Psychiatric disorders common among college-age individuals; few seek treatment

Tweet

Psychiatric disorders appear to be common among 18- to 24-year-olds, with overall rates similar among those attending or not attending college, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Almost half of college-aged individuals meet criteria for substance abuse, personality disorders or another mental health condition during a one-year period, but only one-fourth of those seek treatment.

Symptoms of depression associated with increase in abdominal fat

Tweet

Older adults with symptoms of depression appear more likely to gain abdominal fat, but not overall fat, over a five-year period, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

1/3 of farm workers' children lack health insurance

Tweet

Children of farm workers are three times as likely as all other children and almost twice as likely as other poor children to be uninsured, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Caltech scientists show function of helical band in heart

Tweet

PASADENA, Calif.--Scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have created images of the heart's muscular layer that show, for the first time, the connection between the configuration of those muscles and the way the human heart contracts.

More precisely, they showed that the muscular band--which wraps around the inner chambers of the heart in a helix--is actually a sort of twisting highway along which each contraction of the heart travels.

Delays in radiation therapy lead to increased breast cancer recurrence

Tweet

A new analysis of the National Cancer Institute's cancer registry has found that as many as one in five older women experience delayed or incomplete radiation treatment following breast-conserving surgery, and that this suboptimal care can lead to worse outcomes.

Powerful online tool for protein analysis provided pro bono by Stanford geneticist

Tweet

STANFORD, Calif. — Scientists around the world may benefit from a powerful new database, available for free online, that will help them to home in on the parts of proteins most necessary for their function.

Arend Sidow, PhD, associate professor of pathology and of genetics at the Stanford University School of Medicine, recently launched the novel bioinformatics tool, which enlists evolution as the guide to determining the role different proteins play in a wide array of organisms.

The freedom of power

Tweet

Vitamin D found to fight placental infection

Tweet

In a paper available at the online site of the journal Biology of Reproduction, a team of UCLA researchers reports for the first time that vitamin D induces immune responses in placental tissues by stimulating production of the antimicrobial protein cathelicidin.

The study involved exposing cultured human trophoblast cells to the active form of vitamin D, leading to production of cathelicidin and an increased antibacterial response in the trophoblast cells.

Endangered sawfish focus of national collection and recovery efforts

Tweet

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida, keeper of the world's shark attack records, is also now overseeing a national records collection for another toothy marine predator: the sawfish.

Distinguished by a long rostrum or "saw" that makes it a popular curio item and gives it its name, the sawfish has become a historical and cultural icon that is rapidly disappearing, said George Burgess, a UF ichthyologist and curator of both the International Shark Attack File and the newly expanded National Sawfish Encounter Database.

Self-powered devices possible, says Texas AM researcher

Tweet

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Dec. 1, 2008 – Imagine a self-powering cell phone that never needs to be charged because it converts sound waves produced by the user into the energy it needs to keep running. It's not as far-fetched as it may seem thanks to the recent work of Tahir Cagin, a professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University.