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Soy nuts lower blood pressure in postmenopausal women

Substituting soy nuts for other protein sources in a healthy diet appears to lower blood pressure in postmenopausal women, and also may reduce cholesterol levels in women with high blood pressure, according to a report in the May 28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

30 May 2007

Herds of cows producing skimmed milk could soon be roaming our pastures

Scientists in New Zealand have discovered that some cows have genes that give them a natural ability to produce skimmed milk and plan to use this information to breed herds of milkers producing only skimmed milk.

30 May 2007

Pesticide exposure and head trauma increases risk for Parkinson's disease

Exposure to pesticides and traumatic head injury may have a causative role in Parkinson's disease, according to a study published online ahead of print in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

30 May 2007

MRI helps predict recovery after spinal cord injury

Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), radiologists can better predict the likelihood of full or partial recovery of patients with acute spinal cord injuries (SCI), according to a study published in the June issue of the journal Radiology.

30 May 2007

Predictors of quality of life for older adults

As a growing number of baby boomers retire, our society will have more older adults than ever before, so it is crucial to determine what predicts quality of life in older age.

30 May 2007

Northwestern University researchers find drug reactions six years earlier than the FDA and drug companies

Northwestern University's Charles Bennett, M.D., is a super sleuth of potentially deadly prescription drug reactions.

30 May 2007

Rapid syphilis testing prevents congenital disease and stillbirths

Congenital syphilis is a major preventable public health problem in many developing countries, frequently causing stillbirths or neonatal death and disabling children who survive.

30 May 2007

Pharmacists play critical role in reducing medication discrepancies

Involving pharmacists in obtaining and assessing a patient's medication history before elective surgery can significantly reduce medication discrepancies upon hospital admission.

30 May 2007

Personality test could help doctors detect dementia with Lewy bodies

The study found that even before diagnosis, people with dementia with Lewy bodies displayed passive personality changes, such as diminished emotional response, disinterest in hobbies, repetitive behaviors, and growing apathy, or lack of interest, more often than those with Alzheimer's.

30 May 2007

Office of Fair Trading's value-based pricing scheme is well-founded, but could increase overall NHS drug spend

A report by the Office of Fair Trading has recommended that pricing of drugs is based not on how much the drug costs to develop, but on the benefit that the drug can bring.

30 May 2007

WHO calls for indoor public places and workplaces 100% smoke-free

The World Health Organization (WHO) signalled the urgent need for countries to make all indoor public places and workplaces 100% smoke-free with the release of its new policy recommendations on protection from exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke in advance of World No Tobacco Day (31 May), which focuses this year on this theme.

30 May 2007

Nurse cells play important role in deciding which T cells live and which die

"Nurse cells" play an important role in deciding which developing infection-fighting cells, called T cells, live and which die, according to research funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and reported in the June issue of the journal Experimental Biology and Medicine.

30 May 2007

3-D plasma coating technique keeps veins and arteries open

Scientists at the University of Ulster are working on a new method of coating stents – the medical devices used to keep veins and arteries open – to prevent them blocking up.

30 May 2007

Study suggests potential for a broadly-protective HIV vaccine

New research conducted at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) suggests that it may be possible to develop a vaccine that protects against the myriad strains of the HIV virus.

30 May 2007

Scientists study glutamate system in the brains of living people

A newly started research collaboration between Karolinska Institutet and AstraZeneca has already generated results.

30 May 2007

Designer lipid-like peptides to play a key role in improving drug delivery systems

Scientists from Institute of Biophysics and Nanosystems Research (IBN), Austrian Academy of Sciences and of Centre for Biomedical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA report the study of Tuning Curvature and Stability of Monoolein Bilayers by Designer Lipid-Like Peptide Surfactants in the May 30th issue of the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE.

30 May 2007