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Software downloaded during a routine office visit cuts the risk of inappropriate shocks by 50 percent for patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD), according to research reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Using data from more than 270,000 hospital stroke admissions, scientists have identified how to predict which patients are at greatest risk of dying in the hospital after stroke. Before their study, well validated models to predict in-hospital death risk after stroke were lacking, the researchers reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

STANFORD, Calif. - A new analysis suggests that broader statin use among adult patients may be a cost-effective way to prevent heart attack and stroke. The Stanford University School of Medicine study also found that using a popular test - a screening for high sensitivity C-reactive protein, or CRP - to identify patients who may benefit from statin therapy would be cost-effective, but only under certain scenarios.

Intelligence isn't the only thing that predicts how much education people get; family, culture, and other factors are important, too. A new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, compares identical and fraternal twins in Minnesota and Sweden to explore how genetic and environmental factors involved in educational differ in countries with different educational systems. Family background can get an education even for people of low intelligence, the authors conclude—but helps much more in Minnesota, than in Sweden.

One approach to an HIV vaccine is to teach the immune system to recognize certain protein structures on the viral surface and produce antibodies that bind to those structures and neutralize HIV. A strategy for designing such a vaccine involves identifying the key viral surface structures, snipping them off and developing a method to present these fragments to the immune system. When some parts of the surface of HIV are removed, however, they change shape such that antibodies no longer recognize and bind to them.

RICHMOND, Va. (Sept. 27, 2010) – Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine and VCU Massey Cancer Center researchers have shown that the impotence drug Viagra, in combination with doxorubicin, a powerful anti-cancer drug, enhances its anti-tumor efficacy in prostate cancer while alleviating the damage to the heart at the same time.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---The more complex a plant or animal, the more difficulty it should have adapting to changes in the environment. That's been a maxim of evolutionary theory since biologist Ronald Fisher put forth the idea in 1930.

But if that tenet is true, how do you explain all the well-adapted, complex organisms---from orchids to bower birds to humans---in this world?

Rosemont, Ill. – As a patient safety best practice and endorsement of evidence-based medicine, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Board of Directors approved and released a clinical practice guideline, which found a strong recommendation against a popular procedure called vertebroplasty as a way to treat fractures in the spine. Clinical practice guidelines are one avenue the Academy uses to ensure that patients receive high quality care.

Unlike nerves of the spinal cord, the peripheral nerves that connect our limbs and organs to the central nervous system have an astonishing ability to regenerate themselves after injury. Now, a new report in the October 1st issue of Cell, a Cell Press publication, offers new insight into how that healing process works.

BOSTON—In the quest to arrest the growth and spread of tumors, there have been many attempts to get cancer genes to ignore their internal instruction manual. In a new study, a team led by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists has created the first molecule able to prevent cancer genes from "hearing" those instructions, stifling the cancer process at its root.

Analysis of seagull droppings has revealed that one in ten carry 'superbug' bacteria, resistant to the last-resort antibiotic Vancomycin. Researchers writing in BioMed central's open access journal Proteome Science investigated 57 migratory seagull samples recovered from an island off the coast of Portugal.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A new study shows that aspirin, given intravenously (IV), may be a safe and effective option for people hospitalized for severe headache or migraine, undergoing medication withdrawal. The research will be published in the September 21, 2010, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Severe injury to the esophagus can occur after a child swallows a disc battery, according to a report in the September issue of Archives of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Children who have a high risk of developing type 2 diabetes might be identified earlier by way of tell-tale genetic indicators known as biomarkers. Some of those new biomarkers might be pinpointed in research led by Nancy F. Butte and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's National Institutes of Health.