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 Back to Eurekalert Medical and Health News Archives
Eurekalert Medical and Health News: 01-28-2005
Innovation, research and emerging endoscopic techniques are some of the topics that will be discussed at "Future Vision 2005," hosted by the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE), March 10-11, at the Annenberg Center for Health Services at Eisenhower in Rancho Mirage, CA.
A Penn State analysis of the diets of a nationally representative sample of U.S. preschoolers, ages 2 to 5, shows that more than three-quarters of the children are not getting enough fiber.
It takes seismic force to make the ground give up its secrets. Through the years, those searching for oil and gas have used varied methods to send sound energy into the ground and to record the waves reflected by the geological features beneath the surface.
A consortium of UK scientists and clinicians is to begin new research to tackle the problem of lung infection amongst Cystic Fibrosis (CF) sufferers. Led by Professor John Govan at the Centre for Infectious Diseases, University of Edinburgh, the experts aim to find new ways to combat the bacterial lung infections which eventually cause the death of 90% of those with CF. The work has been made possible by a .509,759 grant from the Big Lottery Fund to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.
In the most detailed large-scale study to date of the proteins that package DNA, researchers have mapped a family of switches that turn genes on and off. Their findings may help scientists understand regulatory mechanisms underlying cancer and human development.
The first U.S. kidney cancer vaccine trial is now underway at Columbia University Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia. While the potential for vaccines to treat solid tumors has been recognized for more than a decade, this trial is pioneering the use of tumor immunotherapy - boosting the body's natural immune system - as a way to fight cancer.
Scientists studying satellite data have discovered an immense wintertime pool of pollution over the northern Indian state of Bihar. Blanketing around 100 million people, primarily in the Ganges Valley, the pollution levels are about five times larger than those typically found over Los Angeles.
The causes of autism have long remained a mystery, but new research from Columbia University Medical Center has identified, for the first time, how a cellular defect may be involved in the often crippling neurological disorder. The research, which is published in today's issue of Science, examines how a defect in neuroligin genes may contribute to autism. The loss of neuroligins perturbs the formation of neuronal connections and results in an imbalance of neuronal function.
A new study adds potentially fatal blood infections to the list of health risks from diabetes, a condition that is on the rise in the United States as obesity rates climb, according to the Feb. 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.
A protein developed by scientists at Oregon Health & Science University blocks the growth of an aggressive and deadly brain tumor in laboratory rats, a new study shows. Herstatin inhibits the activation of a family of enzymes responsible for signaling inside glioblastoma cells that tells the cells to proliferate and display other malignant properties. Study co-author Gail Clinton, Ph.D., said human clinical trials for herstatin could begin as early as next year.
Scientific discoveries by two Indiana University School of Medicine researchers have led to the creation of EndGenitor Technologies Inc., a life sciences company whose products could someday repair the blood vessels of heart attack victims and diabetics.
In the first-ever study combing the entire human genome for genetic determinants of male sexual orientation, a University of Illinois at Chicago researcher has identified several areas that appear to influence whether a man is heterosexual or gay.
An easy, inexpensive method using ordinary vinegar in screening women for cervical cancer could be applied in more situations in developing countries around the world, thus increasing the number of women whose disease is caught early and treated.
The assumption that women avoid mammograms for fear of pain is challenged in a study published in the February 2005 issue of The American Journal of Roentgenology, which finds that women undergoing screening mammography report minimal levels of distress.
Green tea extract improved exercise endurance up to 24%, depending on dosage, though GTE's active ingredient was less effective. Researchers said the results indicate "GTE is beneficial for improving endurance capacity and support the hypothesis that stimulation of fatty acid utilization is a promising strategy for improving endurance capacity." Measuring swimming endurance after 10 weeks on GTE, the marked improvement came from the equivalent of about four cups of tea a day.
Discoveries made by Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers open a new pathway to understanding how plant steroids work and may one day lead to less expensive ways to trigger growth enhancement of plants.
New research findings and emerging issues in disease prevention and health promotion highlight the program for Preventive Medicine 2005, the premier national conference held annually for physicians and other healthcare professionals with an interest in preventive medicine. The forum serves as the annual meeting for the Washington, D.C.-based American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM), a national professional society for physicians dedicated to disease prevention and health promotion.
Although three months are often prescribed for cardiac rehabilitation, it takes nine months for patients to reach peak improvement, say researchers from the University of Toronto. The study, published in the December issue of the Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation, found a 52-week rehabilitation program that combined supervised and unsupervised exercise sessions was effective in improving both physical and mental health, with the peak occurring at 38 weeks (nine months).
A University of Minnesota Cancer Center study found that women consuming more than 800 milligrams of calcium each day reduced their risk of colorectal cancer by as much as 26 to 46 percent.
Telemedicine is healthcare's new frontier, a means of facilitating the distribution of human resources and professional competences. It can speed up diagnosis and therapeutic care delivery and allow peripheral and primary healthcare providers to receive continuous assistance from specialised centres.
In a recent animal study, researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the University of California, Los Angeles have found that chronic nicotine ingestion after a heart attack significantly increases the incidence of cardiac fibrosis and causes electrical remodeling of the heart. This reaction promotes a kind of rapid heart rhythm that has many similarities to typical human atrial flutter, a potentially life-threatening condition that affects approximately a quarter-million Americans each year.
Researchers have discovered how to convert liver cells of mice into pancreatic cells using a single injection. This may eventually lead to a cure for diabetes. Dr. James Mittra, one of the organisers of an international conference in Edinburgh on the Evolution of the Life Science Industries asks, "How does the pharmaceutical industry respond to this kind of work? They are primarily interested in treatments, not cures. Do they see this kind of research as a threat?"
The evolution over the last two decades of the nanocrystals known as quantum dots has seen the growth of this revolutionary new tool from electronic materials science to far-reaching biological applications that will allow researchers to study cell processes at the level of a single molecule and may result in new and better ways to diagnose and treat cancers.
Scientists at The Rockefeller University have determined that the autoimmune disease lupus results from a combination of genetics that likely varies from person to person, and that a common "gatekeeper" gene called FCRgIIB is critical to the prevention of this devastating disease. Reversing the defect of that gatekeeper gene can restore health in mice with lupus-like disease.
Universal screening of newborns' hearing at large public hospitals, which annually deliver tens of thousands of babies, can be done more effectively when infants are not only tested four hours after birth - as required by many states - but also by rescreening those with a suspected problem before discharge and, if necessary, retesting infants at 10 days old, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers reported.
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