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Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs News
Updated Guidelines On The Best Methods To Treat Substance Abuse And Addiction The British Association for Psychopharmacology (BAP) has released fresh guidelines on the best methods to treat substance abuse and addiction in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, published by SAGE.	25 May 2012

Allergy News
Infants' Bodies Absorb Phthalates In PVC Floors A new study at Karlstad University in Sweden shows that phthalates from PVC flooring materials is taken up by our bodies. Phthalates are substances suspected to cause asthma and allergies, as well as other chronic diseases in children.	25 May 2012

Arthritis / Rheumatology News
Rheumatoid Arthritis Battle - New Target Identified Over one million adults in the U.S. suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, a systemic inflammatory autoimmune disease that can be incapacitating. Researchers have now discovered the mechanism by which a cell signaling pathway contributes to the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).	25 May 2012

Autism News
Fever During Pregnancy More Than Doubles The Risk Of Autism Or Developmental Delay A team of UC Davis researchers has found that mothers who had fevers during their pregnancies were more than twice as likely to have a child with autism or developmental delay than were mothers of typically developing children, and that taking medication to treat fever countered its effect.	25 May 2012

Bio-terrorism / Terrorism News

Protective Coating Transforms Silk Into A Weapon Against Anthrax And Other Microbes The latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS') award-winning Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions podcast series describes a simple, inexpensive dip-and-dry treatment can convert ordinary silk into a fabric that kills disease-causing bacteria - even the armor-coated spores of microbes like anthrax - in minutes.

25 May 2012

Blood / Hematology News
Quality Standards For Heparin Further Strengthened To help further secure a safe supply of the widely-used blood thinner heparin, a third round of revisions to quality standards for the drug has been advanced by the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP).	25 May 2012

Bones / Orthopedics News
New Insights Into The Mechanisms Of Heart Disease Mutated and intact proteins of the cytoskeleton form abnormal aggregates Malformed desmin proteins aggregate with intact proteins of the same kind, thereby triggering skeletal and cardiac muscle diseases, the desminopathies.	25 May 2012
Bone Repair Using Stem-Cell-Growing Surface University of Michigan researchers have proven that a special surface, free of biological contaminants, allows adult-derived stem cells to thrive and transform into multiple cell types. Their success brings stem cell therapies another step closer.	25 May 2012
Atypical Femur Fracture Risk Linked To Bisphosphonate Usage In a study published Online First by JAMA's Archives of Internal Medicine, Raphael P. H. Meier, M.D., and his team from Geneva's University Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine in Switzerland declare: "Current evidence suggests that there is an association between bisphosphonate therapy and atypical femoral fractures, but the extent of this risk remains unclear.	25 May 2012

Breast Cancer News
Chemotherapy's Effectiveness May Be Predicted By Breast MRI Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides an indication of a breast tumor's response to pre-surgical chemotherapy significantly earlier than possible through clinical examination, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology.	25 May 2012
Breast Cancer Patients' Survival Influenced By Their Cardio Fitness Levels Women receiving care for breast cancer have significantly impaired cardio-pulmonary function that can persist for years after they have completed treatment, according to a study led by scientists at Duke University Medical Center.	25 May 2012

Cancer / Oncology News
New Drug For Destroying Human Cancer Stem Cells Conventional cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation can cause toxic side-effects. Now, researchers have discovered that a drug called thioridazine can successfully destroy cancer stem cells in humans without these effects.	25 May 2012

Cardiovascular / Cardiology News
Skin Cells From Heart Failure Patients Made Into Healthy New Heart Muscle Cells For the first time in medical science, Israeli scientists have successfully turned skin cells from heart failure patients into healthy new heart muscle cells. This achievement is significant, as it opens up the prospect of treating heart failure patients with their own, human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to fix their damaged hearts.	25 May 2012
Breast Cancer Patients' Survival Influenced By Their Cardio Fitness Levels Women receiving care for breast cancer have significantly impaired cardio-pulmonary function that can persist for years after they have completed treatment, according to a study led by scientists at Duke University Medical Center.	25 May 2012

COPD News
Pleural Effusion In Patients With CAP Reduced By Long-Term Inhaled Corticosteroids Use Prior treatment with inhaled corticosteroids in patients with respiratory disorders who develop community acquired pneumonia (CAP) is associated with a lower incidence and severity of parapneumonic effusion, according to a new study from researchers in Spain.	25 May 2012
COPD Patients With P. aeruginosa Bacteria Likely To Have Poorer Clinical Outcomes Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who become infected with the bacterium Pseudomonas aerguinosa are more likely to have worse clinical outcomes and experience more hospitalizations during the course of their disease than COPD patients who are not infected, according to researchers from Buffalo, N.	25 May 2012

Dermatology News
What Is Albinism? What Causes Albinism Albinism is a genetic condition also called achromia, achromasia, or achromatosis. It is characterized by a deficit in the production in melanin and by the partial or complete absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes.	25 May 2012
Hormone Boosts Immune Response When Vitamin D Levels Are Low, Plays Surprise Role In Fighting Skin Infections Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are molecules produced in the skin to fend off infection-causing microbes. Vitamin D has been credited with a role in their production and in the body's overall immune response, but scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say a hormone previously associated only with maintaining calcium homeostasis and bone health is also critical, boosting AMP expression when dietary vitamin D levels are inadequate.	25 May 2012
Risk Of Eye Infections Doubles With Use Of Common Acne Medication Millions of teenagers suffer from acne, and they deal with the embarrassing skin blemishes by taking popular prescription medications such as Accutane or Roaccutane. Now, however, research from Tel Aviv University shows that these pills can also cause eye infections such as conjunctivitis (pink eye) or sties.	25 May 2012

Diabetes News
Obesity Epidemic Likely Cause Of Huge Increase In Kidney Stones The number of Americans suffering from kidney stones between 2007 and 2010 nearly doubled since 1994, according to a study by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and RAND.	25 May 2012

Endocrinology News

Hormone Boosts Immune Response When Vitamin D Levels Are Low, Plays Surprise Role In Fighting Skin Infections Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are molecules produced in the skin to fend off infection-causing microbes. Vitamin D has been credited with a role in their production and in the body's overall immune response, but scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say a hormone previously associated only with maintaining calcium homeostasis and bone health is also critical, boosting AMP expression when dietary vitamin D levels are inadequate.

25 May 2012

Eye Health / Blindness News
Researchers Regenerate Optic Nerve In Mice Individuals blinded by optic nerve damage from glaucoma or trauma might be able to regain at least some visual function in the future after researchers have successfully regenerated the optic nerve in mice.	25 May 2012
What Is Albinism? What Causes Albinism Albinism is a genetic condition also called achromia, achromasia, or achromatosis. It is characterized by a deficit in the production in melanin and by the partial or complete absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes.	25 May 2012
Risk Of Eye Infections Doubles With Use Of Common Acne Medication Millions of teenagers suffer from acne, and they deal with the embarrassing skin blemishes by taking popular prescription medications such as Accutane or Roaccutane. Now, however, research from Tel Aviv University shows that these pills can also cause eye infections such as conjunctivitis (pink eye) or sties.	25 May 2012

Fertility News
Sperm Gene Discovery May Lead To Non-Hormonal Male Contraceptive The discovery of a gene that enables sperm to mature may lead to the development of a non-hormonal male contraceptive, according to new research in mice, led by the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, that was published in the journal PLoS Genetics on 24 May.	25 May 2012
Researchers Detect Predictive Biomarkers Of The Fertilizing Capacity Of Sperm Donors The study represents a breakthrough in understanding the causes of unexplained infertilityThe diagnosis of male fertility is usually performed through the observation of the sperm in the microscope.	25 May 2012

Genetics News
Sperm Gene Discovery May Lead To Non-Hormonal Male Contraceptive The discovery of a gene that enables sperm to mature may lead to the development of a non-hormonal male contraceptive, according to new research in mice, led by the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, that was published in the journal PLoS Genetics on 24 May.	25 May 2012
New Insights Into The Mechanisms Of Heart Disease Mutated and intact proteins of the cytoskeleton form abnormal aggregates Malformed desmin proteins aggregate with intact proteins of the same kind, thereby triggering skeletal and cardiac muscle diseases, the desminopathies.	25 May 2012
Food Choices, Eating Patterns Likely Influenced By "Obesity Genes" Blame it on your genes? Researchers from The Miriam Hospital's Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center say individuals with variations in certain "obesity genes" tend to eat more meals and snacks, consume more calories per day and often choose the same types of high fat, sugary foods.	25 May 2012

Health Insurance / Medical Insurance News

Half Of Americans With Individual Health Plans Could Gain Better Coverage Under The ACA New study says 51 percent of those currently with individual market health plans get 'tin' rating for poor coverage that would not meet minimum health insurance exchange standardsMore than half of Americans with individual market health insurance coverage in 2010 were enrolled in so-called "tin" plans, which provide less coverage than the lowest "bronze"- level plans in the Affordable Care Act, and therefore would not be able to be offered in the health insurance exchanges that are being created under the law, according to a Commonwealth Fund-supported study published as a Web First in the journal Health Affairs.

25 May 2012

Hearing / Deafness News
New Treatment For Tinnitus In The Making An article published in this weeks Lancet provides a multidisciplinary approach to treating tinnitus. The specialised care program appears to be affective for both mild and severe tinitius and researchers hope their strategies will be implemented widely and be of great help to suffers.	25 May 2012

Heart Disease News
New Insights Into The Mechanisms Of Heart Disease Mutated and intact proteins of the cytoskeleton form abnormal aggregates Malformed desmin proteins aggregate with intact proteins of the same kind, thereby triggering skeletal and cardiac muscle diseases, the desminopathies.	25 May 2012

HIV / AIDS News

Among HIV Patients In ICU, Mortality Rates Have Decreased, Chronic Disease Rates Have Increased The expanded use of antiretrovirals, potent drugs used to treat retroviral infections such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), has been linked to significant decreases in hospital mortality rates among severely ill HIV-positive(HIV+) patients nationwide, primarily due to a decrease in opportunistic infections, according to a new study by researchers at Stanford University.

25 May 2012

Immune System / Vaccines News
Jet Device Injects Drugs Without Needles The prospect of less painful medicine shots without needles came a step closer this month, as US researchers revealed how they have developed a device that delivers a controlled, tiny, high-pressure jet into the skin without using a hyperdermic needle.	25 May 2012
Improved Survival From Severe Malaria With Anti-inflammatory Drugs A novel anti-inflammatory drug could help to improve survival in the most severe cases of malaria by preventing the immune system from causing irrevocable brain and tissue damage.Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researchers have shown that a new class of anti-inflammatory agents, called IDR (innate defense regulator) peptides, could help to increase survival from severe clinical malaria when used in combination with antimalarial drugs.	25 May 2012

Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses News
Viral Infections In Infancy Are Not Associated With Wheezing Symptoms In Later Childhood The number of viral infections during infancy is not associated with wheezing later in childhood, according to a new study from researchers in the Netherlands. While viral illnesses with wheezing in infancy predicted wheezing later in childhood, this association was due in part to decreased neonatal lung function.	25 May 2012
Pleural Effusion In Patients With CAP Reduced By Long-Term Inhaled Corticosteroids Use Prior treatment with inhaled corticosteroids in patients with respiratory disorders who develop community acquired pneumonia (CAP) is associated with a lower incidence and severity of parapneumonic effusion, according to a new study from researchers in Spain.	25 May 2012
Respiratory Function Improved In Lung Transplant Patients By Azithromycin Researchers in the United Kingdom have determined that azithromycin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic that also has anti-inflammatory properties, can be an effective treatment option for patients suffering from bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS), a life-threatening complication that occurs in the majority of patients following lung transplantation.	25 May 2012
COPD Patients With P. aeruginosa Bacteria Likely To Have Poorer Clinical Outcomes Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who become infected with the bacterium Pseudomonas aerguinosa are more likely to have worse clinical outcomes and experience more hospitalizations during the course of their disease than COPD patients who are not infected, according to researchers from Buffalo, N.	25 May 2012
Among HIV Patients In ICU, Mortality Rates Have Decreased, Chronic Disease Rates Have Increased The expanded use of antiretrovirals, potent drugs used to treat retroviral infections such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), has been linked to significant decreases in hospital mortality rates among severely ill HIV-positive(HIV+) patients nationwide, primarily due to a decrease in opportunistic infections, according to a new study by researchers at Stanford University.	25 May 2012
Hormone Boosts Immune Response When Vitamin D Levels Are Low, Plays Surprise Role In Fighting Skin Infections Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are molecules produced in the skin to fend off infection-causing microbes. Vitamin D has been credited with a role in their production and in the body's overall immune response, but scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say a hormone previously associated only with maintaining calcium homeostasis and bone health is also critical, boosting AMP expression when dietary vitamin D levels are inadequate.	25 May 2012
Risk Of Eye Infections Doubles With Use Of Common Acne Medication Millions of teenagers suffer from acne, and they deal with the embarrassing skin blemishes by taking popular prescription medications such as Accutane or Roaccutane. Now, however, research from Tel Aviv University shows that these pills can also cause eye infections such as conjunctivitis (pink eye) or sties.	25 May 2012
Protective Coating Transforms Silk Into A Weapon Against Anthrax And Other Microbes The latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS') award-winning Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions podcast series describes a simple, inexpensive dip-and-dry treatment can convert ordinary silk into a fabric that kills disease-causing bacteria - even the armor-coated spores of microbes like anthrax - in minutes.	25 May 2012
Fever During Pregnancy More Than Doubles The Risk Of Autism Or Developmental Delay A team of UC Davis researchers has found that mothers who had fevers during their pregnancies were more than twice as likely to have a child with autism or developmental delay than were mothers of typically developing children, and that taking medication to treat fever countered its effect.	25 May 2012

IT / Internet / E-mail News
Facebook And Smartphones Becoming New Tools For Psychological Science Research In today's technological era, most people use computers or smartphones to keep up with friends on Facebook, play games, etc. Psychological researchers have now discovered in two recent studies that social media and technology reveal a lot about someone's personality and the way they think.	25 May 2012
How Patients Use Facebook To Solicit Kidney Donations Loyola University Medical Center researchers are reporting one of the first studies to examine how patients and families are soliciting living kidney donors on Facebook.Researchers examined 91 Facebook pages that were seeking kidney donations for patients ranging in age from 2 to 69.	25 May 2012
IT Solution To Help Disabled Make Better Wheelchair Selections A Wayne State University researcher has introduced computer technology that makes it easier for people who need wheelchairs to select one that best suits their needs.In "Remote Decision Support for Wheeled Mobility and Seating Devices," recently published online and set to appear in the June edition of Expert Systems with Applications, Kyoung-Yun Kim, Ph.	25 May 2012

Liver Disease / Hepatitis News
4 Mushroom Poisonings In 2 Weeks - Doctors Test Milk Thistle As Treatment Over the course of two weeks, four people visited the MGUH for medical treatment due to mushroom (amantin) poisoning. One Virginia man arrived at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital (MGUH) in the early stages of liver failure after having mistakenly eaten poisonous mushrooms he handpicked from his yard.	25 May 2012

Medical Devices / Diagnostics News
Jet Device Injects Drugs Without Needles The prospect of less painful medicine shots without needles came a step closer this month, as US researchers revealed how they have developed a device that delivers a controlled, tiny, high-pressure jet into the skin without using a hyperdermic needle.	25 May 2012
Nanotechnology For Detecting Diseases Earlier The ability to detect a single chemical at extremely low concentrations and high contamination is vital for earlier disease diagnosis. Now, researchers have discovered a new method to accurately do just this.	25 May 2012

Men's Health News
Sperm Gene Discovery May Lead To Non-Hormonal Male Contraceptive The discovery of a gene that enables sperm to mature may lead to the development of a non-hormonal male contraceptive, according to new research in mice, led by the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, that was published in the journal PLoS Genetics on 24 May.	25 May 2012
Researchers Detect Predictive Biomarkers Of The Fertilizing Capacity Of Sperm Donors The study represents a breakthrough in understanding the causes of unexplained infertilityThe diagnosis of male fertility is usually performed through the observation of the sperm in the microscope.	25 May 2012

MRI / PET / Ultrasound News
Chemotherapy's Effectiveness May Be Predicted By Breast MRI Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides an indication of a breast tumor's response to pre-surgical chemotherapy significantly earlier than possible through clinical examination, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology.	25 May 2012

Neurology / Neuroscience News
Emotions In Humans May Be Associated With Brain Cells Found In Monkeys A human's self-awareness is controlled by a small region in the brain called the anterior insular cortex (insula). Within the insula lies a unique cell type - the von Economo neuron (VEN) - believed to be unique to humans, elephants, whales and great apes.	25 May 2012
Brains That Maintain Healthy Nerve Connections As We Age Help Keep Us Sharp In Later Life Well-connected brains make you smarter in older ageOlder people with robust brain 'wiring' - that is, the nerve fibres that connect different, distant brain areas - can process information quickly and that this makes them generally smarter, the study suggests.	25 May 2012

Nutrition / Diet News
Folic Acid May Reduce Pediatric Kidney And Brain Tumors A new study in the current issue of Pediatrics reveals that folic acid fortification of foods could potentially reduce the number of incidences of Wilm's tumor, the most common type of kidney cancer, and primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNET), a type of brain cancer in children.	25 May 2012
Link Between A Child's Body Fat And Vitamin D Insufficiency In The Mother Children are more likely to have more body fat during childhood if their mother has low levels of Vitamin D during pregnancy, according to scientists at the Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit (MRC LEU), University of Southampton.	25 May 2012
New Source Of Key Fat From Hazelnuts Makes Infant Formula More Like Mother's Milk Scientists are reporting development of a healthy "designer fat" that, when added to infant formula, provides a key nutrient that premature babies need in high quantities, but isn't available in large enough amounts in their mothers' milk.	25 May 2012

Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness News
Babies Born By C-Sections Have Higher Risk Of Becoming Obese Children may be two times more likely to be obese if they were born via caesarean section, say researchers.In the United States, around 1 in 3 babies are delivered by caesarean section, and this method of delivery has already been linked to an increased risk of subsequent childhood asthma and allergic rhinitis.	25 May 2012
Severity Of Sleep Disordered Breathing Predicts Glycemic Health The severity of sleep disordered breathing and nocturnal hypoxemia independently predict both glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), according to a new study.	25 May 2012
SBD And Metabolic Dysregulation In Obese Children Improved By Weight Loss Weight loss improved both metabolic parameters and sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) in obese children in a new study from researchers in Belgium, confirming links between metabolic dysregulation, SDB and obesity.	25 May 2012
Link Between A Child's Body Fat And Vitamin D Insufficiency In The Mother Children are more likely to have more body fat during childhood if their mother has low levels of Vitamin D during pregnancy, according to scientists at the Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit (MRC LEU), University of Southampton.	25 May 2012
Food Choices, Eating Patterns Likely Influenced By "Obesity Genes" Blame it on your genes? Researchers from The Miriam Hospital's Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center say individuals with variations in certain "obesity genes" tend to eat more meals and snacks, consume more calories per day and often choose the same types of high fat, sugary foods.	25 May 2012
Obesity Epidemic Likely Cause Of Huge Increase In Kidney Stones The number of Americans suffering from kidney stones between 2007 and 2010 nearly doubled since 1994, according to a study by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and RAND.	25 May 2012

Pain / Anesthetics News
Rheumatoid Arthritis Battle - New Target Identified Over one million adults in the U.S. suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, a systemic inflammatory autoimmune disease that can be incapacitating. Researchers have now discovered the mechanism by which a cell signaling pathway contributes to the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).	25 May 2012
Stem Cell Transplants Treat Chronic Pain A new study finds that transplanting embryonic cells into adult mouse spinal cord can alleviate persistent pain. The research, published by Cell Press in the journal Neuron, suggests that reduced pain results from successful integration of the embryonic cells into the host spinal cord.	25 May 2012

Pediatrics / Children's Health News
Folic Acid May Reduce Pediatric Kidney And Brain Tumors A new study in the current issue of Pediatrics reveals that folic acid fortification of foods could potentially reduce the number of incidences of Wilm's tumor, the most common type of kidney cancer, and primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNET), a type of brain cancer in children.	25 May 2012
Babies Born By C-Sections Have Higher Risk Of Becoming Obese Children may be two times more likely to be obese if they were born via caesarean section, say researchers.In the United States, around 1 in 3 babies are delivered by caesarean section, and this method of delivery has already been linked to an increased risk of subsequent childhood asthma and allergic rhinitis.	25 May 2012
Viral Infections In Infancy Are Not Associated With Wheezing Symptoms In Later Childhood The number of viral infections during infancy is not associated with wheezing later in childhood, according to a new study from researchers in the Netherlands. While viral illnesses with wheezing in infancy predicted wheezing later in childhood, this association was due in part to decreased neonatal lung function.	25 May 2012
Toddlers' Exposure To Flame Retardants May Be Impacted By Socioeconomics A Duke University-led study of North Carolina toddlers suggests that exposure to potentially toxic flame-retardant chemicals may be higher in nonwhite toddlers than in white toddlers.The study also suggests that exposure to the chemicals is higher among toddlers whose fathers do not have a college degree, a proxy measure of lower socioeconomic background.	25 May 2012
Infants' Bodies Absorb Phthalates In PVC Floors A new study at Karlstad University in Sweden shows that phthalates from PVC flooring materials is taken up by our bodies. Phthalates are substances suspected to cause asthma and allergies, as well as other chronic diseases in children.	25 May 2012
New Source Of Key Fat From Hazelnuts Makes Infant Formula More Like Mother's Milk Scientists are reporting development of a healthy "designer fat" that, when added to infant formula, provides a key nutrient that premature babies need in high quantities, but isn't available in large enough amounts in their mothers' milk.	25 May 2012

Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry News
Quality Standards For Heparin Further Strengthened To help further secure a safe supply of the widely-used blood thinner heparin, a third round of revisions to quality standards for the drug has been advanced by the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP).	25 May 2012
When Access To Drug Reps Is Restricted, Physicians May Be Slower To Drop 'Black Box' Drugs, Adopt New Therapies After years of reducing their contact with pharmaceutical sales representatives, physicians now risk an unintended consequence: Doctors who rarely meet with pharmaceutical sales representatives - or who do not meet with them - are much slower to drop medicines with the Food and Drug Administration's "black box" warnings and to adopt first-in-class therapies.	25 May 2012

Pregnancy / Obstetrics News
Babies Born By C-Sections Have Higher Risk Of Becoming Obese Children may be two times more likely to be obese if they were born via caesarean section, say researchers.In the United States, around 1 in 3 babies are delivered by caesarean section, and this method of delivery has already been linked to an increased risk of subsequent childhood asthma and allergic rhinitis.	25 May 2012
Study Finds IUDs, Implants Most Effective Birth Control A study to evaluate birth control methods has found dramatic differences in their effectiveness. Women who used birth control pills, the patch or vaginal ring were 20 times more likely to have an unintended pregnancy than those who used longer-acting forms such as an intrauterine device (IUD) or implant.	25 May 2012
Link Between A Child's Body Fat And Vitamin D Insufficiency In The Mother Children are more likely to have more body fat during childhood if their mother has low levels of Vitamin D during pregnancy, according to scientists at the Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit (MRC LEU), University of Southampton.	25 May 2012
Fever During Pregnancy More Than Doubles The Risk Of Autism Or Developmental Delay A team of UC Davis researchers has found that mothers who had fevers during their pregnancies were more than twice as likely to have a child with autism or developmental delay than were mothers of typically developing children, and that taking medication to treat fever countered its effect.	25 May 2012

Primary Care / General Practice News

When Access To Drug Reps Is Restricted, Physicians May Be Slower To Drop 'Black Box' Drugs, Adopt New Therapies After years of reducing their contact with pharmaceutical sales representatives, physicians now risk an unintended consequence: Doctors who rarely meet with pharmaceutical sales representatives - or who do not meet with them - are much slower to drop medicines with the Food and Drug Administration's "black box" warnings and to adopt first-in-class therapies.

25 May 2012

Psychology / Psychiatry News
Facebook And Smartphones Becoming New Tools For Psychological Science Research In today's technological era, most people use computers or smartphones to keep up with friends on Facebook, play games, etc. Psychological researchers have now discovered in two recent studies that social media and technology reveal a lot about someone's personality and the way they think.	25 May 2012
Updated Guidelines On The Best Methods To Treat Substance Abuse And Addiction The British Association for Psychopharmacology (BAP) has released fresh guidelines on the best methods to treat substance abuse and addiction in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, published by SAGE.	25 May 2012

Public Health News
4 Mushroom Poisonings In 2 Weeks - Doctors Test Milk Thistle As Treatment Over the course of two weeks, four people visited the MGUH for medical treatment due to mushroom (amantin) poisoning. One Virginia man arrived at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital (MGUH) in the early stages of liver failure after having mistakenly eaten poisonous mushrooms he handpicked from his yard.	25 May 2012
Among HIV Patients In ICU, Mortality Rates Have Decreased, Chronic Disease Rates Have Increased The expanded use of antiretrovirals, potent drugs used to treat retroviral infections such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), has been linked to significant decreases in hospital mortality rates among severely ill HIV-positive(HIV+) patients nationwide, primarily due to a decrease in opportunistic infections, according to a new study by researchers at Stanford University.	25 May 2012
Toddlers' Exposure To Flame Retardants May Be Impacted By Socioeconomics A Duke University-led study of North Carolina toddlers suggests that exposure to potentially toxic flame-retardant chemicals may be higher in nonwhite toddlers than in white toddlers.The study also suggests that exposure to the chemicals is higher among toddlers whose fathers do not have a college degree, a proxy measure of lower socioeconomic background.	25 May 2012
When Access To Drug Reps Is Restricted, Physicians May Be Slower To Drop 'Black Box' Drugs, Adopt New Therapies After years of reducing their contact with pharmaceutical sales representatives, physicians now risk an unintended consequence: Doctors who rarely meet with pharmaceutical sales representatives - or who do not meet with them - are much slower to drop medicines with the Food and Drug Administration's "black box" warnings and to adopt first-in-class therapies.	25 May 2012

Rehabilitation / Physical Therapy News

IT Solution To Help Disabled Make Better Wheelchair Selections A Wayne State University researcher has introduced computer technology that makes it easier for people who need wheelchairs to select one that best suits their needs.In "Remote Decision Support for Wheeled Mobility and Seating Devices," recently published online and set to appear in the June edition of Expert Systems with Applications, Kyoung-Yun Kim, Ph.

25 May 2012

Respiratory / Asthma News
Severity Of Sleep Disordered Breathing Predicts Glycemic Health The severity of sleep disordered breathing and nocturnal hypoxemia independently predict both glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), according to a new study.	25 May 2012
Viral Infections In Infancy Are Not Associated With Wheezing Symptoms In Later Childhood The number of viral infections during infancy is not associated with wheezing later in childhood, according to a new study from researchers in the Netherlands. While viral illnesses with wheezing in infancy predicted wheezing later in childhood, this association was due in part to decreased neonatal lung function.	25 May 2012
Pleural Effusion In Patients With CAP Reduced By Long-Term Inhaled Corticosteroids Use Prior treatment with inhaled corticosteroids in patients with respiratory disorders who develop community acquired pneumonia (CAP) is associated with a lower incidence and severity of parapneumonic effusion, according to a new study from researchers in Spain.	25 May 2012
SBD And Metabolic Dysregulation In Obese Children Improved By Weight Loss Weight loss improved both metabolic parameters and sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) in obese children in a new study from researchers in Belgium, confirming links between metabolic dysregulation, SDB and obesity.	25 May 2012
Respiratory Function Improved In Lung Transplant Patients By Azithromycin Researchers in the United Kingdom have determined that azithromycin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic that also has anti-inflammatory properties, can be an effective treatment option for patients suffering from bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS), a life-threatening complication that occurs in the majority of patients following lung transplantation.	25 May 2012
Infants' Bodies Absorb Phthalates In PVC Floors A new study at Karlstad University in Sweden shows that phthalates from PVC flooring materials is taken up by our bodies. Phthalates are substances suspected to cause asthma and allergies, as well as other chronic diseases in children.	25 May 2012
Breast Cancer Patients' Survival Influenced By Their Cardio Fitness Levels Women receiving care for breast cancer have significantly impaired cardio-pulmonary function that can persist for years after they have completed treatment, according to a study led by scientists at Duke University Medical Center.	25 May 2012

Seniors / Aging News
Brains That Maintain Healthy Nerve Connections As We Age Help Keep Us Sharp In Later Life Well-connected brains make you smarter in older ageOlder people with robust brain 'wiring' - that is, the nerve fibres that connect different, distant brain areas - can process information quickly and that this makes them generally smarter, the study suggests.	25 May 2012

Sexual Health / STDs News
Study Finds IUDs, Implants Most Effective Birth Control A study to evaluate birth control methods has found dramatic differences in their effectiveness. Women who used birth control pills, the patch or vaginal ring were 20 times more likely to have an unintended pregnancy than those who used longer-acting forms such as an intrauterine device (IUD) or implant.	25 May 2012

Sleep / Sleep Disorders / Insomnia News
Severity Of Sleep Disordered Breathing Predicts Glycemic Health The severity of sleep disordered breathing and nocturnal hypoxemia independently predict both glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), according to a new study.	25 May 2012
SBD And Metabolic Dysregulation In Obese Children Improved By Weight Loss Weight loss improved both metabolic parameters and sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) in obese children in a new study from researchers in Belgium, confirming links between metabolic dysregulation, SDB and obesity.	25 May 2012
Revealing New Ways Sleep-Wake Patterns Are Like Clockwork Researchers at New York University and Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered new ways neurons work together to ease the transition between sleep and wakefulness.	25 May 2012

Stem Cell Research News
Stem Cell Transplants Treat Chronic Pain A new study finds that transplanting embryonic cells into adult mouse spinal cord can alleviate persistent pain. The research, published by Cell Press in the journal Neuron, suggests that reduced pain results from successful integration of the embryonic cells into the host spinal cord.	25 May 2012
Bone Repair Using Stem-Cell-Growing Surface University of Michigan researchers have proven that a special surface, free of biological contaminants, allows adult-derived stem cells to thrive and transform into multiple cell types. Their success brings stem cell therapies another step closer.	25 May 2012

Transplants / Organ Donations News
Respiratory Function Improved In Lung Transplant Patients By Azithromycin Researchers in the United Kingdom have determined that azithromycin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic that also has anti-inflammatory properties, can be an effective treatment option for patients suffering from bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS), a life-threatening complication that occurs in the majority of patients following lung transplantation.	25 May 2012
How Patients Use Facebook To Solicit Kidney Donations Loyola University Medical Center researchers are reporting one of the first studies to examine how patients and families are soliciting living kidney donors on Facebook.Researchers examined 91 Facebook pages that were seeking kidney donations for patients ranging in age from 2 to 69.	25 May 2012

Tropical Diseases News

Improved Survival From Severe Malaria With Anti-inflammatory Drugs A novel anti-inflammatory drug could help to improve survival in the most severe cases of malaria by preventing the immune system from causing irrevocable brain and tissue damage.Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researchers have shown that a new class of anti-inflammatory agents, called IDR (innate defense regulator) peptides, could help to increase survival from severe clinical malaria when used in combination with antimalarial drugs.

25 May 2012

Urology / Nephrology News
Obesity Epidemic Likely Cause Of Huge Increase In Kidney Stones The number of Americans suffering from kidney stones between 2007 and 2010 nearly doubled since 1994, according to a study by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and RAND.	25 May 2012
How Patients Use Facebook To Solicit Kidney Donations Loyola University Medical Center researchers are reporting one of the first studies to examine how patients and families are soliciting living kidney donors on Facebook.Researchers examined 91 Facebook pages that were seeking kidney donations for patients ranging in age from 2 to 69.	25 May 2012

Vascular News
Quality Standards For Heparin Further Strengthened To help further secure a safe supply of the widely-used blood thinner heparin, a third round of revisions to quality standards for the drug has been advanced by the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP).	25 May 2012

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