Body

Unique DNA markings on certain genes may "predict" the risk of developing head and neck cancer, according to new research led by Queen Mary University of London.

The findings, published today in the journal Cancer, raise the potential for the development of non-invasive tests which could pick up these tell-tale signs of early cancer initiation.

Head and neck cancers are cancers that develop anywhere in the head and neck, including mouth cancer and throat cancer. About 16,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with head and neck cancer every year*.

ROCHESTER, Minn. --The total hospital cost of mitral valve repair surgery -- from the time a patient is admitted to the hospital until release --is similar, whether performed through small port incisions using robotic equipment or via the conventional open-chest method, a Mayo Clinic study of 370 patients found. Importantly, robotic surgeries were just as safe as conventional open procedures, but patients who underwent robotic mitral valve repair recovered more rapidly and returned home earlier than patients who had open-chest surgery, the study found.

Since 1990, the street price of illegal drugs has fallen in real terms while the purity/potency of what's on offer has generally increased, both of which are indicators of availability.

The United Nations recently estimated that the illicit drug trade is worth at least US $350 billion every year. And needle sharing is one of the key drivers of blood borne infections, including HIV. The drug trade is also linked to high rates of violence.

Total sleep duration is shorter and punctuated by more frequent waking at night, the research shows. Poor quality sleep may affect daytime learning and behaviour, say the authors.

Disrupted sleep patterns have been linked to autism before, but the quality of the evidence accumulated to date has often been compromised by small sample size, lack of agreed definitions, and poor comparability of study participants.

San Jose, CA and Göttingen, Germany -- Researchers from the University Göttingen Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Chronix Biomedical have published a new study exploring the genetic hallmarks of canine mammary cancer.

MADISON — Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have made a discovery that, if replicated in humans, suggests a shortage of zinc may contribute to diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, which have been linked to defective proteins clumping together in the brain.

Physical activity in your leisure time could help keep your blood pressure at a healthy level, new research in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension suggests.

Researchers pooled results from 13 studies on the effects of physical activity on blood pressure. The studies involved 136,846 people in the United States, Europe or East Asia who initially had healthy blood pressure. More than 15,600 later developed high blood pressure during follow-up periods ranging from two to 45 years.

SEATTLE—Women can choose among several types of estrogen pills, which are equally effective at relieving menopausal symptoms. But in an observational study of comparative safety, use of estradiol was associated with less risk of developing blood clots in leg veins (deep vein thrombosis) and clots in the lungs (pulmonary emboli) than was use of conjugated equine estrogens.

The oral hormone therapy conjugated equine estrogens (CEEs), which is used by women to relieve menopause symptoms, appears to be associated with increased risk for venous thrombosis (VT, blood clots) and possibly myocardial infarction (heart attack), but not ischemic stroke risk, when compared with the hormone therapy oral estradiol, according to a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.

The proportion of infants bed sharing with caregivers increased between 1993 and 2010, especially among black and Hispanic families, according to a study published by JAMA Pediatrics, a JAMA Network publication.

While infant bed sharing is a common practice in many countries, strong associations between the practice and sudden infant death syndrome have been established, according to the study background. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants share a room with their parents but not a bed for sleeping to prevent sleep-related infant deaths.

Early-term births (37 to 38 weeks gestation) are associated with higher neonatal morbidity (illness) and with more neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) or neonatology service admissions than term births (39 to 41 weeks gestation), according to a study by Shaon Sengupta, M.D., M.P.H., now of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and formerly of the University at Buffalo, N.Y., and colleagues.

Researchers examined data over a three-year period from medical records of 33,488 live births at major hospitals in Erie County, N.Y., 29,741 at a gestational age between 37 to 41 weeks.

New Haven, Conn. — The number of infants sharing a bed with their caregivers increased between 1993 and 2010, especially among black and Hispanic families, but this unhealthy trend could be reversed with education from healthcare providers, according to Yale School of Medicine researchers. Their findings are published in the Sept. 30 issue of JAMA Pediatrics, a JAMA Network publication.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., – Sept. 30, 2013 – Flushed face, sweating, a sudden rush of heat. The hot flash, the bane of menopausal women, also can affect men who are undergoing hormone therapy for prostate cancer.

But unlike in women, neither soy protein nor a common antidepressant provides relief for men, according to researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

LA JOLLA, CA—September 30, 2013¬–A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has created the first comprehensive roadmap of the protein interactions that enable cells in the pancreas to produce, store and secrete the hormone insulin. The finding makes possible a deeper scientific understanding of the insulin secretion process—and how it fails in insulin disorders such as type 2 diabetes.

ANN ARBOR—A microfluidic chip developed at the University of Michigan is among the best at capturing elusive circulating tumor cells from blood—and it can support the cells' growth for further analysis.

The device, believed to be the first to pair these functions, uses the advanced electronics material graphene oxide. In clinics, such a device could one day help doctors diagnose cancers, give more accurate prognoses and test treatment options on cultured cells without subjecting patients to traditional biopsies.