After the death of a loved one from natural causes, the normal responses from most people are acceptance and yearning for the deceased, according to a new study in the February 21 issue of JAMA that is an empirical examination of the stage theory of grief.
Eating chocolate could help to sharpen up the mind and give a short-term boost to cognitive skills, a University of Nottingham expert has found.
Researchers suggest a reason for racial disparity in breast cancer survival rates. African and African American women are much less likely to survive breast cancer surgery than their white counterparts and far more likely to get the disease before the menopause. Previous research suggests that those who undergo surgery for the disease before the menopause are more prone to relapse.
Blood poisoning and meningitis are acute life-threatening infections that are often caused by meningococcus bacteria. The course of the disease is still relatively unknown, but a research team at Uppsala University led by Professor Ann-Beth Jonsson has managed to monitor the movements of the bacteria and glean information that may help in the development of new vaccines against the diseases. The study is being published in the new issue of the online journal PLoS ONE.
The mystery of why multiple sclerosis (MS) tends to go into remission while women are pregnant may be the secret to overcoming the devastating neurodegenerative disease, according to University of Calgary researchers who have shown that a pregnancy-related hormone is responsible for rebuilding the protective coating around nerve cells.
Survivors of childhood cancers have a ninefold increased risk of developing a secondary sarcoma — a cancer of connective or supportive tissue such as bone, fat, or muscle — compared with the general population, according to a study in the February 21 Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
A long-term research project at the University of Missouri-Columbia is producing valuable information about alcoholism and individuals who are affected by a family history of the disease.
Newborns with respiratory distress should be evaluated for primary ciliary dyskinesia, a rare genetic disease that has features similar to cystic fibrosis, says Thomas Ferkol from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He reports finding that about 80 percent of patients with primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) have a history of newborn respiratory distress.
A promising approach to gene therapy involves short DNA fragments (interfering RNA) that bind to specific genes and block their “translation” into the corresponding, disease-related protein.
Using gene chips to profile tumors before treatment, researchers at Harvard and Yale Universities found markers that identified breast cancer subtypes resistant to Herceptin, the primary treatment for HER2-positive breast cancer.