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Program for kidney disease patients effective for reducing serum phosphorus levels

Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) who participated in an education program to limit their intake of phosphorus-containing food additives lowered their blood levels of the chemical, according to a study in the February 11 issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

10 Feb 2009

Costs of digestive diseases grown to more than $141 billion a year

Digestive, liver and pancreatic diseases result in more than 100 million outpatient visits and 13 million hospitalizations annually at a cost of $141.8 billion.

10 Feb 2009

New weapon in the battle against obesity

A new system proposed by Canadian and US obesity researchers may provide another weapon in the battle against obesity.

10 Feb 2009

Targeted immune cells shrink tumors in mice

Researchers have generated altered immune cells that are able to shrink, and in some cases eradicate, large tumors in mice.

10 Feb 2009

MRI shows brain atrophy pattern that predicts Alzheimer's

Using special MRI methods, researchers have identified a pattern of regional brain atrophy in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) that indicates a greater likelihood of progression to Alzheimer's disease.

10 Feb 2009

Mercury in fish is a global health hazard

As the world's governments convene next week to discuss developing a legally binding treaty on mercury, citizens' groups from around the world have released a new report calling attention to the significant global human health hazards caused by mercury in fish and fish-eating marine mammals.

10 Feb 2009

Long-sought protein structure may help reveal how ‘gene switch’ works

The bacterium behind one of mankind's deadliest scourges, tuberculosis, is helping researchers at the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) move closer to answering the decades-old question of what controls the switching on and off of genes that carry out all of life's functions.

10 Feb 2009

Cytokines lead to neurological and cognitive abnormalities and changes in heart rhythm in patients with cirrhosis

Liver cirrhosis is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, taking 25,000 lives per year.

10 Feb 2009

Improving brain processing speed helps memory

Mayo Clinic researchers found that healthy, older adults who participated in a computer-based training program to improve the speed and accuracy of brain processing showed twice the improvement in certain aspects of memory, compared to a control group.

10 Feb 2009

Gene controllers crucial for cancer spread

Cancer Research UK scientists have pinpointed two proteins that work together to help cancer cells spread around the body, reveals a study published in Nature Cell Biology.

10 Feb 2009

More evidence showing exercise helps people give up smoking

Research from the University of Exeter reveals for the first time, that changes in brain activity, triggered by physical exercise, may help reduce cigarette cravings.

10 Feb 2009

Nightly dose of vitamin B12 an effective canker sore therapy

A team of physicians at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has discovered that a nightly dose of vitamin B12 is a simple, effective and low risk therapy to prevent Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis (RAS), better known as "canker sores."

10 Feb 2009

Could a hereditary illness ever spread by contamination?

Researchers at the CNRS Laboratoire d'enzymologie et biochimie structurales, studying Huntington's disease in collaboration with Professor Ron Kopito's team at Stanford University, have shown that the normal form of huntingtin protein can acquire an abnormal form without any modification of its genetic code.

10 Feb 2009

A view into the human body: the formation of cell organelles

Scientists at the RUB publish the results of their study in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

10 Feb 2009

Researcher develops method to combat congenital heart disease in children

Congenital heart defects account for five times more deaths annually than all childhood cancers combined.

9 Feb 2009

When it comes to treating heart attacks, experience matters

New research shows that patients have a much better chance of survival when both their hospital and their physician have a strong track record in treating heart attack with angioplasty and stenting.

9 Feb 2009

Stroke therapy window might be extended past nine hours for some

Some patients who suffer a stroke as a result of a blockage in an artery in the brain may benefit from a clot-busting drug nine or more hours after the onset of symptoms.

9 Feb 2009

Adolescents should participate in decisions about end-of-life care

Conversations between adolescents suffering from chronic illnesses and their families about end-of-life wishes well before a serious event occurs won't discourage hope for recovery or cause additional emotional or mental harm to young patients, according to new research from Children's National Medical Center and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital published in the journal Pediatrics.

9 Feb 2009

Pathologically elevated blood fat levels in obesity: Researchers discover molecular causes

Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center have discovered a mechanism in liver metabolism that is responsible for pathologically elevated blood fat levels found in severe metabolic disorders.

9 Feb 2009

Continuation of statin treatment associated with lower risk of death

Patients with high cholesterol levels who continually take statins appear to have a lower risk of death over four to five years, regardless of whether they already have diagnosed heart disease, according to a report in the February 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine , one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

9 Feb 2009