Body

Irvine, Calif. – Individuals with diastolic blood pressure under 70 mm Hg coupled with an elevated systolic blood pressure may have a greater risk of heart attack and stroke than indicated by the systolic blood pressure values alone, according to a UC Irvine study.

CHICAGO (February 18, 2009) - You may recall as a child catching the itchy red rash, chicken pox. The unsightly infection was caused by the varicella zoster virus and was responsible for nearly 4 million cases each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), until a vaccine introduced in 1995 reduced that number by 83 percent.

CHICAGO (February 18, 2009) - Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a group of viruses that includes more than 100 different strains or types and is the most common sexually transmitted virus. The American Social Health Association (ASHA) reports that 75 percent or more of sexually active Americans will contract HPV sometime in their lives. HPV is most commonly attributed to causing cervical cancer and genital warts, but did you know HPV also causes oral cancer?

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Current arthritis medications can ease the pain, but stopping the progression of the disease requires more aggressive treatments: use of very limited available drugs or surgical intervention. University of Missouri researchers hope to find new therapeutic targets for arthritis by studying the interaction between two proteins that, if interrupted, may prevent arthritis pain caused by joint damage. In a new study, researchers have found potential evidence that blocking the proteins responsible for inducing inflammation prevents cartilage breakdown.

Waltham, MA—Actin, a globular protein found in all eukaryotic cells, is a workhorse that varies remarkably little from baker's yeast to the human body. Part of the cytoskeleton, actin assembles into networks of filaments that give the cell structural plasticity while driving many essential functions, from cell motility and division, to vesicle and organelle transport within the cell.

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — Colorectal cancer screening among patients with Medicare coverage is increasing, but a persistent gap remains between whites — who are screened most frequently — and all other racial and ethnic groups, according to a new study by researchers at UC Davis and the University of Washington. The study also showed that the biggest gap is between whites and Hispanics.

Because Medicare covers all available colorectal cancer screening procedures, the research suggests that obstacles other than insurance coverage are responsible for these disparities.

CINCINNATI—A study by researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) shows that high-fat diets, even if consumed for a short amount of time, can inflame fat tissue surrounding blood vessels, possibly contributing to cardiovascular disease.

These findings will be published in the Feb. 20 edition of the American Heart Association journal Circulation Research.

In a letter to be published in this week's Journal of the American MedicalAssociation (JAMA), Dr. S. Stanley Young, Assistant Director of Bioinformatics at the National Institute of Statistical Sciences, and Ming Yu, University of British Columbia, highlight the statistical limitations of a studyclaiming that bisphenol A is associated with cardiovascular diagnoses, diabetes and abnormal blood level liverenzyme levels. The earlier study, published in JAMA (September 16, 2008) by Dr. Ian A.

An international team of scientists, led by a Princeton University group, has observed an exciting and strange behavior in electrons' spin within a new material that could be harnessed to transform computing and electronics.

While reading a novel, as the author describes the main character washing dishes or cooking dinner, we will often create a mental image of someone in the kitchen performing these tasks. Sometimes we may even imagine ourselves as the dishwasher or top chef in these scenarios. Why do we imagine these scenes differently - when do we view the action from an outsider's perspective and when do we place ourselves in the main character's shoes? Psychologist Tad T.

Increased empathy toward minority group members is one way to reduce prejudice and promote more positive inter-group relationships. When individuals take on the perspective of someone from a different group, a number of processes and feelings are set in motion that should lead to more positive feelings toward members of that group. But University of Manitoba psychologists Jacquie D. Vorauer and Stacey J. Sasaki wanted to investigate the effect of empathy in actual interactions with minority group members.

Young adults with stroke symptoms are sometimes misdiagnosed in emergency rooms — making them miss effective early treatment — according to research presented today at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2009.

In the Misdiagnosis of Acute Stroke in the Young During Initial Presentation in the Emergency Room study, researchers reviewed data on 57 patients, ages 16 to 50 years old, enrolled since 2001 in the Young Stroke Registry at the Comprehensive Stroke Center at Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich.

A work accident leaves a woman blind in one eye. As she copes with the loss, within months the vision in the other, previously uninjured eye begins to blur, and the eye becomes red and inflamed.

The rare eye condition, known as sympathetic ophthalmia, occurs when vision is lost in one eye through injury or multiple surgeries, and the body's overactive immune system attacks the remaining healthy eye. Left untreated, a person can become completely blind.

WASHINGTON -- A congressionally mandated report from the National Research Council finds serious deficiencies in the nation's forensic science system and calls for major reforms and new research. Rigorous and mandatory certification programs for forensic scientists are currently lacking, the report says, as are strong standards and protocols for analyzing and reporting on evidence. And there is a dearth of peer-reviewed, published studies establishing the scientific bases and reliability of many forensic methods.

NEW YORK, NY (2/18/2009) -- Autism Speaks today announced initial results reported for the first industry-sponsored trial of the Autism Clinical Trials Network (ACTN), the Study of Fluoxetine in Autism (SOFIA). These results showed that fluoxetine was not effective for reducing repetitive behaviors in children and adolescents with Autistic Disorder as compared to placebo (non-medicinal sugar pill). The study was carried out in collaboration with study sponsor, Neuropharm Group Plc., a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on neurodevelopmental disorders.