Body

ATLANTA –February 28, 2011– A sharp decline in breast cancer incidence rates among non-Hispanic white women in the U.S. after a dramatic drop in the use of postmenopausal hormone therapy did not continue through 2007, according to a new study from the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute. While there are several possible explanations for the recent stabilization, it may indicate that the decrease in breast cancers thought to be related to postmenopausal hormone use has bottomed out.

Heart attack patients with a history of depression presenting at emergency departments were less likely to receive priority care than people with other conditions, found a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj100685.pdf.

A medical journal's revenue source can affect drug recommendations, with free journals positively recommending specific drugs while journals funded solely by subscriptions usually recommending against the use of the drugs, states a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj100951.pdf.

WASHINGTON, February 28, 2011) – Results from a study published in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology reveal a close relationship between pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH)—exceedingly high blood pressure in the arteries carrying blood from the heart to the lungs—and abnormalities of the blood-forming cells in the bone marrow (known as myeloid abnormalities).

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have found that patients with node negative T3 and T4 non-small lung cancer who underwent chemotherapy before surgery had more than three times the survival rate than patients who only underwent surgery. These findings currently appear on-line in the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.

AMES, Iowa - A protein pathway that may hold the secret to understanding Parkinson's disease has been discovered and explained by Iowa State University researchers.

Anumantha Kanthasamy, a distinguished professor of biomedical sciences and the W. Eugene and Linda R. Lloyd Endowed Chair in Neurotoxicology at the ISU College of Veterinary Medicine, has been working to understand the complex mechanisms of the disease for more than a decade. He believes this recent discovery offers hope for the cure.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Lodgepole pine, a hardy tree species that can thrive in cold temperatures and plays a key role in many western ecosystems, is already shrinking in range as a result of climate change – and may almost disappear from most of the Pacific Northwest by 2080, a new study concludes.

Including Canada, where it is actually projected to increase in some places, lodgepole pine is expected to be able to survive in only 17 percent of its current range in the western parts of North America.

Part of the answer to how and why primates differ from other mammals, and humans differ from other primates, may lie in the repetitive stretches of the genome that were once considered "junk."

In an interesting bit of scientific serendipity, researchers at North Carolina State University have found that a chemical compound useful for studying the origins of intestinal birth defects may also inhibit the growth and spread of cancerous tumors.

A daytime sleep could have cardiovascular benefits according to new research by Ryan Brindle and Sarah Conklin, PhD, from Allegheny College in Pennsylvania in the US. Their study, looking at the effect of a daytime nap on cardiovascular recovery following a stress test, found that those participants who slept for at least 45 minutes during the day had lower average blood pressure after psychological stress than those who did not sleep. The work is published in Springer's journal International Journal of Behavioral Medicine.

Ever get a flu shot and still get the flu? If so, there's new hope for flu-free winters in the years to come thanks to a new discovery by researchers who found that a drug called DMXAA, originally developed as anti-tumor agent, enhances the ability of flu vaccines to ward off this deadly virus.

Blindly copying what your parents did – no matter how stupid it may seem – could be the best strategy for the long-term success of your genes, according to research by the Universities of Exeter and Bristol.

The findings of the study, published in Ecology Letters, show that apparently mindless survival strategies – such as the long-distance migration of many animals to breed at the place they were born – may not be as impractical as they appear.

The growth in the demand of smartphones has highlighted the complexities of wireless communications through problems of reduced sensitivity when the user holds some devices. New research has been investigating this problem, along with developing new solutions to overcome the loss of connectivity.

The study by academics in the field of antennas and propagation in the University of Bristol's Centre for Communications Research (CCR) is published in the journal IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters.

A new UCLA AIDS Institute study suggests that the use of social networking websites by homeless youth can lead to an increase in risky sexual behaviors. But interestingly, homeless kids who used these sites were also more likely to have been tested for sexually transmitted infections and to be better informed about preventing such infections and HIV.

Researchers were particularly surprised to find that nearly eight out of 10 homeless youth they surveyed actually used online social networking media.

Medical and scientific experts propose a global framework for the safe production and use of the medicinal plant Kava, including further clinical testing In Australia.

The South-Pacific plant has been traditionally used to reduce stress and anxiety but is restricted in some countries.