EurekAlert! - National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 15-Jul-2013

Cerebral Cortex
Wayne State University scientists identify neural origins of hot flashes in menopausal women
A new study from neuroscientists at the Wayne State University School of Medicine provides the first novel insights into the neural origins of hot flashes in menopausal women in years. The study may inform and eventually lead to new treatments for those who experience the sudden but temporary episodes of body warmth, flushing and sweating.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 15-Jul-2013

Neurobiology of Aging
Path of plaque buildup in brain shows promise as early biomarker for Alzheimer's disease
The trajectory of amyloid plaque buildup -- clumps of abnormal proteins in the brain linked to Alzheimer's disease -- may serve as a more powerful biomarker for early detection of cognitive decline rather than using the total amount to gauge risk, researchers from Penn Medicine's Department of Radiology suggest in a new study published online July 15 in Neurobiology of Aging.

NIH/National Institute on Aging

Public Release: 15-Jul-2013

Nature
Biochemists uphold law of physics
Experiments by biochemists at UC Davis show for the first time that a law of physics, the ergodic theorem, can be demonstrated by a collection of individual protein molecules -- specifically, a protein that unwinds DNA.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 15-Jul-2013

Parasites & Vectors
Black-legged ticks linked to encephalitis in New York state
Ostfeld concludes: "When patients present with encephalitis symptoms in areas with high levels of Lyme disease, especially during the summer, physicians need to consider Powassan encephalitis. While rare, it's associated with significant complications. There is no vaccine or specific antiviral therapy, the best strategy remains prevention."

National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 15-Jul-2013

Journal of General Physiology
Understanding the role of IKACh in cardiac function
Researchers have uncovered a previously unknown role for the acetylcholine-activated inward-rectifying potassium current in cardiac pacemaker activity and heart rate regulation, according to a study in The Journal of General Physiology.

ANR, Fondation de France, National Institutes of Health, and others

Public Release: 15-Jul-2013

Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association
Elevated blood pressure increasing among children, adolescents
The risk of elevated blood pressure among children and adolescents rose 27 percent during a thirteen-year period. Obesity and excess salt are associated with elevated blood pressure in children ages 8-17.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 15-Jul-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
In children with fever, researchers distinguish bacterial from viral infections
Many children develop fevers without an obvious cause. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have shown they can tell whether a child has a viral or bacterial infection by profiling the activity of genes in a blood sample.

NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH/National Center for Research Resources, Washington University

Public Release: 15-Jul-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Researchers generate long-lasting blood vessels from reprogrammed human cells
Massachusetts General Hospital researchers have used vascular precursor cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells to generate, in an animal model, functional blood vessels that lasted as long as nine months.

National Institutes of Health, Harvard Stem Cell Institute

Public Release: 15-Jul-2013

Journal of Experimental Medicine
Prior flu exposure dictates your future immunity, allowing for new, rationally developed regiments
Wistar scientists have determined that it might be possible to stimulate the immune system against multiple strains of influenza virus by sequentially vaccinating individuals with distinct influenza strains isolated over the last century. It represents a different approach to creating a "universal" flu vaccine. Their results also suggest that world health experts might need to re-evaluate standard tests used for surveillance of novel influenza strains.

NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Public Release: 14-Jul-2013

Nature Nanotechnology
Carnegie Mellon researchers develop artificial cells to study molecular crowding and gene expression
A team of scientists at Carnegie Mellon University has approximated molecular crowding in an artificial cellular system and found that tight quarters help the process of gene expression, especially when other conditions are less than ideal. The researchers report their findings in an advance online publication by the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 14-Jul-2013

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
Key step in molecular 'dance' that duplicates DNA deciphered
Scientists have captured new details of the biochemical interactions necessary for cell division -- molecular images showing how the enzyme that unwinds the DNA double helix gets drawn to and wrapped around its target. The research may suggest ways for stopping cell division when it goes awry.

National Institutes of Health, UK Medical Research Council, Japan Society for Promotion of Science, Uehara Memorial Foundation

Public Release: 14-Jul-2013

Nature Medicine
Drug candidate designed at Scripps Research Institute leads to improved endurance
An international group of scientists has shown that a drug candidate designed by scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute significantly increases exercise endurance in animal models. These findings could lead to new approaches to helping people with conditions that acutely limit exercise tolerance, such as obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure, as well as the decline of muscle capacity associated with aging.

National Institutes of Health, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant

Public Release: 14-Jul-2013

Alzheimer's Association International Conference
Undiagnosed pre-diabetes highly prevalent in early Alzheimer's disease study
When Georgetown University neurologist R. Scott Turner began enrolling people with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease into a nationwide study last year, he expected to find only a handful of participants with undiagnosed glucose intolerance, as all the patients were already under a doctor's care and those with known diabetes were excluded. But Turner says he was "shocked" by how many study participants were found to have pre-diabetes -- a finding that is triggering important questions.

NIH/National Institute on Aging

Public Release: 12-Jul-2013

Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice and Policy
Women who suffered severe sexual trauma as kids benefit most from intervention
HIV-positive women who were sexually abused as children has found that the more severe their past trauma, the greater their improvement in an intervention program designed to ease their psychological suffering. The study suggests that such interventions should be tailored to individuals' experience and that a "one size fits all" approach may not be enough.

NIH/National Institute of Mental Health

Public Release: 12-Jul-2013

Cell Stem Cell
Stem cell clues uncovered
Proper tissue function and regeneration is supported by stem cells, which reside in so-called niches. New work from Carnegie's Yixian Zheng and Haiyang Chen identifies an important component for regulating stem cell niches, with impacts on tissue building and function. The results could have implications for disease research. It is published by Cell Stem Cell.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 12-Jul-2013
Lurie Cancer Center given 'outstanding' rating
The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University received its highest rating, an overall "outstanding," on the competitive renewal of its National Cancer Institute Cancer Center Support Grant, along with recommended funding of $24.9 million over the next five years. The grant award, which will run through 2018, provides essential support for the Lurie Cancer Center's nine research programs and 15 shared research facilities.

NIH/National Cancer Institute

Public Release: 12-Jul-2013

American Journal of Public Health
Research finds racial/ethnic disparities in health care among older male cancer survivors
Older African-American and Hispanic men who have survived cancer are less likely than their white counterparts to see a specialist or receive basic preventive care, such as vaccinations, according to new research from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

NIH/National Cancer Institute

Public Release: 12-Jul-2013

Addiction
Alarmingly high substance abuse rates found among street children in low-income countries
Millions of children worldwide live on the streets. A review and analysis of 50 studies on substance abuse by street children in 22 resource-constrained countries has found lifetime substance use to be both common and high, posing serious threats to their health as well as for their chances for reintegration into society.

NIH/Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Public Release: 12-Jul-2013

Diabetes
Interspecies transplant works in first step for new diabetes therapy
In the first step toward animal-to-human transplants of insulin-producing cells for people with type 1 diabetes, Northwestern Medicine� scientists have successfully transplanted islets, the cells that produce insulin, from one species to another. And the islets survived without immunosuppressive drugs. Northwestern scientists developed a new method that prevented rejection of the islets, a huge problem in transplants between species, called xenotransplantation.

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, National Institutes of Health Directors New Innovator Award

Public Release: 12-Jul-2013

Lancet Oncology
Study finds strong pregnancy outcomes for survivors of childhood cancer
New research finds that almost two-thirds of female childhood cancer survivors who tried at least a year to get pregnant eventually conceive.

NIH/National Cancer Institute, Swim Across America

Public Release: 11-Jul-2013

Physics World
New theory uncovers cancer's deep evolutionary roots
A new way to look at cancer -- by tracing its deep evolutionary roots to the dawn of multicellularity more than a billion years ago -- has been proposed by Paul Davies of Arizona State University in collaboration with Charles Lineweaver of the Australian National University. If their theory is correct, it promises to transform the approach to cancer therapy, and to link the origin of cancer to the origin of life and the developmental processes of embryos.

NIH/National Cancer Institute

Public Release: 11-Jul-2013

International Journal of Cancer
Metastatic pancreatic, primary breast cancer have common growth mechanisms, study suggests
A recently discovered form of the protein that triggers blood clotting plays a critical role in promoting the growth of metastatic pancreatic cancer and primary breast cancer, according to the cumulative findings from two new scientific manuscripts published online ahead of print in the International Journal of Cancer and PNAS.

NIH/National Cancer Institute, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research

Public Release: 11-Jul-2013
CWRU nursing school to study home visits for people with HIV and chronic illnesses
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University's Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing will assess how effective palliative care home health visits are in treating people with HIV and other chronic illnesses in a new four-year, $1.7-million study funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research.

NIH/National Institute of Nursing Research

Public Release: 11-Jul-2013
First large public health study of medical marijuana use in young adults to begin with NIH grant
Drexel University has received a grant for a five-year study of medical marijuana and its impact on drug use and physical and psychological health among young adults in Los Angeles. It is the first large-scale NIH project funded to directly investigate medical marijuana use among young adults aged 18 to 26. A core focus is understanding the significance and influence of dispensaries -- storefronts that sell medical marijuana -- on health.

NIH/National Institute on Drug Abuse

Public Release: 11-Jul-2013
Gammapod developed at University of Maryland School of Medicine targets early-stage breast cancer
An experimental innovation in cancer treatment from the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine could provide a new, high-precision, noninvasive method of treating early-stage breast cancer. The manufacturer is actively seeking FDA approval to begin clinical trials.

National Institutes of Health