New study findings show that exposure to on-screen smoking in movies has a strong correlation with beginning to smoke or becoming established smokers among young adults 18-25, a critical age group for lifelong smoking behavior.
Even relatively low doses of resveratrol—a chemical found in the skins of red grapes and in red wine—can improve the sensitivity of mice to the hormone insulin, according to a report in the October issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication.
New recommendations that restrict women who have previously been pregnant from donating platelets and plasma will have a major impact on the blood supply. The reason is a potentially deadly protein associated with Transfusion Related Acute Lung Injury, or TRALI.
Resistance to chemotherapy treatments can be the worst news a cancer patient ever receives. A pair of researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia is working steadfastly to learn why some tumors eventually build a tolerance to the common chemotherapy drug cisplatin, in hopes of identifying the particular genes that can be manipulated to make treatment as effective as possible.
Neuroscientists at Vanderbilt University are stepping into the national limelight with the establishment of a Silvio O. Conte Center for Neuroscience Research. The new center, funded by a $10 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), will support interdisciplinary studies aimed at understanding the gene networks that control serotonin systems in the brain.
The first significant genetic finding in premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) has now been reported. PMDD is a very severe form of the more commonly known premenstrual syndrome, or PMS. PMDD is heritable, affects 5-8% of women, and is associated with severe emotional and physical problems, such as irritability, marked depressed mood, anger, headaches, weight gain and more, to such an extent that quality of life is seriously impacted.
One of the biggest problems in the current treatment of cancer is that the agents that are efficacious in the destruction of tumorous cells are, at the same time, extremely toxic for the rest of the healthy cells and tissues of the patient. To address the problem the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) is seeking more specific treatments and studying the differences between tumorous cells and healthy ones.
Do young adults learn behaviors from movies? In a paper published in the November issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, examined the relationship between young adults (age 18-25) observing smoking in movies and the likelihood of starting to smoke.
People’s intake of fatty acids – which have been linked to cardiovascular disease and other conditions – can be substantially affected by changing the type of vegetable oil they use, according to researchers at the University of Illinois and Pennsylvania State University.
The American College of Physicians and the American Pain Society today released joint guidelines on diagnosing and treating low back pain.