The ebb and flow of such autoimmune diseases as multiple sclerosis, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis has long been a perplexing mystery to scientists. But new findings from the Stanford University School of Medicine bring scientists closer to solving the puzzle, identifying a molecule that appears to play a central role in these relapses.
One study, to be published in the December issue of Pediatrics, is the first to confirm that pro-eating disorder Web sites may promote dangerous behaviors in adolescents with eating disorders.
A reproductive medicine specialist at the University at Buffalo has shown that a new compound may improve the fertility of tobacco smokers who have low sperm count and low percentage sperm motility.
Eighty-six percent of the recent decline in U.S. teen pregnancy rates is the result of improved contraceptive use, while a small proportion of the decline (14%) can be attributed to teens waiting longer to start having sex, according to a report by John Santelli, MD, MPH, department chair and professor of Clinical Population and Family Health at the Mailman School of Public Health and published in the January issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
According to a University of Pittsburgh-led study published in the December issue of Gastroenterology, medium-sized polyps found in the colon with flexible sigmoidoscopy and subsequently evaluated by full colonoscopy are associated with a significant number of advanced adenomas (high-risk polyps) and cancers.
Topics include: impact of melting glaciers on near-shore ecosystems; discovery of intact egg clusters from a Middle Cambrian oceanic invertebrate; biotic recovery from the End-Permian mass extinction; fossil evidence of unusual animal foraging behavior; dating the destruction of Herod the Great’s harbor at Caesarea; El Ni?o-related landslides along the Big Sur coastline, and evidence of flowing water at Mars’ Erebus crater. The GSA Today science article describes dynamics of ice sheet recession in East Antarctica.
Clinicians treating patients suffering from tennis elbow often advise them to change the grip size of their racket to alleviate muscle fatigue. A new study of muscle firing patterns in the forearm shows grip size has no relationship to the development of tendonitis.
African-American men with prostate cancer were more likely to report a family history of prostate cancer and breast cancer among siblings than men who did not have prostate cancer, according to researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Giving radiation therapy and chemotherapy at the same time after a lumpectomy helps keep breast cancer from returning locally, according to a study published in the Dec. 1 issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of ASTRO.
Researchers in the OHSU Digestive Health Center are developing a system through which clinicians hope to more easily identify people at increased risk for the disease. Early identification allows physicians to identify malignancies sooner and begin aggressive treatment quicker. Only patients at high risk for pancreatic cancer will be monitored.