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Study confirms persistence of diversity problems in academic medicine

A survey study believed to be one of the first efforts to put hard numbers around long-held beliefs about diversity in medical school faculties has affirmed that awareness and sensitivity to racial and ethnic diversity are believed by most faculty to be poor and even poorer among faculty who are members of underrepresented minorities.

Teaching an old drug new tricks

A century-old drug that failed in its original intent to treat tuberculosis but has worked well as an antileprosy medicine now holds new promise as a potential therapy for multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases.

Key to pre-eclampsia may be found in misfolded proteins in the urine

Clues to the cause of preeclampsia, a common, but serious hypertension complication of pregnancy that has puzzled doctors and researchers for decades, point to proteins that misfold and aggregate, according to Yale School of Medicine researchers.

These misshapen proteins can be easily detected in the urine, affording a new approach to early diagnosis of the disease, the Yale researchers report in new findings presented at the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine scientific meetings in San Diego, Calif.

Dr. Ting Yu's research featured in latest issue of Science magazine

HOBOKEN, N.J. – An article co-authored by Dr. Ting Yu, an Associate Professor for the Schaefer School of Engineering & Science at Stevens Institute of Technology, is featured in the most recent edition of Science magazine.

Yu, who works in the department of Physics and Engineering Physics, writes about a new development in the dynamical behavior of entanglement of quantum systems.

The paradox of temptation

Does the mere availability of something tempting weaken the will to resist? The answer is of more than theoretical interest to public health experts, and the problem goes far beyond serious addictive disorders. Just think of all those Christmas cookies in your office recently. As our national obesity crisis shows, difficulties with discipline and self-control are widespread and harmful.

Stanford writes in world's smallest letters

Stanford researchers have reclaimed bragging rights for creating the world's smallest writing, a distinction the university first gained in 1985 and lost in 1990.

How small is the writing? The letters in the words are assembled from subatomic sized bits as small as 0.3 nanometers, or roughly one third of a billionth of a meter.

Household chemicals may be linked to infertility

Researchers at the UCLA School of Public Health have found the first evidence that perfluorinated chemicals, or PFCs — chemicals that are widely used in everyday items such as food packaging, pesticides, clothing, upholstery, carpets and personal care products — may be associated with infertility in women.

Queen's chemist sheds light on health benefits of garlic

Kingston, ON – A Queen's-led team has discovered the reason why garlic is so good for us.

Researchers have widely believed that the organic compound, allicin – which gives garlic its aroma and flavour – acts as the world's most powerful antioxidant. But until now it hasn't been clear how allicin works, or how it stacks up compared to more common antioxidants such as Vitamin E and coenzyme Q10, which stop the damaging effects of radicals.

Automated screening process may eventually reduce additional breast cancer surgeries

A team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and the Moores UCSD Cancer Center have developed a rapid, automated image screening process to distinguish breast cancer cells from normal cells. The technique, which is based on the density of cells seen on a microscope slide, may eventually lead to better ways for surgeons to determine if they have removed all of the cancer during breast-conserving cancer surgery and cut down on the number of needed second operations.

UC San Diego engineers develop novel method for accelerated bone growth

Engineers at the University of California at San Diego have come up with a way to help accelerate bone growth through the use of nanotubes and stem cells. This new finding could lead to quicker and better recovery, for example, for patients who undergo orthopedic surgery.

UT Southwestern researchers disrupt biochemical system involved in cancer, degenerative disease

DALLAS – Jan. 30, 2009 – Screening a chemical library of 200,000 compounds, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified two new classes that can be used to study and possibly manipulate a cellular pathway involved in many types of cancer and degenerative diseases.

"The identification of these chemicals and their targets within this cellular pathway represents an important step in developing therapeutic agents," said Dr. Lawrence Lum, assistant professor of cell biology and senior author of the study, available at Nature Chemical Biology.

Study finds that in vitro fertilization plancentation may differ from normal plancentation

SAN DIEGO — In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM) annual meeting, researchers will unveil findings that show that there are distinct differences in protein detection between IVF and spontaneous pregnancies in the first half of gestation.

"Since women who have IVF pregnancies have a higher rate of complication than women with spontaneous pregnancies, we are looking for what may cause those complications," said Mervi Haapsamo, M.D., of the University of Oulu, Finland, and an author of the study.

Study able to predict which cesarean births could cause uterine rupture

SAN DIEGO — In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM) annual meeting, researchers will unveil findings that show that by using a sonogram to measure the lower uterine segment (LUS) thickness, they can predict uterine scar defects in women who had previous cesarean deliveries and anticipate which patients are at risk for subsequent uterine rupture if they have a trial of labor.

Education, daytime hours, and job flexibility most help single moms of preschoolers

What contributes most to a nurturing home environment for three- to five-year-old children of single working mothers? A new University of Illinois study reports that the mother's education is the most important factor, followed by her employment in jobs that offer either standard daytime hours or some flexibility.

"If young single mothers had even one more year of school, they did much better in terms of parent-child relationships," said Christy Lleras, a U of I assistant professor of human and community development.

Physics, math provide clues to unraveling cancer

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Biology exists in a physical world. That's a fact cancer researchers are beginning to recognize as they look to include concepts of physics and mathematics in their efforts to understand how cancer develops -- and how to stop it.

The movement, led by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, has come to a head with a new section in one of the top cancer research journals and a new grant program from the National Cancer Institute.