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Spaceflights cause cellular-level damage and may lead to long-term vision problems

Those who travel to space are rewarded with a beautiful sight - planet Earth. But the effects of space travel on the human sense of sight aren't so beautiful. More than 30 percent of astronauts who returned from two-week space shuttle missions and 60 percent who spent six months aboard the International Space Station were diagnosed with eye problems. Two recent investigations examined mechanisms that may explain eye changes in spaceflight, help find ways to minimize this health risk to astronauts and eventually prevent and treat eye diseases on Earth.

13 Dec 2013

Chemical reactions could be used to implement important artificial intelligence algorithms

Computer scientists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have joined forces to put powerful probabilistic reasoning algorithms in the hands of bioengineers.

13 Dec 2013

Polyunsaturated fatty acids play key role in embryonic development

One classical question in developmental biology is how different tissue types arise in the correct position of the developing embryo. While one signaling pathway that controls this process has been well described, unexpected findings from a team led by Carnegie's Steven Farber reveal the importance of polyunsaturated fatty acid metabolism in this process. It is published online December 12 in Developmental Cell.

13 Dec 2013

Psychology researchers and practitioners still hold different beliefs about repressed memories

Skepticism about repressed traumatic memories has increased over time, but new research shows that psychology researchers and practitioners still tend to hold different beliefs about whether such memories occur and whether they can be accurately retrieved.

13 Dec 2013

Climate change may lead to decline in snail fever

The dangerous parasite Schistosoma mansoni that causes snail fever in humans could become significantly less common in the future a new international study led by researchers from the University of Copenhagen predicts. The results are surprising because they contradict the general assumption that climate change leads to greater geographical spread of diseases. The explanation is that the parasite's host snails stand to lose suitable habitat due to climate change.

13 Dec 2013

Methodology needed to diagnose quality of life of individual cancer patients or survivors

Due to improved treatments and technologies, more children than ever are surviving cancer. Unfortunately, about 70 percent of these children experience late effects from their disease and treatment 30 years after their cancer diagnosis, which University of Florida Health researchers say significantly impact their quality of life.

13 Dec 2013

Standardized research approaches needed for developing new treatments for neurofibromatosis

As potentially effective new treatments for neurofibromatosis (NF) are developed, standardized research approaches—including outcome measures specific to NF—are needed. The first report from the Response Evaluation in Neurofibromatosis and Schwannomatosis (REiNS) International Collaboration has been published as a supplement to Neurology, the Official Journal of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN).

13 Dec 2013

Researchers discover completely new targets for treatment of blood cancers

A particularly aggressive form of leukemia is the acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). It is especially common among children and very difficult to treat. Researchers from the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna have now discovered completely new targets for the treatment of blood cancers.

13 Dec 2013

Novel ISM strategy enables selection of potentially effective cancer therapies for patients

A new individualized systems medicine strategy, developed at the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland FIMM and the Helsinki University Central Hospital, enables a selection of potentially effective cancer therapies for individual patients. The promising results achieved by applying this strategy to chemoresistant adult acute myeloid leukemia patients have been recently published in the Cancer Discovery journal.

13 Dec 2013

Repeated blows to head in contact sports may cause changes in brain's white matter

Repeated blows to the head during a season of contact sports may cause changes in the brain's white matter and affect cognitive abilities even if none of the impacts resulted in a concussion, according to a study published today in the journal Neurology.

13 Dec 2013

Groundbreaking UVA research receives $3.3M NIH grant to increase lungs for transplantation

Groundbreaking research at the University of Virginia School of Medicine that aims to dramatically increase the number of lungs that can be used for transplant has received a $3.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

13 Dec 2013

Protein in Salmonella inactivates mast cells that fight against bacteria

A protein in Salmonella inactivates mast cells -- critical players in the body's fight against bacteria and other pathogens -- rendering them unable to protect against bacterial spread in the body, according to researchers at Duke Medicine and Duke-National University of Singapore (Duke-NUS).

13 Dec 2013

Breast cancer survivors taking AIs may experience reduction in joint pain on exercising

Breast cancer survivors taking aromatase inhibitors (AIs) such as anastrozole, letrozole, and exemestane experienced a reduction in joint pain if they exercised while on treatment, according to results presented here at the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 10-14.

13 Dec 2013

$Patients with Colles' fracture are at increased risk of subsequent hip fractures: Study$

Patients with Colles' fracture are at increased risk of subsequent hip fractures: Study

A new study presented today at the IOF Regionals 4th Asia-Pacific Osteoporosis Meeting in Hong Kong supports widespread evidence that individuals who have suffered a fracture are at significantly increased risk of subsequent hip fractures. In fact, previous studies have shown that half of patients presenting with hip fractures have suffered a prior fracture.

13 Dec 2013

Study: Antisense drugs show activity in wide range of tissues and organs

Antisense therapeutics, a class of drugs comprised of short nucleic acid sequences, can target a dysfunctional gene and silence its activity. A new study has shown that antisense drugs delivered systemically show activity in a wide range of tissues and organs, supporting their broad therapeutic potential in many disease indications, as described in an article in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

13 Dec 2013

Names of 2014 Breakthrough Prize winners in Fundamental Physics and Life Sciences unveiled

The names of the 2014 Breakthrough Prize winners in Fundamental Physics and Life Sciences were unveiled at an exclusive ceremony at the NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA. At a total awarded amount of $21 million, sponsored by Sergey Brin & Anne Wojcicki, Jack Ma & Cathy Zhang, Yuri & Julia Milner and Mark Zuckerberg & Priscilla Chan, the prizes aim to celebrate scientists and generate excitement about the pursuit of science as a career.

13 Dec 2013

Psychiatrists increasingly refuse to accept private insurance as payment

Access to mental health care has become a prominent issue in Congress following mass shootings around the country. But a new study in JAMA Psychiatry, led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College, suggests that unless those in need of help have deep pockets, they might have a hard time finding a psychiatrist that will provide the needed services.

13 Dec 2013

New treatment options for diabetic wound healing in cornea and skin

Diabetes Mellitus (DM), a metabolic disorder that affects nearly 170 million people worldwide, is characterized by chronic hyperglycemia that disrupts carbohydrate fat and protein metabolism resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action or both. DM can cause long-term damage, dysfunction and even failure of various organs.

13 Dec 2013

Vaccines for whooping cough contain 3 to 5 protective antigens

Vaccines for whooping cough contain three to five protective antigens, the presence of which are critical to the vaccine's effectiveness. But one of the antigens, pertactin, which had been present in almost all isolates of Bordetella pertussis in the US as late as 2010, is now absent from more than half of them, according to a paper published ahead of print in Clinical and Vaccine Immunology.

13 Dec 2013

Cinnamon, nutmeg, marshmallows provide more than taste of holiday spice

Cinnamon, nutmeg and marshmallows provide more than a taste of holiday spice or a sugar rush. They are the ingredients for recipes for trendy risky games played by many to disasterous consequences.

13 Dec 2013

Medical Research News

Spaceflights cause cellular-level damage and may lead to long-term vision problems

Chemical reactions could be used to implement important artificial intelligence algorithms

Polyunsaturated fatty acids play key role in embryonic development

Psychology researchers and practitioners still hold different beliefs about repressed memories

Climate change may lead to decline in snail fever

Methodology needed to diagnose quality of life of individual cancer patients or survivors

Standardized research approaches needed for developing new treatments for neurofibromatosis

Researchers discover completely new targets for treatment of blood cancers

Novel ISM strategy enables selection of potentially effective cancer therapies for patients

Repeated blows to head in contact sports may cause changes in brain's white matter

Groundbreaking UVA research receives $3.3M NIH grant to increase lungs for transplantation

Protein in Salmonella inactivates mast cells that fight against bacteria

Breast cancer survivors taking AIs may experience reduction in joint pain on exercising

Patients with Colles' fracture are at increased risk of subsequent hip fractures: Study

Study: Antisense drugs show activity in wide range of tissues and organs

Names of 2014 Breakthrough Prize winners in Fundamental Physics and Life Sciences unveiled

Psychiatrists increasingly refuse to accept private insurance as payment

New treatment options for diabetic wound healing in cornea and skin

Vaccines for whooping cough contain 3 to 5 protective antigens

Cinnamon, nutmeg, marshmallows provide more than taste of holiday spice

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