For the first time, researchers have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to determine what parts of the brain are active when people consider whether to purchase a product and to predict whether or not they ultimately choose to buy the product. The study appears in the journal Neuron and was co-authored by scientists at Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford University and the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Most genome sequencers are looking for genes inside living species to understand their function. But one genome project is deliberately searching for DNA sequences that are absent from species — perhaps because they are too dangerous to life to exist. The US team have developed software that calculates all the possible sequences of nucleotides and then scans sequence databases to identify sequences that aren’t present. They believe their results will have far-reaching applications.
The sleep problems of older people are often not addressed by their doctors, even though treatment of those sleep disorders could improve their physical and mental health and enhance their quality of life. A new study from Northwestern University found when patients 60 years and older visited their doctors, physicians did not note sleep problems in the patients’ charts. This was significant because many of those patients suffered from insomnia and were not being treated.
McMaster University pediatric cancer specialist Dr. Ronald Barr says the teen gap in cancer care has been overlooked for far too long. Statistics show that gains in survival rates for teenagers and young adults (age 15-29) with cancer are dismal when compared to those for youngsters and older adults with the disease.Barr is one of the editors of the recently released and first definitive document on the incidence, survival and mortality of 15-29 year-olds.
Uric acid is commonly associated with the excruciatingly painful joint disease known as gout, but it can also play a crucial role in the treatment of spinal cord injury and other central nervous system disorders, such as stroke, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease, according to Rutgers’ Bonnie Firestein.
In a new study to determine if genes on the Y chromosome are involved in prostate cancer, researchers at the Mailman School of Public Health in conjunction with Hebrew University found that men who had only daughters had a higher risk of prostate cancer than men who had at least one son. The results further indicate that the relative risk of prostate cancer decreases as the number of sons increases.
A gene known to be a major risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease puts out the welcome mat for the virus that causes cold sores, allowing the virus to be more active in the brain compared to other forms of the gene. The new findings, published online in the journal Neurobiology of Aging, add some scientific heft to the idea, long suspected by some scientists, that herpes somehow plays a role in bringing about Alzheimer’s disease.
This year, tens of thousands of heart patients will have high-tech devices implanted in their chests. Called ICDs or implantable cardioverter defibrillators, the expensive devices are designed to shock damaged hearts back into rhythm and save patients from sudden cardiac death. But a new study finds that while many of these patients will benefit from their ICDs, a large number won’t — and a simple heart-rhythm test can tell who’s who.
Long-acting octreotide does not improve outcomes for patients with liver cancer compared to a placebo, according to the results of a new double blind study published in the January 2007 issue of Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).
Caucasian patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) are more likely to have hepatic steatosis, or fat in the liver, compared to African-American patients. However, steatosis is not associated with HCV treatment response.