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Is your tween ready to stay home alone this summer?

Whether it be for two hours or an entire day, millions of tweens - children ages 11 to 13 - will be left home alone this summer, despite their parents' concerns that they may not have the knowledge and skills they need to stay safe at home.

10 Jun 2008

Maternal depression, breastfeeding affect infants' sleep

Maternal depression during pregnancy, breastfeeding and a lower socioeconomic status are all associated with less infant sleep duration in the first six months of life, according to a research abstract that will be presented on Monday at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS).

9 Jun 2008

Synthetic molecules developed by Hebrew University researchers hold promise for new family of anti-cancer drugs

Synthetic molecules designed by two Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers have succeeded in reducing and even eliminating the growth of human malignant tissues in mice, while having no toxic effects on normal tissue.

4 Jun 2008

Prostate Cancer Foundation 'beefs up' cancer research

The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) has committed more than $19 million in new research funding for scientific investigations focused on discovering new treatments for recurrent prostate cancer. A total of eight programs representing 18 leading research institutions and 36 researchers were selected as part of the foundation's 2008 Challenge Awards. The funded programs will receive the first of three annual payments, ranging between $500,000 and $1.0 million per program, this week.

4 Jun 2008

Most U.S. medical schools do not adequately limit gifts, payments from pharmaceutical industry, report finds

Most U.S. medical schools do not adequately limit gifts and payments from pharmaceutical companies to physicians and students, according to a report released on Tuesday by the American Medical Student Association, the New York Times reports.

3 Jun 2008

U of M sets new standard of care for recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa

Physicians at the University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota Children's Hospital, Fairview have set the path to a cure for a young boy's fatal genetic skin disease, recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), by using a cord blood and bone marrow transplant. Nate Liao, a 25-month-old from Clarksburg, N.J., underwent the experimental therapy in October 2007.

3 Jun 2008

New method for obstetric care leads to healthier newborns and mothers

An alternative method for obstetric care has led to lower neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission rates, higher uncomplicated vaginal birth (UVB) rates, and a lower mean Adverse Outcome Index (AOI) score, according to a new study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and published in this month's issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

3 Jun 2008

Risk factors for eating disorders in children

Risk factors for binge eating and purging may vary between boys and girls and by age group in girls, according to a report in the June issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

2 Jun 2008

Bipolar disorder in adolescents is a huge risk factor for smoking and substance abuse

A study from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) supports previous reports that adolescents with bipolar disorder are at increased risk for smoking and substance abuse.

2 Jun 2008

New model predicts whether patients will be free of renal cancer 12 years after initial treatment

A UT Southwestern Medical Center physician and other researchers have developed a unique statistical model that predicts the probability of a patient being cancer free 12 years after initial surgical treatment.

2 Jun 2008

Simple infection control intervention in elementary schools reduces student absenteeism

A study from researchers at Children's Hospital Boston published in Pediatrics found that a simple infection control intervention in elementary schools - disinfecting frequently-touched surfaces and using alcohol-based hand sanitizers - helped reduce illness-related student absenteeism.

2 Jun 2008

FDA proposes drug label changes to provide more information on risks for women who are pregnant, nursing

FDA on Wednesday proposed changing its labeling system for prescription and over-the-counter drugs to provide more safety information for pregnant and breastfeeding women, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports (AP/Long Island Newsday, 5/28). On average, women in the U.S. take three to five medications when they are pregnant, and more than 90% of women who are breastfeeding take medications during the first week after delivery, USA Today reports.

30 May 2008

Quality of life predicts cancer survival

Head and neck cancer patients who reported lower physical quality of life were more likely to die from their disease, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. The findings could mean that identifying patients with poor quality of life could also identify patients with particularly aggressive tumors.

30 May 2008

University of Bristol to test effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy

A team of researchers, led by Dr Nicola Wiles at the University of Bristol, has been awarded £1.2 million by the National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment (NIHR HTA) programme for a clinical trial to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for patients with depression who do not respond to treatment with antidepressants.

30 May 2008

Estrogen drives distinct, aggressive prostate cancer

Using a breakthrough technology, researchers led by a Weill Cornell Medical College scientist have pinpointed the hormone estrogen as a key player in about half of all prostate cancers.

28 May 2008

Why some treatments rescue aging skin

Fine wrinkles, deeper creases, saggy areas around the mouth and neck - the sights in the mirror that make baby boomers wince - are not inevitable. They result from a structural breakdown inside the skin that some existing treatments effectively counteract by stimulating the growth of new, youthful collagen, University of Michigan scientists say.

28 May 2008

Avoiding spleen removal for Cooley's anemia sufferers

Researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College may have discovered the precise role of a gene in one of the world's most common blood disorders, beta-thalassemia, commonly known as Cooley's anemia. Along with sickle-cell anemia, Cooley's anemia is the most commonly inherited disease in the world, affecting many people of Mediterranean descent, and 20 out of every 100,000 African-Americans. The World Health Organization estimates that between 50,000-100,000 children are born with the disease each year.

27 May 2008

Embryonic pathway delivers stem cell traits

Studies of how cancer cells spread have led to a surprising discovery about the creation of cells with adult stem cell characteristics, offering potentially major implications for regenerative medicine and for cancer treatment.

25 May 2008

An alternative strategy for HIV vaccine research

Today, Advanced BioScience Laboratories, Inc. (ABL) and the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) report that their unique HIV vaccine formulation was effective in eliciting strong and balanced immune responses in healthy human volunteers.

22 May 2008

Quitting smoking a group activity!

The number of smokers who have quit over the last three decades has multiplied as a result of public-health campaigns, but now researchers in the U.S. say people quit smoking as groups and not as individuals.

22 May 2008