Body

Men with higher vitamin C intake appear less likely to develop gout, a painful type of arthritis, according to a report in the March 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Individuals with no or inconsistent health care coverage appear less likely to regularly seek eye care, even if they are visually impaired, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

The prevalence of diabetes has doubled in the past decade, and the resulting increases in diabetes-related eye disease pose a new challenge to eye specialists, according to an editorial in the March issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Washington University School of Medicine have identified a key to eye development — a protein that regulates how the light-sensing nerve cells in the retina form. While still far from the clinic, the latest results, published in the Jan. 29 issue of Neuron, could help scientists better understand how nerve cells develop.

Stanford, CA— Rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the resulting effects on ocean water are making it increasingly difficult for coral reefs to grow, say scientists. A study to be published online March 13, 2009 in Geophysical Research Letters by researchers at the Carnegie Institution and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem warns that if carbon dioxide reaches double pre-industrial levels, coral reefs can be expected to not just stop growing, but also to begin dissolving all over the world.

PASADENA, Calif.-- For the tiny soil-dwelling nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, life is usually a situation of feast or famine. Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have found that this worm has evolved a surprisingly optimistic genetic strategy to cope with these disparate conditions--one that could eventually point the way to new treatments for a host of human diseases caused by parasitic worms.

The theory that a higher metabolism means a shorter lifespan may have reached the end of its own life, thanks to a study published in the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. The study, led by Lobke Vaanholt (University of Groningen, The Netherlands), found that mice with increased metabolism live just as long as those with slower metabolic rates.

Indiana University researchers found promising results in an exploratory study involving yoga practice by older adults who expressed a fear of falling. After a 12-week, twice weekly hatha yoga class, taught by a professional yoga therapist, study participants reported a reduced fear of falling, increased lower body flexibility and a reduction in their leisure constraints.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A growing trend toward higher Medicare premiums for the richest Americans could ultimately creep into the retirement income of less-wealthy seniors, a University of Illinois expert on federal health insurance warns.

Law professor Richard L. Kaplan says President Obama's bid to charge well-to-do retirees more for prescription-drug benefits is just the latest in a nearly two-decade shift that has saddled wealthy seniors with a rising share of Medicare premiums.

MADISON, WI, MARCH 9, 2009 – Escherichia coli is a commonly used indicator organism for detecting the presence of fecal contamination in drinking water supplies. The importance of E. coli as an indicator organism has led to several studies looking at the transport behavior of this important microorganism in groundwater environments. Commonly only a single strain of E. coli is used in these studies, yet research has shown that a significant amount of genetic variability exists among strains of E.

More and more information is being gathered about how human genes influence medically relevant traits, such as the propensity to develop a certain disease. The ultimate goal is to predict whether or not a given trait will develop later in life from the genome sequence alone (i.e. from the sequence of the bases that make up the DNA strands that store genetic information in every cell of the body).

Amsterdam, The Netherlands – March 09, 2009 – A new study appearing in Pain Practice successfully established the reliability a newly developed device for assessing pain. This device is called the continuous pain score meter (CPSM). It enables continuous real time pain score measurement, which is used to obtain exact measurements of pain intensity in humans during the course of a procedure. The findings provide more detailed information on patients' pain perception and may lead to better pain management for certain clinical procedures.

New Rochelle, NY, March 9, 2009—Chemicals present in cranberries—and not the acidity of cranberry juice, as previously thought—prevent infection-causing bacteria from attaching to the cells that line the urinary tract, as documented in a report published in Journal of Medicinal Food, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (www.liebertpub.com). The article is available free online at www.liebertpub.com/jmf

New England lobstermen have gone high tech by adding low-cost instruments to their lobster pots that record bottom temperature and provide data that could help improve ocean circulation models in the Gulf of Maine.

Environmental Monitors on Lobster Traps, or eMOLT, is a partnership involving NOAA, the Maine, Massachusetts, Downeast and Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen's Associations, the Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation, and the Marine Science Department at Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) in Portland, Maine.

EDISON, NJ, March 9, 2009 – Mild to moderate eczema sufferers who are looking for a cost-effective way to control and heal this skin condition without a prescription now have a new option to consider.