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Impaired kidney function raises risk of heart problems in the elderly

A study published next week in the open access journal PLoS Medicine suggests that elderly people with damaged kidneys are at greater risk of cardiovascular disease, such as heart failure and stroke, and other causes of mortality.

21 Jan 2009

Researchers show how anthracycline class of chemotherapeutics block blood vessel growth, slow cancer spread

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have discovered how a whole class of commonly used chemotherapy drugs can block cancer growth.

21 Jan 2009

Too much weight loss can be a bad thing

Doctors are not doing enough to pick up on problems with excessive weight loss, says a Saint Louis University physician who helped draft recent guidelines to diagnose the condition called "cachexia" (kuh-kex-ee-uh).

21 Jan 2009

Dynamical theory and novel 4-D colorimetric method reveal modus operandi of intact living brain

For the brain to achieve its intricate functions such as perception, action, attention and decision making, neural regions have to work together yet still retain their specialized roles.

21 Jan 2009

Engineered virus targets and kills apparent cancer stem cells in neuroblastoma

After identifying an apparent population of cancer stem cells for neuroblastoma, researchers successfully used a reprogrammed herpes virus to block tumor formation in mice by targeting and killing the cells.

21 Jan 2009

Mentally ill, the disabled and ethnic minorities more susceptible to terrorism fears

Research has shown that certain marginalized groups - including the mentally ill, the disabled and ethnic minorities such as African Americans and Latinos - fare worse than others in the aftermath of natural disasters, suffering disproportionate impoverishment, injuries and fatalities.

21 Jan 2009

Newly discovered protein acts as virus alarm

The Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (CeMM) announces the discovery of a new molecular sensor in human cells capable of recognizing infecting viruses and transmitting an alarm signal to the body.

21 Jan 2009

Cell transplantation and diabetes: New sites, new devices

Early attempts at islet cell transplantation to treat diabetes date to the nineteenth century, decades before the discovery of insulin in the 1930s.

21 Jan 2009

Blocked Interleukin 21 protein prevents Lupus in mouse model

Mice from a strain that ordinarily develops systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but bred with a deficiency in receptor for the protein Interleukin 21, stayed healthy and exhibited none of the symptoms of the disease, researchers at The Jackson Laboratory and National Institutes of Health report.

21 Jan 2009

Anxious seniors may benefit from SSRIs

Many older adults worry - a lot. Almost one in 10 Americans over age 60 suffer from an anxiety disorder that causes them to worry excessively about normal things - like health, finances, disability and family.

21 Jan 2009

Chemo boosts survival rates for pancreatic cancer

The use of chemotherapy following surgery reduces the risk of death from operable pancreatic cancer by around 30 per cent, says new research published in the British Journal of Cancer.

21 Jan 2009

Sharp increase in use of prescription sleep aids by young adults

Use of prescription sleep aids nearly tripled among 18- to 24-year-olds between 1998 and 2006, according to a study released today by the Healthcare business of Thomson Reuters.

19 Jan 2009

1% of the world's population carries a mutation almost guaranteed to lead to heart problems

Heart disease is the number one killer in the world and India carries more than its share of this burden.

19 Jan 2009

Study examines racial disparities in survival among patients diagnosed with lung cancer

Disparities in survival among black patients diagnosed with early-stage lung cancer are not seen when patients are recommended appropriate treatment, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Surgery.

19 Jan 2009

Stents can be placed in the brain to treat a stroke as it's occurring

Stents can be placed in the brain to treat a stroke as it's occurring, suggests preliminary data being presented at the 21st Annual International Symposium on Endovascular Therapy (ISET).

19 Jan 2009

Epigenetics may account for some inherited traits and diseases

Embargoed Until January 18, 2009 at 18:00 Greenwich Mean Time / 13:00 Eastern Standard Time (TORONTO): Scientists at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) have detected evidence that DNA may not be the only carrier of heritable information; a secondary molecular mechanism called epigenetics may also account for some inherited traits and diseases.

19 Jan 2009

Microbes within gut may hold key to one cause of obesity

In terms of diversity and sheer numbers, the microbes occupying the human gut easily dwarf the billions of people inhabiting the Earth.

19 Jan 2009

Researchers identify biochemical switch required for nerve cells to respond to DNA damage

The finding, scheduled for advance online publication in Nature Cell Biology, illuminates a connection between proteins involved in neurodegenerative disease and in cells' response to DNA damage.

19 Jan 2009

Less severe first heart attacks linked to decline in coronary heart disease deaths

The severity of first heart attacks has dropped significantly in the United States - propelling a decline in coronary heart disease deaths, researchers reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

19 Jan 2009

Large DNA stretches, not single genes, shut off as cells mature

Experiments at Johns Hopkins have found that the gradual maturing of embryonic cells into cells as varied as brain, liver and immune system cells is apparently due to the shut off of several genes at once rather than in individual smatterings as previous studies have implied.

19 Jan 2009