| Unprecedented International Effort To Improve Safety Of Orthopedic Devices |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-27 |
Responding to a need for better post-market surveillance of orthopedic devices, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) established the International Consortium of Orthopaedic Registries (ICOR) in October 2010. As outlined in a Dec. 21 special online supplement in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, ICOR is in the process of developing a collaborative process for improving the safety of orthopedic devices using outcomes registries from the U.S. and other countries... |
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| Compared To Neanderthals, Modern Humans Have A Better Sense Of Smell |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-27 |
Differences in the temporal lobes and olfactory bulbs also suggest a combined use of brain functions related to cognition and olfaction. The increase of brain size is intimately linked to the evolution of humanity. Two different human species, Neanderthals and modern humans, have independently evolved brains of roughly the same size but with differing shapes. This could indicate a difference in the underlying brain organization... |
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| New Cotton Fabric Cleans Itself When Exposed To Ordinary Sunlight |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-27 |
Imagine jeans, sweats or socks that clean and de-odorize themselves when hung on a clothesline in the sun or draped on a balcony railing. Scientists are reporting development of a new cotton fabric that does clean itself of stains and bacteria when exposed to ordinary sunlight. Their report appears in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Mingce Long and Deyong Wu say their fabric uses a coating made from a compound of titanium dioxide, the white material used in everything from white paint to foods to sunscreen lotions... |
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| Restricting Post-Surgery Blood Transfusion Is Safe For Some Hip Patients |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-27 |
More than half of the older, anemic patients in a New England Journal of Medicine study did not need blood transfusions as they recovered from hip surgery, according to new research co-authored by University of Maryland School of Medicine scientists. The findings could immediately change the way such patients are treated. Doctors have long assumed that transfusions strengthen patients weakened by anemia, improving their chances at recovery from surgery after hip fracture... |
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| Scientists Examine Toxicity Of Medicinal Plants In Peru |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-27 |
Many developing countries rely on traditional medicine as an accessible and affordable treatment option for human maladies. However, until now, scientific data has not existed to evaluate the potential toxicity of medicinal plant species in Peru. Scientists from the William L. Brown Center of the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis led a study using brine shrimp to determine the toxicity of 341 Northern Peruvian plant species commonly ingested in traditional medicine... |
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| A Brain's Failure To Appreciate Others May Permit Human Atrocities |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-27 |
A father in Louisiana bludgeoned and beheaded his disabled 7-year-old son last August because he no longer wanted to care for the boy. For most people, such a heinous act is unconscionable. But it may be that a person can become callous enough to commit human atrocities because of a failure in the part of the brain that's critical for social interaction... |
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| Study Shows Early Research On Cellphone Conversations Likely Overestimated Crash Risk |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-27 |
A Wayne State University study published in the January 2012 issue of the journal Epidemiology points out that two influential early studies of cellphone use and crash risk may have overestimated the relative risk of conversation on cellphones while driving. In this new study, Richard Young, Ph.D., professor of research in Wayne State University's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences in the School of Medicine, examined possible bias in a 1997 Canadian study and a 2005 Australian study... |
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| Changes Identified In The Brains Of Patients With Spinal Cord Compression |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-27 |
Spinal degeneration is an unavoidable part of aging. For some, it leads to compression of the spinal cord which can cause problems with dexterity, numbness in the hands, the ability to walk, and in some cases, bladder and bowel function. Now, new research from The University of Western Ontario looks beyond the spinal cord injury in these patients to better understand what is happening in the brain. Researchers Robert Bartha, Dr. Neil Duggal and Izabela Kowalczyk found patients with spinal cord compression also had changes in the motor cortex of the brain. The findings are published in Brain... |
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| Experiments Explain Why Almost All Multicellular Organisms Begin Life As A Single Cell |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-27 |
Any multicellular animal, from a blue whale to a human being, poses a special difficulty for the theory of evolution. Most of the cells in its body will die without reproducing, and only a privileged few will pass their genes to the next generation. How could the extreme degree of cooperation multicellular existence requires ever evolve? Why aren't all creatures unicellular individualists determined to pass on their own genes? Joan Strassmann, PhD, and David Queller, PhD, a husband and wife team of evolutionary biologists at Washington University in St... |
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| Dentists Could Screen 20 Million Americans For Chronic Physical Illnesses |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-27 |
Nearly 20 million Americans annually visit a dentist but not a general healthcare provider, according to an NYU study published in the American Journal of Public Health. The study, conducted by a nursing-dental research team at NYU, is the first of its kind to determine the proportion of Americans who are seen annually by a dentist but not by a general healthcare provider... |
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| Software Detects Patterns Hidden In Vast Data Sets |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-27 |
Researchers from the Broad Institute and Harvard University have developed a tool that can tackle large data sets in a way that no other software program can. Part of a suite of statistical tools called MINE, it can tease out multiple patterns hidden in health information from around the globe, statistics amassed from a season of major league baseball, data on the changing bacterial landscape of the gut, and much more. The researchers report their findings in a paper appearing in the journal Science... |
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| Memo To Pediatricians, Allergy Tests Are No Magic Bullets For Diagnosis |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-27 |
An advisory from two leading allergists, Robert Wood of the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and Scott Sicherer of Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York, urges clinicians to use caution when ordering allergy tests and to avoid making a diagnosis based solely on test results. In an article, published in the January issue of Pediatrics, the researchers warn that blood tests, an increasingly popular diagnostic tool in recent years, and skin-prick testing, an older weapon in the allergist's arsenal, should never be used as standalone diagnostic strategies... |
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| Study Links Quality Of Mother-Toddler Relationship To Teen Obesity |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-27 |
The quality of the emotional relationship between a mother and her young child could affect the potential for that child to be obese during adolescence, a new study suggests. Researchers analyzed national data detailing relationship characteristics between mothers and their children during their toddler years. The lower the quality of the relationship in terms of the child's emotional security and the mother's sensitivity, the higher the risk that a child would be obese at age 15 years, according to the analysis... |
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| 'Rare' Brain Disorder May Be More Common Than Thought |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-27 |
A global team of neuroscientists, led by researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida, have found the gene responsible for a brain disorder that may be much more common than once believed. In the Dec. 25 online issue of Nature Genetics, the researchers say they identified 14 different mutations in the gene CSF1R that lead to development of hereditary diffuse leukoencephalopathy with spheroids (HDLS). This is a devastating disorder of the brain's white matter that leads to death between ages 40 and 60. People who inherit the abnormal gene always develop HDLS... |
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| Fixing Common Blood Disorder Would Make Kidney Transplants More Successful |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-27 |
Correcting anemia, a red blood cell deficiency, can preserve kidney function in many kidney transplant recipients, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). The results indicate that aggressively treating anemia may help save the kidneys and possibly the lives of many transplant recipients. Anemia commonly arises in patients with kidney disease because the kidneys secrete most of the hormone erythropoietin that stimulates red blood cell production... |
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| SAMHSA Announces A Working Definition Of "Recovery" From Mental Disorders And Substance Use Disorders |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-27 |
A new working definition of recovery from mental disorders and substance use disorders is being announced by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The definition is the product of a year-long effort by SAMHSA and a wide range of partners in the behavioral health care community and other fields to develop a working definition of recovery that captures the essential, common experiences of those recovering from mental disorders and substance use disorders, along with major guiding principles that support the recovery definition... |
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| Study Of WTC Responders: PTSD And Respiratory Illness Linked |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-27 |
More than 10 years after 9/11, when thousands of rescue and recovery workers descended on the area surrounding the World Trade Center in the wake of the terrorist attacks, a research team led by Benjamin J. Luft, M.D., the Edmund D. Pellegrino Professor of Medicine, and Medical Director of Stony Brook's World Trade Center Health Program, and Evelyn Bromet, Ph.D... |
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| 'Tis The Season For Turkey, Gravy, Pie And Acid Reflux |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-27 |
Jack Selby, of Lansing, Mich., had suffered from heartburn all of his life, especially around the holidays when he overindulged in some of his favorite food and drink. "Special days anytime of the year, but particularly holidays, the turkeys and the gravies and all of the dishes with onions, great salads, punches and alcohol bothered me a great deal because of the stomach acid and of course you overeat and fall asleep," says Selby, a 68-year-old retiree. "So that's not a particularly good thing to have happen." He thought over-the-counter antacids had solved his problem... |
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| Pain Education In Medical Schools Needs Improvement |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-27 |
Even though pain is by far the leading reason people seek medical care, pain education at North American medical schools is limited, variable and often fragmentary, according to a Johns Hopkins University study published in The Journal of Pain. The study examined the curricula at 117 medical schools in the United States and Canada and went beyond a simple analysis of historical presence-or-absence criteria in assessing pain education for medical students. This measurement does not distinguish the number of classroom hours devoted to pain education or coverage of various pain topics... |
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| Study Assesses Pain Relieving Benefits From Music |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-27 |
Distraction is a proven pain reliever, and a new study reported in The Journal of Pain concludes that listening to music can be effective for reducing pain in high-anxiety persons who can easily become absorbed in cognitive activities. Researchers from the University of Utah Pain Research Center evaluated the potential benefits of music for diverting psychological responses to experimental pain stimuli. They hypothesized that music may divert cognitive focus from pain... |
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| Robotic Surgery With One Small Incision, U.S. First |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-27 |
On Tuesday, December 20th, Santiago Horgan, MD, chief of minimally invasive surgery at UC San Diego Health System was the first surgeon in the United States to remove a diseased gallbladder through a patient's belly button with the aid of a new FDA-approved da Vinci Si Surgical System. With one incision, Horgan removed the gallbladder in 60 minutes. The patient returned home five hours after the groundbreaking surgery and reported minimal pain... |
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| Women Should Still Be Concerned About Hormone Replacement Therapy |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-27 |
McMaster University researchers have found consistent evidence that use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is associated with breast cancer globally. This study comes at a time when more women are again asking for this medication to control hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause. The rising trend is at odds with a U.S. Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study of 2002 which found a higher incidence of breast cancer, heart attack and stroke among women using HRT... |
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| Terrorists Who Use Nerve Gas And Other Agents Could Be Tracked Down Using New Test |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-26 |
Scientists are reporting development of a first-of-its-kind technology that could help law enforcement officials trace the residues from terrorist attacks involving nerve gas and other chemical agents back to the companies or other sources where the perpetrators obtained ingredients for the agent. A report on the technique, which could eventually help track down perpetrators of chemical attacks, appears in ACS' journal Analytical Chemistry... |
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| Improving Cancer Care Via Patient Empowerment And System Transformation |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-26 |
Physicians can use medical records to track the quality of cancer care and determine whether their patients are receiving the right treatments at the right time. Yet the patient is the only one who ultimately can evaluate the quality of his or her experience while receiving treatment... |
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| Orange Juice Squeezed In Bars And Restaurants Often Contaminated With Microbes |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-26 |
Scientists from the University of Valencia in Spain have analysed fresh orange juice squeezed by machines in catering establishments. They have confirmed that 43% of samples exceeded the acceptable enterobacteriaceae levels laid down by legislation. The researchers recommend that oranges are handled correctly, that juicers are washed properly and that the orange juice is served immediately rather than being stored in metal jugs. Around 40% of the fresh orange juice consumed in Spain is squeezed in bars and restaurants... |
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| Thousands Of Lives Could Be Saved By Simple Test To Help Diagnose Bowel And Pancreatic Cancer |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-26 |
A simple online calculator could offer family GPs a powerful new tool in tackling two of the most deadly forms of cancer, say researchers. Academics from The University of Nottingham and ClinRisk Ltd have developed two new QCancer algorithms, which cross-reference symptoms and risk factors of patients to red flag those most likely to have pancreatic and bowel cancer, which could help doctors to diagnose these illnesses more quickly and potentially save thousands of lives every year... |
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| Improved Understanding Of The Thalamus Offers Potential Stroke Therapy |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-26 |
The thalamus is the central translator in the brain: Specialized nerve cells (neurons) receive information from the sensory organs, process it, and transmit it deep into the brain. Researchers from the Institute of Toxicology and Genetics (ITG) of KIT have now identified the genetic factors Lhx2 and Lhx9 responsible for the development of these neurons. Their results contribute to understanding the development of the thalamus. In the long term, they are to help healing thalamic strokes. With 100 billion nerve cells, the brain is the most complex organ in the human body... |
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| KS-Herpesvirus Induces Reprogramming Of Lymphatic Endothelial Cells To Invasive Mesenchymal Cells |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-26 |
Human tumor viruses contribute to 15-20% of human cancers worldwide. Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) is an etiological agent for Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) and two other rare lymphoproliferative malignancies. KS is the most common cancer in HIV-infected untreated individuals and remains a primary cause of cancer deaths in many subequatorial African countries as a result of the AIDS pandemic... |
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| Aging In America: Future Challenges, Promise And Potential |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-26 |
Fifty years after its inception, the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging will have a more important role than ever as America's senior population continues to grow, according to the newest issue of the Public Policy and Aging Report (PPAR). For five decades, the committee has called attention to pressing needs that have faced older Americans. And as the PPAR's authors point out, members of the committee - and indeed all elected officials - must prepare the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead... |
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| The Ability To Love Takes Root In Earliest Infancy |
| Publish Date : 2011-12-26 |
The ability to trust, love, and resolve conflict with loved ones starts in childhood - way earlier than you may think. That is one message of a new review of the literature in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science. "Your interpersonal experiences with your mother during the first 12 to 18 months of life predict your behavior in romantic relationships 20 years later," says psychologist Jeffry A. Simpson, the author, with University of Minnesota colleagues W. Andrew Collins and Jessica E. Salvatore... |
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