FRIDAY - May 9, 2008---------------------------------------------------------News Archive/Return to Today's News Alerts

Ancient Beachcombers May Have Travelled Slowly
Evidence from the archaeological site in southern Chile confirms Monte Verde is the Americas earliest known settlement and is consistent with the idea that early human migration occurred along the Pacific Coast more than 14,000 years ago.

Autoimmune Debate Resolved?
New findings help resolve a long-standing debate in immunology over what type of cells are behind the progression of type-1 diabetes: attacker or protector cells.

Atomic Force Microscopy Shows Liquids Adjust Viscosity When Confined, Shaken
New research shows that when water is confined to a small space, it behaves like a gel. Then, when shaken, it becomes fluidic and exhibits the same structural and mechanical properties as water in a bottle. The study--the first to use an atomic force microscope to measure the viscosity of confined fluids--revealed that these liquids can respond and modify their viscosity based on environmental changes.

Researchers Launch Online Protein Folding Game
Multiplayer online gaming brings to mind fabulously successful titles, such as “World of Warcraft” and “Ultima.” On May 8, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researchers at the University of Washington are bringing the arcane world of protein folding to the online gaming arena with the launch of “Foldit,” a free game in which players around the world compete to design proteins. The real world benefit: Scientists will test proteins designed by the game's players to see if they make viable candidate compounds for new drugs.

Blocked Brain Enzyme Decreases Appetite and Promotes Weight Loss
NImagine being able to tone down appetite and promote weight loss, while improving the body's ability to handle blood sugar levels. That's just what Tony Means, PhD, and his team at the Duke University Medical Center were able to do when they blocked a brain enzyme, CaMKK2, in mice.

Children Should Have Electrocardiography Before Taking Drugs For Hyperactivity
Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder should have an electrocardiogram taken and a cardiac evaluation before they begin to take drugs for the disorder, the American Heart Association said in a scientific statement published on 21 April.

UK hospitals that offer cord blood collection will need licence from July 2008
The fast growing practice of collecting blood from the umbilical cords of newborn infants is to be regulated for the first time in the United Kingdom. Cord blood, a source of very "naive" blood stem cells, is used to treat some types of anaemia and leukaemia and may hold promise in treating other diseases.

Proportion Of People Paying For Their Care Rises In Poor Countries
The proportion of the cost of health care that is paid directly by patients themselves varies widely in Asia, with the Japanese paying the least out of their own pockets and the Nepalese paying the most, new research shows (Journal of Health Economics 2008;27:460-75).

Study Finds Link between Birth Order and Asthma Symptoms
in Young Children
Among four year-olds attending Head Start programs in New York City, those who had older siblings were more likely to experience respiratory symptoms including an episode of wheezing in the past year than those who were oldest or only children.

Study Identifies Molecular Response of Cartilage to Injury
It’s an unfortunate fact backed by studies of former professional football and soccer players: injury to joint cartilage escalates the risk of developing of osteoarthritis (OA). However, why this occurs—the details of how joint cartilage cells respond to acute trauma and how this response leads to progressive cartilage degradation—remains open to investigation.

Study Affirms Effectiveness of Medication for Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis
The Pediatric Rheumatology Collaborative Study Group—comprised of over 70 pediatric rheumatology centers in the US and Canada has been conducting a trial of etanercept in JRA patients for more than 8 years. The group shares reassuring news for pediatricians, parents, and, above all, children afflicted with JRA.

Early Baby Survival 'Unchanged'
Babies born at 23 weeks or earlier are no more likely to survive than they were a decade ago, a study has found. The work by East Midlands doctors supports preliminary findings from national research published last month.

India Children's Health 'Ignored'
More than half of Indian children under the age of five do not get the health care they need, according to a report by Save the Children. It ranks India alongside Ghana when it comes to providing basic health care to its children under five years of age.

Warming up for Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Standard magnetic resonance imaging, MRI, is a superb diagnostic tool but one that suffers from low sensitivity, requiring patients to remain motionless for long periods of time inside noisy, claustrophobic machines. A promising new MRI method, much faster, more selective - able to distinguish even among specific target molecules - and many thousands of times more sensitive, has now been developed in the laboratory by researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley.

Earliest Known American Settlers Harvested Seaweed
People living in the earliest known settlement in the Americas harvested seaweed and other marine plants from a coastline more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) away, new research shows.

Killer Competition: Neurons Duke It Out For Survival
The developing nervous system makes far more nerve cells than are needed to ensure target organs and tissues are properly connected to the nervous system. As nerves connect to target organs, they somehow compete with each other resulting in some living and some dying. Now, using a combination of computer modeling and molecular biology, neuroscientists at Johns Hopkins have discovered how the target tissue helps newly connected peripheral nerve cells strengthen their connections and kill neighboring nerves.

THURSDAY - May 8, 2008-----------------------------------------------------News Archive/Return to Today's News Alerts

Redefining Disease, Genes and All
Dr. Atul J. Butte, an assistant professor of medicine at Stanford, is among a growing band of researchers trying to redefine how diseases are classified - by looking not at their symptoms or physiological measurements, but at their genetic underpinnings. It turns out that a similar set of genes is active in boys with Duchenne and adults who have heart attacks.

After Divorce, Stable Families Help Minimize Long-Term Harm To Children
A new study has found that children who lived in unstable family situations after their parents divorced fared much worse as adults on a variety of measures compared to children who had stable post-divorce family situations.

Too Much Or Too Little Weight Gain Poses Risks to Pregnant Mothers, Babies
Women who gain more or less than recommended amounts of weight during pregnancy are likely to increase the risk of problems for both themselves and their child, according to a new report by the RTI International-University of North Carolina Evidence-based Practice Center.

Undergrad Has Sweet Success Inventing Artificial Golgi App.
An undergraduate student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has learned very quickly that a spoonful of sugar really does help the medicine go down. In fact, with his invention, the sugar may actually be the medicine. Among the most important and complex molecules in the human body, sugars control not just metabolism but also how cells communicate with one another. Graduating senior Jeffery Martin has put his basic knowledge of sugars to exceptional use by creating a lab-on-a-chip device that builds complex, highly specialized sugar molecules, mimicking one of the most important cellular structures in the human body — the Golgi Apparatus.

Platypus Genome Decoded
New research proves that the oddness of the platypus' looks isn't just skin-deep. Platypus DNA is an equally cobbled-together array of avian, reptilian and mammalian lineages that may hold clues for human disease prevention.

St. Jude Finds “Dancing” Hair Cells Are Key To Humans’ Acute Hearing
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators have found that an electrically powered amplification mechanism in the cochlea of the ear is critical to the acute hearing of humans and other mammals. The findings will enable better understanding of how hearing loss can result from malfunction of this amplification machinery due to genetic mutation or overdose of drugs such as aspirin.

Scientists Finally See Sugar Chains in Action
Glycans don’t get a lot of publicity compared with DNA and RNA, but they play important roles in the life of the cell. These sugar chains, also known as oligosaccharides, are often found on cell surfaces, where they are involved in cell-to-cell interactions, both healthy (like embryonic growth) and unhealthy (like viral infection).

Type Of Body Fat 'Boosts Health'
Body fat found under the skin - and particularly on the buttocks - may help reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, research suggests. A study contrasts subcutaneous fat with visceral fat, which is wrapped around the organs, and raises the risk of ill health.

Combined Physical and Genetic Map Finds Cancer's 'Ignition Key'
WWhole-organ maps that superimpose genetic information over the terrain of cancerous bladders chart the molecular journey from normal cell to invasive cancer, an international research team led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports online at the journal Laboratory Investigation, a member of the Nature Publishing Group. By geographically relating an organ's varied tissues - normal, precancerous and malignant - to their underlying genetic regulation, the team also identified a crucial new category of genes that launches the process of cancer development.

Treatment 'Slashes Baby HIV Risk'
Appropriate treatment can all but eradicate the risk that a pregnant woman with HIV will pass the virus to her child, research shows. Data on 5,151 HIV pregnancies in the UK and Ireland between 2000 and 2006 found an infant infection rate of just 1.2% where preventative steps were taken.

B Vitamins Have No Effect on Cardiovascular Risk in Women
In women at risk for or with a history of cardiovascular disease, there was no difference in the combined incident MI, stroke, coronary revascularization, and cardiovascular death between those taking folic acid and vitamins B6 and B12 and those taking placebo, JoAnn Manson, M.D., Dr.P.H., of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard School of Public Health, and colleagues found.

Group B Streptococcus Rates Rise in Adults, Fall in Infants
Group B streptococcal disease declined 27% among newborns from 1999 to 2005, but increased 48% among the ages 15 to 64 during the same period, reported Christina R. Phares, Ph.D., of the CDC here, and colleagues in the May 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Loss of Protective Barrier May Link DCIS to Invasive Breast Cancer
Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) progresses to invasive breast cancer because of the loss of a protective cellular barrier, leading to fibroblast-induced disintegration of milk duct walls, investigators from the the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard, and colleagues wrote in the May 6 issue of Cancer Cell.

University Of Edinburgh Human Embryonic Stem Cell Program Awarded UK Grant Funding
Geron Corporation announced two grant awards to the University of Edinburgh from the UK Stem Cell Foundation, with funding from the Medical Research Council and Scottish Enterprise. The awards, totalling £3.6 million (US$7.2 million) over two years, follow on from a collaboration set up in August 2006 between Geron and the University of Edinburgh to develop hESC-derived hepatocytes for the treatment of liver failure and for use in cell-based assays, as well as to develop osteoblasts and chondrocytes for the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders such as osteoporosis, bone fractures and osteoarthritis.

Computer Program Reveals Anyone's Ancestry
A group of computer scientists, mathematicians and biologists from around the world have developed a computer algorithm that can quickly trace an individual's genetic ancestry with only a small sample of their DNA. In fact, the program can trace the genetic ancestry of thousands of individuals in minutes, without any prior knowledge of their background.

Chore Wars: Men, Women and Housework
Husbands create an extra seven hours a week of housework for wives, according to a new study. But wives save husbands from about an hour of housework a week.

WEDNESDAY - May 7, 2008----------------------------------------------------News Archive/Return to Today's News Alerts

Pregnant Women Face Hostile Behavior When Aplying to JobsA Pregnant women may still face judgment and obstacles to getting jobs, shows two recent studies by George Mason University and Rice University professors. In one study, 81 adults evaluated a pregnant or non-pregnant applicant for male- or female-typed jobs. Those who provided evaluations for more traditionally “masculine” jobs such as corporate lawyer, janitor, high school math teacher or general surgeon were more judgmental toward the pregnant woman (for example, agreed more with the statements that the applicant “would complain a lot” or “would expect to have their work done for them”) than when evaluating the same applicant for positions such as a maid, kindergarten teacher or pediatrician.

Lab in a Drop
Jürgen Pipper and his team at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology in Singapore have developed a rapid test for genetic diagnosis that combines the preparation of biological samples with a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on one chip. The “laboratory device” for this system is a single drop containing magnetic nanoparticles, which is moved across the chip by a magnetic field.

Centrosomes Evolved Through Symbiogenesis
The origin of the centrosome has been controversial for many years. The theory of symbiogenesis as a mechanism of evolution has been debated since it was introduced in the 1920s and subsequently elaborated in the 1960s by Lynn Margulis of University of Massachusetts, Amherst. This paper argues that the centrosomes contain RNA that is likely a remnant of a once-independent, simpler genome incorporated by symbiosis.

Two Proteins Key to Melanoma Development
"We have shown that when two proteins – (V600E)B-Raf and Akt3 – communicate with one another in a mole, they cooperate leading to the development of melanoma," said Gavin Robertson, lead author and director of the Foreman Foundation Melanoma Therapeutics Program at the Penn State College of Medicine Cancer Institute.

New Discovery On Role of Vital Protein That Fights Meningitis
A University of Leicester researcher has discovered how a protein in the blood – linked to defence against meningitis - plays a more vital role than previously understood in the body’s immune defence system.

Test of Maturity For Stem Cells
Stem cells can differentiate into 220 different types of body cell. The development of these cells can now be systematically observed and investigated with the aid of two new machines that imitate the conditions in the human body with unprecedented accuracy.

Warning Signs for School Shootings
Extensive research of the 1999 Columbine high school shootings, which resulted in the deaths of 15 people, is the basis of a presentation by Oregon Health & Science University psychiatrist Jerald Block, M.D., on the psychiatric factors that can lead to school shootings.

Not All Fat Created Equal
It has long been known that type 2 diabetes is linked to obesity, particularly fat inside the belly. Now, researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center have found that fat from other areas of the body can actually reduce insulin resistance and improve insulin sensitivity.

Genes 'Up Indians' Obesity Risk'
Findings might provide a possible genetic explanation for the particularly high levels of obesity in Indian Asians, who make up 25% of the world's population, but who are expected to account for 40% of global cardiovascular disease by 2020. Researchers discovered that a gene sequence is associated with a 2cm expansion in waist circumference, a 2kg gain in weight, and a tendency to become resistant to insulin, which can lead to type 2 diabetes.

A New Saliva-Based HIV Test Under Evaluation
The waiting period for the results of a HIV test, especially in emergency situations, is exceedingly long and requires a blood sample. Dr. Nitika Pant Pai, from Marina Klein’s research team at the MUHC has just finished testing a new saliva-based test that gives results in approximately 20 minutes.

Medical Research Essential to Improving US Economy and Bettering Lives
Health care in the United States is expensive, but its funding is crucial because it also is a major contributor to the economy and can better lives, according to an essay appearing in the June 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). Because of the cost of health care, this is not time to shrink the budget at the National Institutes of Health, which funds medical research that leads to potentially curative therapy.

Researchers Find Way to Make Tumor Cells Easier to Destroy
Tumors have a unique vulnerability that can be exploited to make them more sensitive to heat and radiation, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report

Killer Competition: Neurons Duke It Out for Survival
The developing nervous system makes far more nerve cells than are needed to ensure target organs and tissues are properly connected to the nervous system. As nerves connect to target organs, they somehow compete with each other resulting in some living and some dying. Now, using a combination of computer modeling and molecular biology, neuroscientists at Johns Hopkins have discovered how the target tissue helps newly connected peripheral nerve cells strengthen their connections and kill neighboring nerves.

UC Davis Stem Cell Researchers Demonstrate Safety of Gene Therapy Using Adult Stem Cells
A new study by UC Davis researchers provides evidence that methods using human bone marrow-derived stem cells to deliver gene therapy to cure diseases of the blood, bone marrow and certain types of cancer do not cause the development of tumors or leukemia. The study was published online in the May 6, 2008 issue of Molecular Therapy.

Naturally-Occuring Protein May Be Effective In Limiting Heart Attack Injury and Restoring Function
Medical College of Wisconsin researchers in Milwaukee have shown for the first time that thrombopoietin (TPO), a naturally occurring protein being developed as a pharmaceutical to increase platelet count in cancer patients during chemotherapy, can also protect the heart against injury during a heart attack.

Superbug Genome Sequenced
The genome of a newly-emerging superbug, commonly known as Steno, has just been sequenced. The results reveal an organism with a remarkable capacity for drug resistance. The research was carried out by scientists at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute near Cambridge and the University of Bristol.

TUESDAY - May 6, 2008-------------------------------------------------------News Archive/Return to Today's News Alerts

Telemedicine Could Eradicate Many Emergency Room Visits
A community-wide study in upstate New York found that nearly 28 percent of all visits to the pediatric emergency department could have been replaced with a more cost-effective Internet doctor’s “visit,” or telemedicine, according to investigators from the University of Rochester Medical Center. The Rochester team will present these findings and more at this year's Pediatric Academic Society Meeting, to be held Friday, May 2 through Tuesday, May 6, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Introducing In Vitro ADMET Studies Earlier
Drug discovery and development is a high-cost/high-risk endeavor. On average, the process to bring a candidate from conception to market takes 12–15 years and costs, at current estimates, $1.8 billion. Whether or not a drug is a blockbuster, late-stage attrition due to on- or off-target toxicity can be devastating for a company.

Alcohol in Adolescence May Lead to Heavy Drinking
"Drinking patterns in adolescents may be set after only a few exposures to alcohol," said Nicole L. Schramm-Sapyta, research associate in the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at Duke University School of Medicine. "Rats that demonstrated a 'taste' for alcohol after only three nights of drinking were very likely to be the biggest drinkers after longer-term exposure."

Loss of Protective Heart Failure Protein Causes High Blood Pressure
Scientists at the Center for Translational Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia have found that a protein that appears to have protective and perhaps healing effects for failing hearts also plays a similar role in high blood pressure. They found lower-than-normal levels of the protein S100A1 in cells that line blood vessel walls in animals with high blood pressure

Tachykinin Receptor 3 Affects Alcohol and Cocaine Abuse
The search for genes associated with alcohol dependence has recently been extended to the tachykinin receptor 3 gene, located within a broad region on chromosome 4q. Researchers have found that seven of the nine single nucleotide polymorphisms - DNA sequence variations - in the 3' region of TACR3 have a significant association with AD as well as cocaine dependence.
NIH/National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, NIH/National Institute on Drug Abuse

New Agent Strikes at Infant Respiratory Virus Replication
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers have achieved promising results with a potential new weapon against respiratory syncytial virus, the most common cause of infant hospitalization in the United States.

Ketogenic Diet Cuts Kids' Epileptic Seizures
Seizures in children with drug-resistant epilepsy were reduced by the ketogenic diet, which stresses high fat, low carbohydrates, and controlled protein, the first randomized trial of the regimen found.

Iron-Fortified Formula May Slow Development of Nonanemic Infants
Iron-fortified baby formula may pose a developmental risk to children who do not need iron supplementation, according to a study reported by the University of Michigan, at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting.

Autism Associated with Mental Health of Parents
Parents of autistic children may be twice as likely to have psychiatric disorders themselves as parents of children without the disorder, researchers found.

New Type of Stem Cells May Help Regenerate Heart Tissues
The scientific journal Stem Cells has published a UCLA study about stem cells that may regenerate different kinds of human cardiovascular cells. The article, written by Dr. Robb MacLellan and his colleagues at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, points to a new type of stem cell that may be used to regenerate heart tissue that dies during a heart attack because of a lack of blood flow.

Jamie Thomson, Stem-Cell Pioneer, One of TIME 100
TIME magazine recognized UW-Madison biologist James Thomson as one of 2008’s “World’s Most Influential People” in its May 12 issue, which hit stands Friday. The fifth annual TIME 100 lists Thomson, along with Shinya Yamanaka of Japan’s Kyoto University, for their separate yet similar discoveries in November 2007.

Demystifying the Metabolic Magic of Sled Dogs
Dogs, in particular the sled dogs that run the annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska can run the grueling 1,100-mile race, and somehow change their metabolism during the race so as not to chew up their reserves and thus avoid the worst aspects of fatigue.

Anti-Cancer Gene Shield Discovery
Scientists have discovered a group of chemicals which protect one of the body's most important anti-cancer genes from destruction. They hope the chemicals - dubbed tenovins - could be used to develop effective new cancer treatments.

Hypertonic, Hyperviscous Fluids May Be Better Treatment For Severe Blood Loss
Intravenous administration of isotonic fluids is the standard emergency treatment in the U.S. for patients with severe blood loss, but UC San Diego bioengineering researchers have reported improved resuscitation with a radically different approach. Building on earlier studies in humans that have shown benefits of intravenous fluids that are eight times saltier than normal saline, the researchers combined hypertonic saline with viscosity enhancers that thicken blood.

Scientists Find Distinct Stem Cells in the Pituitary Gland
A team of researchers led by scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have for the first time identified stem cells that allow the pituitary glands of mice to grow even after birth. They found that, in contrast to most adult stem cells, these cells are distinct from those that fuel the initial growth of this important organ. The results suggest a novel way that the hormone-secreting gland may adapt, even in adolescents and adults, to traumatic stress or to normal life changes like pregnancy.

Tomato Paste Helps Fight Sunburn and Wrinkles
A study by researchers at Manchester and Newcastle Universities has found that adding five tablespoons of tomato paste to the daily diet of 10 volunteers, their skin's ability to protect against harmful UV rays improved.

MONDAY - May 5, 2008-----------------------------------------------------News Archive/Return to Today's News Alerts

First Two Female Scientists Share $500,000 Prize For Biomedical Research
Joan Steitz and Elizabeth Blackburn are the first women ever to receive the 8-year-old Albany Medical Center Prize. They will share the $500,000 award, which ranks second only to the $1.4 million Nobel Prize among medical prizes.

Albert Hofmann, the Father of LSD, Dies at 102
Dr. Hofmann’s work produced other important drugs, including methergine, used to treat postpartum hemorrhaging, the leading cause of death from childbirth. But it was LSD that shaped both his career and his spiritual quest.

Infants in Danger: A Conversation with Infant Psychologist
Alicia Lieberman
It was once assumed that infants lacked similar sensory awareness. Not true, says Alicia Lieberman, PhD, a UCSF professor of psychiatry, who has spent her career trying to prevent and undo the emotional damage inflicted on very young children stuck in violence-prone homes.

Metabolic 'Fingerprint' Can Reveal Much About Possible Causes of Major Diseases
The Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at Imperial College, London, produced a study which reveals that people with increased levels of the amino acid alanine, found in many foods but which is particularly high in animal protein, have higher blood pressure and also increased energy intake, levels of dietary cholesterol, and body mass index. However, people with increased levels of the metabolite formate have lower blood pressure and increased energy intake; and people with increased levels of hippurate, a by-product of metabolism by microbes in the gut, are found to have lower blood pressure, lower levels of alcohol intake, and higher levels of dietary fibre.

Autoimmune Diseases Linked to Elimination of Dying Cells
"We asked the question, how do engulfing cells know when and what cells to destroy since there are so many different types of cells in the body, " said Zheng Zhou, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at BCM. "A few signals that the dying cells send out to attract their engulfing cells have been discovered. Researchers jokingly call this kind of signals the 'eat-me' signals." Improper removal of dying cells can cause autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus as well as chronic inflammatory responses.

Findings Indicate How Gene Transcription Is Controlled In Embroyonic Stem Cells
A special complex called NODE (Nanog and Oct4-associated Deacetylase) contains a critical component called Mta1 along with histone deacetylases. NODE associates with Nanog and Oct4 to control the fate of embryonic stem cells.

Pediatricians Likely to Recommend New HPV Vaccine
Experts believe that 75 to 80 percent of US adults have been exposed to at least one type of HPV at some point. One HPV vaccine was approved in June 2006 for 9- to 26-year-old girls and women, and will likely be available for use later this year. The other vaccine is expected to be approved by the FDA within the next year.

1/3 of US Parents Don't Know What to Expect of Infants
Moms and dads often misinterpret behaviors – some parents expect too much of babies too soon and grow frustrated; others underestimate their child’s abilities, preventing them from learning on their own. The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study is designed to provide decisionmakers, researchers, child care providers, teachers, and parents with detailed information about children's early life experiences. The birth cohort of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-B) looks at children's health, development, care, and education during the formative years from birth through kindergarten entry.

Fibroids and Endometriosis May Respond to Less Invasive Treatment Options to Preserve Fertility
A medical approach using selective estrogen receptor modulators and selective progesterone receptor modulators, uterine artery embolization, MRI-focused high-energy ultrasound, and conservative surgery using abdominal myomectomy, hysterectomy to remove the fibroids, may preserve the reproductive capacity of the uterus.

Uninsured USA Middle Class Kids Same Unmet Needs As Poor
Nationwide, uninsured children in families earning between $38,000 and $77,000 a year are just as likely to go without any health care as uninsured children in poorer families. More than 40 percent of children in those income brackets who are uninsured all year see no physicians and have no prescriptions all year, according to new research from the University of Rochester Medical Center.

A Reversal of Fortunes: Trends Downward in Mortality in the United States
From 1983 to 1999, life expectancy declined significantly in 11 counties for men and in 180 counties for women. Life expectancy decline in both sexes was caused by increased mortality from lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, and a range of other noncommunicable diseases. Higher HIV/AIDS and homicide deaths also contributed substantially to life expectancy decline for men, but not for women.

Glial Cells Act As Guideposts In Neural Circuit Development
Despite its complexity, the nervous system is also elegantly organized, and nowhere is this precise organization more evident than in the human brain. The uestion is, on a cellular level, how do pre- and postsynaptic cells reliably meet each other and choose each other as partners. Two different scenarios have been proposed: the “dating” scenario and the “arranged marriage” scenario. In the “dating” mode, mutual attraction between the pre- and postsynaptic cells leads to the specific association between synaptic partners. In the “arranged marriage mode” however, a third cell can function as a guidepost to coordinate the innervation. This guidepost cell attracts both pre- and postsynaptic partners, enabling them to choose each other.

Proteins that Stop a Major Signaling Pathway Can Also Generate New Proteins
Duke University Medical Center researchers have recently discovered that a crucial communications pathway in cells not only stops cells from making proteins, it also makes them go. The team was able to define the way in which proteins called beta arrestins (for their role in stopping signals) also turn on pathways that ultimately lead to the production of new proteins in virtually all tissues in the body.

Why We Sleep: The Temporal Organization of Recovery
Sleep is as necessary as water and food, yet it is unclear why it is required and maintained by evolution. Recent work suggests multiple roles, a correlation with synaptic plasticity changes in the brain, and widespread changes in gene expression, not unlike what has been recently discovered in circadian biology.

Breakthrough Turns Stem Cells Into Heart Cells
An international research team, led by a Canadian stem-cell scientist, has successfully turned human embryonic stem cells into three types of heart cells. The immediate implications of the findings, will allow researchers to develop ways to assess how heart cells respond to new drugs.

Stem Cells At Root of Antlers' Branching
The most important finding of the present study is the demonstration of STRO-1+ cells in different locations of the primary and regenerating antler as well as in the pedicle of fallow deer. The experiments described by Rolf and colleagues strongly support the view that the annual antler regeneration indeed represents a stem cell-based process.


First Two Female Scientists Share $500,000 Prize For Biomedical Research
Joan Steitz and Elizabeth Blackburn are the first women ever to receive the 8-year-old Albany Medical Center Prize. They will share the $500,000 award, which ranks second only to the $1.4 million Nobel Prize among medical prizes.

Albert Hofmann, the Father of LSD, Dies at 102
Dr. Hofmann’s work produced other important drugs, including methergine, used to treat postpartum hemorrhaging, the leading cause of death from childbirth. But it was LSD that shaped both his career and his spiritual quest.

Infants in Danger: A Conversation with Infant Psychologist
Alicia Lieberman
It was once assumed that infants lacked similar sensory awareness. Not true, says Alicia Lieberman, PhD, a UCSF professor of psychiatry, who has spent her career trying to prevent and undo the emotional damage inflicted on very young children stuck in violence-prone homes.

Metabolic 'Fingerprint' Can Reveal Much About Possible Causes of Major Diseases
The Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at Imperial College, London, produced a study which reveals that people with increased levels of the amino acid alanine, found in many foods but which is particularly high in animal protein, have higher blood pressure and also increased energy intake, levels of dietary cholesterol, and body mass index. However, people with increased levels of the metabolite formate have lower blood pressure and increased energy intake; and people with increased levels of hippurate, a by-product of metabolism by microbes in the gut, are found to have lower blood pressure, lower levels of alcohol intake, and higher levels of dietary fibre.

Autoimmune Diseases Linked to Elimination of Dying Cells
"We asked the question, how do engulfing cells know when and what cells to destroy since there are so many different types of cells in the body, " said Zheng Zhou, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at BCM. "A few signals that the dying cells send out to attract their engulfing cells have been discovered. Researchers jokingly call this kind of signals the 'eat-me' signals." Improper removal of dying cells can cause autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus as well as chronic inflammatory responses.

Findings Indicate How Gene Transcription Is Controlled In Embroyonic Stem Cells
A special complex called NODE (Nanog and Oct4-associated Deacetylase) contains a critical component called Mta1 along with histone deacetylases. NODE associates with Nanog and Oct4 to control the fate of embryonic stem cells.

Pediatricians Likely to Recommend New HPV Vaccine
Experts believe that 75 to 80 percent of US adults have been exposed to at least one type of HPV at some point. One HPV vaccine was approved in June 2006 for 9- to 26-year-old girls and women, and will likely be available for use later this year. The other vaccine is expected to be approved by the FDA within the next year.

1/3 of US Parents Don't Know What to Expect of Infants
Moms and dads often misinterpret behaviors – some parents expect too much of babies too soon and grow frustrated; others underestimate their child’s abilities, preventing them from learning on their own. The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study is designed to provide decisionmakers, researchers, child care providers, teachers, and parents with detailed information about children's early life experiences. The birth cohort of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-B) looks at children's health, development, care, and education during the formative years from birth through kindergarten entry.

Fibroids and Endometriosis May Respond to Less Invasive Treatment Options to Preserve Fertility
A medical approach using selective estrogen receptor modulators and selective progesterone receptor modulators, uterine artery embolization, MRI-focused high-energy ultrasound, and conservative surgery using abdominal myomectomy, hysterectomy to remove the fibroids, may preserve the reproductive capacity of the uterus.

Uninsured USA Middle Class Kids Same Unmet Needs As Poor
Nationwide, uninsured children in families earning between $38,000 and $77,000 a year are just as likely to go without any health care as uninsured children in poorer families. More than 40 percent of children in those income brackets who are uninsured all year see no physicians and have no prescriptions all year, according to new research from the University of Rochester Medical Center.

A Reversal of Fortunes: Trends Downward in Mortality in the United States
From 1983 to 1999, life expectancy declined significantly in 11 counties for men and in 180 counties for women. Life expectancy decline in both sexes was caused by increased mortality from lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, and a range of other noncommunicable diseases. Higher HIV/AIDS and homicide deaths also contributed substantially to life expectancy decline for men, but not for women.

Glial Cells Act As Guideposts In Neural Circuit Development
Despite its complexity, the nervous system is also elegantly organized, and nowhere is this precise organization more evident than in the human brain. The uestion is, on a cellular level, how do pre- and postsynaptic cells reliably meet each other and choose each other as partners. Two different scenarios have been proposed: the “dating” scenario and the “arranged marriage” scenario. In the “dating” mode, mutual attraction between the pre- and postsynaptic cells leads to the specific association between synaptic partners. In the “arranged marriage mode” however, a third cell can function as a guidepost to coordinate the innervation. This guidepost cell attracts both pre- and postsynaptic partners, enabling them to choose each other.

Proteins that Stop a Major Signaling Pathway Can Also Generate New Proteins
Duke University Medical Center researchers have recently discovered that a crucial communications pathway in cells not only stops cells from making proteins, it also makes them go. The team was able to define the way in which proteins called beta arrestins (for their role in stopping signals) also turn on pathways that ultimately lead to the production of new proteins in virtually all tissues in the body.

Why We Sleep: The Temporal Organization of Recovery
Sleep is as necessary as water and food, yet it is unclear why it is required and maintained by evolution. Recent work suggests multiple roles, a correlation with synaptic plasticity changes in the brain, and widespread changes in gene expression, not unlike what has been recently discovered in circadian biology.

Breakthrough Turns Stem Cells Into Heart Cells
An international research team, led by a Canadian stem-cell scientist, has successfully turned human embryonic stem cells into three types of heart cells. The immediate implications of the findings, will allow researchers to develop ways to assess how heart cells respond to new drugs.

Stem Cells At Root of Antlers' Branching
The most important finding of the present study is the demonstration of STRO-1+ cells in different locations of the primary and regenerating antler as well as in the pedicle of fallow deer. The experiments described by Rolf and colleagues strongly support the view that the annual antler regeneration indeed represents a stem cell-based process.

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