:30 p.m. PST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting -, in San Francisco, California, researchers will present findings showing perinatal outcomes of frozen/thawed embryo replacement (FER) have better outcomes compared to fresh in vitro fertilization (IVF), but worse outcomes compared to the non-IVF general population.

12 Feb 2013

Intratympanic versus systemic steroid improves sudden hearing loss

Intratympanic treatment with the steroid dexamethasone should be considered as a salvage therapy for patients who have not responded to systemic treatment for sudden sensorineural hearing loss, suggest study findings.

12 Feb 2013

Congenital anomaly prevalence should spark ART policy change

Assisted reproductive technology may be associated with the increased proportion of multiple birth infants affected by congenital abnormalities since the 1980s, European research suggests.

12 Feb 2013

Low vitamin D not linked to poor physical performance in octogenarians

Researchers have found no evidence for a link between low vitamin D levels and impaired physical performance in people aged 80 years or older.

12 Feb 2013

Menopausal brain changes support estrogen’s protective role in schizophrenia

Researchers have found morphological differences between pre- and postmenopausal women with schizophrenia that support a protective role for estrogen in the psychiatric disorder.

12 Feb 2013

Berkeley Lab researchers resolve EGFR activation mystery

Researchers with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have provided important new details into the activation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a cell surface protein that has been strongly linked to a large number of cancers and is a major target of cancer therapies.

12 Feb 2013

Two different mechanisms trigger early-onset prostate cancers

While prostate cancer is the most common cancer in elderly Western men it also, but more rarely, strikes patients aged between 35 and 50. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, in collaboration with several other research teams in Germany, have discovered that such early-onset prostate cancers are triggered by a different mechanism from that which causes the disease at a later age.

12 Feb 2013

Lipid associated variant linked to aortic stenosis, valve disorders

People who carry a lipoprotein(a) gene variant are at increased risk for aortic valve calcification and aortic stenosis, suggest study findings.

11 Feb 2013

Bladder reconstruction rate after cystectomy varies

The use of bladder orthotopic reconstruction after cystectomy for cancer is uncommon in England and varies significantly among patient groups, report researchers.

11 Feb 2013

Steroid therapy impedes Duchenne’s cardiomyopathy

Steroid therapy is associated with a considerable reduction in all-cause mortality and new-onset and progressive cardiomyopathy in patients with the debilitating X-linked disease Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

11 Feb 2013

Scientists identify enigmatic aggregates linked to neurodegenerative diseases

The proteins that have now been identified shouldn't actually exist. Nevertheless, they build the core of cellular aggregates whose identity has been enigmatic until now. These aggregates are typically associated with hereditary neurodegenerative diseases including variants of frontotemporal dementia (FTD), also known as frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). They are likely to be damaging and might be a target for therapy.

11 Feb 2013

FDA hears concerns on new narcotic pain pill rules

Survivors of those who died from opioid overdoses urge changes in the drugs' labels, but some patients express concerns that they might have trouble getting the drugs.

11 Feb 2013

Exercise may reduce risk of prostate cancer in Caucasian men

A new study suggests that exercise may reduce Caucasian men's risk of developing prostate cancer. And among Caucasian men who do have prostate cancer, exercise may reduce their risk of having more serious forms of the disease. Unfortunately, the benefits do not seem to apply to African- American men. The study is published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

11 Feb 2013

Shanshi, Tensys Medical enter commercial agreement to distribute T-Line technology

Tensys Medical, Inc., a leader in the development and commercialization of continuous, non-invasive hemodynamic patient monitoring systems, has entered into a commercial agreement with Zhejiang Shanshi Medical Device CO., LTD (Shanshi) for distribution of the company's T-Line technology.

11 Feb 2013

sFRP3 protein appears to be target of both antidepressant drugs and electroconvulsive therapy

Through a series of investigations in mice and humans, Johns Hopkins researchers have identified a protein that appears to be the target of both antidepressant drugs and electroconvulsive therapy.

11 Feb 2013

Overexpression of alpha-synuclein can cause Parkinson's

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say overexpression of a protein called alpha-synuclein appears to disrupt vital recycling processes in neurons, starting with the terminal extensions of neurons and working its way back to the cells' center, with the potential consequence of progressive degeneration and eventual cell death.

10 Feb 2013

Roundup: Assisted suicide legalization urged; Abortion bill tensions in Wash., Ore.; Budget squeezes in Ga., Conn.

A push for the legalization of physician-assisted suicide is under way in a half-dozen states where proponents say they see strong support for allowing doctors to prescribe mentally competent, dying individuals with the medications needed to end their own lives. ... Groups such as Compassion & Choices, a national end-of-life advocacy organization, have been working to advance the cause.

10 Feb 2013