Body

Older men starting α-blockers-blockers, commonly used for treating enlarged prostates, have a higher risk of ischemic stroke during the initiation phase, although this effect is not apparent in men already taking other blood pressure medications, found new research in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Premature birth is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, pregnancy complications and other chronic diseases in adulthood. A new review in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) aims to help physicians identify adults who were born premature to prevent and manage health conditions.

Enact a national pharmacare program for Canadians. Let science and evidence guide health policy. Keep your promises. These are some of the recommendations that the editors of Canada's major medical journal, CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal), make in an editorial to the new Minister of Health, Dr. Jane Philpott.

"We congratulate you on becoming Canada's new Minister of Health," writes CMAJ's editorial team of medical doctors. "As the first physician to hold this post in 80 years, your appointment is a historic achievement."

LAWRENCE -- As delegates from 195 nations meet in Paris to debate mankind's response to global climate change, scientists from the University of Kansas and Rothamsted Research in England today issue a study of a major crop pest that underlines how "climate is changing in more ways than just warming."

INDIANAPOLIS -- Participation in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program yields robust and sustained improvement in cancer-related cognitive impairment, a prevalent and potentially debilitating condition that affects attention, memory and executive function in survivors, according to a new study from the Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University School of Medicine.

An international research team, led by Rodrigo Lacruz, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Basic Science and Craniofacial Biology at New York University's College of Dentistry (NYUCD), has just published a study describing for the first time the developmental processes that differentiate Neanderthal facial skeletons from those of modern humans.

ORLANDO, FL - Using a pediatric chemotherapy regimen to treat young adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) significantly improved their outcomes compared to what has historically been achieved with 'adult' treatment protocols, report Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists.

Overall survival and disease-free survival at three years exceeded 70 percent in patients between 18 and 50 years old, according to results of a multi-center phase 2 trial presented at the 57th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition in Orlando.

(Boston)--For the first time, researchers can provide early detection of plaques that have a high likelihood of clotting and/or rupture. Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) scientists have observed the development and evolution of atherosclerotic plaques at the highest risk for thrombosis (clotting) by using non-invasive Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

The results were reported in the journal Atherosclerosis.

Annual global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels could drop slightly in 2015, according to a report from the Global Carbon Project led by a Stanford University researcher. This surprising result contrasts with the rapid growth in emissions before 2014, underlining the need for action to stabilize and permanently lower global CO2 emissions, the researchers conclude.

Global carbon emissions are projected to stall in 2015, according to researchers at the University of East Anglia and the Global Carbon Project.

Last year global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and industry grew by just 0.6 per cent -- marking a year-on-year slow down. The projection for 2015 reveals a second year of slow growth or even a small decrease in global emissions.

The study is published today in the journal Nature Climate Change, with detailed data made available simultaneously in the journal Earth System Science Data.

How to maintain healthy skin and heal wounds is an intricate problem. Maintaining the skin requires exactly the right number of cells to divide to replace those shed from the skin surface. Too many cell divisions can lead to cancer, whereas too few will result in ulcers. Wound healing needs a short burst of cell production to fill the gap in the skin. Latest research shows that all dividing skin cells can flip between two probability game modes and so have the potential to both maintain and heal skin, challenging the view that only rare stem cells matter.

Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have developed an efficient and effective delivery vehicle for gene therapy, and have used it to shrink tumors by nearly 90 percent in a pre-clinical model of triple-negative breast cancer. The new technique uses a hydrogel - a super-glue-like gel that spontaneously forms when two solutions mix - and self-assembled nanoparticles consisting of two microRNAs that suppress and target tumor tissue.

Young men who have sex with men and have detectable levels of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were more likely to report condomless anal sex, including with a partner not infected with HIV, than virologically suppressed young men who have sex with men, according to an article published online by JAMA Pediatrics.

Weight increase during the first year of an infant's life was associated with risk for type 1 diabetes in study of children born in Norway and Denmark, according to an article published online by JAMA Pediatrics.

Type 1 diabetes is among the most common chronic diseases with onset in childhood. No single environmental factor has been established as a risk factor.

Maria C. Magnus, Ph.D., of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, and coauthors examined growth during the first year of life and the risk of childhood-onset type 1 diabetes.

New York, NY--December 7, 2015--In the first study to run a genome-wide analysis of Short Tandem Repeats (STRs) in gene expression, a large team of computational geneticists led by investigators from Columbia Engineering and the New York Genome Center have shown that STRs, thought to be just neutral, or "junk," actually play an important role in regulating gene expression. The work, which uncovers a new class of genetic variants that modulate gene expression, is published on Nature Genetics's Advance Online Publication website on December 7.