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New study to reduce racial disparity in dementia

In a new study, one Michigan State University professor will explore why in old age, blacks are much more likely to have dementia than whites.

8 Mar 2012

UNICEF asks West African governments to prepare for cholera season to prevent widespread outbreak

UNICEF's West and Central Africa Regional Office "on Tuesday appealed to western African governments to prevent a new cholera outbreak, after the disease claimed nearly 3,000 lives there last year," Agence France-Presse reports.

8 Mar 2012

Scientists focus on genes linked with autism spectrum disorders

With the "Refrigerator Mother" notion about the cause of autism a distant and discredited memory, scientists are making remarkable progress in untangling the genetic roots of the condition, which affects millions of children and adults, according to an article in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News. C&EN is the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.

8 Mar 2012

Young adults, school health centers and cost-cutting: Examining elements of the health law's implementation

News outlets report on various provisions of the health law and their impact on the marketplace and access to care.

8 Mar 2012

Metformin drug appears to prevent growth of atherosclerosis in patients with HIV

Treatment with the common diabetes drug metformin appears to prevent progression of coronary atherosclerosis in patients infected with HIV.

8 Mar 2012

Doctors identify promising new treatment for hypophosphatasia

Doctors at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, working with Shriners Hospital for Children and other institutions, have identified a promising new treatment for a rare and sometimes life-threatening bone disorder that can affect infants and young children.

8 Mar 2012

Study suggests how and why high fat diets are linked to colon cancer

Epidemiologists have long warned that, in addition to causing obesity, eating too much fat and sugar puts a person at greater risk for colon cancer. Now, researchers at Temple University have established a link that may explain why.

8 Mar 2012

Some top researchers no longer think of glaucoma solely as an eye disease

A new paradigm to explain glaucoma is rapidly emerging, and it is generating brain-based treatment advances that may ultimately vanquish the disease known as the "sneak thief of sight." A review now available in Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, reports that some top researchers no longer think of glaucoma solely as an eye disease.

8 Mar 2012

Queen's receives NICH&S grant to create vaccine against Pseudomonas

Queen's University Belfast scientists working on a vaccine to combat Pseudomonas have received a financial boost from Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke.

8 Mar 2012

Women with chronic heart failure survive longer than their male counterparts

Women with chronic heart failure survive longer than their male counterparts, according to a large analysis of studies comprising data on more than 40,000 subjects. The analysis represents the largest assessment of gender and mortality risk in heart failure - and provides evidence which many randomised trials have failed to do because they have been dominated by male patients.

8 Mar 2012

New inexpensive medical sensor may simplify diagnosis of diseases

An inexpensive new medical sensor has the potential to simplify the diagnosis of diseases ranging from life-threatening immune deficiencies to the common cold, according to its inventors at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

8 Mar 2012

Journalists can now register for Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting

Journalists can register now for the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies taking place at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston April 28 to May 1, 2012.

8 Mar 2012

Women with breast pain do not gain benefit from imaging

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) have found that women with breast pain who receive imaging (mammograms, MRIs or ultrasounds) as part of breast pain evaluation, undergo follow-up diagnostic testing, but do not gain benefit from these additional studies.

8 Mar 2012

New minimally invasive procedure can treat resistant hypertension

A radically different approach to treating high blood pressure - using a minimally invasive procedure- is being evaluated as part of a Pivotal Phase III 90-site national trial that includes The Carl H. and Edyth Lindner Center for Research and Education at The Christ Hospital.

8 Mar 2012

Roundup: Calif. county mum on probe of Medicaid managed care firm; Suit alleges substandard care for Ariz. prisoners

A Ventura County commission is trying to keep secret the details of a state-ordered investigation into the management and claims procedures of a healthcare plan designed to serve the county's neediest residents. Complaints about alleged late payments and poor management prompted the Department of Health Care Services to request that auditors step in and examine the plan's financial condition and claims practices. Gold Coast Health Plan was launched last year to switch an estimated 110,000 Ventura County Medi-Cal beneficiaries into an HMO-style healthcare plan.

8 Mar 2012

Women with multiple pregnancies may have reduced risk of MS

Women who have multiple pregnancies may have a lower risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS), according to research published in the March 7, 2012, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

8 Mar 2012

Ordinary fat cells can be reengineered to burn calories

In the war against obesity, one's own fat cells may seem an unlikely ally, but new research from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) suggests ordinary fat cells can be reengineered to burn calories.

8 Mar 2012

Researchers identify key molecular player in mouse model of kidney disease

In findings that may lead to clinical trials of a promising new drug for kidney disease, researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and their colleagues have identified a key molecular player and shown how a targeted experimental drug can reverse kidney damage in mouse models of diabetes, high blood pressure, genetic kidney disease, and other kidney injuries.

8 Mar 2012

Sperm only react to changes in calcium concentration

Sperm have only one aim: to find the egg. The egg supports the sperm in their quest by emitting attractants. Calcium ions determine the beating pattern of the sperm tail which enables the sperm to move. Together with colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden and the University of G-ttingen, scientists from the caesar research centre in Bonn, an institute of the Max Planck Society, have discovered that sperm only react to changes in calcium concentration but not to the calcium concentration itself.

8 Mar 2012

Combining radiation therapy with ipilimumab shows promise against melanoma

Research published today in the New England Journal of Medicine by scientists at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) showed that combining targeted radiation therapy with immunotherapy (ipilimumab), fostered a strong immune response and a favorable clinical outcome in a patient with melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer.

8 Mar 2012