Kidney Stones :: Kidney stones and nanoparticles
Researchers at Mayo Clinic have successfully isolated nanoparticles from human kidney stones in cell cultures and have isolated proteins, RNA and DNA that appear to be associated with nanoparticles.
Medicine
Heart Disease :: Blood transfusions raise heart patients’ infection risk
Blood transfusions save the lives of millions of heart surgery patients and others each year. But a new study suggests that patients who receive transfusions during heart bypass surgery have a higher risk of developing potentially dangerous infections, and dying, after their operation.
Brain :: Impulsiveness linked to activity in brain’s reward center
A new imaging study shows that our brains react with varying sensitivity to reward and suggests that people most susceptible to impulse — those who need to buy it, eat it, or have it, now — how the greatest activity in a reward center of the brain. The study appears in the Dec. 20 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.
Bird Flu :: Avian flu vaccine tested at the University of Maryland School of Medicine
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore will begin a clinical trial in January to test the first cell culture-based pandemic influenza vaccine to see if it will provide immunity faster and more reliably than a vaccine produced in eggs. The new study is also the first test in the United States of a whole virus vaccine for avian influenza, which could produce a stronger response by the immune system.
Back Pain :: Workers’ compensation ratings don’t accurately predict disabilities
A study of settlement decisions in workers’ compensation claims for low back pain has found almost no relationship between the rating of the disability’s severity when the claim was settlement and reported pain and disability 21 months later.
Gene :: Gene chip technology shows potential for identifying life-threatening blood infection
Right now there’s no rapid way to diagnose sepsis, a fast-moving blood infection that is a leading cause of death in hospital intensive care units. New research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that doctors one day could quickly distinguish sepsis from widespread non-infectious inflammation based on genetic profiles of patients’ blood.
Parkinson’s Disease :: Low LDL cholesterol leads to Parkinson’s disease
People with low levels of LDL cholesterol are more likely to have Parkinson’s disease than people with high LDL levels, according to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers.
Immunity :: Clues about how deadly bacterium gains foothold
How a potentially deadly bacterium that could be used as a bioterrorist tool eludes being killed by the human immune system is now better understood, researchers report in the December issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology.
Exercise :: Getting people to move – challenges in promoting physical activity
While the benefits of regular physical activity are well documented, public health officials struggle for methods to promote increased physical activity that will work in American society. In a study published in the January 2007 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers examine the challenges in promoting physical activity in a society less and less inclined to walk, run or exercise.
Colorectal Cancer :: Estrogen study provides new impetus for development of colon cancer drugs
The female hormone estrogen may hold important clues for scientists working on new therapies for colon cancer, a study by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers suggests.