In the United States, the total fertility rate — the number of children a woman has in her lifetime — fell from seven or eight in 1800 to slightly more than two today, says J. David Hacker, assistant professor of history at Binghamton University. And with a five-year $667,237 grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Hacker hopes to find out why.
An international group of researchers has discovered that the mutated form of a gene called Palladin causes familial pancreatic cancer. The findings, published online today, Dec. 12, in the peer-reviewed journal PLoS-Medicine, may help explain why the disease is so deadly. The research project was led by Dr. Teri Brentnall, University of Washington associate professor of medicine, and supported by the Lustgarten Foundation, Canary Foundation and other private sources.
It’s been shown that the left side of the brain processes language and the right side processes music; but what about a language like Mandarin Chinese, which is musical in nature with wide tonal ranges?
Both men and women with schizophrenia are significantly more likely to have one or more of 46 common chronic health conditions than individuals without mental illness, according to study led by Caroline Carney Doebbeling, M.D., of the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute, Inc.
Current rates of tapping frankincense – which according to the Bible was given to the baby Jesus by the three wise men at Christmas and which will feature in thousands of Nativity plays in coming days – are endangering the fragrant resin’s sustained production, ecologists have warned.
Combining a newly formulated drug with one that is already a standard treatment slows the progression of multiple myeloma, an advanced cancer of the bone marrow cells, according to a clinical trial led by a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine researcher.
Although some Americans gain five to seven pounds with a diet of big meals and sweets between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, most people only gain a pound or two during the holidays, according to a UT Southwestern Medical Center registered dietitian.
A natural substance made from soy appears to have amazing restorative powers when given to animals with a multiple sclerosis (MS)-like disease.
Scientists collaborating at Cornell University in Ithaca and Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City have identified a panel of 23 protein biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid that acts as a neurochemical “fingerprint,” which doctors might use someday to identify patients living with Alzheimer’s disease. The research will be published in the December online edition of the journal Annals of Neurology.
To avoid pain associated with whiplash injury, safety considerations in cars could go beyond seat belts and airbags to examine the position of the driver and passenger head restraints, according to research at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. The study was conducted at the VA Medical Center in Milwaukee, a major teaching affiliate of the college.