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Hand-held game devices lower fitness in children

If videogames like "Madden NFL" didn't exist, 12-year-old Tom might go outside and toss around a real football - and he'd have a better chance of sprinting for a touchdown without getting winded.

6 Jan 2009

COUP-TFII plays pivotal role in obesity, metabolic syndrome

A protein known to play a role in development and the formation of organs is also an important factor in the control of obesity and diabetes, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears in the current issue of the journal Cell Metabolism.

6 Jan 2009

Deep brain stimulation helps advanced Parkinson's disease patients

Patients with advanced Parkinson disease (PD) who received deep brain stimulation treatment had more improvement in movement skills and quality of life after six months than patients who received other medical therapy, but also had a higher risk of a serious adverse events, according to a study in the January 7 issue of JAMA.

6 Jan 2009

Lung cancer related to indoor radon could easily be prevented

About 1,100 people each year die in the UK from lung cancer related to indoor radon, but current government protection policies focus mainly on the small number of homes with high radon levels and neglect the 95% of radon related deaths caused by lower levels of radon, according to a study published on bmj.com.

6 Jan 2009

Caring for chronic diseases in a "fragmented" health care system

Ed Wagner, MD, MPH, knew there had to be a better way. He and Group Health colleagues set out 15 years ago to explore how best to engage patients with chronic diseases in effective care.

6 Jan 2009

Chimerix completes phase I study and starts phase II multi-dose trial for CMX001

Chimerix, Inc., a biotechnology company developing orally available antiviral therapeutics, has announced that the Company has completed a single and multi-dose Phase I study of CMX001 in healthy volunteers.

6 Jan 2009

Hepatitis B and C in U.S.

In the last decade, more than 60,000 patients in the United States were asked to get tested for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) because health care personnel in settings outside hospitals failed to follow basic infection control practices, according to a new study by the CDC.

6 Jan 2009

Biologist finds plant polymerases IV and V are really variants of polymerase II

It's a little like finding out that Superman is actually Clark Kent. A team of biologists at Washington University in St. Louis has discovered that two vital cellular components, nuclear RNA Polymerases IV and V (Pol IV and V), found only in plants, are actually specialized forms of RNA Polymerase II, an essential enzyme of all eukaryotic organisms, including humans.

6 Jan 2009

Innovative brain-scan technology helps visualize brain aging before symptoms appear

UCLA scientists have used innovative brain-scan technology developed at UCLA, along with patient-specific information on Alzheimer's disease risk, to help diagnose brain aging, often before symptoms appear.

6 Jan 2009

Bacteria discovered in amniotic fluids of women who undergo preterm birth

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University and Yale University have made a significant advancement in understanding the cause behind why some pregnant women suffer from inflammations in the inner womb without any signs of an infection.

6 Jan 2009

Novel compound F15845 shows promise for angina

A compound designed to prevent chest pains in heart patients has shown promising results in animal studies, say scientists.

6 Jan 2009

Novel treatment option for obesity

A new study in the January 7th issue of Cell Metabolism , a Cell Press publication, helps to explain why obese people and animals fail to respond to leptin, a hormone produced by fat that signals the brain to stop eating.

6 Jan 2009

Apolipoprotein D protects against Alzheimer's

Do Carmo and her collaborators have successfully demonstrated the protective and reparative role of apolipoprotein D, or ApoD, in neurodegenerative diseases. Their discovery suggests interesting avenues for preventing and slowing the progression of this type of illness.

6 Jan 2009