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New insights into early history of human populations before they moved out of Africa

A team of Genographic researchers and their collaborators have published the most extensive survey to date of African mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA).

24 Apr 2008

Lower wealth, education and income associated with increased stroke up to age 65

Higher wealth is linked with a lower risk of stroke in Americans between the ages of 50 and 64, but does not predict strokes in those over age 65, researchers reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

24 Apr 2008

Self-referring physicians behind increase in diagnostic imaging

Physicians who refer patients to their own facilities or machines for scans account for much of the increase in diagnostic imaging ordered for privately insured patients said a Baylor College of Medicine expert in a commentary that appears in the current issue of the journal Medical Care.

24 Apr 2008

Early Exit: Estimating and explaining early exit from drug treatment

Almost a quarter of the most problematic drug-users in some areas exit drug treatment programmes before they've even completed 30 days reports a new study published in BioMed Central’s open access Harm Reduction Journal.

24 Apr 2008

Researchers identify Heme detoxification protein - potential target for developing new malaria drugs

Researchers at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech have identified Heme Detoxification Protein (HDP), a unique protein encoded in the malaria genome that represents a potential target for developing new malaria drugs.

24 Apr 2008

Breast cancer subtypes originate from different biological pathways

There is a biological distinction between breast cancers that depend on hormones and those that do not, according to research published Friday, April 25th in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics.

24 Apr 2008

Pralatrexate for T-cell lymphoma

The fifth leading cause of cancer in the United States, lymphoma is made up of more than 40 rare and highly diverse diseases that target the body's lymphatic system. Lymphomas include both one of the fastest growing cancers -- Burkitt's lymphoma, which can double in size in as little as a day -- and one of the slowest, chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

24 Apr 2008

Clearer understanding of how neurons give rise to motor behaviors

When the eye tracks a bird's flight across the sky, the visual experience is normally smooth, without interruption. But underlying this behavior is a complex coordination of neurons that has remained mysterious to scientists. Now, UCSF researchers have broken ground in understanding how the brain generates this tracking motion, a finding that offers a window, they say, into how neurons orchestrate all of the body's movements.

24 Apr 2008

AMPK signaling helps explain how cell growth is inhibited when nutrients are low

A team of scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies think they know how many-if not most-living organisms answer this question. They recently showed that when food supplies dwindle, mammals, fruitflies, or frogs probably activate the same ancient cell signaling pathway in order to conserve energy.

24 Apr 2008

Hepatitis C therapy peginterferon alfa-2b shows promise

The hepatitis C therapy peginterferon alfa-2b, when given as low-dose maintenance therapy, can prevent disease progression in certain patients who failed previous interferon-based hepatitis C therapies and have advanced liver disease, according to findings from a large, four-year study presented today at the 43rd annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL).

24 Apr 2008

Mitochondrial dysfunction and redox signaling in atrial tachyarrhythmia

Researchers at the University Hospital of Magdeburg (Germany) have discovered that atrial tachycardia is associated with mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress followed by the activation of the NF-kB signalling pathway with induction of NF-kB target gene expression in atrial tissue.

24 Apr 2008

New 3-D ultrasound provides clear images of the major arteries within the brain

Using 3-D ultrasound technology they designed, Duke University bioengineers can compensate for the thickness and unevenness of the skull to see in real-time the arteries within the brain that most often clog up and cause strokes.

24 Apr 2008

Beta arrestins found to generate new proteins

Duke University Medical Center researchers have recently discovered that a crucial communications pathway in cells not only stops cells from making proteins, it also makes them go. The team was able to define the way in which proteins called beta arrestins (for their role in stopping signals) also turn on pathways that ultimately lead to the production of new proteins in virtually all tissues in the body.

24 Apr 2008

Research reveals the signature of 70 genes controlled by two microRNAs

By restoring two small molecules that are often lost in chronic leukemia, researchers were able to block tumor growth in an animal model.

24 Apr 2008

Metabolic genes tied to inflammatory predictor of heart disease and stroke risk

Two new studies provide evidence that differences in people's blood levels of C reactive protein (CRP) stem in part from natural variation in known metabolic genes. The researchers report their findings in the May American Journal of Human Genetics, a publication of Cell Press.

24 Apr 2008

Racial disparities in smoking cessation treatment

A new study from the American Cancer Society finds black and Hispanic smokers are less likely than whites to receive and use smoking cessation advice and aids.

24 Apr 2008

Cuddles diminishes pain from heel lance in preterm babies

Research published today in the open access journal BMC Pediatrics suggests that very preterm babies, born between 28 and 31 weeks, could benefit from skin-to-skin cuddling with their mother before and during painful procedures such as a heel lance.

24 Apr 2008

Smokers more depressed

The risk of suffering depression increases 41% in smokers, in comparison with non-smokers. This was the conclusion of a study undertaken with 8,556 participants by scientists of the University of Navarra, in collaboration with the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the Harvard School of Public Health (USA), and which demonstrates in a pioneering way the direct relationship between tobacco use and this disease.

24 Apr 2008

Discovery of gene behind new form of intellectual disability

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has discovered a new form of intellectual disability involving mental retardation (MR) along with the eye defect retinitis pigmentosa (RP).

24 Apr 2008

Doctors should consider alternatives to antibiotics for sinusitis

When suffering through a sinus infection, many people ask for an antibiotic to speed their recovery. However, a recent review of clinical trials found that while antibiotics can provide minor improvements in uncomplicated sinusitis cases, most patients recover without the drugs within two weeks.

24 Apr 2008