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Link Between Weight Gain and Antidepressant Use Examined

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Question of use of antidepressant leading to weight gain has been common among the drug users and scientists alike. Bottom Line: Modest differences exist between antidepressants with regard to weight gain among patients. Authors: Sarah R. Blumenthal, B.S., Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and colleagues. Background: Previous work has suggested an association between antidepressant use and weight gain. The potential ...

Risk of Violence in Military Veterans With a Five-Question Clinical Tool

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Clinicians can now identify violence risk among military veterans with a new brief, 5-question screening tool, reveals a new study led by a UNC researcher. The study, published online by the iAmerican Journal of Psychiatry/i, is based on a national survey sample of veterans combined with a smaller, in-depth assessment sample. The screening tool, called the Violence Screening and Assessment of Needs (VIO-SCAN), asked veterans about financial stability, combat ...

Gravity-Defying Ultrasonic Tweezers by Southamptom Varsity Researchers

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Pioneering 'tweezers' have been developed by researchers from the University of Southamptom that use ultrasound beams to grip and manipulate tiny clusters of cells, which could lead to life-changing medical advances, such as better cartilage implants that reduce the need for knee replacement operations. Using ultrasonic sound fields, cartilage cells taken from a patient's knee can be levitated for weeks in a nutrient-rich fluid. This means the nutrients can reach ...

Re-Defining Multiple Sclerosis - Description and Understanding

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An effort to fine-tune descriptions, or phenotypes, of Multiple sclerosis was taken by an international team of leaders in MS research and clinical care. The results of this effort by the International Advisory Committee on Clinical Trials in MS, including recommendations for more research, has just been published (iNeurology/i 2014;83:1). The volunteer Committee is jointly supported by the National MS Society and the European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS ...

Post Surgical Pain More in Men After Major Surgery, Women After Minor

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Post surgical pain in women is more after minor surgeries, while men feel more pain after major surgery, reveals a new research. The study by Dr Andreas Sandner-Kiesling, Dept of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Medical University of Graz, Austria, and colleagues found that the influence of gender and sexes is a key issue of today's research in medicine. However, the researchers found that current literature in the field of preoperative medicine ...

First Reproduction of Tumor Chromosomal Translocations in Human Cells

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For the first time, scientists have been able to reproduce chromosomal translocations associated with two types of cancer, namely acute myeloid leukemia and Ewing's sarcoma at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) and the Spanish National Cardiovascular Research Centre (CNIC). The discovery, published today in the journal iNature Communications/i, opens the door to the development of new therapeutic targets to fight these types of cancer. The study ...

Visual Identification of Stand-Out Objects Possible in 3-month Old Child

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Even by three months of age, babies are visually able to locate objects that can stand out from a group, say researchers. Psychology Professor Scott Adler in the Faculty of Health, who led the research, said for example, an infant can pick a red umbrella in a sea of grey ones, added that this indicates that babies at a very young age are able to selectively extract information from the environment, just like adults. The study revealed that infants, like ...

Scientists Discover New Gene Involved in Parkinson's Disease

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A new gene involved in Parkinson's disease, a finding that may one day provide a target for a new drug to prevent and potentially even cure the debilitating neurological disorder has been identified by researchers. A handful of genes have been identified in inherited cases of Parkinson's disease. The research team of Dr. Ming Guo, the study team leader, associate professor of neurology and pharmacology and a practicing neurologist at UCLA was one of two groups ...

Pill for Men Still Far Away

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For men "the pill" is still far away as hormonal male contraception via testosterone is unable to stop the production and/or the release of sperm due to specific problems with optimal dosing. Ilpo Huhtaniemi, Ph.D, anda researcher involved in the work from the Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology at the Imperial College of London said that their research in mice explained why the efficiency of male hormonal contraception was not as effective as expected ...

Kids With Autism are Exposed to Elevated Levels of Steroid Hormones in the Womb

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Scientists have discovered that children who later develop autism are exposed to elevated levels of steroid hormones (for example testosterone, progesterone and cortisol) in the womb. The study took place at the University of Cambridge and the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark. The finding may help explain why autism is more common in males than females, but should not be used to screen for the condition. Funded by the Medical Research ...

No Significant Positive Effect on Patient Outcomes After Reduced Neurosurgical Resident Hours

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The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) imposed a mandatory maximum 80-hour work-week restriction on medical residents in July 2003. Before that time residents often worked in excess of 100 hours per week. To investigate whether positive changes in patient outcomes occurred following implementation of the ACGME mandate, four researchers from Minnesota-Kiersten Norby, M.D., Farhan Siddiq, M.D., Malik M. Adil, M.D., and Stephen J. Haines, ...

Amyloid Reducing Compound Could Be a Preventive Measure Against Alzheimer's Disease

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At NYU Langone Medical Center, scientists have identified a compound, called 2-PMAP, in animal studies that reduced by more than half levels of amyloid proteins in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease. The researchers hope that someday a treatment based on the molecule could be used to ward off the neurodegenerative disease since it may be safe enough to be taken daily over many years. "What we want in an Alzheimer's preventive is a drug ...

Significant Gap Found in Detection of Malnutrition in Canadian Hospital Patients

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A "significant gap" is shown by new survey of Canadian physicians between optimal practices to detect nutrition problems in hospitalized patients and what action is actually taking place. The survey, conducted by the Canadian Malnutrition Task Force, looked at physician attitudes and perceptions about identifying and treating nutrition issues among hospitalized patients. The startling findings of the survey were published today in the OnlineFirst version of the ...

Men Experience More Pain After Major Surgery: Study

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New research suggests that gender plays a part in pain experienced after surgery, with men feeling more pain following major surgery while women feel more pain after minor procedures. The study is by Dr Andreas Sandner-Kiesling, Dept of Anaesthesiology (and) Intensive Care, Medical University of Graz, Austria, and colleagues and is presented at this year's Euroanaesthesia meeting in Stockholm. "The influence of gender and sexes is a key issue of today's ...

Debate Over Value of Vitamin, Mineral Supplements is Far from Over

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Researchers have taken issue with recent claims that "the case is closed" on whether or not a multivitamin/mineral supplement should be taken by most people to help obtain needed micronutrients. The research took place at the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University and three other institutions. In a correspondence to be published Tuesday in the iAnnals of Internal Medicine/i, the researchers reasoned that this type of dietary supplement helps fill ...

Federal Government Could Save (Dollar) 5 Billion by Changing To Medicare Part D Plans

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In the first year, the federal government could save over (Dollar) 5 billion by changing the way the government assigns Part D plans for Medicare beneficiaries eligible for low-income subsidies. This is according to new research from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. The results of the study, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), will be published in the June issue of the ...

Inflammation Leads to a Leaky Blood-Brain Barrier

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Scientists have not known exactly how inflammation weakens the Blood-Brain Barrier until now, allowing toxins and other molecules access to the brain. A new research report appearing in the June 2014 issue of iThe FASEB Journal/i solves this mystery by showing that a molecule, called "microRNA-155," is responsible for cleaving epithelial cells to create microscopic gaps that let material through. Not only does this discovery help explain the molecular underpinnings ...

MRSA Rates Varied Dramatically Among Academic Medical Centers

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The rates of community-onset methicillin-resistant iStaphylococcus aureus/i (CO-MRSA) varied dramatically among academic medical centers in California, New York, Illinois and North Carolina. It suggests that there is not a uniform change in the "national epidemic" of the "superbug" that has generated extensive public health concern over the past decade, according to a new study. The study, published online ahead of print in the journal iClinical ...

Common Cold Condition may Trigger Asthma Attacks

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Cold season may be just behind us, but a new discovery may shed light on how this common cold condition may trigger asthma attacks. In a new research report published in the June 2014 issue of the IJournal of Leukocyte Biology/i, researchers show that in individuals with asthma, statins significantly reduce the in vitro inflammatory response of human monocytes to rhinovirus (RV), the cause of the common cold. Not only does this discovery suggest that statins ...

Tale of 2 Prognoses in Pediatric Brain Tumor

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In the BRAF gene, Pilocytic astrocytoma (PA) is a primarily pediatric brain tumor caused mainly by mutations. In fact, there are two specific mechanisms for activation of BRAF implicated in PA formation: by fusion of the gene with nearby gene KIAA1549 (K:B fusion) or by point mutations of the BRAF gene itself. Research presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting 2014 used a newly designed test for K:B fusion to show that point ...

European Bumblebee Invasion in UK Not Halted by Parasites

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Stronger resistance to parasite infections has been found in a species of bee from Europe than native bumblebees and has spread across the UK, suggests a new research at Royal Holloway, University of London. The study, published today (Wednesday 4th June 2014) in the iJournal of Animal Ecology/i, shows that tree bumblebees have rapidly spread despite them carrying high levels of an infection that normally prevents queen bees from producing colonies. The species ...

Study Reveals Place and Cause of Death in Centenarians

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A new study has found that Centenarians are more likely to die of pneumonia and frailty or and less likely to die of the chronic conditions such as cancer or ischemic heart disease. Centenarians were most likely to die in a care home (61%) or hospital (27%) and less likely to die at home (10%) or in hospice care (0.2%). Higher care bed capacity was associated with fewer deaths of centenarians in hospital. The authors linked Office for National Statistics death ...

Perfect Time to Reach the Airport

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Mathematician Jordan Ellenberg has revealed the best time to arrive at the airport as feasibly late as possible, with enough time to make it to your plane. The University of Wisconsin-Madison professor explains that every hour spent waiting for your plane at the airport is a "negative unit." It's an hour you could've spent in the comfort of your home or hotel. If we routinely arrive at airports three hours ahead of time, we'll accrue hundreds of those ...

Greeks Hope Better Tourism Economy

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Greece is expecting its tourism economy to exceed 20 million, a sign that the country is winning back foreigners and getting its economy back on its feet. After a poor season in 2012 -- a year marked by back-to-back elections, political instability, and anti-austerity protests -- the tourism industry seems finally to be getting its swagger back. Last year saw a record 20 million foreign tourists visiting the country, as fears of a Greek exit from the ...

Vaccine for SARS Comes a Step Closer to Reality

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Researchers have now come a step closer to understanding how to disable a part of SARS virus that helps it hide from the immune system, which may help them develop a vaccine against the disease. Andrew Mesecar, Purdue's Walther Professor of Cancer Structural Biology and professor of biological sciences and chemistry, said this also could serve as a molecular roadmap for performing similar studies on other coronaviruses, like MERS, because this enzyme appears to ...

High Risk of Recurrence for Those Hospitalized for Stevens-Johnson Syndrome

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A new study has found that individuals who are hospitalized for skin conditions of Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis may have a higher risk of recurrence. Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) are life-threatening conditions that develop primarily as responses to drugs, and result in extensive epidermal detachment (upper layers of the skin detach from the lower layers). Recurrence has been reported in isolated ...

Preventive Placement of ICDs may Improve Survival in Heart Failure Patients

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Better survival has been noted in the placement of cardioverter-defibrillators in patients with less severe level of heart failure than patients with no ICD, a new study has reported. Although clinical trials have established the ICD as the best currently available therapy to prevent sudden cardiac death in patients with heart failure, some uncertainties remain regarding preventive use of ICDs in patients seen in clinical practice. Of patients enrolled in randomized ...

Better Health Services Needed For Rise In 100 Year Olds

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According to a new study, over 35,000 have lived upto 100 years or more in the last 10 years, and a large proportion of them dying from frailty by pneumonia. With the number of centenarians set to grow, end-of-life care needs to be tailored to the increasing frailty in this age group, warn the King's palliative care researchers. Boosting care home capacity and planning health services for the rise in centenarians could help to reduce reliance on hospital admission at the end ...

Coordinated Approach Improves Quality of Health Care

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A new research has found that doctors practising in a coordinated, team based model are more likely to give patients preventing screening and other tests than doctors working in other settings. The study comparing quality of care by physicians using a delivery model known as the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) to care from physicians in non-PCMH practices provides evidence that the previously unproven but popular model effectively provides care for patients. "The ...

Complex Neural Circuitry Prevents You from Biting Your Tongue

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Just like sleeping and breathing, eating may seem to be a basic biological task. Yet chewing requires a complex interplay between the tongue and jaw, with the tongue positioning food between the teeth and then moving out of the way every time the jaw clamps down to grind it up. If the act weren't coordinated precisely, the unlucky chewer would end up biting more tongue than burrito. Duke University researchers have used a sophisticated tracing technique in mice ...