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Study: Short-term exposure to major air pollutants may increase risk of MI

Short-term exposure (for up to 7 days) to all major air pollutants, with the exception of ozone, is significantly associated with an increased risk of heart attack, according to a review and meta-analysis of previous studies appearing in the February 15 issue of JAMA.

15 Feb 2012

UPV/EHU biologist analyzes genetic and environmental causes of obesity in Romani families

Esther Rebato is a well-known figure in the field of Physical Anthropology. She not only holds the prestigious Alex Hrdli-ka academic medal of the Czech Republic, but she is also the Chair of the Spanish Association of Physical Anthropology. This lecturer at the Department of Genetics, Physical Anthropology and Animal Physiology of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) has carried out numerous pieces of work into nutritional habits, life quality and other associated aspects.

15 Feb 2012

Study: ACL injury mechanism involves combination of factors

Landing from a jump can cause a non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. But evidence presented at the Orthopaedic Research Society 2012 Annual Meeting demonstrates that the injury mechanism that causes that ACL injury involves a combination of factors rather than a single factor as some have claimed.

15 Feb 2012

Brain tissue created from human skin cells

British scientists have successfully generated brain tissue from human skin. The team has for the first time generated a crucial type of brain cells in the laboratory by reprogramming skin cells. They say it could speed up the hunt for new treatments for conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy and stroke.

14 Feb 2012

Aspirin-like drugs help prevent spread of tumors in the body

Australian scientists have made a breakthrough which could help in the fight against cancer. The team from Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne has found a link between non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as aspirin, and the ability of tumours to spread in the body. They say that doctors have been aware of the benefits of NSAIDs for many years, but did not fully understand the biological processes involved.

14 Feb 2012

Postoperative radiotherapy does not really help elderly lung cancer patients

A controversial radiation treatment for patients who've had lung cancer surgery may not help elderly people live longer, U.S. researchers have found. Postoperative radiotherapy, or PORT, is thought to cut the chances that a tumor will return. But it can damage the heart and lungs, which might cancel out any potential benefits -- particularly in the elderly.

14 Feb 2012

Gene sequencing could identify genetic variants of lung cancer and colorectal cancer

Foundation Medicine Inc., a molecular information company that brings comprehensive cancer gene analysis to routine clinical care, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have come up with the results from their collaborative next-generation sequencing (NGS) study to assay cancer-relevant genes in 24 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and 40 colorectal cancer (CRC) cases.

14 Feb 2012

Scientific conference on considerations for NBCD regulatory approval pathway

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently working toward implementing the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCI) of 2009, which establishes an abbreviated approval pathway for biological products that are demonstrated to be "highly similar" to or "interchangeable" with a drug regulated under the Public Health Service Act.

14 Feb 2012

Healthy, loving relationship is good for the heart

Being involved in a healthy, loving relationship is good for the heart, says Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute cardiologist Julie Damp, M.D.

14 Feb 2012

Prevention and treatment options are improving long-term outcomes for heart failure

"Despite the increasing number of people affected, the prognosis for patients with heart failure has steadily improved," said Gregg C. Fonarow, M.D, chairman of American Heart Association Hospital Accreditation Science Committee and professor of cardiovascular medicine of the University of California, Los Angeles.

14 Feb 2012

Children living near coal-tar-sealed pavement likely to ingest PAHs

Children living near coal-tar-sealed pavement are likely to receive a far higher dose of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from incidental ingestion of house dust than do children living near unsealed pavement, and that dose is more than two times higher than the PAH dose children are estimated to receive from food.

14 Feb 2012

E-cars in China could be more harmful to health than gasoline vehicles

Electric cars have been heralded as environmentally friendly, but findings from University of Tennessee, Knoxville, researchers show that electric cars in China have an overall impact on pollution that could be more harmful to health than gasoline vehicles.

14 Feb 2012

Study examines how motivation to exercise is linked to behavior

For many people, the motivation to exercise fluctuates from week to week, and these fluctuations predict whether they will be physically active, according to researchers at Penn State. In an effort to understand how the motivation to exercise is linked to behavior, the researchers examined college students' intentions to be physically active as well as their actual activity levels.

14 Feb 2012

Two research studies receive HSR Impact Award from AcademyHealth

Research studies that helped shine a light on the impact of health reform in Massachusetts and industry influence on health care, respectively, were jointly awarded the AcademyHealth HSR (Health Services Research) Impact Award at the 2012 National Health Policy Conference in Washington, D.C.

14 Feb 2012

U of A professor receives $542,000 from NSERC for drinking water research

Water is something people can't live without, that's why it's important that Xing Fang Li finds out what is in our tap water that may pose a disease risk. The researcher from the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta just received $542,000 from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada for drinking water research.

14 Feb 2012

Changes in sense of control may actively affect cognitive abilities

Everyone has moments when they feel more in control of their lives than at other times. New research from North Carolina State University shows that this sense of control fluctuates more often, and more quickly, than previously thought - and that this sense of control may actively affect cognitive abilities.

14 Feb 2012