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Postmenopausal women undergoing combination hormone therapy at increased risk of heart disease: WHI confirms

New analyses from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) confirm that combination hormone therapy increases the risk of heart disease in healthy postmenopausal women. Researchers report a trend toward an increased risk of heart disease during the first two years of hormone therapy among women who began therapy within 10 years of menopause, and a more marked elevation of risk among women who began hormone therapy more than 10 years after menopause. Analyses indicate that overall a woman's risk of heart disease more than doubles within the first two years of taking combination HT.

17 Feb 2010

Certain patients with IBD at increased risk of developing colorectal cancer: AGA's new guidelines

Certain patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), both ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease of the colon, have an increased risk of developing colorectal cancer compared to individuals without IBD. A number of factors contribute to the increase in risk, which necessitates an individualized and sensible approach to surveillance in patients, according to a new medical position statement and technical review published by the American Gastroenterological Association in its official journal, Gastroenterology.

17 Feb 2010

Childhood obesity: Strongest predictor of premature death

In a study now being published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Associate Professor Paul Franks of Umeå University in Sweden, in collaboration with researchers in the US, shows how childhood obesity, together with other risk factors for cardiovascular disease, affects premature death.

16 Feb 2010

Narcolepsy is indeed an autoimmune disorder, finds University of Lausanne study

Individuals with the sleep disorder narcolepsy suffer with excessive daytime sleepiness and attacks of muscle paralysis triggered by strong emotions (a condition known as cataplexy).

16 Feb 2010

Study explores relationship between adverse events, early antecedents and CO2 reactivity in panic disorder

A study performed by a group of Italian investigators and published in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics has explored the relationship between adverse events, early antecedents and carbon dioxide reactivity (CO2 reactivity) in panic disorder.

16 Feb 2010

Study: sdNVP can lead to HIV treatment failure in women receiving drug to prevent infant infection

A new international study reported in PLoS Medicine confirms that a single dose of nevirapine (sdNVP) can lead to HIV treatment failure in women who receive the drug to prevent transmission of the AIDS virus to their infants. However, the increased risk of failure could only be detected in women who began full HIV treatment within about a year after receiving sdNVP.

16 Feb 2010

New finding holds promise for rehabilitating patients after neurological damage

Harnessing brain signals to control keyboards, robots or prosthetic devices is an active area of medical research. Now a rare peek at a human brain hooked up to a computer shows that the two can adapt to each other quickly, and possibly to the brain's benefit.

16 Feb 2010

Older patients waiting longer for kidneys from younger donors

One-third of people over the age of 65 wait longer than necessary for lifesaving, new kidneys because their doctors fail to put them in a queue for organs unsuitable to transplant in younger patients but well-suited to seniors, research from Johns Hopkins suggests.

16 Feb 2010

Minority patients more likely to have surgeries at centres handling low numbers of similar procedures

Minority patients in New York City appear less likely than white patients to have surgeries performed by surgeons or at facilities that have handled large numbers of similar procedures in the past, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

16 Feb 2010

Nascent symptoms of autism in infants emerge during latter part of first year of life

A study of the development of autism in infants, comparing the behavior of the siblings of children diagnosed with autism to that of babies developing normally, has found that the nascent symptoms of the condition - a lack of shared eye contact, smiling and communicative babbling - are not present at 6 months, but emerge gradually and only become apparent during the latter part of the first year of life.

16 Feb 2010

Over 96% of SIDS cases due to known risk factors

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) continues to be the third leading cause of infant death, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), despite a decline in SIDS that is associated with a rise in safe-sleep practices for newborns and infants. A new study by Barbara M. Ostfeld, PhD and Thomas Hegyi, MD, professors in the Department of Pediatrics at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, has identified that more than 96 percent of infants who died of SIDS were exposed to known risk factors, among them sleeping on their side or stomach, or exposure to tobacco smoke, and that 78 percent of SIDS cases contained multiple risk factors.

16 Feb 2010

Study: Common underlying mechanism causes complex defects in brain development and function

A new study reveals that a common underlying mechanism is shared by a group of previously unrelated disorders which all cause complex defects in brain development and function. Rett syndrome (RTT), Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS) and Alpha-Thalassemia mental Retardation, X-linked syndrome (ATR-X) have each been linked with distinct abnormalities in chromatin, the spools of proteins and DNA that make up chromosomes and control how genetic information is read in a cell.

16 Feb 2010

Pipe and cigar smoking linked to decreased lung function

Pipe and cigar smoke may be more harmful than once thought. While some believe pipes and cigars are healthier than cigarettes, a major known cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a new study directly links pipe and cigar smoking to decreased lung function.

16 Feb 2010

Tinnitus not a highly inherited condition, says study

Tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, does not appear to be a highly inherited condition (i.e., does not pass frequently from parents to offspring), according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

16 Feb 2010

'Crowding' helps see things better

'Crowding', the phenomenon when people are less able to differentiate letters if they are surrounded by other letters, actually leads to better vision. This is the conclusion of Dr Frans Cornelissen, who together with Dr Ronald van den Berg and Prof. Jos Roerdink is the first to succeed in explaining crowding with a mathematical model. 'At this moment in time our model is mainly interesting in a fundamental sense', says Cornelissen. 'In the long term, however, it may acquire practical applications, for example when designing learning material for children with dyslexia.'

16 Feb 2010

Research findings highlight the vital need for better secondary stroke prevention

New research finds that one out of 12 people who have a stroke will likely soon have another stroke, and one out of four will likely die within one year. Researchers say the findings highlight the vital need for better secondary stroke prevention. The study is published in the February 16, 2010, issue of Neurology-, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

16 Feb 2010

U.S. Department of Labor awards $4.95M grant for BRIDGE biotechnology project

San Diego State University, BIOCOM, San Diego Workforce Partnership, and the Southern California Biotechnology Center at Miramar College today announced the award of a three-year, $4.95 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor aimed at assisting the economic growth of the San Diego region's life sciences industry. The Biotechnology Readiness, Immersion, Certification and Degrees for Gainful Employment (BRIDGE) project will provide education, training, and placement services to more than 1,000 veterans, incumbent workers and dislocated and unemployed workers within the San Diego region.

16 Feb 2010

UCSF researchers: B1N1 protein is necessary for heart to contract

UCSF researchers have discovered that a protein called B1N1 is necessary for the heart to contract. The findings, published in the Feb. 16 issue of the open access journal PLoS Biology, shed light not only on what makes a heart beat but also on heart failure, a disease where cardiac cells are no longer able to contract and pump blood through the body.

16 Feb 2010

Researchers discover new mechanism within human cells that constantly protects against disease

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have discovered a new mechanism within human cells that constantly protects us against disease. P. Michael Conn, Ph.D., a researcher at the OHSU Oregon National Primate Research Center directed the work. The findings are reported in the Feb. 15 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

16 Feb 2010

RI-MUHC and McGill University teams receive $5M CIHR grant for environmental and reproductive health studies

Two teams from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and McGill University received significant support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) amounting to $5 million over five years.

15 Feb 2010

Medical Research News

Postmenopausal women undergoing combination hormone therapy at increased risk of heart disease: WHI confirms

Certain patients with IBD at increased risk of developing colorectal cancer: AGA's new guidelines

Childhood obesity: Strongest predictor of premature death

Narcolepsy is indeed an autoimmune disorder, finds University of Lausanne study

Study explores relationship between adverse events, early antecedents and CO2 reactivity in panic disorder

Study: sdNVP can lead to HIV treatment failure in women receiving drug to prevent infant infection

New finding holds promise for rehabilitating patients after neurological damage

Older patients waiting longer for kidneys from younger donors

Minority patients more likely to have surgeries at centres handling low numbers of similar procedures

Nascent symptoms of autism in infants emerge during latter part of first year of life

Over 96% of SIDS cases due to known risk factors

Study: Common underlying mechanism causes complex defects in brain development and function

Pipe and cigar smoking linked to decreased lung function

Tinnitus not a highly inherited condition, says study

'Crowding' helps see things better

Research findings highlight the vital need for better secondary stroke prevention

U.S. Department of Labor awards $4.95M grant for BRIDGE biotechnology project

UCSF researchers: B1N1 protein is necessary for heart to contract

Researchers discover new mechanism within human cells that constantly protects against disease

RI-MUHC and McGill University teams receive $5M CIHR grant for environmental and reproductive health studies

How can microdialysis benefit drug development

Global and Local Efforts to Take Action Against Hepatitis

Addressing Important Cardiac Biology Questions with Shotgun Top-Down Proteomics

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