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People with MCI are impaired in several aspects of executive functioning

By the time older adults are diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, the brain damage is irreparable. For now, modern medicine is able to slow the progression of the disease but is incapable of reversing it. What if there was a way to detect if someone is on the path to Alzheimer's before substantial and non-reversible brain damage sets in?

11 Sep 2012

Combining two drugs may offer new and potent punch against cancer and other diseases

A new study by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College shows combining two already-FDA approved drugs may offer a new and potent punch against diseases in which blood vessel growth is abnormal -- such as cancer, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration and rheumatoid arthritis.

11 Sep 2012

New computer system interprets human emotions based on lip pattern

A computer is being taught to interpret human emotions based on lip pattern, according to research published in the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing. The system could improve the way we interact with computers and perhaps allow disabled people to use computer-based communications devices, such as voice synthesizers, more effectively and more efficiently.

11 Sep 2012

Oxyphenbutazone can kill drug resistant TB

An off-patent anti-inflammatory drug that costs around two cents for a daily dose in developing countries has been found by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College to kill both replicating and non-replicating drug resistant tuberculosis in the laboratory -- a feat few currently approved TB drugs can do, and resistance to those is spreading.

11 Sep 2012

Researchers discover how to store diverse forms of artificial short-term memories in brain tissue

Ben W. Strowbridge, PhD, Professor of Neurosciences and Physiology/Biophysics, and Robert A. Hyde, a fourth year MD/PhD student in the neurosciences graduate program at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, have discovered how to store diverse forms of artificial short-term memories in isolated brain tissue.

11 Sep 2012

Viewpoints: Home health workers need better pay; Is there a better solution than Medicaid to cover seniors' long-term care?

[F]or the stay-at-home elderly to have so-called "independent living" they must be highly dependent on the home care aides who look after medication schedules, cook meals, assist with bathing and generally keep them happy and healthy. And yet these workers are anything but well cared for. The vast majority are dreadfully overworked and woefully underpaid. The average hourly wage of a home care worker in the United States is less than $10.

11 Sep 2012

Employees behaving badly in the workplace

Over 86% of Australia’s professional workers have deliberately ignored or snubbed a colleague at work at least once, according to the findings of a new study by SACS Consulting into counter-productive workplace behaviours (CWBs) announced today.

10 Sep 2012

Sifting through the junk with ENCODE

The first large-scale results from the ENCylopedia Of DNA Elements Consortium have shed light on possible functions of large areas of the genome previously thought of as “junk DNA.”

10 Sep 2012

Warning over sirolimus in HCV-positive liver transplantation

Sirolimus, whether given at the time of liver transplantation or after, is associated with poorer outcomes in patients with hepatitis C virus infection compared with those who do not take the immunosuppressant, shows a US study.

10 Sep 2012

Plasma biomarker predicts rheumatoid arthritis onset

Healthy individuals with high levels of immunoglobulin G rheumatoid factor have a significantly increased risk for developing rheumatoid arthritis, suggests population-based research published in the BMJ.

10 Sep 2012

MRI workers experience transient neurocognitive effects

Individuals working in the vicinity of magnetic resonance imaging machines may experience transient neurocognitive effects when moving their heads, research demonstrates.

10 Sep 2012

Quality diabetes care comes at a price

Researchers say that the Quality and Outcomes Framework that was introduced to UK general practice in 2004 may not be worth the expense of implementing in terms of benefiting patients.

10 Sep 2012

More patients gain weight after joint replacement surgery

Hip and knee replacements are now a common surgical procedure with more than 700,000 total joint arthroplasties (TJAs) performed in the US every year. Due to the reduction in pain and increases in mobility experienced after having a TJA, it could be expected that weight loss may occur as a by-product of the surgery.

10 Sep 2012

Chicago teachers worried over health benefit costs strike

Concerned over negotiating the cost of their health benefits with their school district, Chicago teachers walk off the job for the first time in 25 years.

10 Sep 2012

Annovation Biopharma to develop novel anesthetics with $8M Series A financing

Annovation Biopharma, a biotechnology company focused on creating more effective, safer therapies for anesthesia and critical care, has raised $8M in a Series A financing led by Atlas Venture, Partners Innovation Fund, and new strategic investor The Medicines Company.

10 Sep 2012

Anti-abortion Democrats not feeling the warmth of convention's limelight

At the Democratic National Convention last week, support for reproductive health - including the right to an abortion - was in the prime-time spotlight. But the convention's aggressive appeal to women left one group out in the cold: Democrats who oppose abortion.

10 Sep 2012

Physician empathy has positive impact on patient outcomes

Patients of doctors who are more empathic have better outcomes and fewer complications, concludes a large, empirical study by a team of Thomas Jefferson University and Italian researchers who evaluated relationships between physician empathy and clinical outcomes among 20,961 diabetic patients and 242 physicians in Italy.

10 Sep 2012

HIV viruses with two genetic 'footprints' associated with greater vaccine efficacy

Scientists used genetic sequencing to discover new evidence that the first vaccine shown to prevent HIV infection in people also affected the viruses in those who did become infected. Viruses with two genetic "footprints" were associated with greater vaccine efficacy. The results were published today in the online edition of the journal Nature.

10 Sep 2012

VP ideological divide sparks health care sparring match

The vice presidential candidates prepare to meet each other in a debate -- each with very different ideas on moving forward on health care. In the meantime, GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan defends his stance on automatic cuts to lower the deficit -- which differ from his running mate's stance.

10 Sep 2012

Adult stem cell technology holds hope for erectile dysfunction treatment

After more than a decade of short-term cures to erectile dysfunction, most aimed at symptoms rather than the underlying issues of nerve damage, a new approach has emerged from adult stem cell technology developed by RNL Bio. Dr. Ji Youl Lee and the RNL Stem Cell Technology Institute (RNL SCTI) team, working at St. Mary's Hospital in Seoul, found in animal studies that adipose (fat) derived adult human stem cells, grown in culture, were very effective in treating cavernous nerve injury.

10 Sep 2012