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Medicine/Health
Key: Meeting Journal Funder Dissertation
Public Release: 6-Nov-2009
Prevention experts urge modification to 2009 H1N1 guidance for health care workers
Three leading scientific organizations specializing in infectious diseases prevention issued a letter to President Obama today expressing their significant concern with current federal guidance concerning the use of personal protective equipment by health care workers in treating suspected or confirmed cases of 2009 H1N1 influenza.

Contact: Sharon Reis
202-745-5103
Infectious Diseases Society of America

Public Release: 6-Nov-2009
51st ASTRO Annual Meeting
PET imaging response a prognostic factor after thoracic radiation therapy for lung cancer
A rapid decline in metabolic activity on a PET scan after radiation therapy for non-small cell lung cancer is correlated with good local tumor control, according to a study presented by researchers at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital at the 51st ASTRO Annual Meeting.

Contact: Emily Shafer
emily.shafer@jefferson.edu
215-955-6300
Thomas Jefferson University

Public Release: 6-Nov-2009
Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention
New finding suggests prostate biopsy is not always necessary
Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have discovered that some elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in men may be caused by a hormone normally occurring in the body, and are not necessarily a predictor of the need for a prostate biopsy.
National Institutes of Health, American Cancer Society

Contact: Jessica Guenzel
jguenzel@wfubmc.edu
336-716-3487
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center

Public Release: 6-Nov-2009
Ophthalmology
Researchers find new way to attack inflammation in Graves' eye disease
A small group of patients with severe Graves' eye disease experienced rapid improvement of their symptoms -- and improved vision -- following treatment with the drug rituximab. Inflammation around their eyes and damage to the optic nerve were significantly reduced. The same patients had not previously responded to steroids, a common treatment for Graves' eye disease.
National Institutes of Health, Research to Prevent Blindness, Bell Charitable Foundation

Contact: Betsy Nisbet
bsnisbet@umich.edu
734-647-5586
University of Michigan Health System

Public Release: 6-Nov-2009
Less than 1 in 3 Toronto bystanders who witness a cardiac arrest try to help: Study
Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital working in conjunction with EMS services, paramedics and fire services across Ontario found that a bystander who attempts CPR can quadruple the survival rate to over 50 percent. But Dr. Laurie Morrison and the research team at Rescu have found only 30 percent of bystanders in Toronto are willing to help, one of the lowest rates of bystanders helping others in the developed world.

Contact: Julie Saccone
sacconej@smh.toronto.on.ca
416-864-5047
St. Michael's Hospital

Public Release: 6-Nov-2009
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Possible help in fight against muscle-wasting disease
A compound already used to treat pneumonia could become a new therapy for an inherited muscular wasting disease. A five-member team of researchers from University of Oregon and the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry report that pentamidine might be adapted to counter genetic splicing defects in RNA that lead to type 1 myotonic dystrophy.
National Institutes of Health Muscular Dystrophy Association

Contact: Jim Barlow
jebarlow@uoregon.edu
541-346-3481
University of Oregon

Public Release: 6-Nov-2009
NHLBI stops enrollment in study on resuscitation methods for cardiac arrest
Enrollment has ended early in a large, multi-center clinical trial comparing two distinct resuscitation strategies delivered by emergency medical service (EMS) providers to increase blood flow during cardiac arrest. The study's independent monitoring board and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the lead sponsor of the study, stopped enrollment based on preliminary data suggesting that neither strategy significantly improved survival
NIH/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Contact: NHLBI Office of Communications
nhlbi_news@nhlbi.nih.gov
301-496-4236
NIH/National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute

Public Release: 6-Nov-2009
Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
Local health investigation sheds light on gastroschisis birth defect
Results of an investigation conducted by University of Nevada, Reno researchers, public health officials and area physicians published this week in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, indicate that Washoe County experienced a cluster of a particular birth defect, gastroschisis, during the period April 2007-April 2008. Subsequent review of medical records since the study's conclusion indicates that while the rate is still elevated, the cluster appears to have subsided.

Contact: Claudene Wharton
whartonc@unr.edu
775-784-1169
University of Nevada, Reno

Public Release: 6-Nov-2009
Archives of General Psychiatry
Psychiatric impact of torture could be amplified by head injury
Depression and other emotional symptoms in survivors of torture and other traumatic experiences may be exacerbated by the effects of head injuries, according to a study from the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma, based at Massachusetts General Hospital. The researchers found structural changes in the brains of former South Vietnamese political detainees who had suffered head injuries and clearly linked those changes to psychiatric symptoms often seen in survivors of torture.
National Institute of Health, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of South Korea

Contact: Sue McGreevey
smcgreevey@partners.org
617-724-2764
Massachusetts General Hospital

Public Release: 6-Nov-2009
Current Biology
Babies with an accent
Newborns cry differently depending on their mother tongue.

Contact: Dr. Angela D. Friederici
angelafr@cbs.mpg.de
49-341-994-0112
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Public Release: 6-Nov-2009
PLoS Pathogens
Pathogen protection and virulence: Dark side of fungal membrane protein revealed
Researchers at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech and Montana State University have discovered a fungal protein that plays a key role in causing disease in plants and animals and which also shields the pathogen from oxidative stress.
National Science Foundation, US Department of Agriculture, National Institutes of Health

Contact: Barry Whyte
whyte@vbi.vt.edu
540-231-1767
Virginia Tech

Public Release: 6-Nov-2009
Poll: Many parents, high-priority adults who tried to get H1N1 vaccine unable to get it
A new national poll from Harvard School of Public Health researchers found that a majority of adults who tried to get the H1N1 vaccine for themselves or their children have been unable to do so.
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Contact: Todd Datz
tdatz@hsph.harvard.edu
617-432-3952
Harvard School of Public Health

Public Release: 6-Nov-2009
Carnegie Mellon researchers link health-care debate to risk of dying in US and Europe
A new Web site, www.DeathriskRankings.com, developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon allows users to explore differences in the probability of dying across European countries and the US states for men and women of different ages and races.

Contact: Chriss Swaney
swaney@andrew.cmu.edu
412-268-5776
Carnegie Mellon University

Public Release: 6-Nov-2009
SNM applauds House action to build medical isotopes reactor in the US
SNM applauds the US House of Representatives for its passage of H.R. 3276 -- the American Medical Isotopes Production Act of 2009.

Contact: Amy Shaw
ashaw@snm.org
703-652-6773
Society of Nuclear Medicine

Public Release: 6-Nov-2009
Food Quality and Preference
We spend more on products with detailed nutritional information
People would be willing to pay more for products that carry detailed nutritional information than for the so-called light items. Thus it has been confirmed by researchers from the University of Santiago de Compostela and the Center for Agro-Food Research and Technology of Aragón (CITA) in a new study on the nutritional labeling of breakfast biscuits.

Contact: SINC
info@plataformasinc.es
34-914-251-820
FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology

Public Release: 6-Nov-2009
Journal of Vascular Surgery
Higher carotid arterial stenting rates associated with poorer clinical outcomes
Among eligible Medicare beneficiaries, increased use of carotid arterial stenting procedures to treat carotid stenosis -- the narrowing of the carotid artery -- is associated with higher rates of mortality and adverse clinical outcomes, including heart attack and stroke, according to researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Institute for Health Technology Studies

Contact: Marc Kaplan
marc.kaplan@uphs.upenn.edu
215-662-2560
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Public Release: 6-Nov-2009
Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics
Magnetic nanoparticles to simultaneously diagnose, monitor and treat
The future for magentic nanoparticles (mNPs) appears bright With the design of "theranostic" molecules. mNPs could play a crucial role in developing one-stop tools to simultaneously diagnose, monitor and treat a wide range of common diseases and injuries.

Contact: Joe Winters
joseph.winters@iop.org
44-020-747-04815
Institute of Physics

Public Release: 6-Nov-2009
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
New statement outlines ATS positions on research, education, advocacy
The ATS has issued an official statement that outlines the Society's position on research, training, education, patient care and advocacy. The statement, which appears in the Nov. 15 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, also makes specific recommendations on how elements of the organization can make these policies a part of new and ongoing projects.

Contact: Brian Kell
bkell@thoracic.org
212-315-6442
American Thoracic Society

Public Release: 6-Nov-2009
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
Air pollution increases infants' risk of bronchiolitis
Infants who are exposed to higher levels of air pollution are at increased risk for bronchiolitis, according to a new study.

Contact: Brian Kell
bkell@thoracic.org
212-315-6442
American Thoracic Society

Public Release: 6-Nov-2009
3rd International Barcode of Life Conference
DNA barcodes: Creative new uses span health, fraud, smuggling, history, more
Some 350 experts from 50 nations gathering in Mexico for their 3rd global meeting will outline the latest creative applications of DNA barcoding, including several projects related to human health, fraud, smuggling, the food chain and reconstructing environmental history.

Contact: Terry Collins
terrycollins@rogers.com
416-538-8712
Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL)

Public Release: 5-Nov-2009
Science
Gene therapy technique slows brain disease
A strategy that combines gene therapy with blood stem cell therapy may be a useful tool for treating a fatal brain disease, French researchers have found. These findings appear in the Nov. 6, 2009, issue of the journal Science, which is published by AAAS, the nonprofit science society.

Contact: Natasha Pinol
npinol@aaas.org
202-326-7088
American Association for the Advancement of Science

Public Release: 5-Nov-2009
Cancer Prevention Research
Does green tea prevent cancer? Evidence continues to brew, but questions remain
Although scientists are reluctant to officially endorse green tea as a cancer prevention method, evidence continues to grow about its protective effects, including results of a new study published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, which suggests some reduction in oral cancer.

Contact: Jeremy Moore
jeremy.moore@aacr.org
267-646-0557
American Association for Cancer Research

Public Release: 5-Nov-2009
Current Biology
Early scents really do get 'etched' in the brain
Common experience tells us that particular scents of childhood can leave quite an impression, for better or for worse. Now, researchers reporting the results of a brain imaging study online on Nov. 5 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, show that first scents really do enjoy a "privileged" status in the brain.

Contact: Cathleen Genova
cgenova@cell.com
617-397-2802
Cell Press

Public Release: 5-Nov-2009
Current Biology
Babies' language learning starts from the womb
From their very first days, newborns' cries already bear the mark of the language their parents speak, reveals a new study published online on Nov. 5 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. The findings suggest that infants begin picking up elements of what will be their first language in the womb, and certainly long before their first babble or coo.

Contact: Cathleen Genova
cgenova@cell.com
617-397-2802
Cell Press