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Healthy preterm infants younger than 12 weeks show reduced lung function

Tests of healthy preterm infants younger than 12 weeks of age show prematurity to be independently associated with reduced lung function. Predictors of this reduced expiratory flow during the first months of life include male sex, low gestational age and increased weight gain.

19 Feb 2006

Monoclonal antibody targets key tumor growth factor

Monoclonal antibody targets key tumor growth factor; Successfully causes brain tumor regression and improves animal survival

19 Feb 2006

Ernst Mayr's theory illustrated in genetic epidemiology studies

The late, famed evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr's theory of genetic revolution , introduced in 1954, remains controversial to this day and has many detractors.

19 Feb 2006

Organic diets lower children's exposure to pesticides

Organic diets lower children's dietary exposure to two common pesticides used in U.S. agricultural production, according to a study by Emory University researcher Chensheng "Alex" Lu, PhD. The substitution of organic food items for children's normal diets substantially decreased the pesticide concentration to non-detectable levels.

19 Feb 2006

Pig islets successfully reversed diabetes in monkeys

Researchers at the University of Minnesota's Diabetes Institute for Immunology and Transplantation have successfully reversed diabetes in monkeys using transplanted islet cells from pigs.

19 Feb 2006

Science of autism

As theories about autism spread like wildfire in the media and the general public, a panel of autism experts will reflect on the validity of four widely held - and potentially inaccurate - assumptions about the developmental disability.

19 Feb 2006

Teen bloggers at risk for cyberstalking and cyberbullying

A study of 68 randomly selected weblogs produced by teenagers aged 13 to 17 finds that teen bloggers often willingly reveal their actual names, age and offline locations, putting them at risk for cyberstalking and cyberbullying.

19 Feb 2006

Fat chance of getting consistent advice on diets

The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Dietary Modification Trial, which involved nearly 49,000 women aged 50 to 79, over an eight year period, has confirmed that fat balance and fat quality are the key factors to be considered when people are aiming for good health and a lower risk of disease.

19 Feb 2006

Death toll reaches 93 as bird flu hits India, France and Egypt

Health officials in India say they have found the country's first cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, following the death of chickens from the virus on poultry farms in the western town of Navapur.

19 Feb 2006

Estrogen-progestin menopausal hormone therapy associated with high risk of both lobular and tubular breast cancer

Estrogen-progestin menopausal hormone therapy is associated with a more than two-fold higher relative risk of developing lobular cancer or tubular cancer than of developing ductal cancer.

19 Feb 2006

Blood clot warning to go on Ortho Evra birth control patch

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says early results of a new study show that women who use the Ortho Evra contraceptive patch are twice as likely to develop blood clots than others who took a birth control pill.

19 Feb 2006

Protein levels predict bone marrow transplant survival

Researchers say that protein levels can predict which bone marrow transplant patients are likely develop a deadly complication a week after the procedure and well before any symptoms occur.

19 Feb 2006

Children given lower doses of adult drugs at risk of harmful side effects

A new study has provided the strongest and most comprehensive evidence yet of the difference between how adults and infants and children process drugs.

19 Feb 2006

Bathroom scale model of weight loss most effective

According to a researcher in the U.S. losing and keeping off weight requires a lifelong commitment and effort.

19 Feb 2006

Puberty means girls more at risk of insomnia than boys

According to a new U.S. study of 1014 adolescents who were 13 to 16 years of age, almost 11 percent had suffered from insomnia at some stage.

19 Feb 2006

Bird flu gets a grip on Europe

The European Union has agreed to adopt new measures in an effort to control the hold bird flu appears have gained in the region.

19 Feb 2006

Cathepsin inhibitors as cancer therapies

In the March 1 issue, Drs. Johanna Joyce (MSKCC), Douglas Hanahan (UCSF) and colleagues lend new insight into how broad-spectrum cysteine cathepsin inhibitors combat pancreatic cancer, and provide new data to help refine the design of more precisely targeted anti-cathepsin therapies.

17 Feb 2006

Poor physical fitness associated with lower socioeconomic status and higher rate of death

Individuals who have abnormal findings on exercise stress testing are more likely to have lower than higher socioeconomic status, and these physiologic characteristics may help account for the correlation between low SES and a higher rate of death

17 Feb 2006

Rimonabant produces sustained weight loss long term

Use of the weight-loss medication rimonabant produced modest yet sustained weight loss after 2 years, and improved HDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels, according to a study in the February 15 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

17 Feb 2006

Topical anaesthesia and morphine effective in treating procedural pain in newborn infants

Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) have found that intravenous morphine used alone or with a topical anaesthetic (tetracaine) effectively reduced levels of pain in newborn infants undergoing insertion of central venous catheters (central lines).

17 Feb 2006