Body

Pre-treatment MRI can eliminate unnecessary diagnostic or surgical procedures for children with suspected musculoskeletal infections (septic arthritis and osteomyelitis) according to a study performed at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville, TN.

Boston, MA—Scientists at Schepens Eye Research Institute have found that reducing the levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which is best known as a stimulator of new blood vessel growth, in adult mice causes the death of photoreceptors and Muller glia - cells of the retina that are essential to visual function. This finding, published in the November 3, 2008 PLoS ONE, holds implications for the chronic use of promising new anti-VEGF drugs such as Lucentis, which eliminate abnormal and damaging blood vessel growth and leakage in the retina by neutralizing VEGF.

A new model that would allow interventional radiologists (radiologists who specialize in fine needle aspiration, fine needle biopsy and radiofrequency ablation) to better estimate patient radiation skin doses during CT guided interventional procedures has been developed according to a study performed at the Agios Savvas and Konstantopoulio Hospitals in Athens, Greece.

Polypectomy (the surgical removal of polyps by colonoscopy) of small polyps found during CT colonography is costly and unnecessary according to a study performed at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, WI.

SAN FRANCISCO (November 3, 2008) – New clinical data show antiviral activity of TMC435, an investigational protease inhibitor (PI) being developed by Tibotec BVBA for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Tibotec will present findings from three TMC435 studies, including a late-breaker poster on the proof-of-principle phase IIa trial, OPERA-1 (TMC435-C201), at the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease's (AASLD) Liver Meeting 2008 in San Francisco.

Tufts University's Miriam E. Nelson, PhD, served as vice-chair of the advisory committee for the new Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans written by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Nelson is Director of the John Hancock Center for Physical Activity and Nutrition and Associate Professor of Nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts.

Spanning deep gorges, rivers and freeways, bridges are an indispensable part of the traffic network. Yet their condition in Germany is appalling: In a survey carried out by the German automobile club ADAC in 2007, one in ten bridges out of the fifty that were inspected failed the test; a total of four were rated "poor" and one was even rated "very poor". The changing effects of weather and temperature, road salt and the increasing volume of traffic all take their toll on the material – quickly causing damage such as hairline cracks, flaking concrete, and rust penetration.

Consuming caffeine at any time during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of fetal growth restriction (low birth weight), according to research published on bmj.com today.

Although some previous studies have also shown this, this BMJ study additionally shows that any amount and type of caffeine intake—from tea, cola, chocolate, cocoa, and some prescription drugs, as well as coffee—is linked with relatively slower fetal growth.

By measuring 'inaudible' sounds, events like illegal nuclear tests can be detected. This 'infrasound' can also help us understand more about the upper atmosphere, according to Läslo Evers. Evers will receive a PhD based on his research into this subject at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) on Tuesday 4 November 2008.

Princeton, N.J. and Jamaica Plain, Mass., November 3, 2008 — Medarex, Inc. (Nasdaq: MEDX) and The Massachusetts Biologic Laboratories (MBL) of the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) today announced that a Phase 2 trial of an anti-C. difficile antibody combination treatment in patients with C. difficile Associated Diarrhea (CDAD) successfully met its primary objective.

Boston University undergraduate Jessica Rogge and associate professor Karen Warkentin, working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's laboratories in Gamboa, Panama, discovered that frog embryos at a very early developmental stage actively respond to oxygen levels in the egg—as reported in the Nov. 7, 2008 issue of the Journal of Experimental Biology. These initial responses to the environment may be critical to the frogs' long-term survival.

The therapeutical actions of berberine on diabetes have been well studied. Previous researches show that berberine modulates cholesterol through increasing low-density lipoprotein receptor mRNA stability, reduces body adiposity and increases insulin sensitivity partly through activating AMP-activated protein kinase and improves glucose metabolism via induction of glycolysis. Yet, the underlying mechanism for berberine promoting insulin release remains unclear.

ST. LOUIS, Nov. 3, 2008 – America's tweens and teens more than doubled their use of type 2 diabetes medications between 2002 and 2005, with girls between 10 and 14 years of age showing a 166 percent increase. One likely cause: Obesity, which is closely associated with type 2 diabetes.

The finding is included in a study of chronic medication use in children ages 5 to 19 released today in the journal Pediatrics by researchers from the Saint Louis University School of Medicine, pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts (Nasdaq: ESRX) and the Kansas Health Institute.

There is a critical need to review current treatment strategies for the increasingly common problem of medication overuse headaches (MOH), according to a series of international papers in the November issue of Cephalalgia.

"MOH is associated with severe disability, unmet treatment need and little clinical data to support current management strategies" says neurology expert Professor David W Dodick from the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Arizona, USA.