New research findings now appearing online in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology began with a professor's desire to understand why her husband often seemed to ignore her requests for help around the house."My husband, while very charming in many ways, has an annoying tendency of doing exactly the opposite of what I would like him to do in many situations," said Tanya L. Chartrand, an associate professor of marketin...Tuesday, 13-Feb-2007 / [ Details... ]
Nature has outfitted us with a pair of ears for good reason: having two ears enhances hearing. University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists are now examining whether this is also true for the growing numbers of deaf children who've received not one, but two, cochlear implants to help them hear. Led by Ruth Litovsky, an investigator in the UW-Madison Waisman Center, the team's research suggests that deaf children who have a cochlear implant in each ea...Tuesday, 13-Feb-2007 / [ Details... ]
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore have discovered why some drugs used to treat mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, cause patients to gain a lot of weight.The researchers say that antipsychotic medications such as Zyprexa increase the activity of an enzyme called AMPK in cells in the part of the brain that regulates eating behaviour.The discovery was made in tests carried out in mice who were injected mice with clozapin...Tuesday, 13-Feb-2007 / [ Details... ]
Switching treatment to exemestane after 2-3 years on tamoxifen, improves diseasefree survival and seems to modestly reduce risk of death, according to an Online/Article published today by The Lancet.The Intergroup Exemestane Study (IES), an extensive, international study, tested the superiority of switching to exemestane (an aromatase inhibitor) from tamoxifen in patients with early breast cancer. Switching treatment was expected to improve di...Tuesday, 13-Feb-2007 / [ Details... ]
A large-scale analysis of data on breast cancer risk has concluded that a common variation in the gene caspase-8 (CASP8) is associated with a somewhat lower risk of the disease. Variants are small changes that occur in a gene sequence. The results are from the second study published by the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC), which includes researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the ...Tuesday, 13-Feb-2007 / [ Details... ]
Some physicians do not tell patients about treatments -- such as contraception, abortion or sedation for dying patients -- that they are morally opposed to, according to a study published in the Feb. 8 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, the ...Tuesday, 13-Feb-2007 / [ Details... ]
Exposure to second-hand smoke at work, home or elsewhere results in a disproportionate rise in markers that increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, University of Nottingham researchers have found.A new study published in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association, measured the level of cotinine in participants' blood, rather than relying on participants' self-reporting of exposure to second-hand smoke. Cotinine is the maj...Monday, 12-Feb-2007 / [ Details... ]
Researchers have known for some time that certain sequences of synthetic DNA induce potent immune responses when injected into animals and humans. A new study, conducted by Ying Tam, Ph.D., and colleagues at Inex Pharmaceuticals, demonstrates that encapsulating these synthetic DNAs in lipid-based nanoparticles greatly enhances the immunogenicity of these DNAs and that the nanoparticle-encased DNA sequences trigger antitumor activity when administered together with tumor-associated antigens....Monday, 12-Feb-2007 / [ Details... ]
For the first time, physician-scientists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City have demonstrated in patients the ability of an antibody to directly target the blood supply of a wide variety of tumors, leaving healthy tissues unharmed.The Phase I clinical trial tested an antibody called J591, targeted to the prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA).PSMA has been an attractive target for cancer drug de...Monday, 12-Feb-2007 / [ Details... ]
A first-of-its-kind study published in the February issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics suggests endoscopic brain surgery, pioneered by surgeons at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, has the potential to be safer and often more effective than conventional surgery in children with life-threatening conditions.This minimally invasive approach -- known as the Expanded Endonasal Approach (EEA) -- was pioneered and refined in adul...Monday, 12-Feb-2007 / [ Details... ]