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Pediatric chronic disease poses future health and welfare challenges

The increased incidence of chronic conditions among American children predicts serious strains on health care and social welfare systems in the future, caution investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH).

27 Jun 2007

Children with serious complex illness more likely than before to die at home than in the hospital

Children who die of a chronic illness are more likely to spend their final days at home compared to children who died two decades ago.

27 Jun 2007

Autism reversed in mice

Scientists in the United States have been able to reverse the effects of autism in specially bred mice.

26 Jun 2007

New genetic marker characterizes aggressiveness of cancer cells

Levels of a small non-coding RNA molecule called let-7 appear to define different stages of cancer better than some of the "classical" markers for tumor progression, researchers from the University of Chicago report in the June 25, 2007, early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

26 Jun 2007

Smoking may interfere with alcoholics neurocognitive recovery from abstinence

Alcoholics frequently smoke. Anywhere from 50 to 90 percent of individuals in North America who seek alcoholism treatment are also chronic smokers.

26 Jun 2007

Scoliosis gene found

Physicians have recognized scoliosis, the abnormal curvature of the spine, since the time of Hippocrates, but its causes have remained a mystery -- until now. For the first time, researchers have discovered a gene that underlies the condition, which affects about 3 percent of all children.

26 Jun 2007

MIT researchers reverse behavioral symptoms in mice

Researchers at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT have, for the first time, reversed symptoms of mental retardation and autism in mice.

26 Jun 2007

Scientists look at the ecosystem within us

For more than 100 years, scientists have known that humans carry a rich ecosystem within their intestines.

26 Jun 2007

Health in early medieval times

Latest research into health in medieval Europe taking in everything from demonic possession to miracles of healing is to be revealed at The University of Nottingham.

26 Jun 2007

Basically eating fish may protect against type of blindness

Increasing intake of the omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA, found in popular fish-oil supplements, may protect against blindness resulting from abnormal blood vessel growth in the eye, according to a study published online by the journal Nature Medicine on June 24.

26 Jun 2007

Stanford researchers get scoop on baby poop!

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine are as interested in a baby's poop as doting parents are, and for good reason.

26 Jun 2007

New treatment slows the growth of colon and liver cancers

Leire Garcia Navarro, a researcher at the School of Pharmacy of the University of Navarra, has developed a new treatment which slows the growth of colon and liver cancers.

23 Jun 2007

Evolutionary dynamics of immune-related genes and pathways in disease vector mosquitoes

The genes that make up the immune system of the Aedes aegypti mosquito which transmits deadly viral diseases to humans have been identified in new research in Science.

23 Jun 2007

Cilia research may help find cure for inherited eye diseases

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified proteins in the rod and cones of the eye that could lead to the discovery of the genetic causes of a host of inherited eye diseases.

23 Jun 2007

Mushrooms show promise for creation of new drugs

Mushrooms might serve as biofactories for the production of various beneficial human drugs, according to plant pathologists who have inserted new genes into mushrooms.

23 Jun 2007

New risk marker for overweight children

A study of 40 overweight children in Edmonton has revealed they all share something in common aside from being heavy: each one of them has high levels of apoB48, a structural protein found in intestinal cholesterol.

23 Jun 2007

Morning sickness may indicate lower risk of breast cancer

It may not seem so at the time, but women who suffer through morning sickness during their pregnancies actually may be fortunate.

23 Jun 2007

Omega-3 fatty acids appear to slow prostate cancer

Research in mice suggests that a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil and certain types of fish could potentially improve the prognosis of men who are genetically prone to develop prostate cancer.

23 Jun 2007

Insight into how cancerous tumors thrive

Using mathematical theory, UC Irvine scientists have shed light on one of cancer's most troubling puzzles -- how cancer cells can alter their own genetic makeup to accelerate tumor growth.

23 Jun 2007

Inherited genes linked to toxicity of leukemia therapy

St. Jude investigators have discovered inherited variations in certain genes that make children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) susceptible to the toxic side effects caused by chemotherapy medications.

23 Jun 2007