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Cancer Hijacks Cell Scaffolding Protein Fascin-1
Date: Feb-27-2013A protein involved in the internal cell scaffold is associated with increased risk of metastasis and mortality in a range of common cancers finds a meta-analysis published in Biomed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine. The protein, fascin-1, is involved in bundling together the actin filaments which form the internal scaffolding of a cell and are involved in cell movement...
Blood Pressure During Pregnancy May Affect Offspring's Future Health
Date: Feb-27-2013Up to 10% of all women experience some form of elevated blood pressure during pregnancy. Researchers from the Centre for Social Evolution at the Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen show that mild maternal hypertension early in pregnancy actually benefits the fetus, but that late-pregnancy hypertension has negative health consequences for the child. The study is based on more than 750,000 births in Denmark, with follow-up data on children's hospital diagnoses for up to 27 years...
Addressing Stuttering In Down Syndrome
Date: Feb-27-2013Researchers from the University of Alberta are helping children with Down syndrome who stutter find their voice and speak with ease. Stuttering is a common problem that affects almost half of all children with Down syndrome, yet despite the scope of the problem, little research exists about preferred treatment options - or even whether to treat at all. Researchers with the U of A's Institute for Stuttering Treatment and Research (ISTAR) point to a new case study that shows fluency shaping can indeed improve a child's speech...
The Developing Brain May Be Affected By Bisphenol A
Date: Feb-27-2013Environmental exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), a widespread chemical found in plastics and resins, may suppress a gene vital to nerve cell function and to the development of the central nervous system, according to a study led by researchers at Duke Medicine. The researchers published their findings - which were observed in cortical neurons of mice, rats and humans - in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences...
Potential Diagnostic Test For River Blindness Infection
Date: Feb-27-2013Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found a telltale molecular marker for Onchocerciasis or "river blindness," a parasitic infection that affects tens of millions of people in Africa, Latin America and other tropical regions. The newly discovered biomarker, detectable in patients' urine, is secreted by Onchocerca volvulus worms during an active infection. The biomarker could form the basis of a portable, field-ready test with significant advantages over current diagnostic methods...
One In 3 Ventilated Patients Suffers From PTSD Symptoms
Date: Feb-27-2013One in three people who survived stays in an intensive care unit (ICU) and required use of a mechanical ventilator showed substantial post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms that lasted for up to two years, according to a new Johns Hopkins study of patients with acute lung injury. Because acute lung injury (ALI) - a syndrome marked by excessive fluid in the lungs and frequent multi-organ failure - is considered an archetype for critical illness, the researchers suspect PTSD is common among other ICU survivors as well...
Donated Liver Survival Rate Greatly Improved By Antioxidant
Date: Feb-27-2013Researchers from Italy have found that the antioxidant, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), when injected prior to harvesting of the liver, significantly improves graft survival following transplantation. Results published in the February issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), suggest that the NAC effect on early graft function and survival is higher when suboptimal organs are used...
Exposure To Airborne Dust In Urban Areas Leads To A Rise And Fall In Childhood Blood Levels Of Lead
Date: Feb-27-2013A new nine-year study* of more than 367,000 children in Detroit supports the idea that a mysterious seasonal fluctuation in blood lead levels - observed in urban areas throughout the United States and elsewhere in the northern hemisphere - results from resuspended dust contaminated with lead. The scientists, who report in the journal Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T), say the results have implications for government efforts to control childhood exposure to lead, which can have serious health consequences...
What Are Fordyce Spots? What Causes Fordyce Spots?
Date: Feb-27-2013Fordyce spots, also known as Fordyce's spots, Fordyce granules or Sebaceous Prominence, are small raised, pale red, yellow-white or skin-colored bumps or spots that appear on the shaft of the penis, the labia, scrotum, or the vermilion border of the lips of a person's face. They can also be found on the foreskin of the penis (called Tyson's glands). The vermilion (vermillion) border of the lips is the normally sharp demarcation between the red colored part of the lip and the adjacent normal skin of the face...
Metabolic Model May Predict Parasite Metabolism, Disease Ranges Under Climate Change
Date: Feb-27-2013Knowing the temperatures that viruses, bacteria, worms and all other parasites need to grow and survive could help determine the future range of infectious diseases under climate change, according to new research. Princeton University researchers developed a model that can identify the prospects for nearly any disease-causing parasite as the Earth grows warmer, even if little is known about the organism. Their method calculates how the projected temperature change for an area would alter the creature's metabolism and life cycle, the researchers report in the journal Ecology Letters...
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