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Smokers with serious illnesses need additional help to quit, study says

Individuals with serious illnesses - including cancer, heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - make up a disproportionately high segment of current smokers and are also among the most addicted to tobacco use.

8 Apr 2009

Antibiotics could treat cystic fibrosis, other genetic diseases

By modifying the properties of the common antibiotic gentamicin, researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have developed what could become an effective treatment for many human genetic diseases, including cystic fibrosis (CF), Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Usher Syndrome and numerous cancers.

8 Apr 2009

Genetic variation found to increase risk of schizophrenia

Rutgers geneticist Linda Brzustowicz and her colleagues have identified a specific DNA change that is likely to increase risk for developing schizophrenia in some people.

8 Apr 2009

$Adult brain processes fractions easier than child's$

Adult brain processes fractions easier than child's

Although fractions are thought to be a difficult mathematical concept to learn, the adult brain encodes them automatically without conscious thought, according to new research in the April 8 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.

8 Apr 2009

Rogue Alzheimer's gene causes early brain changes

British scientists have found that some young adults who carry a certain genetic variant have an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and distinct brain patterns and changes in their brain activity started decades before any symptoms appeared.

8 Apr 2009

Breakthrough in transplant medicine

Australian scientists have made a breakthrough in transplantation immunity by finding a way of stopping the immune system from rejecting transplanted organs.

8 Apr 2009

Weak social ties at workplace increase risk of burn-out

Long-term leaves of absence tied to stress-related diagnoses are often preceded by a long period without any secure and comforting social relations. This is shown in a recently published study in public health science at Karlstad University in Sweden.

7 Apr 2009

Exercise is safe, improves quality of life in patients With chronic heart failure

Behavior treatment works as well as drugs for children with ADHD and bypasses the risk of medication's side effects, a meta-analysis of 174 studies on ADHD treatment conducted at the University at Buffalo, has shown.

7 Apr 2009

University of Rochester Medical Center urologists compare tests for early bladder cancer detection

Men over the age of 60 who have smoked at least 20 years are needed for an international clinical study to improve bladder cancer screening techniques at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

7 Apr 2009

Young adults at future risk of Alzheimer's have different brain activity

Young adults with a genetic variant that raises their risk of developing Alzheimer's Disease show changes in their brain activity decades before any symptoms might arise, according to a new brain imaging study by scientists from the University of Oxford and Imperial College London.

6 Apr 2009

Thinking of others causes lapses in our self-control

Exerting self-control is exhausting. In fact, using self-control in one situation impairs our ability to use self-control in subsequent, even unrelated, situations.

6 Apr 2009

Stem cells from bone marrow used to grow new blood vessels

Research led by David Hess of the Robarts Research Institute at The University of Western Ontario has identified how to use selected stem cells from bone marrow to grow new blood vessels to treat diseases such as peripheral artery disease.

6 Apr 2009

Stem cell innovation in UK at risk

Despite great hopes for stem cell therapy, major structural and cultural changes within the NHS are needed if it is to succeed in the UK.

6 Apr 2009

Simple bedside test improves diagnosis of chronic back pain, could guide treatment

A simple and inexpensive method of assessing pain, developed by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers, is better than currently used techniques for distinguishing neuropathic pain - pain caused by damage to the nervous system - from other types of chronic back pain.

6 Apr 2009

Researchers regenerate axons necessary for voluntary movement

For the first time, researchers have clearly shown regeneration of a critical type of nerve fiber that travels between the brain and the spinal cord and which is required for voluntary movement.

6 Apr 2009

New type of probe enables visualization of single ribonucleic acid

Biomedical engineers have developed a new type of probe that allows them to visualize single ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules within live cells more easily than existing methods.

6 Apr 2009

Reducing sugar and increasing fiber intake may improve diabetes risk factors in Latino teens

Reducing sugar intake by the equivalent of one can of soda per day and increasing fiber intake by the amount equivalent to one half cup of beans per day appears to improve risk factors associated with type 2 diabetes in Latino adolescents, according to a report in the April issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

6 Apr 2009

Rare window on spinal muscular atrophy genetics

Caused by a mutation of the SMN gene, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an infantile and juvenile neurodegenerative disorder where motor neuron loss causes progressive paralysis.

6 Apr 2009

Study examines benefits of psychosocial intervention for prostate cancer patients prior to surgery

Brief stress management sessions prior to and immediately after surgery may have both short- and long-term benefit for men undergoing a radical prostatectomy for early-stage prostate cancer, according to research from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

6 Apr 2009

Hidden pancreatic stem cells revealed

Wanted: stems cells. Just like those absconders chased by police all over the world, everybody can tell about their good deeds but none really knows how to recognize them.

6 Apr 2009