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WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 15, 2008 – The HORIZONS AMI clinical trial measuring the safety and efficacy of the use of the medication bivalirudin compared to standard drug therapy – heparin and glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors -- in heart attack patients who receive angioplasty, found that after 1 year, use of bivalirudin resulted in significantly lower rates of all-cause death, death from cardiac causes, and major bleeding.

For children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) tasks that require concentration such as doing homework or taking a test can be very difficult. A simple, inexpensive remedy may be a "dose of nature."

A study conducted at the University of Illinois shows that children with ADHD demonstrate greater attention after a 20-minute walk in a park than after a similar walk in a downtown area or a residential neighborhood.

It's confirmed: Even though flatback turtles dine on fish, shrimp, and mollusks, they are closely related to primarily herbivorous green sea turtles. New genetic research carried out by Eugenia Naro-Maciel, a Marine Biodiversity Scientist at the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History, and colleagues clarifies our understanding of the evolutionary relationships among all seven sea turtle species.

WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 15, 2008 – Late-breaking data from the HORIZONS AMI (Harmonizing Outcomes with RevascularIZatiON and Stents in Acute Myocardial Infarction) trial reveal that after one year, use of a drug-eluting (paclitaxel) stent demonstrated significantly reduced rates of target lesion revascularization (TLR) and binary angiographic restenosis when compared to the use of a bare metal stent in heart attack patients.

INDIANAPOLIS – Across the nation concerns about health-care quality and costs are growing. For the first time, both candidates aspiring to the nation's highest office are looking to greater reliance on electronic medical records as critical to any remedy.

IDAHO FALLS -- Minuscule traces of cells can be detected in a mineral likely present on Mars, a new study shows. The results, obtained using a technique developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory, could help mission scientists choose Martian surface samples with the most promise for yielding signs of life.

Reston, VA (October 28, 2008) -- A study(1) published in the November issue of a scientific journal, Toxicological Sciences, which is published by Oxford Journals on behalf of the Society of Toxicology, describes the kidney toxicity of melamine and cyanuric acid based on research that was done to characterize the toxicity of the compounds that contaminated pet food in North America in 2007.

Plastic tubing taped to a handheld egg-beater could save lives in developing countries, the Royal Society of Chemistry's journal Lab on a Chip reports.

Whitesides' egg-beater centrifuge needs no special training, maintenance or electricity.

(Photo Credit: Malancha Gupta)

The low-cost centrifuge replacement can separate plasma from blood in minutes, which is used in tests to detect lethal infectious diseases responsible for half of all deaths in developing countries.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Adding a food additive to damaged polymers can help restore them to full strength, say scientists at the University of Illinois who cooked up the novel, self-healing system.

The repair process, in which solvent-filled microcapsules embedded in an epoxy matrix rupture when a crack forms, is a major improvement over the original self-healing process first described in February 2001.

- REALIZE is the first phase III study to evaluate a specifically targeted antiviral therapy for hepatitis C (STAT-C) across a full range of HCV-patients who failed prior treatment to current standard of care, including null responders -

Westchester, Ill. –A study in the October 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine shows that unrelated to obesity, people with severe SDBs consume a more unhealthy diet, which may be a factor contributing to greater cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. These findings were most evident among women.

Stuart Quan, MD, division of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School, said, "We found that persons who had severe obstructive sleep apnea ate a diet that was unhealthy with increased intake of cholesterol, fat and saturated fatty acids."

London, U.K., 15 October 2008 – Pneumococcal disease, one of the world's leading causes of death and serious illness (1), must be recognised as an urgent global health issue together with HIV, malaria and TB, say the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Pneumococcal Disease Prevention in the Developing World in a report launching at the House of Lords today. Between 700,000 and one million children under the age of five die each year from pneumococcal disease, equivalent to malaria and more than AIDS and tuberculosis (2,3).

Scientists have found a more effective treatment for a common childhood eye muscle coordination problem called convergence insufficiency (CI). For words on a page to appear in focus a child's eyes must turn inward, or converge. In CI, the eyes do not converge easily, and as a result, additional muscular effort must be used to make the eyes turn in.

This is the first study into the old Frisian culture of honour and, moreover, via a text genre that has received little attention to date: the compensation tariffs. Old Frisian compensation tariffs, which can best be compared to bodily injury lists, are lists of wounds to the human body and summaries of insults and material damage with the associated monetary compensation. A punch: 4 pence. Two ears struck off: 12 marks. With this system, the Frisians could end or prevent blood feuds by financially compensating injuries or insults that could be a cause of a vendetta.

High-dose vitamin B supplementation for patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer disease did not slow the rate of cognitive decline, according to a study in the October 15 issue of JAMA.