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Medical school policies that restrict gifts to physicians from the pharmaceutical and device industries are becoming increasingly common, but the effect of such policies on physician prescribing behaviour after graduation into clinical practice is unknown.

So a team of US researchers set out to examine whether attending a medical school with a gift restriction policy affected subsequent prescribing of three newly marketed psychotropic (stimulant, antidepressant, and antipsychotic) drugs.

A relatively inexpensive program set up to combat river blindness, an infectious disease, has resulted in major health improvements in Africa, shows a study conducted by Erasmus University Medical Center researchers. The study, due to be published January 31 in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, shows that US$250 million helped cure or prevent blindness, skin disease, severe itching, and other symptoms in millions of people. In collaboration with the Management of the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC), the researchers calculated the health impact of APOC.

A genetically reprogrammed Herpes simplex virus (HSV) can cure metastatic diffusion of human cancer cells in the abdomen of laboratory mice, according to a new study published January 31 in the Open Access journal PLOS Pathogens. The paper reports on the collaborative research from scientists at the at the University of Bologna and specifically describes that the HSV converted into a therapeutic anticancer agent attacks breast and ovarian cancer metastases.

Each intravenous drug user contracting Hepatitis C is likely to infect around 20 other people with the virus, half of these transmissions occurring in the first two years after the user is first infected, a new study estimates.

The work, led by researchers from Oxford University, suggests that early diagnosis and treatment of Hepatitis C in intravenous drug users could prevent many transmissions by limiting the impact of these 'super-spreaders' (a highly infectious person who spreads a disease to many other people).

Malaria in pregnancy causes a range of adverse effects, including abortions, stillbirths, premature delivery and low infant birth weight. Many of these effects are thought to derive from a placental inflammatory response resulting from interaction of infected red blood cells with the placental tissue.

New research has shown the presence of a disease affecting small blood vessels, known as microangiopathy, in the bone marrow of diabetic patients. While it is well known that microangiopathy is the cause of renal damage, blindness and heart attacks in patients with diabetes, this is the first time that a reduction of the smallest blood vessels has been shown in bone marrow, the tissue contained inside the bones and the main source of stem cells.

Scientists have decoded the genetic blueprint of the rock pigeon, unlocking secrets about pigeons' Middle East origins, feral pigeons' kinship with escaped racing birds and how mutations give pigeons traits like feather head crests.

"Birds are a huge part of life on Earth, but we know surprisingly little about their genetics," says Michael Shapiro, one of the study's two principal authors and a biologist at the University of Utah.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Medical research is vital to the advancement of health care, but many medical research studies have too few people who participate. A new study from the University of Michigan takes an in-depth look at public participation in medical research across the United States.

Through a unique, nationally representative survey of 2,150 households in 2011, University of Michigan researchers found that only 11% of adults and 5% of children had ever participated in medical research. The study was published in January in Clinical and Translational Science.

A new device called a soft x-ray electrostatic precipitator protected immunocompromised mice from airborne pathogenic bacteria, viruses, ultrafine particles, and allergens, according to a paper published online ahead of print in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. This device, known for short as a SXC ESP, is highly versatile, with multiple potential uses, and Washington University is working on licensing the technology.

Los Angeles, CA (January 31, 2013) Researchers have found that African American women exhibit a higher risk for sexually transmitted infections including HIV/Aids. But what motivates this group of women to have sex? And when are they more likely to use protection?

A new study published today in Health Education & Behavior (a SAGE journal) found that regardless of motivations for having sex, condom use expectations were less than 50% for all types of sexual encounters, including the riskiest types of sex.

OAKLAND, Calif., January 31, 2013 — Low testosterone levels occur five times more often among men who take long-acting instead of short-acting opioids for chronic pain, according to a new Kaiser Permanente study published in The Clinical Journal of Pain.

While it has been known that opioids cause low testosterone in men, this study is the first to show a significant difference in risk between short-acting (immediate release) and long-acting opioids.

Scientists at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute in Barcelona, Spain have found new evidence for the role of epigenetic changes (those heritable alterations in gene expression caused by mechanisms other than changes in DNA sequence) on premature aging diseases. A new study published in the journal Epigenetics on Jan. 1, 2013, identified a role for DNA methylation changes in a subset of Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria and Werner Syndrome patients, for which no genetic cause (such as DNA mutation) had been associated with onset disease.

SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 31, 2013 – University of Utah researchers decoded the genetic blueprint of the rock pigeon, unlocking secrets about pigeons' Middle East origins, feral pigeons' kinship with escaped racing birds, and how mutations give pigeons traits like a fancy feather hairdo known as a head crest.

New York University physicists have developed a method for moving microscopic particles with the flick of a light switch. Their work, reported in the journal Science, relies on a blue light to prompt colloids to move and then assemble—much like birds flock and move together in flight.

The method offers the potential to enhance the design of a range of industrial products, including the architecture of electronics.

Cell division is serious business. Cells that divide incorrectly can lead to birth defects or set the stage for cancer. A new discovery from the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation has identified how two genes work together to make sure chromosomes are distributed properly when cells divide, providing new insights that could contribute to the future development of cancer treatments.