Body

Alexandria, VA — Genetic testing for a certain mutation in pediatric patients is valuable in determining a cause for unexplained hearing loss, according to a study in the November 2012 issue of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery.

The study's authors state that testing for some of the most common mutations that cause sensorineural hearing loss in a targeted way, rather than through generalized screening of hearing loss patients, yields the best results.

Many animal species transmit information via chemical signals, but the extent to which these chemosignals play a role in human communication is unclear. In a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, researcher Gün Semin and colleagues from Utrecht University in the Netherlands investigate whether we humans might actually be able to communicate our emotional states to each other through chemical signals.

This press release is available in Spanish.

Taylor then filmed individual virus particles of pseudorabies virus, a model alpha-herpes virus that infects animals, as the particles exited neurons and entered skin cells. He found that the bottleneck limiting infection to one or two particles exists for pseudorabies virus as well.

As shown in the video of the process, viral particles, genetically altered to glow red, travel down long extensions of the neuron cell body called axons.

Boston, Mass, Nov. 5, 2012— A new study by researchers in Boston Children's Hospital's Division of Emergency Medicine indicates that a nationwide standard on booster seat laws for children 4 feet 9 inches and shorter, or up to 8 years old, would save lives. The findings were published online Nov. 5, 2012, in the journal Pediatrics.

Medical researchers at the University of Alberta studied the records of nearly 1000 patients who were admitted to hospital with pneumonia and noted those who were obese were more apt to survive compared to those who were of normal weight.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A national study of older Americans shows those who have limited mobility and low physical activity – scientifically categorized as "frail" – are five times more likely to report that they often don't have enough to eat, defined as "food insufficiency," than older adults who were not frail.

The nationally representative study of more than 4,700 adults older than age 60 in the United States uses data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The results are online today in the British Journal of Nutrition.

Boston, Mass. – Approximately one-third of Americans take a daily multivitamin, but little is known about a multivitamin's long-term affect on chronic diseases. Now, new research from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) finds that daily multivitamin use does not reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in men. A similar BWH study, announced last month, found daily multivitamin use can reduce a man's risk of cancer by 8 percent. The cardiovascular disease findings will be presented Nov.

People who regularly use cocaine socially have stiffer arteries, higher blood pressure and thicker heart wall muscle than non-users, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2012.

Australian researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure the effects of cocaine in 20 otherwise healthy adults who chronically used the illegal substance. Compared with 20 non-users, cocaine users had higher rates of multiple factors associated with higher risks of heart attack and stroke:

Clinicians should take caution when diagnosing a child who has a high fever and whose tests show evidence of adenovirus, and not assume the virus is responsible for Kawasaki-like symptoms. According to a new study from Nationwide Children's Hospital appearing in Clinical Infectious Diseases, adenovirus detection is not uncommon among children with Kawasaki disease.

A whale that is almost unknown to science has been seen for the first time after two individuals—a mother and her male calf—were stranded and died on a New Zealand beach. A report in the November 6th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, offers the first complete description of the spade-toothed beaked whale (Mesoplodon traversii), a species previously known only from a few bones.

Low levels of vitamin D may be associated with longevity, according to a study involving middle-aged children of people in their 90s published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

"We found that familial longevity was associated with lower levels of vitamin D and a lower frequency of allelic variation in the CYP2R1 gene, which was associated with higher levels of vitamin D," writes Dr. Diana van Heemst, Department of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands, with coauthors.

Home blood pressure monitoring may help patients with hypertension and stroke but did not improve blood pressure control for patients who had normal blood pressure at the start or those with disabilities, according to a randomized controlled trial published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Overcrowding in prisons — an issue in most prisons in Canada and other parts of the world — negatively impacts the mental and physical health of prisoners, states an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

CHICAGO – In a randomized study that included nearly 15,000 male physicians who were middle-aged or older, daily multivitamin use for more than 10 years of treatment and follow-up did not result in a reduction of major cardiovascular events, heart attack, stroke, or death from cardiovascular disease, according to a study appearing in November 7 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on cardiovascular disease. The study is being released early online to coincide with its presentation at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions.