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Distal-less gene plays a critical role in development of fruit fly olfactory system

Fruit flies don't have noses, but a huge part of their brains is dedicated to processing smells. Flies probably rely on the sense of smell more than any other sense for essential activities such as finding mates and avoiding danger. UW-Madison researchers have discovered that a gene called distal-less is critical to the fly's ability to receive, process and respond to smells.

20 Jan 2012

Regular exercise can decrease anxiety symptoms in patients with GAD

Approximately 3 percent of the U.S. population suffers from excessive, uncontrollable worry that reduces their health and quality of life. The condition, known as Generalized Anxiety Disorder, is difficult to overcome and is accompanied by a host of physical symptoms, including fatigue, muscle tension, irritability and poor sleep. However, a new University of Georgia study shows that regular exercise can significantly reduce anxiety symptoms in patients with GAD.

20 Jan 2012

Study shows 50% reduction in blindness and severe visual loss in Denmark

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most frequent cause of blindness in the Western World. A report from the University of Copenhagen and Glostrup Hospital in Denmark published today shows the number of new cases of blindness and severe visual loss in Denmark has been halved during the last ten years.

20 Jan 2012

Decisive role of grandmothers on maternal and infant nutrition, health

Grandmothers and other senior female family members should play a key role in nutrition and health programmes for children and women in non-Western societies. However, they are often overlooked by health organisations that don't understand the importance of their role or see them as an obstacle to promoting good nutrition and health practices.

20 Jan 2012

Positive economic outcomes of paid family leave for workers

With a growing need for family-friendly workplace policies, a new study commissioned by the National Partnership for Women & Families, with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, concludes that providing paid family leave to workers leads to positive economic outcomes for working families, businesses and the public.

20 Jan 2012

Inherited mutation links exploding chromosomes to cancer

An inherited mutation in a gene known as the guardian of the genome is likely the link between exploding chromosomes and some particularly aggressive types of cancer, scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ) and the University Hospital, all in Heidelberg, Germany, have discovered.

20 Jan 2012

Study: Up to 30% of patients hospitalized after a stroke develop delirium

Up to 30 per cent of patients hospitalized after a stroke develop delirium, according to a new study from St. Michael's Hospital.

20 Jan 2012

Springer celebrates its 50,000th eBook

Springer celebrates its 50,000th eBook, available on its online platform SpringerLink. This milestone underscores Springer's position as the largest eBook publisher and emphasizes SpringerLink's dominance in offering the world's most comprehensive online collection of science, technology and medicine (STM) journals, books and reference works.

20 Jan 2012

Quebec ban on junk-food ads more effective in reducing childhood obesity

With mounting concerns over childhood obesity and its associated health risks in the U.S., would a ban on junk-food advertising aimed at children be more effective than the current voluntary, industry-led ban? According to published research from a University of Illinois economist, advertising bans do work, but an outright ban covering the entire U.S. media market would be the most effective policy tool for reducing fast-food consumption in children.

20 Jan 2012

ArmAssist project to find out degree of satisfaction in patients with brain stroke

Today 15 million persons throughout the world suffer from an ictus every year and 5 million are left with chronic disabilities. TECNALIA designed a system for alleviating neuromuscular disability amongst these patients from their homes and by which these can be permanently supervised by the therapist who will be able to carry out a quantitative evaluation of the therapy. To this end, they have brought together new technologies and entertainment and a greater quality of rehabilitation.

20 Jan 2012

Banner Alzheimer's Institute presents results from Navidea AZD4694 study at 6th Annual HAI

Navidea Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the Banner Alzheimer's Institute, Phoenix, AZ, made two presentations of results from an AstraZeneca-sponsored study on the assessment of Navidea's late-stage radiopharmaceutical imaging candidate, AZD4694, at the 6th Annual Human Amyloid Imaging Meeting (HAI), in Miami, FL.

20 Jan 2012

Family, friends encourage young people to use sunbeds

As the post-Christmas January blues take hold, young people are risking damage to their health and appearance by using sunbeds on the recommendation of friends and family, according to a new survey by Cancer Research UK.

20 Jan 2012

Study investigates immune response in cancer

In a study investigating immune response in cancer, researchers from Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., and the University of South Florida have found that interaction between the immune system's antigen-specific CD4 T cells and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) - cells that play a major role in cancer-related immune suppression - dramatically change the nature of MDSC-mediated suppression. By contrast, the same effect was not observed when MDSCs interacted with the immune system's CD8 T cells.

20 Jan 2012

Elsevier to publish The Ocular Surface that focuses on external eye and vision

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, is pleased to announce newly acquiring The Ocular Surface, a peer-reviewed journal focusing on the external eye and vision. As per January 2012 Elsevier will continue the publication of the quarterly journal.

20 Jan 2012

Researchers reveal role of micronuclei in cancer process

They are the Robinson Crusoes of the intracellular world -- lone chromosomes, whole and hardy, stranded outside the nucleus where their fellow chromosomes reside. Such castaways, each confined to its own "micronucleus," are often found in cancer cells, but scientists haven't known what role, if any, they play in the cancer process.

20 Jan 2012

New federal drug label recommendations for CKD patients

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently recommended that clinicians be more conservative when they prescribe chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients with drugs that treat red blood cell deficiencies. But the drug label's recommendations fall short, according to two commentaries appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology.

20 Jan 2012

Report reveals 45.9M American adults suffered from mental illness in the past year

A new national report reveals that 45.9 million American adults aged 18 or older, or 20 percent of this age group, experienced mental illness in the past year. The rate of mental illness was more than twice as high among those aged 18 to 25 (29.9 percent) than among those aged 50 and older (14.3 percent). Adult women were also more likely than men to have experienced mental illness in the past year (23 percent versus 16.8 percent).

20 Jan 2012

Study explains gender-related incidence of liver cancer

Men are four times more likely to develop liver cancer compared to women, a difference attributed to the sex hormones androgen and estrogen. Although this gender difference has been known for a long time, the molecular mechanisms by which estrogens prevent -- and androgens promote -- liver cancer remain unclear.

20 Jan 2012

Psychiatric Times focuses on helping clinicians treat people with personality disorders

UBM Medica today announced that Psychiatric Times features special coverage focused on helping mental health professionals treat people with various types of personality disorders.

20 Jan 2012

MSF closes two large clinics in Mogadishu after two staff members killed last month

"Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has shut down two major medical centers in the Somali capital Mogadishu after two of its aid workers were shot dead by a former colleague last month, the international medical aid agency said on Thursday," AlertNet reports.

20 Jan 2012