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Abdominal obesity puts the squeeze on lungs

There's more bad news for people who carry excess weight around their waists: Not only is abdominal obesity associated with diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and a host of other health problems collectively known as "metabolic syndrome," a new study has found that a high waist circumference is strongly associated with decreased lung function-independent of smoking history, sex, body mass index (BMI) and other complicating factors.

8 Mar 2009

Curry ingredient curcumin makes membranes behave for better health

Revered in India as "holy powder," the marigold-colored spice known as turmeric has been used for centuries to treat wounds, infections and other health problems.

8 Mar 2009

Eating lots of vegetables reduces risk of prostate cancer

In the online edition of Molecular Nutrition and Food Research, Ruth Chan and collaborators provided a review on prostate cancer (CaP) and vegetable consumption.

8 Mar 2009

Breakthrough method produces Parkinson's disease patient-specific stem cells free of harmful reprogramming genes

Whitehead Institute researchers have developed a novel method to remove potential cancer-causing genes during the reprogramming of skin cells from Parkinson's disease patients into an embryonic-stem-cell-like state.

8 Mar 2009

Drug therapy for brain tumors shows promise

The combination of two drugs produces a critical improvement in the treatment of certain brain tumours.

8 Mar 2009

Long-defunct gene comes back to life in humans

Researchers have discovered that a long-defunct gene was resurrected during the course of human evolution.

8 Mar 2009

Virus-free embryonic-like stem cells made from skin of Parkinson's disease patients

Researchers reporting in the March 6th issue of the journal Cell , a Cell Press publication, have developed a new way to produce human embryonic-like stem cells that are free of the viruses used to insert the key ingredients.

5 Mar 2009

Important step toward in understanding the biology of stem cells

Researchers have found the factor that makes the difference between a stem cell in the intestine and any other cell.

5 Mar 2009

Serious flaws in study on vitamin C treatment in cancer

Serious flaws in a recent study, which concluded that high doses of vitamin C reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapeutic drugs in the treatment of cancer, are revealed in the current issue of Alternative and Complementary Therapies.

5 Mar 2009

Stem cell breakthrough gives new hope to sufferers of myopathy and muscular dystrophy

An experimental procedure that dramatically strengthens stem cells' ability to regenerate damaged tissue could offer new hope to sufferers of muscle-wasting diseases such as myopathy and muscular dystrophy, according to researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

5 Mar 2009

Discovery of new gene associated with Lou Gehrig's disease

A collaborative research effort spanning nearly a decade between researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), MIT, the Broad Institute, King's College London (KCL) and other institutions has identified a novel gene for inherited amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease).

5 Mar 2009

Pulmonary hypertension in children may result from reduced activity of gene regulator

Too little activity by gene regulators called PPARs appears to be a major player in the irreversible lung damage that can occur in children with heart defects, researchers say.

5 Mar 2009

Genome scanning system used to uncover suspect mutations in normal inherited genes

Scientists at the Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have used "personalized genome" sequencing on an individual with a hereditary form of pancreatic cancer to locate a mutation in a gene called PALB2 that is responsible for initiating the disease.

5 Mar 2009

For first time scientists determine structure of a protein in the living cell

The function of a protein is determined both by its structure and by its interaction partners in the cell.

5 Mar 2009

Seniors may be more affected by social drinking

Older adults may be more affected by a couple of glasses of wine than their younger counterparts are -- yet they are less likely to be aware of it, a new study suggests.

5 Mar 2009

Number of cardiovascular risk factors could determine safety of IVIg treatment

New research out of Wake Forest University School of Medicine identifies the presence of cardiovascular risk factors as an indicator of how likely it is that elderly, hospitalized patients who receive intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) treatment will have a stroke or heart attack.

5 Mar 2009

Diabetes linked to cognitive deterioration

Blindness, renal failure, stroke and heart disease are potential complications of type 2 diabetes, which currently afflicts more than 15 million Americans.

5 Mar 2009

Enteroviruses may play role in type 1 diabetes

A team of researchers from the Peninsula Medical School in the South West of England, the University of Brighton and the Department of Pathology at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, has found that a common family of viruses (enteroviruses) may play an important role in triggering the development of diabetes, particularly in children.

5 Mar 2009

Better understanding of how stem cells develop into blood cells

How messages sent within stem cells through a specific communication pathway can trigger the cells to specialize and become blood cells in humans, has been discovered by scientists of the McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute.

5 Mar 2009

Lack of strategies to manage MRI wait lists a key reason for excessive wait times

A new study headed by Dr. Tom Feasby, Dean of UCalgary's Faculty of Medicine, shows that while Canada lags behind other countries in the number of diagnostic imaging devices, more machines are not the only solution to long wait times.

5 Mar 2009