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ROCHESTER, Minn. -- After four decades on the decline, rheumatoid arthritis is on the upswing among women in the United States. That's the finding presented by Mayo Clinic investigators at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals in San Francisco.

"This is a significant finding and an indicator that more research needs to be done to better understand the causes and treatment of this devastating disease," says Sherine Gabriel, M.D., Mayo Clinic rheumatologist and lead investigator on the study.

Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients do Worse After a Heart Attack

Following a heart attack, people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) suffer greater heart-related complications, including an increased risk for dying, when compared to other heart attack patients, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting inSan Francisco.

One in every 50 people screened for a suspected sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the Emergency Department at Henry Ford Hospital was found to be infected with HIV using a rapid blood sample screening test.

Henry Ford researchers hope their study heightens awareness and directs more focus on implementing future prevention strategies in the HIV/AIDS epidemic. They say testing in the ED could diagnose new HIV infections, expand the reach of screening, and help get patients into counseling and treatment programs.

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 27 – Experts from the Center for Minority Health (CMH) at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health will address the successes and challenges of reducing health disparities at the American Public Health Association 136th Annual Meeting and Exposition inSan Diego, Oct. 25 to 29. Faculty will present innovative programs that improve the health and well-being of racial and ethnic minorities.

Nurses and Barbers Work Together to Promote Prostate Cancer Prevention

(Boston)-Researchers from Boston Medical Center (BMC) have found that education on addiction is inadequate during medical training, resulting in suboptimal medical care for those at risk. However, the research also found that a Chief Resident Immersion Training (CRIT) program in addiction medicine is an effective "train the trainers" model for dissemination of addiction knowledge and skills to generalist physician trainees. These findings appear in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Bumblebees use flower scent to guide their nest-mates to good food sources, according to scientists from Queen Mary, University of London.

For any animal, finding food on its own can be time consuming and inefficient; social animals such as bees reduce these problems by informing their peers of plentiful sites, and 'recruiting' them to the search.

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 25, 2008 – MedImmune announced today it will present nine abstracts at the 48th Annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC)/46th Annual Meeting of Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA). These abstracts advance the knowledge about respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza, providing valuable insight into infectious disease prevention and underscoring MedImmune's leadership in this disease category.

Cincinnati, OH (October 24, 2008) – Today, scientists from Procter & Gamble (P&G), the University of Calgary and the University of Virginia announced results from the first study to examine the entire human genome's response to the most common cold virus, human rhinovirus. The research confirmed, at the genomic level, that the immune system response to the virus, and not the virus by itself, results in common cold symptoms.

"There are hundreds of languages in the world, but a smile speaks them all." It's true too—next time you are lost in a foreign country, just flash a smile and the locals will be happy to help you find your way. An honest smile can convey a wide range of meanings, from being happy to having fun. Although, not all smiles are genuine. All of us have "faked a smile" at some point.

Montreal, October 24, 2008 – Youth in their late teens who live in poor neighbourhoods are four times more likely to attempt suicide than peers who live in more affluent neighbourhoods, according to a new study from Canada's Université de Montréal and Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center, as well as Tufts University in the U.S. The researchers also found youth from poor neighbourhoods are twice as likely to report suicidal thoughts.

DURHAM, N.H. – Elderly women can increase muscle strength as much as young women can, a new study from the University of New Hampshire finds, indicating that decline in muscle function is less a natural part of the aging process than due to a decline in physical activity.

Researchers from Uppsala University have discovered a mechanism that silences several genes in a chromosome domain. The findings, published in today's on-line issue of Molecular Cell, have implications in understanding the human disorder Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome.

Every year, almost 4000 babies in Germany are born with alcohol-related defects. The mothers of these children have often drunk alcohol regularly during the pregnancy. The consequences are often devastating and commonly persist into adulthood. The various forms of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are presented by the pediatricians Hans-Ludwig Spohr and Hans-Christoph Steinhausen in the latest issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2008; 105[41]: 693-8).

Researchers at the Heidelberg University Hospital have discovered a new genetic disease that can lead to severe liver damage. Because a protective component of the bile is missing, the liver cells are exposed to the toxic components of the bile, resulting in cirrhosis of liver, a transformation of liver cells into connective tissue with a gradual loss of liver function. This could explain some of the cases of liver cirrhosis of unknown origin and open up a new approach for treatment. The research has now been published in the journal "Hepatology".

Materials science and the pharmaceutical industry could soon be revolutionized by emerging nanotechnologies based on designer molecules with long complex tree-and branch structures. Such molecules offer almost limitless scope for design of bespoke compounds for specific applications in disease therapy, for novel materials such as resins, as well as electronic displays, and energy storage.