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Obesity is straining America's knees

America's expanding waistline is straining its knees--and pocketbook--with hundreds of thousands of overweight people undergoing surgery every year because the extra pounds they pack are leading to tears in their meniscal cartilage.

19 Apr 2005

Ancient protein could be critical to stopping the uncontrolled division of tumor cells that cause cancer

Molecular Biology and Microbiology professor Mark Muller has found that the protein, called MKRN1, promotes the destruction of an enzyme called telomerase that enables rapid duplication of cells. While researchers have known for years that healthy cells repress telomerase, they haven't understood why.

19 Apr 2005

New method for the study of ion channel gating kinetics

An ion channel is a protein pore that lets ions (charged atoms such as calcium) pass through a cell's membrane. The method fits data to a new class of models, called manifest interconductance rank (MIR) models, which will give researchers a better understanding of the mechanisms by which ion channels open and close.

19 Apr 2005

Short segments of sugar chains useful in search for new drugs for Alzheimer's

Heparansulfate, which is needed for normal fetal development among other things, is also important for the build-up of amyloid, morbid protein deposits that appear in several serious diseases. This is shown by Uppsala scientists in an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

19 Apr 2005

Researchers insert engineered human stem cells into the spinal cords of ALS-afflicted rats

Unveiling a delivery method that may one day help surgeons treat the deadly neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have inserted engineered human stem cells into the spinal cords of ALS-afflicted rats.

19 Apr 2005

Vegetables such as broccoli and spices like red chili pepper, may provide a cancer-fighting benefit

Two new studies suggest that vegetables such as broccoli and spices like red chili pepper, may provide a cancer-fighting benefit by slowing or preventing the growth of cancerous tumor cells. The findings, being presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research held April 16 to 20 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif., looked at the effect of these dietary agents on cancers that have extremely poor prognoses despite advances in surgery and other therapies.

19 Apr 2005

Protein studies may lead to new Alzheimer's test

A study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, published by IOS Press, entitled "Quantitative proteomics of cerebrospinal fluid from patients with Alzheimer disease," may lead to a new test for diagnosing the devastating illness. About 4 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, characterized by memory loss and an inability to use language.

19 Apr 2005

Paramedics need family support services

Support services provided to paramedics should also be made available to their family members if these families are to remain healthy and intact, says a University of Toronto researcher.

19 Apr 2005

Marker of heart disease in low-birthweight babies identified

Some low birth weight infants have large particles rich in apolipoprotein C-1, a blood protein that could put them at risk for heart disease later in life, according to a national study led by Johns Hopkins Children's Center researchers.

19 Apr 2005

Call for a United States Global Health Service

The federal government should create and fund an umbrella organization called the United States Global Health Service (GHS) to mobilize the nation's best health care professionals and other experts to help combat HIV/AIDS in hard-hit African, Caribbean, and Southeast Asian countries, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.

19 Apr 2005

Survey finds four in ten seniors do not take medications as prescribed

Four in 10 seniors told researchers in a recent national survey that they haven’t taken all the drugs their doctors prescribed for them in the past year – either because the costs were too high, because they didn’t think the drugs were helping them, or because they didn’t think they needed them.

19 Apr 2005

Patients' lives at risk from substandard drugs

Global action is needed to counter the dangers of substandard life-saving drugs that are putting patients' lives and health at risk, according to heart specialists writing in the new (19 April) issue of Europe's leading cardiology journal, the European Heart Journal.

19 Apr 2005

Dramatic difference between breast cancers in US and Africa

A study comparing, for the first time, breast cancers from Nigeria, Senegal and North America has found that women of African ancestry are more likely to be diagnosed with a more virulent form of the disease than women of European ancestry.

19 Apr 2005

Babies who gain weight rapidly during their very first week of life may be more likely to be overweight as young adults

Researchers from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Iowa studied 653 adults, ranging in age from 20 to 32. The subjects, all of whom were white, had been measured as newborns while participating in infant formula studies in Iowa. Those who had gained weight more rapidly during their first week were significantly more likely to be overweight decades later.

19 Apr 2005

Drugs targeted at muscle cells can be of use in the treatment of diabetes patients with insulin resistance

Type 2 diabetes is a clinical disease characterised by disruption to the metabolism of glucose and lipids as well as to the production of and physiological reactions to insulin.

19 Apr 2005

Study explores parents's reaction to discovering a child has diabetes

Discovering a child has diabetes can be a traumatic and life-changing event for parents and researchers doubt whether many of them ever come to terms with it.

19 Apr 2005

Working mothers do not have an adverse effect on children's diets

A new study from the University of Glasgow that analyses information from over 2000 11 year old children and their parents (in 1994-5) reveals no evidence that number of parents in the household or family meals are associated with children’s diets, while maternal employment is associated with better diets.

19 Apr 2005

Children on school buses may face increased exposure to diesel pollution

Diesel particle pollution inside urban school buses may be worse than levels found in the surrounding roadway air, according to a study by scientists at the University of California. The report appears in the April 15 issue of the American Chemical Society's journal Environmental Science & Technology.

19 Apr 2005

Tea may be a simple, inexpensive means of preventing diabetes

Add another line to the list of benefits from drinking tea: New research in animals suggests that tea may be a simple, inexpensive means of preventing diabetes and its ensuing complications, including cataracts.

19 Apr 2005

Experimental vaccine targeting West Nile virus

A small trial testing the safety of an experimental vaccine targeting West Nile virus (WNV) opened today at the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD.

19 Apr 2005