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European project to look at the wiring of the brain during growth

One of the great questions of neurobiology, how the brain is built up during embryonic development, could be resolved by a young French scientist in an award winning project organised by the European Science Foundation (ESF) and the European Heads of Research Councils (EuroHORCS).

24 Sep 2007

Diet and lifestyle offers significant benefits to people with chronic kidney disease

"People who suffer severe chronic kidney disease clearly need support with their diets," she said. "When their kidneys function at less than 30 per cent they often lose their appetites, which can lead to malnutrition and compound their health problems."

24 Sep 2007

Clostridium difficile bacterium found on patients with no obvious signs or symptoms of disease

The bacterium that causes a highly contagious and sometimes deadly form of diarrhea is frequently carried by persons who do not have any of the disease symptoms, according to a study in the Oct. 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.

24 Sep 2007

Coronary heart disease: Spotting the culprit(s) is the way towards prevention

A Public Lecture at Bristol University to rise awareness on a socially relevant still belittled disease

24 Sep 2007

Process of care failures in invasive cervical cancer: Systematic review and meta-analysis

The decline in cervical cancer is a success story of cancer research. Although there are reasons to be optimistic about even further decreases in cervical cancer incidence, there still remain some women who are not screened.

24 Sep 2007

New understanding of principles behind computations in the brain

A University of Leicester mathematician has been working with scientists in Japan and The Netherlands to develop a new technique that produces accurate mathematical models of the actual behaviour of nerve (neural) cells.

24 Sep 2007

Brain atrophy in elderly leads to unintended racism, depression and problem gambling

In a study appearing in the October issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, University of Queensland psychologist, Bill von Hippel, reports that decreased inhibitory ability in late adulthood can lead to unintended prejudice, social inappropriateness, depression, and gambling problems.

24 Sep 2007

Framingham Heart Study 100K result published

BioMed Central has announced that 17 research articles carried out using genetic data from the Framingham Heart Study (FHS), are being published as a supplement to BMC Medical Genetics.

23 Sep 2007

APHA urges Bush to reconsider and sign the SCHIP bill

"President Bush stated this week that he intends to veto pending legislation that would reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which is set to expire Sept. 30. The bill would extend health coverage to approximately 4 million uninsured children and continue providing coverage to 6 million children.

23 Sep 2007

AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition voices disappointment in trial results for MRK-Ad5 AIDS vaccine candidate

The AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC) released the following statement from Executive Director Mitchell Warren about the announcement that vaccinations have been discontinued in the STEP Study, a test-of-concept trial of the MRK-Ad5 AIDS vaccine candidate developed by the Merck Research Laboratories.

23 Sep 2007

When biological molecules kiss, a new kind of biosensor can tell

A new and deceptively simple technique has been developed by chemists at Vanderbilt University that can measure the interactions between free-floating, unlabeled biological molecules including proteins, sugars, antibodies, DNA and RNA.

21 Sep 2007

Soap and warm water best for battling Clostridium difficile

Hospitals world-wide battle nosocomial infections on a daily basis.

21 Sep 2007

New patented invention induces and restores cardiac muscle function

Florida Atlantic University received U.S. patent no. 10/822,496, "Promoting Cardiac Cell Differentiation," based on an invention which induces and restores cardiac muscle function.

21 Sep 2007

Study reveals the regulatory mechanism of protein kinase A

Research conducted at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine has shed new light on the structure and function of one of the key proteins in all mammalian cells, protein kinase A (PKA), an enzyme which plays an essential role in memory formation, communication between nerve cells, and cardiac function.

21 Sep 2007

Top five prescribed drugs

With a total nearly $5 billion, Lipitor, a cholesterol-reducing drug, ranked first in terms of total spending on prescription medicines by adults ages 18 to 64 in 2004, and another cholesterol-fighting drug, Zocor, ranked fourth at $2.3 billion, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

21 Sep 2007

Sensitivity of brain center for 'sound space' defined

While the visual regions of the brain have been intensively mapped, many important regions for auditory processing remain “uncharted territory.”

21 Sep 2007

Scientists decipher mechanism behind antimicrobial 'hole punchers'

In the battle against bacteria, researchers have scored a direct hit.

21 Sep 2007

Brugia malayi's secrets revealed

An international team of researchers has revealed the genetic secrets of one of the world's most debilitating human parasites, Brugia malayi (B. malayi), which the World Health Organization estimates has seriously incapacitated and disfigured more than 40 million people around the globe.

21 Sep 2007

Two genes in mammalian cells act as gatekeepers for cellular longevity

In everything from yeast to primates, a significant decrease in calories can extend lifespan by as much as one-third. But getting under the hood of the molecular machinery that drives this longevity has remained elusive.

21 Sep 2007

Repeat steroids to premature infants linked to cerebral palsy

Repeated courses of a drug that is used to improve the survival of unborn premature babies also may increase the risk of cerebral palsy in those children, according to results from a multi-center study, funded by the National Institutes of Health and led by Ronald Wapner, M.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology, Columbia University Medical Center and attending obstetrician and gynecologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia.

21 Sep 2007