Medical News from News-Medical.Net - January 23rd 2006

Variation in IGF1 gene may play a role in prostate cancer risk

//Medical Research News

Two variations in the gene for insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-1) are linked to an increased risk of prostate cancer, according to research performed by scientists from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and the University of Hawaii.

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How the brain recognizes objects

//Medical Research News

When a human looks at a number, letter or other shape, neurons in various areas of the brain's visual center respond to different components of that shape, almost instantaneously fitting them together like a puzzle to create an image that the individual then "sees" and understands

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Taste encoding in the brain

//Medical Research News

Instantly reacting to the sweet lure of chocolate or the bitter taste of strychnine would seem to demand that such behavioral responses be so innate as to be hard-wired into the brain.

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Identification of gene in childhood kidney disease

//Medical Research News

An international research collaboration led by Mayo Clinic has identified a new gene involved in causing the inherited kidney disorder, Meckel-Gruber syndrome (MKS). Children with MKS have central nervous system deformities as well as abnormal cysts in their kidneys, and usually die shortly after birth.

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Aspirin can significantly reduce the risk of cardiovascular events

//Medical Research News

Aspirin can significantly reduce the risk of cardiovascular events -- a combined endpoint including stroke, heart attack and death due to cardiovascular disease -- in both men and women, according to a new meta-analysis of more than 95,000 patients by a Duke University Medical Center cardiologist.

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Single gene may hold key to schizophrenia

//Medical Research News

By deleting a single gene in a small portion of the brains of mice, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center found that the animals were affected in a way resembling schizophrenia in humans.

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Researchers identify protein essential for the maintenance of synapses

//Medical Research News

Nerve cells store and transmit information via special contact sites called synapses. Synapses also play a role in determining what we remember and what we forget.

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Growth hormone helps children with sleep apnea

//Medical Research News

Growth hormone helps hundreds of children with a rare disorder that causes them to gorge on food, but for some, starting treatment can worsen a dangerous nighttime breathing problem, University of Florida researchers have found.

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Retinal degeneration - researchers advance understanding

//Medical Research News

Researchers have labored for decades to understand blindness-inducing neurodegenerative diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP).

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Bexarotene shows promise in cancer treatment.

//Medical Research News

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis now report that a compound related to vitamin A shows promise in preventing or slowing tumor growth in mice prone to lung cancer. The compound, called bexarotene, doesn't cause the severe skin irritations that have limited the use of other vitamin A derivatives in cancer therapies.

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Cost-effectiveness analysis of HPV testing

//Medical Study News

A new study has found that using human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing to determine who should receive a cervical examination called colposcopy is a cost-effective management strategy for women with equivocal Pap test results known as ASCUS (atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance).

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X-linked agammaglobulinemia

//Medical Study News

Individuals who have a rare genetic immune system disorder that prevents them from making antibodies nevertheless appear to be moderately healthy and lead productive lives, according to results of a study by investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

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Lung transplant survival extended by Cyclosporine

//Medical Study News

According to a new study in the U.S., lung transplant patients live longer when they inhale the rejection-fighting drug Cyclosporine.

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Aspirin reduces risk of heart attack

//Medical Study News

An analysis of previous studies indicates that use of aspirin significantly reduces the risk of cardiovascular events in women and in men, due to reducing the risk of stroke in women and reducing the risk of heart attack in men, according to a study in the January 18 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

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Study on medication error rates in radiology facilities inaccurate and irresponsible

//Medical Study News

The ACR works for the day when all medical errors are eliminated and welcomes input from all medical organizations. However, the recent United States Pharmacopeia (USP) study regarding medication error rates in medical imaging facilities is incomplete, inaccurate, may unnecessarily alarm patients, and may cause many patients who require imaging care to mistakenly avoid getting it

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Workplace aggression in America

//Medical Study News

Nearly half of American workers are victims of workplace aggression, with customers, clients or patients the most likely source of attacks, according to a new comprehensive national survey.

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Alzheimer's may be triggered by neuron division

//Medical Study News

A new study in mice suggests that Alzheimer's disease (AD) may be triggered when adult neurons try to divide. The finding helps researchers understand what goes wrong in the disease and may lead to new ways of treating it.

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Physiogenomic resources for rat models of heart, lung and blood disorders

//Medical Study News

Every year, heart disease claims an estimated 7 million lives, according to the World Health Organization. Scientists have struggled to pinpoint the precise genes behind this complex disease. Now, however, they have a new research ally: the designer rat.

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Regular exercise slows down onset of dementia and Alzheimer's

//Medical Study News

According to a new study published this week regular exercise can slow down the onset of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

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Genetic risk factor for West Nile virus infection identified

//Medical Study News

People who lack a cell surface protein called CCR5 are highly resistant to infection by HIV but may be at increased risk of developing West Nile virus (WNV) illness when exposed to the mosquito-borne virus, report researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

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Armpit odour can make apparent women’s fertility

//Women's Health News

Research published in the recent issue of Ethology has discovered that men are able to potentially use smell as a mechanism to establish when their current or prospective sexual partners are at their most fertile.

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Increased attention should be paid to incontinence

//Women's Health News

It's a topic that is discussed so infrequently - for reasons that are easy to understand - that it may seem it isn't much of a problem. But new research shows that fecal incontinence is prevalent among U.S. women, especially those in older age groups

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Online breast cancer support groups work

//Women's Health News

Stereotypes about who will use online support groups are wrong, according to research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The researchers found that age, income and education did not predict participation, although minorities were not as active as other users.

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