 | Despite the abuse potential of opioid drugs, they have long been the best option for patients suffering from severe pain. The drugs interact with receptors on brain cells to tamp down the body's pain response. But now, neuroscientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found a way to activate opioid receptors with light. |
 | Writing in the April 30 online issue of the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine report pancreatic cancer rates are highest in countries with the least amount of sunlight. Low sunlight levels were due to a combination of heavy cloud cover and high latitude. |
 | Combining information across multiple senses helps in choosing an appropriate action. While many examples exist of such synergistic effects, very few studies have identified the neural architecture underlying multisensory convergence. In particular, whether distinct sensory streams converge early, late or at multiple levels in the sensory processing hierarchy was an open question. Using behavioral testing, neuronal activation screens, and electron microscopy reconstructions of the nervous system of fruit fly larvae, scientists at Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Research Campus have mapped the entire neural circuit involved in combining vibration and pain sensations used in triggering an escape behavior. |
 | Bilinguals get all the perks. Better job prospects, a cognitive boost and even protection against dementia. Now new research shows that they can also view the world in different ways depending on the specific language they are operating in. |
 | A type of immune cell can be primed to attack and eliminate various kinds of malignant cancers in mice, according to a study by Stanford University School of Medicine researchers. |
 | UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists have discovered that a certain class of receptors that inhibit immune response are crucial for the development of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the most common acute leukemia affecting adults. |
 | Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) are helping to make precision medicine a reality by sequencing entire exomes of people to assess chronic disease risk and drug efficacy. The results of a study on this topic were published in Nature Genetics on Monday. |
 | Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have perfected a noninvasive "chemogenetic" technique that allows them to switch off a specific behavior in mice - such as voracious eating - and then switch it back on. The method works by targeting two different cell surface receptors of neurons that are responsible for triggering the specific chemical signals that control brain function and complex behaviors. |
 | Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report a previously unappreciated phenomenon in which the location of injury to a neuron's communication wire in the spinal cord—the axon—determines whether the neuron simply stabilizes or attempts to regenerate. The study, published April 30 by Neuron, demonstrates how advances in live-imaging techniques are revealing new insights into the body's ability to respond to spinal cord injuries. |
 | The feeling of being inside one's own body is not as self-evident as one might think. In a new study from Sweden's Karolinska Institutet, neuroscientists created an out-of-body illusion in participants placed inside a brain scanner. They then used the illusion to perceptually 'teleport' the participants to different locations in a room and show that the perceived location of the bodily self can be decoded from activity patterns in specific brain regions. |
 | A study tying the aging process to the deterioration of tightly packaged bundles of cellular DNA could lead to methods of preventing and treating age-related diseases such as cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease, as detailed April 30, 2015, in Science. |
 | Sufferers of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) who quit smoking are likely to see a temporary deterioration in their glycaemic control which could last up to three years, according to new research published today in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. |
 | A new study forecasting how life expectancy will change in England and Wales has predicted people will live longer than current estimates. |
| Young HIV positive women are more likely to practice safer sex if they have an equitable perception of gender roles, according to new research involving the University of Southampton. |
 | (HealthDay)—Hispanic women tend to exercise less and fret less about their weight than white women, and their heart disease risks are also lower, a new study suggests. |
 | (HealthDay)—Intensive management of type 1 diabetes can reduce the risk of having a diabetes-related eye surgery by nearly 50 percent, according to a new report. |
 | (HealthDay)—Fewer pregnant women had cesarean section births in Canadian hospitals that took part in a C-section review program, a new study reports. |
 | (HealthDay)— More than four in 10 Americans, or about 138.5 million people, are breathing unhealthy air, a new report finds. |
 | (HealthDay)—The first generic versions of the atypical antipsychotic drug Abilify (aripiprazole) have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. |
 | (HealthDay)—As you plan summer car trips with your young children, you should also consider car seat safety. |
 | (HealthDay)—Patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have increased long-term risk of death after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), with higher risk among those with T1DM, according to a study published in the April 28 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. |
 | (HealthDay)—A subunit vaccine containing varicella-zoster virus glycoprotein E and the AS01B adjuvant system (HZ/su) is efficacious against herpes zoster infection in older adults, according to a study published online April 28 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The research was published to coincide with the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, held from April 25 to 28 in Copenhagen, Denmark. |
 | (HealthDay)—The majority of oral antibiotic course durations for adult acne follow guidelines, according to a study published in the May issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. |
 | (HealthDay)—For patients with acute, symptomatic pulmonary embolism, the use of retrievable vena cava filters with anticoagulation does not offer any benefit over anticoagulation alone, according to a study published online April 28 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. |
| The number of infants born in the United States with drug withdrawal symptoms, also known as neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), nearly doubled in a four-year period. By 2012, one infant was born every 25 minutes in the U.S. with the syndrome, accounting for $1.5 billion in annual health care charges, according to a new Vanderbilt study published in the Journal of Perinatology. |
 | Pathological gamblers "see" patterns in things that are actually quite random and not really there, to such a degree that they are quite willing to impulsively bet good money on such illusory nonrandomness. This is confirmed by Wolfgang Gaissmaier of the University of Konstanz in Germany and Andreas Wilke of Clarkson University in the USA, leaders of a study in Springer's Journal of Gambling Studies that sheds light on why some people are gamblers and others not. |
| Silica dust hazards in large gold mines have been well documented, but the situation is far worse in small-scale gold mining according to a new study. |
 | Preventing preterm labor with light and inducing labor using a side effect-free drug are two new technologies based on Florida State University research that are heading to the marketplace. |
 | The mechanism by which embryos receive nutrition during the first 11 weeks of pregnancy has been revealed by University of Manchester scientists. |
 | Investigators at the Stanford University School of Medicine have devised a way to monitor neural stem cells after they've been transplanted into the brain. |
 | Few doctors are prescribing a low-cost drug that has been proven effective in preventing the onset of diabetes, according to a UCLA study. The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Annals of Internal Medicine, found that only 3.7 percent of U.S. adults with pre-diabetes were prescribed metformin during a recent three-year period. |
 | A recent deadly outbreak of botulism in Ohio underscores the necessity for proper home canning procedures and food preparation, a University of Georgia Extension food safety specialist said. |
| Monash-led research has shown for the first time that low vitamin D levels are associated with higher disease activity in Australian lupus patients. |
 | Microsoft's Kinect games controller has been hacked by researchers at Brunel University London to relieve one of the most distressing symptoms of Parkinson's - freezing of gait. |
 | People who eat different types and brands of commonly available food items, such as pizza, are more likely to overeat than people who tend to consume the same brand, according to research by the Universities of Liverpool and Bristol. |
 | A type of immune cell that promotes inflammation during the immune response, TH17, can convert into another type of cell that reduces inflammation, Yale researchers have found. The finding, published April 29 in Nature, points to a possible therapeutic strategy for inflammation-mediated diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis. |
 | The findings from a QUT study have put to bed the idea of mandatory sleep times in licenced childcare settings. |
| An international expert in the treatment of personality disorders is visiting QUT to train post graduate clinical psychology trainees in his ground-breaking therapy. |
 | New research has brought us closer to being able to understand the health benefits of coffee. |
 | A*STAR researchers have clarified the role of one particular regulatory protein in controlling the development of plasma cells, opening up several new avenues toward clinical applications. |
 | White blood cells such as monocytes and macrophages are known mediators of inflammation, and according to new findings by researchers at A*STAR, also play a key role in promoting human cancer. |
 | Distinct subtypes of gastric cancer respond differently to drug treatments according to a study by A*STAR researchers. The finding could help optimize treatment for individuals with gastric cancer and improve their prognosis. |
| Johan Aerts (ILVO/Ghent University), under supervision of Prof. Dr. Sarah De Saeger (Ghent University), has discovered the long-sought biomarker for chronic stress in fish. Fish faced with stressful stimuli launch an endocrine stress response through activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-interrenal (HPI-) axis to release cortisol into the blood. Plasma cortisol is a poor predictor for chronic stress as it reflects no more than a snap-shot of the stress response at a given moment. |
| Almost the entire human genome is transcribed into RNA, but only a fraction of this is actually used to produce protein. The function of the majority of the RNA, the so-called "non-coding transcriptome" remains an enigma. Some non-coding RNA families have been recognised through their shared structural features. Amongst these is the group of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). Researchers at the Helmholtz Zentrum München now report the discovery of a very unexpected role for one such lncRNA, which they call PARTICLE, in regulating the response of cells to ionizing radiation |
| For the past 50 years, researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy have followed the health of 855 Gothenburg men born in 1913. Now that the study is being wrapped up, it turns out that ten of the subjects lived to 100 and conclusions can be drawn about the secrets of their longevity. |
 | While finding 30 minutes of exercise each day is preferred it seems walking for 30 minutes just three times a week is enough to boost workers' feelings of relaxation and enthusiasm and reduces anxiety, research shows. |
 | Specialized brain cells provide an internal coordinate system that enables mammals to orient in space. Scientists at LMU and Harvard University have now shown mathematically why these cells generate hexagonal lattices. |
| Training general practices to offer rapid HIV tests leads to increased detection and earlier diagnosis of patients with HIV infection – according to a new study led by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and published in The Lancet HIV. |
 | The number of women in the United States who are childless is at an all-time high. New research from Kansas State University suggests it may be due to the country's economic downturn. |
| Scientists at Helmholtz Zentrum München have succeeded in testing the effectiveness of new approaches for treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) on ex vivo 3D human lung tissue cultures (3D-LTCs). The results have now been published in the European Respiratory Journal. |
 | Since 1980, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) have been providing information to Americans on how to make choices to reach a healthy weight, prevent disease and promote overall good health. |
| To fight infections, hospital workers can hit the hand sanitizer a hundred times or more a day. Now, the government wants more study of whether that is safe and how well it actually fights the spread of germs. |
 | With just a sniff, our noses can detect smells that trigger specific memories, tell us food has gone bad, or even connect us to a potential mate. What if a robot could 'smell' as effectively as we do? |
 | Scientists moved a step closer toward coaxing the body into producing its own replacement blood vessels after discovering that suppressing parts of the innate immune system may raise the chances of a tissue engineered vascular graft's success. In a report appearing in the May 2015 issue of The FASEB Journal scientists showed that by controlling the reaction that natural killer cells, platelets and the acute inflammatory response have to the graft, they could also reduce the abnormal narrowing of the grafts, called stenosis, which is the cause of most failures. This discovery sets the stage for a second, more successful, generation of tissue engineered grafts designed to help regenerate components of the cardiovascular system. |
| A new research report appearing in the May 2015 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology suggests that allergic reactions—or at least the pre-existing inflammation from these reactions—may set the stage for cancer to spread from one area to another. Specifically, the report uses mice to show that inflammation raises the level of a known biomarker of cancer, called "chitinase-3-like-1" or "CHI3L1," in the inflamed tissue, which leads to increased metastasis and faster cancer growth in that tissue. |
 | People with insomnia and other sleep problems have increased sensitivity to pain, reports a study published in Pain, the official publication of the International Association for the Study of Pain. |
| Noroviruses, a group of viruses responsible for over 50% of global gastroenteritis cases, can spread by air up to several meters from an infected person according to a new study by Université Laval researchers. The discovery, details of which are presented in the latest issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, suggests that measures applied in hospitals during gastroenteritis outbreaks may be insufficient to effectively contain this kind of infection. |
| The American College of Physicians (ACP) today released clinical advice aimed at reducing overuse of cervical cancer screening in average risk women without symptoms. "Cervical Cancer Screening in Average Risk Women" is published in Annals of Internal Medicine and lists two concurring organizations: the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Society for Clinical Pathology. |
 | Swine farmers are more likely to carry multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus or "staph") than people without current swine exposure, according to a study conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Iowa, Kent State University, and the National Cancer Institute. |
 | A distinct pattern in the changing length of blood telomeres, the protective end caps on our DNA strands, can predict cancer many years before actual diagnosis, according to a new study from Northwestern Medicine in collaboration with Harvard University. |
 | In recent years, research has shown that cancerous cells have a different metabolism—essential chemical and nutritional changes needed for supporting the unlimited growth observed in cancer—than normal cells. Now, scientists at The Wistar Institute have identified a way that cells can reprogram their metabolism to overcome a tumor-suppressing mechanism known as senescence, solidifying the notion that altered metabolism is a hallmark of cancer progression. |
 | A clinical trial in the Republic of Korea for patients with degenerative eye diseases is the first to test the safety of an embryonic stem cell therapy for people of Asian descent. The study, which followed four individuals for a year after they were treated with embryonic stem cell-derived retinal pigment epithelial cells for macular degeneration, observed no serious side effects (tumor growth or other unexpected effects) related to the therapy. The researchers report the results on April 30 in Stem Cell Reports, the journal of the International Society for Stem Cell Research. |
 | Research has shown that eating more protein can support weight loss and prevent weight gain by boosting metabolism, increasing feelings of fullness and helping the body retain muscle while losing fat. However, many Americans are not consuming enough protein in a balanced way to achieve these effects. University of Missouri researcher Heather Leidy and her colleagues conducted a review of the current scientific literature on protein consumption and found that a moderate increase in protein consumption at each meal, balanced throughout the day, can lead to significant improvements. |
 | Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are common, and widespread antibiotic resistance has led to urgent calls for new ways to combat them. Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences report that an experimental drug that stabilizes a protein called HIF-1alpha protects human bladder cells and mice against a major UTI pathogen. The drug might eventually provide a therapeutic alternative or complement to standard antibiotic treatment. |
| New research has shown that children who display increasing levels of inattention at the age of seven are at risk of worse academic outcomes in their GCSE examinations. |
 | A new study suggests that engaging in low intensity activities such as standing may not be enough to offset the health hazards of sitting for long periods of time. On the bright side, adding two minutes of walking each hour to your routine just might do the trick. These findings were published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN). |
 | New research published today in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) indicates that for each 5% increase of a person's total energy intake provided by sweet drinks including soft drinks, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes may increase by 18%. However, the study also estimates that replacing the daily consumption of one serving of a sugary drink with either water or unsweetened tea or coffee can lower the risk of developing diabetes by between 14% and 25%. |
 | HIV-1 continues to spread globally. While neither a cure, nor an effective vaccine are available, recent focus has been put on 'treatment-for-prevention', which is a method by which treatment is used to reduce the contagiousness of an infected person. A study published this week in PLOS Computational Biology challenges current treatment paradigms in the context of 'treatment for prevention' against HIV-1. |
| With the Millennium Development Goals established by the United Nations in 2000 coming to an end in 2015, and the new Sustainable Development Goals now in the works to establish a set of targets for the future of international development, experts at Baylor College of Medicine have developed a new tool to show why neglected tropical diseases, the most common infections of the world's poor, should be an essential component of these goals. |
 | Taking aspirin reduces a person's risk of colorectal cancer, but the molecular mechanisms involved have remained unknown until a recent discovery by The Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota. |
 | A number of new, highly effective oral treatments for various types of hepatitis C have been approved in the past few years. However, two groups who have not benefitted from the new treatments are patients with hepatitis C who have advanced liver disease and patients who have received a liver transplant but the advanced liver disease has returned because of hepatitis C. |
 | Over the last decade, numerous studies have shown that many Americans have low vitamin D levels and as a result, vitamin D supplement use has climbed in recent years. Vitamin D has been shown to boost bone health and it may play a role in preventing diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease and other illnesses. In light of the increased use of vitamin D supplements, Mayo Clinic researchers set out to learn more about the health of those with high vitamin D levels. They found that toxic levels are actually rare. |
 | Researchers in Chapman University's Argyros School of Business and Economics and their collaborators have just published a study on the evolution of yoga in the marketplace. Assistant Professor Gokcen Coskuner-Balli, Ph.D., co-authored the study, which examined how the meaning of yoga transformed in the past three decades. The results show that yoga became decreasingly associated with spirituality and increasingly associated with medicine and fitness. The study argues that the shift in the meanings are due to the changes in how yoga gurus are trained, market contests amongst different meanings and the distinct branding practices of small and big players in the market. |
 | With Apple's launch of new health tracking tools for the iPhone and medical researchers' forays into Facebook to recruit clinical trial volunteers, Web and mobile apps are increasingly seen as a new source for health data. |
| The state of Texas and telemedicine advocates are in a legal tussle over patients who receive doctor consultations through video. |
| Lawmakers looking to prevent a repeat of an HIV outbreak that has rocked a southern Indiana county sent Republican Gov. Mike Pence a measure Wednesday that would allow communities to implement needle-exchange programs if they can prove they're in the midst of an epidemic tied to intravenous drug use. |
| Suitors in the generic drug industry's big consolidation push signaled Wednesday they would keep fighting for deals, even after Perrigo rejected a sweetened offer from Mylan. |
 | This year may indeed be the year in which a class of immunotherapeutics called PD-1 and PD-L1 inhibitors are approved for a variety of cancers, as forecast recently by Drew Pardoll, MD, PhD, in a blog post. There is huge excitement surrounding these drugs because patients with numerous types of cancer treated with these drugs have experienced dramatic and durable responses. However, there are some challenges surrounding how best to use these drugs in the clinic to ensure that the right patient is treated with the right PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitor. |
| EU researchers have set out to substitute liquid and freeze-dried vaccines for new, solid state candidates. If successful, the research will enable the large scale production of new virosome-based vaccines with increased stability, longer shelf life and less invasive administration methods. |
| In a study published this month in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, researchers from universities including Karolinska Institutet present a new model for identifying "bottlenecks" when it comes to implementing health interventions for mothers and newborns in rural areas in low income countries |
| Using fresh whole blood from single donors is better than using component blood from multiple donors in pediatric heart surgery patients, according to an article in the May 2015 issue of The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. |
 | The percentage of Texans without health insurance dropped 31 percent since enrollment began in the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) Health Insurance Marketplace, according to a new report released today by the Episcopal Health Foundation and Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. |
| Have you ever dreamed of taking fat from one area where you had a little too much, and transferring to somewhere you wanted a little more? A Brazilian plastic surgery team has done just that, using a combined liposuction and fat grafting technique to augment and enhance the buttocks, reports a study in the May issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. |
| After common plastic surgery procedures, obese patients have more complications and make more hospital visits—leading to higher healthcare costs, reports a study in the May issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. |
| Due to a lack of suitable studies, no conclusions can be drawn on the patient-relevant benefit or harm of screening for asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) in pregnant women. The benefit of antibiotic treatment of ASB following screening is also an open issue, as the results of the over 40-year-old studies cannot be applied to the current healthcare situation. This is the result of the final report published by the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) on 23 April 2015, which was commissioned by the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA). |
 | Alberta's greying workforce means more senior citizens are on the jobsite than ever—a group that is "disadvantaged" when it comes to workplace injuries, according to new University of Alberta research. |
| The United States decommissioned its treatment unit Thursday for Liberian healthcare workers infected with Ebola, with the country set to be declared free of the virus within two weeks. |
| A new study by Johns Hopkins researchers concludes that most U.S. clinical registries that collect data on patient outcomes are substandard and lack critical features necessary to render the information they collect useful for patients, physicians and policy makers. |
| Agriculture officials say five more farms likely have been affected by the deadly H5N2 bird flu virus, including an egg-laying operation with 5.5 million chickens. |
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