Body

Turns out, feeling younger than your actual age might be good for you.

A research letter published online by JAMA Internal Medicine found that older people who felt three or more years younger than their chronological age had a lower death rate compared with those who felt their age or who felt more than one year older than their actual age.

Skin burns, passing out and eye injuries were among the primary injuries incurred at indoor tanning sites and treated in emergency departments (EDs) at U.S. hospitals, according to a research letter published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.

Indoor tanning exposes users to intense UV radiation, a known carcinogen. But less is known about the more immediate adverse effects of indoor tanning, according to background information in the article.

Boston, MA-- Although tobacco use in the United States has declined, substantial socioeconomic, racial and ethnic disparities in smoking prevalence remain, particularly among smokers of low socioeconomic (SES) status, who have more difficulty quitting. New research from Brigham and Women's Hospital has now identified effective ways to help this population quit smoking. These findings are published online in JAMA Internal Medicine on December 15, 2014.

A strategy that relied on electronic health records (EHRs) to identify smokers and interactive voice-response telephone calls to reach them may help promote tobacco cessation efforts among smokers of low-socioeconomic status (SES), according to a report published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.

Children with osteomyelitis (a serious bacterial bone infection) who were discharged from the hospital to complete several weeks of outpatient antibiotic therapy with an oral medication did not have a higher rate of treatment failure than children who received their antibiotic therapy intravenously, according to a study published online by JAMA Pediatrics.

VCU Massey Cancer Center physician-researcher Charles E. Geyer, Jr., M.D., was the National Protocol Officer for one component of a large national study involving two National Cancer Institute (NCI)-supported clinical trials that demonstrated that trastuzumab significantly improves the long-term survival of HER-2 positive breast cancer patients. The combined study was designed to determine the long-term safety and efficacy of the drug trastuzumab, which is commonly known as Herceptin and is primarily used alongside chemotherapy to treat HER2-positive breast cancer.

A small stone container found by archaeologists a half-century ago has now been recognized as further evidence of a Viking or Medieval Norse presence in Arctic Canada during the centuries around 1000 A.D.

A new study highlights the complex factors at play for parasites that infect animal populations residing on small islands. The findings are important for understanding colonization and extinction as drivers of island biogeography.

Investigators who studied the mechanisms that contribute to colonization and persistence of avian malaria parasites in an island bird population found that increases in the prevalence and diversity of parasites were associated with episodes of offshore winds and less so with infected vagrant birds arriving from the mainland.

They steal, raid nests, and keep the company of witches, but the unpopular crow may not be as big a menace as people think. A new Ibis study has found that crows--along with their avian cousins the magpie and the raven--have surprisingly little impact on the abundance of other bird species.

Collectively known as corvids, these birds are in fact being menaced by mankind in the mistaken belief that removing them is good for conservation.

Researchers have discovered a new pollination system that involves food-thieving flies as pollinators. These flies feed on insect secretions, available when a spider, a praying mantis, or other predatory arthropods feed on insects. The plant mimics compounds released from freshly killed insects to deceive flies that are in search of food.

This pollination strategy applies to Aristolochia rotunda--an herbaceous Mediterranean plant--but likely evolved in other plants as well.

Researchers recently completed one of the most extensive investigations to date of prenatal hormones in first-time expectant couples. Women showed large prenatal increases in salivary testosterone, cortisol, estradiol, and progesterone, while men showed significant prenatal declines in testosterone and estradiol, but no detectable changes in cortisol or progesterone.

A review of more than a decade's worth of research on osteonecrosis of the jaw--when the bone in the jaw is exposed and begins to starve from a lack of blood--points to an increased risk for patients taking certain drugs for osteoporosis, anticancer drugs or glucocorticoids, those undergoing dental surgery, and people with poor oral hygiene, chronic inflammation, diabetes, or ill-fitting dentures.

A pregnant woman in Africa who has contracted Ebola is likely to suffer with a spontaneous abortion, pregnancy-related hemorrhage, or the death of her newborn. Although the risk of caring for a pregnant woman with Ebola in the United States may be rare, the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) has published a practice brief in its Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing to guide nursing care for pregnant women and newborns.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A new study led by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC - James) describes a novel marker that might help doctors choose the least toxic, most effective treatment for many older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Washington, D.C.-- Recent advances in our understanding of the quantities, movements, forms and origin of carbon in Earth are summarized in a just-published report. The research represents face-paced progress on the depths of the biosphere, Earth, what erupts from volcanoes and leaks from sea floors, what descends back into Earth's great depths, and the nature of carbon-bearing materials within planets.