The Simons Foundation, through its Autism Research Initiative, has signed a $7.8 million, two-year contract with the Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository (RUCDR) to establish a collection of DNA samples for autism studies. The samples will be collected from 2,000 families that have a single autistic child.
Northwestern University is using an economics theory to rehab people with lousy health habits. Researchers want participants to just change two unhealthy behaviors to see if the others will tag along. Sort of a buy two, get two free sale based on the Behavioral Economics Theory used by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman. Couch potatoes also get an arsenal of high-tech tools to help them make the changes.
Type 1 diabetes is caused when immune cells attack and destroy the insulin producing beta-cells of the pancreas. Although insulin injections have changed the life of type I diabetics, they neither cure the disease nor prevent its severe complications.
The results of a clinical trial, published in late August in the Journal of Pediatrics, indicates that, when used as part of routine therapy, high-dose ibuprofen is safe and effective in slowing down lung disease in children with cystic fibrosis (CF).
A combination of two drugs shows promise in treating a rare and therapy-resistant type of melanoma that originates in the eye and spreads to other organs, according to a new study led by Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers.
Two studies report that exercise and yoga can help maintain and in some cases improve quality of life in women with early-stage breast cancer. The first study found that resistance and aerobic exercise improved physical fitness, self-esteem and body composition, and that resistance exercise improved chemotherapy completion rates. The second study demonstrated that yoga was particularly beneficial for women who were not receiving chemotherapy during the study period. Both studies will be published online September 4 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO).
Researchers at the University of Sheffield have developed a long-acting growth hormone for use in human therapy. The new discovery could mean that children and adults with growth hormone disorders will not have to have injections as often, reducing the need for daily treatments.
The first individual human genome has been mapped and will provide the first complete blueprint of an individual. A complete DNA blueprint of celebrity scientist Craig Venter has revealed genetic variation among humans far richer than previously imagined.
Rock and pop stars are more than twice as likely as the rest of the population to die an early death, and within a few years of becoming famous, reveals research published ahead of print in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the final selection of the Board of Directors for the newly created Mental Health Commission of Canada.