Researchers have identified a novel gene mutation that causes X-linked mental retardation for which there was no previously known molecular diagnosis, according to an article to be published electronically on Tuesday, March 20, 2007, in the American Journal of Human Genetics.
The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (also known as Children of the 90s) is a unique ongoing research project based in the University of Bristol. It enrolled 14,000 mothers during pregnancy in 1991-2 and has followed most of the children and parents in minute detail ever since.
People who use tanning beds do not protect themselves from skin damage from subsequent sun exposure. Use of sunbeds before age 35 substantially increases the risk of developing melanoma, the most deadly type of skin cancer, the researchers found.
A new analysis of health reform bills in Congress prepared for the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System shows that many current Congressional health care proposals could significantly reduce the number of uninsured Americans and also decrease overall health care expenditures including those for insurance administration and prescription drugs.
A British study, involving 5,500 children and published in the latest issue of PLoS Medicine, used accurate methods to measure the “fat mass” of the children and the amount of physical activity they were taking. The researchers, based at the University of Bristol, concluded that low levels of activity, particularly moderate and vigorous activity, play an important role in the development of obesity.
Suspicion and mistrust of Western medicine led Muslim religious leaders in three northern states of Nigeria to call for the 2003 boycott of the national polio vaccine campaign, according to a historical analysis in PLoS Medicine. The boycott led to fresh outbreaks of polio in Nigeria.
In classic movies, cigarette smoking was used as shorthand to convey sultriness and beauty. In the real world, the connection between smoking and one?s appearance ? as many studies have shown ? has more to do with premature signs of aging and less to do with glamour and refinement.
A drug used to strengthen bone has been found to help reduce the high incidence of hip fractures among people with Parkinson disease, according to a study published in the March 20, 2007, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Ex-smokers achieved non-smokers? level of arterial stiffness after a decade of smoking cessation, in a cross-sectional study reported in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Disrupt the gene that regulates the biological clocks in mice and they become manic, exhibiting behaviors similar to humans with bipolar disorder, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.