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Racial convergence in cigarette use from adolescence to the mid-thirties

African-Americans are much less likely to smoke than whites are during their teens.

10 Nov 2008

Antibacterial drug use increases at academic medical centers

Antibacterial drug use appears to have increased at academic medical centers between 2002 and 2006, driven primarily by greater use of broad-spectrum agents and the antibiotic vancomycin, according to a report in the Nov. 10 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine , one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

10 Nov 2008

Absence of ERK2 gene linked to birth defects

A multidisciplinary research team at Case Western Reserve University led by Gary Landreth, Ph.D., a professor in the School of Medicine's Department of Neurosciences, has uncovered a common genetic pathway for a number of birth defects that affect the development of the heart and head. Abnormal development of the jaw, palate, brain and heart are relatively common congenital defects and frequently arise due to genetic errors that affect a key developmental pathway.

10 Nov 2008

Education lessens the effects of Alzheimer's

The scientists from the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, say their research supports the 'cognitive reserve' hypothesis and individuals with levels of higher education levels score higher on cognitive tests despite having Alzheimer's disease.

10 Nov 2008

Sleep disorder linked to eye disease

Research has already suggested that sleep problems can cause more than just tiredness - they have been linked to cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease and metabolic disorders, and are also thought to raise the risk of obesity and diabetes.

10 Nov 2008

Flu shots cut the risk of blood clots forming in veins

According to new research by French scientists flu shots may reduce the risk of venous thrombotic embolism.

10 Nov 2008

Gene therapy for advanced heart failure shows promising results

Phase I results of the first clinical trial of gene therapy for patients with advanced heart failure show the approach to be promising, with improvements in several measures of the condition's severity.

10 Nov 2008

Can vitamins and minerals prevent hearing loss?

About 10 million people in the United States alone--from troops returning from war to students with music blasting through headphones--are suffering from impairing noise-induced hearing loss.

10 Nov 2008

NEI releases complete data from age-related eye disease study

The National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announces the release of more than 10 years of data collected during the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS), which looked at the progression of age-related macular degeneration and age-related cataract in 4,757 adults aged 55 to 80.

10 Nov 2008

Study finds 25% of family caregivers of AD patients go to ER or are hospitalized

One quarter of all family caregivers of Alzheimer's disease patients succumb to the stress of providing care to a loved one and become hospital patients themselves, according to an Indiana University study published in the November 2008 issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

10 Nov 2008

New risk factor for heart disease suggests more should be on statins

Canadian scientists have discovered a new risk factor for cardiovascular disease and the significance of their discovery was so conclusive that the clinical trial was stopped before its scheduled completion date.New risk factor for heart disease suggests more should be on statins

10 Nov 2008

Grape seeds could ward off Alzheimer's

Australian scientists are suggesting that grape seeds may be a potential treatment in warding off Alzheimer's disease.

10 Nov 2008

Cancer study a world first

A research study to recruit foreign language speaking cancer patients through Australian Cancer Registries will begin in New South Wales this month.

10 Nov 2008

Researchers unravel mysteries of brain aneurysms

Yale researchers have taken the first critical steps in unraveling the mysteries of brain aneurysms, the often fatal rupturing of blood vessels that afflicts 500,000 people worldwide each year and nearly killed Vice President-elect Joseph Biden two decades ago.

10 Nov 2008

Chaotic vasculature hinders tumor growth

Dense networks of blood vessels thought to spur cancer's growth could actually hinder rather than promote tumor progression, according to a new study at the University of California, San Diego.

10 Nov 2008

T-cell-based strategy for HIV-1 vaccines still viable option

The question of whether or not to continue to pursue the development of T-cell-based HIV-1 vaccines has been a source of controversy following last year's widely publicized failure of the field's most promising candidate, a vaccine developed by Merck known as V520.

10 Nov 2008

Health complications for obese kidney donors

Individuals who are obese face certain risks when donating their kidneys, but their kidney function remains strong one year later, according to a paper being presented at the American Society of Nephrology's 41st Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

10 Nov 2008

Simple brain mechanisms explain arbitrary human visual decisions

Mark Twain, a skeptic of the idea of free will, argues in his essay "What Is Man?" that humans do not command their minds or the opinions they form.

10 Nov 2008

High levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein found to be new risk factor for cardiovascular disease

A team of international researchers - including scientists from the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and McGill University - have discovered that having high levels of particular protein puts patients at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

10 Nov 2008

Five key proteins form new, early-warning blood test before heart attack strikes

A team of Johns Hopkins biochemists has identified a mixed bag of five key proteins out of thousands secreted into blood draining from the heart's blood vessels that may together or in certain quantities form the basis of a far more accurate early warning test than currently in use of impending heart attack in people with severely reduced blood flow, or ischemia.

10 Nov 2008