UCLA researchers have combined two tools - gene expression and the use of peripheral blood - to expand scientists' arsenal of methods for pinpointing genes that play a role in autism. Published in the online edition of the American Journal of Human Genetics, the findings could help scientists...
Long term use of insulin does not put people with diabetes or pre-diabetes at higher risk for heart attack, stroke or cancer, according to a large international study that followed more than 12,500 people in 40 countries over 6 years. One of the study's two principal investigators, Dr Hertzel...
A while back, I wrote an article about how reusable shopping bags are often covered in bacteria, because they come in contact with meat, veggies, and other potentially contaminated items. I got some emails from readers who accused me of being a fear-monger and overly-cautious, because come on...
The United States spends more on health care than 12 other industrialized countries yet does not provide "notably superior" care, according to a new study from The Commonwealth Fund. The U.S. spent nearly $8,000 per person in 2009 on health care services, while other countries in the study spent...
Why do some teenagers start smoking or experimenting with drugs - while others don't? In the largest imaging study of the human brain ever conducted - involving 1,896 14-year-olds - scientists have discovered a number of previously unknown networks that go a long way toward an answer...
More...
National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists and their colleagues in China have described a rapidly emerging Staphylococcus aureus gene, called sasX, which plays a pivotal role in establishing methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) epidemics in most of Asia. Senior author Michael Otto, Ph.D...
Researchers at the University of Liverpool have found that children who have experienced severe trauma are three times as likely to develop schizophrenia in later life. The findings shed new light on the debate about the importance of genetic and environmental triggers of psychotic disorders...
Scientists have identified which strains of the Toxoplasma gondii parasite, the cause of toxoplasmosis, are most strongly associated with premature births and severe birth defects in the United States. The researchers used a new blood test developed by scientists at the National Institute of...
A national consortium of researchers has published new findings that could change the standard of practice for those treating Fuchs' Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy (FECD), a disease characterized by cornea swelling that can eventually lead to the need for corneal transplantation...
More...
My dentist must hate me. Every time I go and she wants to do X-rays, I refuse. Nope, I don't want them, they can't be good for you, I don't want that radiation in my body. To which she responds by trying to tell me it's perfectly safe and can help detect any issues. Unless there's a problem that...
Children born to obese, hypertensive or diabetic mothers are 60% more likely to be autistic or have other developmental delays, according to a new study. This adds to a wealth of evidence linking maternal obesity with unhealthy or impaired children. Yet whenever the issue of pregnancy and weight...
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers working as part of the International Cystic Fibrosis Consortium have discovered several regions of the genome that may predispose cystic fibrosis (CF) patients to develop an intestinal blockage while still in the uterus. A report of this...
A study published on bmj.com reveals that individuals with hypertension whose blood pressure (BP) readings are different in each arm have lower survival rates over 10 years. According to national guidelines, physicians should measure blood pressure in both arms in many patients, however, these...
A collaborative study by scientists at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and the Montreal Neurological Institute of McGill University, and published in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology, has discovered that mutations in the same gene that encodes part of the vital machinery of the...
This week's PLoS Medicine reports on a comprehensive study that reveals that levels of the amino acid, homocysteine, have no significant effect on the risk of developing coronary heart disease. This concludes the ongoing argument of the previously suggested benefits of lowering homocysteine...
Research released today, and scheduled to be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 64th Annual Meeting in New Orleans, April 21 to April 28, 2012, suggests that mothers with a history of migraines are more likely to have babies who have problems with colic. Colic is when a baby cries...
A multi-center study of a national survey published in Arthritis Care and Research, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), has established that over half of women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systematic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have fewer children than desired. Leading...
I am doing a history project and I need to somehow link the Lincoln Douglas Debated to John Browns raid on Harpers Ferry and then to The Election of 1860. How are they connected? Iv'e gone through my textbook at least 50 times, and I never come up with anything. Help, please.
I am doing a history project and I need to somehow link the Lincoln Douglas Debated to John Browns raid on Harpers Ferry and then to The Election of 1860. How are they connected? Iv'e gone through my textbook at least 50 times, and I never come up with anything. Help, please.
After an evaluation of 800,000 doses of pentavalent rotavirus vaccinations in U.S. infants, researchers reported in the February 8 issue of JAMA that there is no increased risk of intussusception after vaccination, despite some previous data indicating that those infants who received the vaccine...