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Women who experience delay in labour willing to let go birth plans when unanticipated complications occur

A new study of women's experiences of delay in labour has revealed that many mums-to-be are prepared to abandon their antenatal plans for how they wanted their labours and births to be.

23 Dec 2015

New QUT research reveals road rumble strip could be a wake-up call to pull over

Drowsy drivers are being urged to stop and take a break the first time they hit a road rumble strip these school holidays, with new QUT research revealing the audio-tactile vibrations should be a wake-up call to pull over.

23 Dec 2015

Researchers identify child pedestrian behaviors that promote accidents

"Look both ways before you cross the street" may be sage advice, but it is also apparently necessary for children as old as 13, according to a new study by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers, who have pinpointed many of the behaviors that lead to child pedestrians being hit by cars.

23 Dec 2015

Researchers describe epigenetic mechanisms underlying the development of cerebellum

From before birth through childhood, connections form between neurons in the brain, ultimately making us who we are. So far, scientists have gained a relatively good understanding of how neural circuits become established, but they know less about the genetic control at play during this crucial developmental process.

23 Dec 2015

New study reveals why some vestibular schwannomas cause hearing loss

A new study at Massachusetts Eye and Ear showed that in some cases of vestibular schwannoma, a sometimes-lethal tumor often associated with neurofibromatosis 2 (NF2), secretions from the tumor contain toxic molecules that damage the inner ear.

23 Dec 2015

Women suffering from blood clots can safely take hormone replacement therapy with anticoagulants

New research published online today in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), is the first to demonstrate that women on blood thinners can take estrogen-containing contraception or hormone replacement therapy without an increased risk of blood clots or uterine bleeding.

23 Dec 2015

Helmetless-tackling drills effective in reducing head impacts by 28%

The national debate around football-related head impacts, and their relationship to concussions and spinal injuries, continues to raise concern in the United States. Sparked by efforts to help make the sport safer for players, research at the University of New Hampshire has found that a novel set of helmetless-tackling drills are effective in reducing head impacts by 28 percent in one season.

23 Dec 2015

Novel drug shows promise in mouse models of human metastatic breast cancer

A doctor treating a patient with a potentially fatal metastatic breast tumor would be very pleased to find, after administering a round of treatment, that the primary tumor had undergone a change in character - from aggressive to static, and no longer shedding cells that can colonize distant organs of the body. Indeed, most patients with breast and other forms of cancer who succumb to the illness do so because of the cancer's unstoppable spread.

23 Dec 2015

Vitamin D plays substantial role in patient outcomes after weight-loss surgery

Low levels of vitamin D have long been identified as an unwanted hallmark of weight loss surgery, but now findings of a new Johns Hopkins study of more than 930,000 patient records add to evidence that seasonal sun exposure -- a key factor in the body's natural ability to make the "sunshine vitamin" -- plays a substantial role in how well people do after such operations.

23 Dec 2015

Inorganic mercury can damage key cell processes, finds UGA study

University of Georgia research has found that inorganic mercury, which was previously thought to be a less harmful form of the toxic metal, is very damaging to key cell processes.

22 Dec 2015

Prevalence of chronic kidney disease considerably varies across Europe

The first study to carefully characterize the prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) across Europe found considerable variation. The findings appear in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

22 Dec 2015

Novoron Bioscience receives NIH grant to study novel therapeutic approach for multiple sclerosis

Novoron Bioscience, Inc., a private biotech company dedicated to developing new therapeutics for disorders of the central nervous system, today announced that the company has been awarded a National Institutes of Health grant under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program.

22 Dec 2015

Study: Brains of compulsive video game players wired differently

Brain scans from nearly 200 adolescent boys provide evidence that the brains of compulsive video game players are wired differently. Chronic video game play is associated with hyperconnectivity between several pairs of brain networks.

22 Dec 2015

Researchers reveal inherited genetic errors across 12 cancer types

Researchers long have known that some portion of the risk of developing cancer is hereditary and that inherited genetic errors are very important in some tumors but much less so in others.

22 Dec 2015

Researchers identify biochemical factors that may predict Alzheimer's disease

Investigators have wondered why the brains of some cognitively-intact elderly individuals have abundant pathology on autopsy or significant amyloid deposition on neuroimaging that are characteristic of Alzheimer disease (AD).

22 Dec 2015

Bern study sheds light on the brain mechanism of arousal

Scientists from Bern have discovered a mechanism which is responsible for the rapid arousal from sleep and anesthesia in the brain. The results of their study suggest new strategies for the medical treatment of sleep disorders and recovery of consciousness in vegetative states.

22 Dec 2015

Commonly used diabetes drug may have potential to prevent, treat preeclampsia

An article published today in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology reports that a commonly-used drug for the treatment of diabetes, metformin, may have the potential to prevent and treat preeclampsia. Metformin has long been used to treat diabetes in both non-pregnant and pregnant patients, and is considered safe during pregnancy.

22 Dec 2015

Pelvic pain linked to poor mental health outcomes among women with endometriosis

A new study published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology has found that women who suffer from pelvic pain caused by endometriosis may need psychological intervention in order to help improve their mental health and quality of life.

22 Dec 2015

Large doses of vitamin A reduce severity of gastrointestinal disease in mice

After observing that some gastrointestinal disease in premature human and mouse infants progresses only when certain immune system white blood cells go into inflammatory overdrive, Johns Hopkins researchers have found that giving large doses of vitamin A to mice converts those blood cells into inflammation suppressors and reduces the severity of the disease, compared to untreated mice.

22 Dec 2015

Wnt5a protein acts on tumor-surface proteins to accelerate spread of CLL cells

Building upon previous research, scientists at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and UC San Diego Moores Cancer report that a protein called Wnt5a acts on a pair of tumor-surface proteins, called ROR1 and ROR2, to accelerate the proliferation and spread of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells, the most common form of blood cancer in adults.

22 Dec 2015