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Identification Of Novel Gene Associated With Usher Syndrome
Date: Oct-04-2012Usher syndrome is a hereditary disease in which affected individuals lose both hearing and vision. The impact of Usher syndrome can be devastating. In the United States, approximately six in every 100,000 babies born have Usher syndrome. Several genes associated with different types of Usher syndrome have been identified. Most of these genes encode common structural and motor proteins that build sensory cells in the eye and inner ear. In a paper to be published in the November 2012 issue of Nature Genetics, a team of researchers from multiple institutions, led by Zubair M...
Unravelling The Structures Of Membrane Proteins
Date: Oct-04-2012The European Drug Initiative on Channels and Transporters (EDICT), which comes to an end this year, focused on membrane proteins. They make up a third of all proteins in every organism and play a key role in many human diseases. Membrane proteins are difficult to study and poorly understood, but the four-year EDICT project has enabled a major step forward in our understanding of the structures - and even more importantly the functions - of over 30 of these proteins...
New Tool Is A Cost-Effective Way To Detect Osteoporosis
Date: Oct-04-2012A computerized approach to examining patient bone X-rays for diagnosis of osteoporosis could side-step the subjectivity associated with visual examination, according to a new research paper in the International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology published in October...
Pioneering New Clinical Study Begins To Find Simple Blood Test That Could Be Used To Detect Breast Cancer
Date: Oct-04-2012A SIMPLE blood test could one day be a more accurate way to test for the early signs of breast cancer than using mammograms to spot a lump say researchers, as Breast Cancer Awareness Month gets underway. They also hope the blood test could improve treatment by detecting whether breast cancer patients are likely to relapse and what drugs their particular type of tumour will respond to...
Physiological Role Of A Novel Hormone FNDC5/Irisin Revealed In Humans
Date: Oct-04-2012A research team led by Dr. Christos Mantzoros, MD, PhD, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, has published new findings elucidating the molecular and clinical role of FNDC5/irisin in humans. Irisin is a recently identified hormone secreted from muscle cells that has been found to serve as a chemical messenger providing key exercise-induced health benefits in mice. In these earlier studies, irisin showed direct effects on 'browning' of white fat which would lead to burning of excess calories...
Inattentional Blindness: How Memory Load Leaves Us 'Blind' To New Visual Information
Date: Oct-04-2012Trying to keep an image we've just seen in memory can leave us blind to things we are 'looking' at, according to the results of a new study supported by the Wellcome Trust. It's been known for some time that when our brains are focused on a task, we can fail to see other things that are in plain sight...
Children Can Increase Their Physical Activity By 'Exergaming'
Date: Oct-04-2012A study published in Pediatrics by researchers at the University of Montreal offers positive news for Wii-loving teenagers and their parents: games such as Wii Sports and Dance Dance Revolution can bring them closer to recommended physical activity levels. The study is the first of its kind. "Teenage exergamers - people who play video games that require physical activity - are most likely females who are stressed about their weight. On average, they play two 50 minute sessions per week," said study author Jennifer O'Loughlin of the university's Department of Social and Preventative Medicine...
Improved Treatment Outcomes With Preoperative Needle Breast Biopsies
Date: Oct-04-2012Women suspected of having breast cancer now have more reasons to be diagnosed with a needle biopsy instead of a traditional open surgical biopsy. Besides avoiding the risks and discomfort of an open surgical procedure, needle biopsies can also lead to improved treatment outcomes according to findings from a new study published in the October issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. Breast cancer is the number one form of cancer diagnosed in women in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...
Infectious Disease Stigmas Can Be Influenced By Public Health Messages
Date: Oct-04-2012Crafting public health messages about a disease may create stigmas that influence how likely people are to endorse certain interventions, such as isolating infected persons, forcing treatment on them and mapping their location, according to a Penn State researcher. Rachel Smith, associate professor of communication arts and sciences and investigator with the University's Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, used a hypothetical disease -- a virus carried by rodents -- to develop 16 different health alerts describing the virus and those who were infected...
Depression And Anxiety A Risk For Humanitarian Aid Workers
Date: Oct-04-2012Humanitarian workers are at significant risk for mental health problems, both in the field and after returning home. The good news is that there are steps that they and their employers can take to mitigate this risk. These findings, from a new study by scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and collaborators, including Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, are published online in the journal PLOS ONE. Researchers surveyed 212 international humanitarian workers at 19 NGOs. Prior to deployment, 3.8% reported symptoms of anxiety and 10...
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