Breaking News in Science

EurekAlert! - Breaking News

1. First, do no harm: Study finds danger in standard treatment for a serious lung disease
   A combination of three drugs used worldwide as the standard of care for a serious lung disease puts patients in danger of death or hospitalization, and should not be used together to treat the disease, called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, according to the surprising results of a rigorous independent study. The findings show the importance of testing treatments that doctors give for any condition...
   
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2. High prevalence of bone disease in patients referred for pulmonary rehabilitation
   There is a very high prevalence of osteopenia/osteoporosis among male patients with pulmonary disease, according to a new study from researchers in California.
   
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3. Experimental bariatric surgery controls blood sugar in rats with diabetes
   For the first time, scientists at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute have shown that an experimental bariatric surgery can lower blood sugar levels in rats with type 1 diabetes.
   
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4. Prenatal exposure to pollution especially dangerous for children with asthma
   The link between prenatal exposure to air pollution and childhood lung growth and respiratory ailments has been established by several studies in recent years, and now a new study suggests that these prenatal exposures can be especially serious for children with asthma.
   
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5. Relief of urinary symptoms is an underappreciated benefit of early stage prostate cancer treatment
   Treatment of early stage prostate cancer can also result in improved quality of life for a subgroup of men who suffer from lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), according to an abstract of a Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center-led study presented to the American Urological Association.
   
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6. Drug found for parasite that is major cause of death worldwide
   Research by a collaborative group of scientists from UC San Diego School of Medicine, UC San Francisco and Wake Forest School of Medicine has led to identification of an existing drug that is effective against Entamoeba histolytica. This parasite causes amebic dysentery and liver abscesses and results in the death of more than 70,000 people worldwide each year.
   
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7. Impact of MRSA nasal colonization on surgical site infections after gastrointestinal surgery
   Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus (MRSA) nasal colonization is associated with longer hospital stays and an increase in surgical site infections (SSI) in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery, according to a new study from Scott and White Memorial Hospital, Temple, Texas.
   
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8. Statins prevent cancer in heart transplant recipients
   Statins prevent cancer and reduce death from all causes in heart transplant recipients. The findings were independent of cholesterol levels.
   
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9. Scientists discover distinct molecular subtype of prostate cancer
   A collaborative expedition into the deep genetics of prostate cancer has uncovered a distinct subtype of the disease, one that appears to account for up to 15 percent of all cases, say researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
   
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10. Study says children exposed to tobacco smoke face long-term respiratory problems
    For more than three decades, researchers have warned of the potential health risks associated with exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), especially among children whose parents smoke. Now a new study conducted by researchers from the University of Arizona reports that those health risks persist well beyond childhood, independent of whether or not those individuals end up becoming smokers...
    
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11. Soldiers who desecrate the dead see themselves as hunters
    Modern day soldiers who mutilate enemy corpses or take body-parts as trophies are usually thought to be suffering from the extreme stresses of battle. But, research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council shows that this sort of misconduct has most often been carried out by fighters who viewed the enemy as racially different from themselves and used images of the hunt to describe their...
    
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12. OSA can be managed successfully in the primary care setting
    Patients with moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea can be successfully managed in a primary care setting by appropriately trained primary care physicians and community-based nurses, according to Australian researchers.
    
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13. Discovery of mechanisms predicting response to new treatments in colon cancer
    The Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology identifies biomarkers that predict resistance to treatment which will enable a better selection of patients who stand to benefit as well as avoid the administration of ineffective medicines. These findings identify experimental drugs to overcome resistance and open new therapeutic avenues in combinatorial treatment.
    
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14. Good news for nanomedicine: Quantum dots appear safe in pioneering study on primates
    A pioneering study to gauge the toxicity of quantum dots in primates has found the tiny crystals to be safe over a one-year period, a hopeful outcome for doctors and scientists seeking new ways to battle diseases like cancer through nanomedicine.
    
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15. Scientists identify new target to battle rheumatoid arthritis
    A new study led by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery identifies the mechanism by which a cell signaling pathway contributes to the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In addition, the study provides evidence that drugs under development for diseases such as cancer could potentially be used to treat RA.
    
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16. UW study: Sleep apnea associated with higher mortality from cancer
    Sleep-disordered breathing, commonly known as sleep apnea, is associated with an increased risk of cancer mortality, according to a new study.
    
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17. Songbirds' learning hub in brain offers insight into motor control
    To learn its signature melody, the male songbird uses a trial-and-error process to mimic the song of its father, singing the tune over and over again, hundreds of times a day, making subtle changes in the pitch of the notes. For the male Bengalese finch, this rigorous training process begins around the age of 40 days and is completed about day 90, just as he becomes sexually mature and ready to...
    
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18. 4 acute mushroom poisonings in 2 weeks
    In a matter of two weeks last fall, four unrelated patients were treated at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital for mushroom (amanitin) poisoning. As part of a clinical study at, all patients received an IV preparation of milk thistle seeds (silibinin). Their clinical course, management, and outcomes were presented today at Digestive Disease Week.
    
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19. Study evaluates use of inhaled saline for young children with cystic fibrosis
    Margaret Rosenfeld, M.D., M.P.H., of Seattle Children's Hospital, and colleagues conducted a study to examine if hypertonic saline would reduce the rate of pulmonary exacerbations in children younger than 6 years of age with cystic fibrosis (CF).
    
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20. Treatment of childhood OSA reverses brain abnormalities
    Treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in children normalizes disturbances in the neuronal network responsible for attention and executive function, according to a new study.
    
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