Body

October 6, 2008 (Oakland, Calif.) – Infants who slept in a bedroom with a fan ventilating the air had a 72 percent lower risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome compared to infants who slept in a bedroom without a fan, according to a new study by the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. The study appears in the October issue of the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine.

This is the first study to examine an association between better air ventilation in infants' bedrooms and reduced SIDS risk.

Fan use appears to be associated with a lower risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in rooms with inadequate ventilation, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

A survey of pediatricians found wide variation in whether and how they would disclose medical errors to patients and their families, and may be less likely to share information about errors that are less obvious to parents, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Use of the influenza vaccine was not associated with preventing hospitalizations or reducing physician visits for the flu in children age 5 and younger during two recent seasons, perhaps because the strains of virus in the vaccine did not match circulating strains, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Microwave ovens should be equipped with safety controls to prevent children from opening them and being burned by hot foods and drinks, according to a study published today by University of Chicago Medical Center researchers in the October 2008 issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Severe scalds can be devastating for children because they can leave scars and wounds that can restrict movement. The study recommends extra protections, such as locking mechanisms and stepped-up warning campaigns, to reduce accidental injuries to children when they remove food from the microwave.

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Multiple myeloma (MM) is a cancer of plasma cells that affects approximately 3 in 100,000 people each year. Although there is no cure for this disease, researchers have developed treatments that help relieve pain, control complications, and slow the progress of MM in many patients. Unfortunately, some of the most effective therapies also have toxic side effects that can pose serious health risks and reduce quality of life.

New York, NY, October 6, 2008 -- A research study funded by JDRF suggests that a common intestinal bacteria may provide some protection from developing type 1 diabetes. The findings provide an important step towards understanding how and why type 1 diabetes develops in people, and may lead to potential cures.

This one's for the birds.

A study by biologists at Washington University in St. Louis shows that the more diverse a bird population is in an area, the less chance humans have of exposure to West Nile Virus (WNV).

Now, let's hear it for the birds.

Orlando, FL, October 6, 2008 – A screening program for colon cancer in patients starting ten years prior to Medicare eligibility, at age 55 instead of Medicare's 65, would save at least two dollars for every dollar spent, according to a new study presented at the American College of Gastroenterology's 73rd Annual Scientific Meeting in Orlando.

There is often a lack of adequate communication between health care providers and those facing terminal conditions, according to a series of articles in the latest issue of The Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences (Vol. 63, No. 3).

This topic is of concern to older adults, because they comprise the vast majority — about 70 percent — of those contending with multiple chronic medical problems.

The chemical and biological aspects of cellular self-organization are well-studied; less well understood is how cell populations order themselves biomechanically – how their behavior and communication are affected by high density and physical proximity. Bioengineers and physicists at the University of California San Diego, in a paper published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, have begun to address these fundamental questions.

When the Global Mammal Assessment project results are announced this week at the World Conservation Congress in Barcelona, Spain, there will be at least seven Texas species on the globally threatened list.

COLUMBIA, Mo. –According to the American Heart Association, three-fourths of people with diabetes die of some form of heart or blood-vessel disease. Previous studies have shown that cardiac function is compromised and cardiovascular diseases are increased in people with type 2 diabetes. Before vascular diseases develop in diabetics, blood-vessel cell dysfunction occurs. Using precise microscopes, University of Missouri researchers are dissecting coronary microvessels and testing which proteins are responsible for inflammation that causes blood-vessel dysfunction.

A research team at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) is clarifying a previously unappreciated way that cellular processes are disrupted in cancer.

Last year, scientists from the same CHSL team discovered that a "splicing factor" called SF2/ASF--a protein that changes the instructions for how other proteins are assembled--can induce tumors in cell cultures. The team's newly published results show that, in ways not yet fully understood, this same splicing factor acts on a group of other molecules that has long been known to affect cancer.