X linked News and Research

RSS

Red and processed meat linked to greater risk of death from all causes

Individuals who eat more red meat and processed meat appear to have a modestly increased risk of death from all causes and also from cancer or heart disease over a 10-year period, according to a report in the March 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

23 Mar 2009

Thinning of right hemisphere in brain a marker for familial form of depression

Findings from one of the largest-ever imaging studies of depression indicate that a structural difference in the brain - a thinning of the right hemisphere - appears to be linked to a higher risk for depression, according to new research at Columbia University Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

23 Mar 2009

Injected luminol glows blue revealing immune cells' misdeeds

Detectives on television shows often spray crime scenes with a compound called luminol to make blood glow.

22 Mar 2009

Discovery of ten genes linked to sudden cardiac death

You're sitting at your desk and suddenly your heart is beating in overdrive or worse, lurching along like a car on fumes.

22 Mar 2009

Discovery of genetic link to blood cancers

The study, published in the journal Nature Genetics, has shown that susceptibility to a series of blood cancers, known as myeloproliferative disorders (MPDs), is linked to a particular area of the patient's DNA, which is prone to developing mutations.

22 Mar 2009

Metabolism and aging linked to circadian rhythm

All animals, including humans, have an internal 24-hour clock or circadian rhythm that creates a daily oscillation of body temperature, brain activity, hormone production and metabolism.

20 Mar 2009

Discovery of genetic markers for aggressive head and neck cancer

Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have identified genetic markers that signal poor outcomes for patients with head and neck cancer.

20 Mar 2009

Potential colon cancer being tested

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have begun testing a vaccine that might be able to prevent colon cancer in people at high risk for developing the disease.

20 Mar 2009

Heightened level of amygdala activity may cause social deficits in autism

Something strange is going on in the amygdala - an almond-shaped structure deep in the human brain - among people with autism.

20 Mar 2009

Factors associated with proteinuria identified

Characteristics associated with proteinuria - a predictor of decline in child kidney function - have been identified, according to a study appearing in the March 2009 issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN).

20 Mar 2009

Compound is key coordinator of clock and metabolism

Our circadian clock, or biological timing system, governs our daily cycles of feeding, activity and sleep.

20 Mar 2009

Paradigm shift in the regulation of immune response

Over the past decade various pieces of the puzzle how signal transmission controls immunity have been coming together.

20 Mar 2009

Happy pills in America -- Our complex love affair with designer consciousness

The spectacular increase in the use of psychiatric drugs over the past 50 years involved what a University at Buffalo historian calls "a massive break with what we consider 'normal' mental health," one linked to myriad social and cultural changes in America.

19 Mar 2009

Intelligence is strongly influenced by the quality of the brain's axons

They say a picture tells a thousand stories, but can it also tell how smart you are? Actually, say UCLA researchers, it can.

17 Mar 2009

HPV vaccine may prevent preterm births

Chronic human papilloma virus (HPV)-infections can lead to cellular changes in the cervix that can be a pre-stage to cervical cancer.

17 Mar 2009

No clear link between the levels of vitamin D in the blood and depression

A lack of Vitamin D, due to reduced sunlight, has been linked to depression and the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), but research by the University of Warwick shows there is no clear link between the levels of vitamin D in the blood and depression.

17 Mar 2009

FDA looks at nanotechnology for the detection of anthrax

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has completed a "proof-of-concept" study of a test that quickly and accurately detects the presence of even the smallest amount of the deadly anthrax toxin.

17 Mar 2009

Scientists 'watch' as individual alpha-synuclein proteins change shape

In an Early Edition publication of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) this week, the researchers demonstrate the "alpha-synuclein dance" - the switching back and forth of the protein between a bent helix and an extended helix as the surface that it is binding to changes.

16 Mar 2009

Male diabetics found to have lower levels of hydrogen sulfide in their blood

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is commonly associated with smell of rotten eggs, stink bombs and blocked drains but lower blood levels of the gas are possibly linked to cardiovascular complications in some male patients with type II diabetes, according to research recently presented by researchers at the Peninsula Medical School in the South West of England at the Annual Diabetes UK Professional Conference in Glasgow this week and published in Diabetic Medicine.

16 Mar 2009

Houseflies may contribute to the dispersion of drug-resistant bacteria

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found evidence that houseflies collected near broiler poultry operations may contribute to the dispersion of drug-resistant bacteria and thus increase the potential for human exposure to drug-resistant bacteria.

16 Mar 2009