Vitamin D :: Vitamin D deficiency – Common and problematic yet preventable

In a review article to appear in the July 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Michael Holick, an internationally recognized expert in vitamin D, provides an overview of his pioneering work that expounds on the important role vitamin D plays in a wide variety of chronic health conditions, as well as suggesting strategies for the prevention and treatment of vitamin D deficiency.

Muscular Dystrophy :: Penn researchers find a new target for muscular dystrophy drug therapy

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine report how the gene for utrophin, which codes for a protein very similar to dystrophin, the defective protein in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), puts the brakes on its own expression in muscle cells, thereby suggesting a new target for treatment.

Stroke :: Hospital operators may fail to steer people with stroke symptoms to call 9-1-1

Nearly a quarter of hospital or “healthline” operators mistakenly routed a caller describing classic stroke symptoms to primary care doctors rather than to 9-1-1, according to a research project published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Embryo :: Time-lapse recordings reveal why IVF embryos are more likely to develop into twins

Evidence gathered from time-lapse recordings of the formation of early embryos (blastocysts) in the laboratory has revealed why embryos created via IVF and undergoing extended culture are more likely to develop into twins than those created via natural conception. Furthermore, the research has shown that the culture in which the IVF embryos are formed is possibly responsible for the embryos dividing into twins.