Body

Philadelphia, PA, August 13, 2014 – A new study published in The American Journal of Pathology identifies a novel gene that controls nerve conduction velocity. Investigators report that even minor reductions in conduction velocity may aggravate disease in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and in mice bred for the MS-like condition experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE).

Whether the problem is health, enemies, poverty or difficulty with aging, "Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there," suggested the late gospel musician Charles A. Tindley. But when it comes to easing symptoms of anxiety-related disorders, prayer doesn't have the same effect for everybody, according to a Baylor University researcher.

Among about 100,000 study participants, screening with flexible sigmoidoscopy resulted in a reduced incidence and rate of death of colorectal cancer, compared to no screening, according to a study in the August 13 issue of JAMA.

In a study that included 1.7 million patients undergoing inpatient surgery, experiencing atrial fibrillation while hospitalized was associated with an increased long-term risk of ischemic stroke, especially following noncardiac surgery, according to a study in the August 13 issue of JAMA.

Depending on the analysis strategy used, estimating treatment outcomes in meta­analyses may differ and may result in major alterations in the conclusions derived from the analysis, according to a study in the August 13 issue of JAMA.

ROCHESTER, Minn. – Needle-guided tumor destruction procedures offer near equivalent lengths of local cancer control compared to surgery for patients with small kidney cancer tumors, according to the results of a large study published in the journal European Urology. "If validated, these data suggest that an update to clinical guidelines would be warranted," says the study's lead author, R. Houston Thompson, M.D., a Mayo Clinic urologist.

JUPITER, FL, August 12, 2014 – It has been more than 20 years since scientists discovered that mutations in the gene huntingtin cause the devastating progressive neurological condition Huntington's disease, which involves involuntary movements, emotional disturbance and cognitive impairment. Surprisingly little, however, has been known about the gene's role in normal brain activity.

Now, a study from The Scripps Research Institute's (TSRI's) Florida campus and Columbia University shows it plays a critical role in long-term memory.

Bacteria inside your mouth drastically change how they act when you're diseased, according to research using supercomputers at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC). Scientists say these surprising findings might lead to better ways to prevent or even reverse the gum disease periodontitis, diabetes, and Crohn's disease.

Marvin Whiteley, professor of molecular biosciences and director of the Center for Infectious Disease at The University of Texas at Austin, led the study published in April 2014 in the journal mBio.

TORONTO, Aug. 12, 2014—Immigrants are at lower risk of an overdose or death after being prescribed codeine than people born in Canada, a new study has found.

Surprisingly, this is true even when the immigrants lack proficiency in English or French, which might be thought to hamper their ability to read prescription labels or instructions, said lead author Dr. Joel Ray, a physician and researcher at St. Michael's Hospital.

His study was published in the current issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Having survived cancer as a child does not necessarily have a ripple effect that makes people lead a healthier lifestyle once they grow up. In fact, in a report derived from a National Cancer Institute-funded study of childhood cancer survivors known as the Chicago Healthy Living Study, investigators found that childhood cancer survivors in no way adhere more closely to guidelines on healthy eating than their cancer-free peers. The findings are published in Springer's Journal of Cancer Survivorship.

PHILADELPHIA (August 12, 2014)— "Roads are essentially the primary feature of human civilization at this point," according to Dane Ward, a doctoral student in environmental science at Drexel University who is presenting research at the Ecological Society of America (ESA) meeting.

"It's a safe procedure that's markedly improved our ability to perform outpatient surgical services and in fact, it's become very rare for us to have any overnight stays for knee reconstruction," said Kevin E. Klingele, MD, chief of Orthopedics at Nationwide Children's and a co-author of the study.

CINCINNATI—Oxidative stress is a significant predictor for hip fracture in postmenopausal women, according to new research led by University of Cincinnati (UC) epidemiologists.

The research, appearing online ahead of print in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, was led by Tianying Wu, MD, PhD, an assistant professor in the UC College of Medicine Department of Environmental Health, and Shuman Yang, a postdoctoral fellow in the department. They collaborated with researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School.

Researchers have identified the mechanism used by the deadly MERS virus to transmit from bats to humans. Bats are a native reservoir for MERS and the finding could be critical for understanding the animal origins of the virus, as well as preventing and controlling the spread of MERS and related viruses in humans.

The findings were published in the most recent edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass-- Scientists have known for decades that cancer can be caused by genetic mutations, but more recently they have discovered that chemical modifications of a gene can also contribute to cancer. These alterations, known as epigenetic modifications, control whether a gene is turned on or off.