Health-monitoring technology helps seniors live at home longer, MU researchers find
(University of Missouri-Columbia) University of Missouri researchers are using sensors, computers and communication systems, along with supportive health care services to monitor the health of older adults who are living at home. According to the researchers, motion sensor networks installed in seniors' homes can detect changes in behavior and physical activity, including walking and sleeping patterns. Early identification of these changes can prompt health care interventions that can delay or prevent serious health events....
POSTED 01/06/2009 at 12:00 AM -- 
|
Wii Fit a promising tool for all ages
(Kansas State University) A Kansas State University researcher thinks games like Nintendo's Wii Fit can help promote physical rather than sedentary activities for people of all ages....
POSTED 01/06/2009 at 12:00 AM --
|
Traditional risk assessment tools do not accurately predict coronary heart disease
(American Roentgen Ray Society) The Framingham and National Cholesterol Education Program tools do not accurately predict coronary heart disease, according to a study performed at the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn....
POSTED 01/06/2009 at 12:00 AM --
|
Old gastrointestinal drug slows aging, McGill researchers say
(McGill University) Recent animal studies have shown that an 80-year old drug once used to treat gastrointestinal disorders can reverse the progression of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases. However, scientists had a variety of theories to attempt to explain how a single compound could have such similar effects on three unrelated neurodegenerative disorders. According to researchers at McGill University, clioquinol might actually slow down the aging process. The study was published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry....
POSTED 01/06/2009 at 12:00 AM --
|
Four, three, two, one . . . pterosaurs have lift off
(Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions) Pterosaurs have long suffered an identity crisis. Pop culture heedlessly -- and wrongly -- lumps these extinct flying lizards in with dinosaurs. Even paleontologists assumed that because the creatures flew, they were birdlike in many ways, such as using only two legs to take flight....
POSTED 01/06/2009 at 12:00 AM --
|
Most babies with uncomplicated febrile seizures can avoid spinal tap
(Children's Hospital Boston) Do babies with febrile seizures need spinal taps? The largest study to date suggests that most can be spared these painful procedures -- if the seizure is uncomplicated and if the baby is well-appearing. The researchers, from the Children's Hospital Boston emergency department, hope the findings will reassure anxious parents, and are calling on the American Academy of Pediatrics to change their current recommendations, which date to 1996....
POSTED 01/06/2009 at 12:00 AM --
|
MR arthrography is more accurate than MR in diagnosing shoulder tears
(American Roentgen Ray Society) MR arthrography of the shoulder allows physicians to better identify tears and provides patients with an accurate diagnosis to determine whether or not surgery is needed, according to a study performed at Neuroskeletal Imaging in Merritt Island, Fla....
POSTED 01/06/2009 at 12:00 AM --
|
Interpretation time for screening digital mammograms: Is it efficient?
(American Roentgen Ray Society) Digital mammograms take longer to interpret than film-screen mammograms, according to a study performed at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas....
POSTED 01/06/2009 at 12:00 AM --
|
3T MRI can detect wrist ligament tears, possibly eliminating need for invasive arthroscopy
(American Roentgen Ray Society) MRI of the wrist at 3T is an effective way to detect wrist ligament tears and in some cases can avoid unnecessary surgery, according to a study performed at Neuroskeletal Imaging in Merritt Island, Florida....
POSTED 01/06/2009 at 12:00 AM --
|
UCSF-Tanzania get $7.5M from Gates Foundation for partnership to train African health workers
(University of California - San Francisco) UCSF has received a $7.5 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to partner with a Tanzanian health sciences university to help address Africa's urgent need for health care workers....
POSTED 01/06/2009 at 12:00 AM --
|
Biologist finds plant polymerases IV and V are really variants of Polymerase II
(Washington University in St. Louis) It's a little like finding out that Superman is actually Clark Kent. A team of biologists at Washington University in St. Louis has discovered that two vital cellular components, nuclear RNA Polymerases IV and V, found only in plants, are actually specialized forms of RNA Polymerase II, an essential enzyme of all eukaryotic organisms, including humans....
POSTED 01/06/2009 at 12:00 AM --
|
Vision problems prompt older drivers to put down the keys
(Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology) With 30 million drivers in the US aged 65 and over, we count on older Americans to recognize when they can no longer drive safely and decide that it's time to stay off the road. A new study finds that a decrease in vision function is a key factor in bringing about this decision....
POSTED 01/06/2009 at 12:00 AM --
|
NC State researchers find new bartonella species that infects humans
(North Carolina State University) Researchers at North Carolina State University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have produced the first link between a species of bacteria most commonly found in sheep and human illness....
POSTED 01/06/2009 at 12:00 AM --
|
International experts weigh-in on harmful algal blooms
(University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science) An international group of scientists is linking nutrient pollution in the world's coastal seas to an increased number of harmful algal blooms reported in recent years. When harmful algal blooms occur, they taint seafood with toxins, cause human respiratory and skin irritations and cause fish or mammal kills in coastal waters. Scientists outline nutrient pollution's role in this increased frequency in the December edition of Harmful Algae....
POSTED 01/06/2009 at 12:00 AM --
|
MAQUET opens North America's first VARIOP prefabricated operating suite system
(MAQUET, Inc.) MAQUET Inc., a subsidiary of the Swedish-based Getinge Group and one of the oldest and largest surgical equipment companies in the world, has announced that it has completed North America's first installation of its advanced, prefabricated VARIOP operating room system in Spartanburg, S.C....
POSTED 01/06/2009 at 12:00 AM --
|
News from the January 2009 Journal of the American Dietetic Association
(American Dietetic Association) The January issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association features research studies focusing on everyday eating habits of consumers. Researchers look at why sack lunches may not always meet the nutritional needs of preschool children and how making time for meals directly influences diets of young adults....
POSTED 01/06/2009 at 12:00 AM --
|
Study yields clues about the evolution of epilepsy
(Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) Two children have a seizure. One child never has another seizure. Twenty years later, the other child has a series of seizures and is diagnosed with epilepsy. A study being led by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is looking at what could possibly happen in the development of these two children that would lead to such extreme variations in their neurologic health....
POSTED 01/06/2009 at 12:00 AM --
|
A protein that protects against Alzheimer's?
(Université du Québec à Montréal) Research on the mechanisms involved in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, stroke, dementia, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis, to name a few, has taken a step forward thanks to the work of researchers who have successfully demonstrated the protective and reparative role of apolipoprotein D, or ApoD, in neurodegenerative diseases. Their discovery suggests interesting avenues for preventing and slowing the progression of this type of illness....
POSTED 01/06/2009 at 12:00 AM --
|
Genetic mutation causes familial susceptibility for degenerative brain disease
(Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center) Mutation of a gene that helps proteins migrate in and out of the cell's genetic command center -- the nucleus -- puts some families at higher risk for the degenerative brain disease acute necrotizing encephalopathy. This is the conclusion of a global study to be published Jan. 9 by the American Journal of Human Genetics, and currently posted online, that was led by a researcher from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center....
POSTED 01/06/2009 at 12:00 AM --
|
Protein's essential role in repairing damaged cells revealed
(University of Michigan Health System) University of Michigan researchers have discovered that a key protein in cells plays a critical role in not one, but two processes affecting the development of cancer....
POSTED 01/06/2009 at 12:00 AM --
|
