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Study aims to develop noninvasive method to analyze interstitial cystitis

A pilot study led by University of Kentucky researchers shows that the gene expression analysis of urine sediment could provide a noninvasive way to analyze interstitial cystitis in some patients.

24 Feb 2012

Kidney failure patients may benefit from frequent and longer dialysis treatments

Frequent and longer dialysis treatments may provide more benefits for patients than conventional dialysis treatments, according to several studies appearing in upcoming issues of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology.

24 Feb 2012

Study strengthens statistical link between BPA and heart disease

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a controversial chemical widely used in the plastics industry. A new study followed people over a 10-year time period and shows that healthy people with higher urine concentrations of BPA were more likely to later develop heart disease.

24 Feb 2012

Penn researchers produce first state-by-state sleep maps for the U.S.

Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have put sleeplessness on the map - literally. The research team, analyzing nationwide data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has produced the first state-by-state sleep maps for the United States, revealing that residents of Southern states suffer from the most sleep disturbances and daytime fatigue, while residents on the West Coast report the least amount of problems.

24 Feb 2012

More people than ever overweight, obese in developed countries, OECD report says

"More people in developed countries are overweight or obese than ever before, dooming them to years of ill health, pushing up health care costs and piling more pressure on health systems, a report by the OECD found on Tuesday," Reuters reports.

24 Feb 2012

PTSD more prevalent among firefighters in Israel

A new study on the prevalence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among firefighters in Israel indicates that approximately 90 percent show some form of full or partial symptoms.

24 Feb 2012

Nicotine can contribute to atherosclerosis

Cigarette smoke has long been considered the main risk factor for heart disease. But new research from Brown University in Providence, R.I., shows that nicotine itself, a component of cigarette smoke, can contribute to the disease process by changing cell structure in a way that promotes migration and invasion of the smooth muscle cells that line blood vessels.

24 Feb 2012

UM scientists discover high concentrations of BMAA in shark fins

Sharks are among the most threatened of marine species worldwide due to unsustainable overfishing. Sharks are primarily killed for their fins alone, to fuel the growing demand for shark fin soup, which is an Asia delicacy. A new study by University of Miami (UM) scientists in the journal Marine Drugs has discovered high concentrations of BMAA in shark fins, a neurotoxin linked to neurodegenerative diseases in humans including Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig Disease.

24 Feb 2012

UBC develops algorithm to predict how and when proteins misfold

Several neurodegenerative diseases - including Alzheimer's and ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) - are caused when the body's own proteins fold incorrectly, recruit and convert healthy proteins to the misfolded form, and aggregate in large clumps that gum up the works of the nervous system. "For Star Trek fans, this is like the Borg, a fictional race of cyborgs that abduct and assimilate humans and other species," says Steven Plotkin, a biophysicist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver who studies the process of protein misfolding.

24 Feb 2012

New experiments may provide insights into possible modes of heart damage from alcohol

Beyond the personal tragedy of chronic alcoholism there is heartbreak in the biological sense, too. Scientists know severe alcoholism stresses the heart and that mitochondria, the cellular energy factories, are especially vulnerable to dysfunction. But they don't know the precise mechanism.

24 Feb 2012

Scientists identify specific pathways behind breast cell's transformation into cancer

Although it's widely accepted that inflammation is a critical underlying factor in a range of diseases, including the progression of cancer, little is known about its role when normal cells become tumor cells. Now, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have shed new light on exactly how the activation of a pair of inflammatory signaling pathways leads to the transformation of normal breast cells to cancer cells.

24 Feb 2012

UA researchers identify the likely culprit of epilepsy

Only 10 years ago, deciphering the genetic information from one individual in a matter of weeks to find a certain disease-causing genetic mutation would have been written off as science fiction. It was the time of the Human Genome Project, and it had taken armies of sequencing robots working around the clock for almost a decade to unravel the complete sequence of the human genetic code - referred to as the genome - by churning out the DNA alphabet letter by letter.

24 Feb 2012

European Urology to launch two new Resource Centres

European Urology, the official peer-reviewed journal of the EAU, is to launch two new Resource Centres that can be accessed from www.europeanurology.com. Both resource centres aim to provide information around a specific topic in urology.

24 Feb 2012

Physical activity keeps workers mentally fit

Obesity can be a dangerous risk to our physical health, but according to a Tel Aviv University researcher, avoiding the gym can also take a toll on our mental health, leading to depression and greater burnout rates at work.

24 Feb 2012

EMA accepts MAA filing of Genzyme's teriflunomide for MS

Genzyme, a Sanofi company, announced today the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has accepted the filing of the marketing authorization application (MAA) for once-daily oral teriflunomide for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS).

24 Feb 2012

Scientists decode two new blood types

You probably know your blood type: A, B, AB or O. You may even know if you're Rhesus positive or negative. But how about the Langereis blood type? Or the Junior blood type? Positive or negative? Most people have never even heard of these.

24 Feb 2012

First comprehensive framework to close the gap on Indigenous eye health for Australians

Presently Indigenous Australians suffer six times the blindness of mainstream Australians and 94 percent of vision loss in Indigenous Australians is unnecessary, preventable or treatable.

24 Feb 2012

Cigarette smoke exposure results in allograft rejection

A new study published in the American Journal of Transplantation reveals that cigarette smoke exposure, in a cause-effect manner, results in graft rejection that would have been prevented by certain drug treatments.

24 Feb 2012

Scientists identify specific mechanisms by which vitamin D inhibits inflammation

Researchers at National Jewish Health have discovered specific molecular and signaling events by which vitamin D inhibits inflammation. In their experiments, they showed that low levels of Vitamin D, comparable to levels found in millions of people, failed to inhibit the inflammatory cascade, while levels considered adequate did inhibit inflammatory signaling.

24 Feb 2012

Wolters Kluwer, APAO launch Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology

Wolters Kluwer Health and the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (APAO) are pleased to announce the launch of the Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology.

24 Feb 2012