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Reduced rates of lung function decline in cystic fibrosis clinical study patients

Although cystic fibrosis patients in clinical trials had more severe illness, worse lung function, a lower weight level and more respiratory infection than non-participants, their involvement in research studies resulted in less lung function decline over a 7-year period.

2 Jan 2006

New human embryonic stem cells grown in animal cell-free cultures

Scientists working at the WiCell Research Institute, a private laboratory affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, have developed a precisely defined stem cell culture system free of animal cells and used it to derived two new human embryonic stem cell.

2 Jan 2006

3 walks a week can slow the progression of peripheral artery disease

A study in the Jan. 3 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine shows that walking three times a week, even in an unsupervised exercise program, can significantly improve walking ability and slow progression of peripheral artery disease (PAD). PAD often causes leg pain because of impaired blood flow in the arteries.

2 Jan 2006

Study shows obesity is related to kidney failure

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have determined that there is a strong relationship between being obese and developing end-stage renal disease, or kidney failure.

2 Jan 2006

Obesity related to kidney failure

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have determined that there is a strong relationship between being obese and developing end-stage renal disease, or kidney failure.

2 Jan 2006

Identification of regulatory mechanism could lead to new treatments of osteoporosis

Medical researchers at the University of Bonn, working in collaboration with scientists from Israel, the USA and Britain, have identified a previously unknown regulatory mechanism in the process of bone loss. Their findings could open up new approaches to the treatment of osteoporosis.

2 Jan 2006

Breakdown of myelin linked to genetic risk of Alzheimer's disease

A new UCLA imaging study shows that age-related breakdown of myelin, the fatty insulation coating the brain's internal wiring, correlates strongly with the presence of a key genetic risk factor for Alzheimer disease.

2 Jan 2006

Brain volume may be used as an early detection system for dementia

Reduced volume, or atrophy, in parts of the brain known as the amygdala and hippocampus may predict which cognitively healthy elderly people will develop dementia over a six-year period, according to a study in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

2 Jan 2006

Eating disorders linked to perinatal complications

Certain complications during and immediately after birth are associated with the development of the eating disorders anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, according to a study in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

2 Jan 2006

Study finds two genes that are essential for the proper development of muscle

Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found two genes that are essential for the proper development of muscle.

30 Dec 2005

Study finds two genes that are essential for the proper development of muscle

Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found two genes that are essential for the proper development of muscle.

30 Dec 2005

Stroke risk increases when children with sickle cell disease cease transfusions

Stopping regular blood transfusions in children with sickle cell disease who are at risk for a stroke means their stroke risk likely will return, researchers have found.

30 Dec 2005

MIT offer logitics solution to Flu vaccine shortages

Although the flu causes tens of thousands of deaths each year in the United States, vaccine to fight the illness is often in short supply when the flu season is at its peak.

30 Dec 2005

Too high blood-thinner doses harmful to patients

According to a new analysis by cardiologists at the Duke Clinical Research Institute, in the prescribing of common but powerful anti-clotting drugs, 42 percent of patients rushed to emergency rooms with symptoms of a heart attack received doses intended to stop clotting in coronary arteries above the recommended range.

29 Dec 2005

University of Michigan Medical School to study the science of obesity and metabolism

As millions of Americans prepare their New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, eat better or exercise more, the University of Michigan Medical School is launching a new center that may help explain why so many resolutions fail, while others succeed.

29 Dec 2005

Researchers discover how a gene linked to Parkinson’s disease can keep brain cells alive

Researchers at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center’s School of Medicine have uncovered how a gene linked to Parkinson’s disease can keep brain cells alive. The results suggest the possibility for new drugs that might regulate the gene and protect Parkinson’s patients from further cell damage.

29 Dec 2005

World's deadliest malaria parasite cloaking gene revealed

The world's deadliest malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, sneaks past the human immune system with the help of a wardrobe of invisibility cloaks. If a person's immune cells learn to recognize one of the parasite's many camouflage proteins, the surviving invaders can swap disguises and slip away again to cause more damage. Malaria kills an estimated 2.7 million people annually worldwide, 75 percent of them children in Africa.

29 Dec 2005

Gene discovery may reinvigorate the body's immune system after fighting viral infections

Like boxers wearied by a 15-round bout, the immune system's CD8 T cells eventually become "exhausted" in their battle against persistent viral infection, and less effective in fighting the disease.

29 Dec 2005

Bipolar disorder more common in teenage psychiatric patients

Clinicians at Bradley Hospital, the nation's first psychiatric hospital for children and adolescents, have found that bipolar disorder is more common than expected in teens in a psychiatric inpatient setting.

29 Dec 2005

New drug shows promise in fighting Tuberculosis (TB)

Scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, have determined how a promising drug candidate attacks the bacterium that causes tuberculosis (TB). Published online this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the finding may help scientists optimize the drug candidate, PA-824, which targets Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb).

28 Dec 2005