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Training may inoculate seniors against falls

Training people to avoid falls by repeatedly exposing them to unstable situations in the laboratory helped them to later maintain their balance on a slippery floor, according to new research from the Journal of Neurophysiology.

5 Feb 2009

Research highlights need for licensed medicines for children

A new study has shown there is an urgent need for more children to take part in clinical trials to make sure medicines can be licensed for their safe and effective use.

5 Feb 2009

New research may lead to new pharmacologic approaches to treating obesity

Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have discovered a gene that when mutated causes obesity by dampening the body's ability to burn energy while leaving appetite unaffected.

5 Feb 2009

Guidance for evaluating menopause-like condition in girls and young women

A comprehensive plan to help health care professionals diagnose and treat primary ovarian insufficiency-a menopause-like condition affecting girls and young women that may occur years before normal menopause is expected-has been developed by a scientist at the National Institutes of Health.

5 Feb 2009

Research links photosynthesis genes to marine virus fitness

A recent Northeastern University study has shown, for the first time, the effect of individual genes on the fitness of a marine species at the ecosystem level.

5 Feb 2009

New study raises concerns about screen time among urban children with asthma

Urban children with asthma engage in an average of an hour more of screen time daily than the maximum amount American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends.

5 Feb 2009

Discovery of important drug target for influenza

Influenza is and remains a disease to reckon with. Seasonal epidemics around the world kill several hundred thousand people every year.

5 Feb 2009

Super-fine oil-and-water emulsion protects against superbugs that kill cystic fibrosis patients

University of Michigan scientists report highly encouraging evidence that a super-fine oil-and-water emulsion, already shown to kill many other microbes, may be able to quell the ravaging, often drug-resistant infections that cause nearly all cystic fibrosis deaths.

5 Feb 2009

Over a million U.S. cancer survivors foregoing vital treatments due to costs

More than a million cancer survivors living in the United States are foregoing what they believe is necessary medical care due to the cost, and Hispanics and African-Americans are twice as likely to go without services, according to data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research conference on the Science of Health Care Disparities.

5 Feb 2009

More children need medical help for respiratory syncytial virus than previously known

More than 2 million children with Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) are seen in hospitals, emergency rooms and doctors' offices in the United States every year -- many more than doctors know.

5 Feb 2009

Molecule that suppresses immune response under study in type 1 diabetes

The idea is to teach the immune system of children at high risk for type 1 diabetes not to attack the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas.

5 Feb 2009

The economic cost of methamphetamine use in the United States

The economic cost of methamphetamine use in the United States reached $23.4 billion in 2005, including the burden of addiction, premature death, drug treatment and many other aspects of the drug, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

5 Feb 2009

Safinamide significantly improved motor function in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease

Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and its partner Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA has announced that the first Phase III trial of investigational agent safinamide as adjunctive therapy to levodopa (study 016) met its primary endpoint by increasing daily "ON" time in mid- to late-stage Parkinson's disease patients with motor fluctuations by 1.3 hours.

5 Feb 2009

Researchers identify gene mutations that affect learning, memory in children

Mental deficiency is the most frequently occurring, yet least understood handicap in children.

5 Feb 2009

Many neglected diseases lacking research funding

The first comprehensive survey of global spending on neglected disease R&D, published in this week's PLoS Medicine , finds that just over $US 2.5 billion was invested into R&D of new products in 2007, with three diseases-HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria-receiving nearly 80% of the total

5 Feb 2009

HIPAA privacy rule fails to adequately protect patient privacy and hampers health research

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule does not adequately protect the privacy of people's personal health information and hinders important health research discoveries, concludes a new report from the Institute of Medicine.

5 Feb 2009

Scientists discover missing link in the way cells protect themselves against cancer

Cancer Research UK scientists have discovered a missing link in the way cells protect themselves against cancer, according to research published in Genes & Development.

5 Feb 2009

FDA warning on peanut product contamination

So far more than 500 cases of foodborne illness caused by Salmonella Typhimurium have been reported.

5 Feb 2009

Genetic marker for insecticide resistance in mosquitoes identified

Research led by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine has identified the genetic basis for resistance to commonly-used insecticides in one of the major malaria-carrying mosquitoes in Africa.

5 Feb 2009

FDA issues early communication about Xigris safety

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced that it is working with the maker of Xigris (drotrecogin alfa activated), Eli Lilly and Company, to further evaluate the incidence of serious bleeding events and death in patients who receive Xigris, a drug used to treat severe sepsis (a blood stream infection).

5 Feb 2009