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Hutchinson Center to conduct free online smoking-cessation study

Adult smokers nationwide who want to kick the habit have until Aug. 31 to see if they are eligible to enroll in WebQuit, a free, online smoking-cessation study being conducted by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

10 Aug 2011

Scientists reveal why human heart has little regenerative capacity

Stem cell researchers at UCLA have uncovered for the first time why adult human cardiac myocytes have lost their ability to proliferate, perhaps explaining why the human heart has little regenerative capacity.

10 Aug 2011

BIDMC researchers receive PCF Challenge Awards for novel prostate cancer study

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) researchers Martin Sanda, MD, and Steven Balk MD, PhD, have been awarded Challenge Awards of $1 million each from the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) to lead two cross-disciplinary teams of investigators in their pursuit of new treatments for patients with advanced prostate cancer.

10 Aug 2011

Flatworms provide new insight into organ regeneration, evolution of mammalian kidneys

Our bodies are perfectly capable of renewing billions of cells every day but fail miserably when it comes to replacing damaged organs such as kidneys. Using the flatworm Schmidtea mediterranea-famous for its capacity to regrow complete animals from minuscule flecks of tissue-as an eloquent example, researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research demonstrated how our distant evolutionary cousins regenerate their excretory systems from scratch.

10 Aug 2011

UofL professor to teach and conduct research for Italian students in Fulbright Program

Learning more about how to save researchers money through decision analysis is an important area of study for Steven McCabe, MD, assistant professor, University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences. He will have the chance to exchange knowledge about decision analysis with colleagues in Italy as a Fulbright Scholar.

10 Aug 2011

Music and music therapy may benefit cancer patients

Cancer patients may benefit from sessions with trained music therapists or from listening to music. Using music can reduce anxiety in cancer patients, and may also have positive effects on mood, pain and quality of life, according to a new Cochrane systematic review led by Dr. Joke Bradt, an associate professor in Drexel University's College of Nursing and Health Professions.

10 Aug 2011

Pfizer, UC San Diego sign research agreement to drive innovation in drug discovery

In an innovative collaboration designed to speed the process of drug discovery, Pfizer, Inc. and the University of California, San Diego Health Sciences announced today that UC San Diego has joined the ranks of other top-tier life science research institutions across the country as part of Pfizer's Centers for Therapeutic Innovation.

9 Aug 2011

Stress boosts performance for confident students, but holds back those with more anxiety

Knowing the right way to handle stress in the classroom and on the sports field can make the difference between success and failure for the millions of students going back to school this fall, new University of Chicago research shows.

9 Aug 2011

Study shows how certain woodrats put themselves on diet to avoid poisoning

Life is tough for woodrats in deserts of the U.S. Southwest. There are few plants for food, and those plants produce poison to deter rodents, insects and other animals. A new University of Utah study shows how certain woodrats put themselves on a diet to avoid poisoning: They sample a smorgasbord of toxic plants, eat smaller meals, increase time between meals and drink more water if it is available.

9 Aug 2011

Eurofins Optimed, Spaulding Clinical announce joint partnership agreement

Eurofins Optimed Clinical Research, an experienced European clinical research service provider and Spaulding Clinical Research, LLC., US-based, leading-edge Clinical Pharmacology, Cardiac Core Lab, and Medical Device Manufacturer, announce a joint partnership agreement.

9 Aug 2011

Debate on rationality of coronary angiography in low risk patients continues

A new study reveals that American hospitals vary widely in how they decide who's eligible for an invasive type of heart scan.

9 Aug 2011

Exercise key to recovery in cancer

According to a new study exercise may also benefit cancer patients. Macmillan Cancer Support (a British cancer charity) report called ‘Move More’ says that cancer survivors are at risk for relapse or other long term health benefits because they are not active enough.

8 Aug 2011

Smoking first thing in the morning ‘ups’ cancer stakes

Scientists have found that people who need a cigarette within the first half hour of waking up are at a higher risk for lung, head and neck cancers. Actually this indicates a higher nicotine addiction.

8 Aug 2011

Walking around the ward shortens geriatric patients' stay

A new study from the University of Haifa has found that walking around the ward during hospitalization significantly reduces the length of the older patient's stay. "Given the over-occupancy of many hospitals, this finding can be of great importance," the researchers stated.

8 Aug 2011

HUYA enters strategic partnership with King's Lab

HUYA Bioscience International, a leader in globalizing China's biopharmaceutical innovations, today announced a strategic partnership with the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Pharmacy King's Lab. The alliance with HUYA will assist King's Lab in accelerating the development of their novel drugs to international standards.

8 Aug 2011

NIH awards Jefferson $4.8M grant to study vaccine to clear rabies virus from central nervous system

Thomas Jefferson University received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) $4.8 million grant to test a new rabies vaccine with the potential to cure the virus infection, even after it has made its way into a person's central nervous system (CNS). Today, if an unvaccinated person is infected with rabies and it spreads to the brain, there is little chance for survival.

8 Aug 2011

Group Health study finds higher dementia risk with atrial fibrillation

The most common kind of chronically irregular heartbeat, known as atrial fibrillation, is associated with a greater risk of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. This discovery by scientists at Group Health Research Institute and their collaborators was published online in advance of print on August 1 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

8 Aug 2011

Schizophrenia not always inherited – Genetic links found

Researchers have found that more than half the cases of non-hereditary or sporadic schizophrenia are caused by “new” protein-altering gene mutations. These mutations are new genetic errors that appear in patients but not in either of their parents, the researchers explained in the report published in the Aug. 7 online edition of the journal Nature Genetics.

8 Aug 2011

Ovarian cancer gene discovered

A new study finds that around one woman in 70 is at risk of developing ovarian cancer, which claims more than 4,200 lives a year and this could be attributed to a faulty RAD15D gene. The gene raised the risk to one in 11.

8 Aug 2011

Anisotropic encoding of three-dimensional space by place and grid cells

Animal's brains are only roughly aware of how high-up they are in space, meaning that in terms of altitude the brain's 'map' of space is surprisingly flat, according to new research.

8 Aug 2011