Aging lowers activity in brain's language areas; performance unaffected
... was measured while participants matched consonant letter strings, e.g., "zqqpf" and "zqqpf." The comparison between each language task and the control task allowed the demonstration of brain regions more specifically devoted to language as opposed to low-level functions such as vision and generating a resp...New approach required for obtaining informed consent in less-developed countries
Authors of a research letter in this week's issue of THE LANCET highlight the difficulty of obtaining valid consent from people in less-developed countries who are about to participate in medical research. Few practical guidelines exist on how to ensure that research participa...Procedure to help Parkinsons disease could shed light on psychiatric disorder
French authors of a research letter in this week's issue of THE LANCET describe how electrode stimulation of a specific part of the brain to alleviate symptoms of Parkinson's disease could also help in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorders. The psychiatric condition obsessive...Preliminary study suggests endomitriosis could contribute to infertility
Authors of a research letter in this week's issue of THE LANCET provide preliminary evidence which suggests that the peritoneal fluid of women with endometriosis may play a significant role in reducing fertility. Endometriosis and infertility are known to be associated, but it i...The Lancet Neurology November press release
...Research Group (PCHRG; Washington, DC, USA) sent a letter to US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson, regarding the Alzheimer's Disease Anti-Inflammatory Prevention Trial (ADAPT), which is sponsored by the National Institute on Aging. In the letter, PCHRG called ADAPT "misleading and incom...Over-diagnosis of liver failure after paracetamol poisoning?
Danish authors of a Research letter in this week's issue of THE LANCET suggest that there is the potential for clinicians to mistakingly diagnose liver failure after moderate paracetamol poisoning by relying solely on the measurement of one diagnostic marker. The use of acetylcysteine ...Consortium awarded CDC grant to coordinate national health system 'radar' to catch bioterror events
...systems pre- and post-September 11 and the anthrax letter mailings," says the grant's principal investigator Richard Platt, MD, acting chair of the Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention (DACP). "Initially, most bioterrorism-related illnesses have...Further evidence of increase in allergic disease in western countries
Danish authors of a research letter in this week's issue of THE LANCET provide further evidence which suggests that allergic diseases are becoming increasingly common in western populations. Allergic diseases are thought to be increasingly common in more-developed countries, but few ...Are too many lungs not being considered for transplantation? (p 621)
Authors of a research letter in this week's issue of THE LANCET suggest that new scientific evidence is required to clarify the criteria for assessing potential lung donors. More than 85% of lungs are considered unsuitable for transplantation. Lorraine Ware from Vanderbilt Unive...Study highlights need for UK childhood screening for amblyopia
...has been underestimated previously." In a research letter in this week's issue of THE LANCET (p 621), from the same study, the investigators report the chance of visual improvement in the amblyopic eye following loss of vision in the non-amblyopic eye and the factors associated with this. Of 254 individuals...Telephone, mail reminders serve as effective mammography motivators
... the tailored groups also included an introductory letter with messages geared to the recipient's age, famil...y screening. "This cover page was in the form of a letter addressing the woman by name and closing with the digitized signature of the physician she identifie...A research letter in this week's issue of THE LANCET highlights how trawler fishing and other seafaring jobs are by far the most hazardous occupations in Great Britain. Stephen Roberts from the University of Oxford, UK, investigated the most hazardous of all occupatio...UB researcher observes strong statistical correlation between prevalence of diabetes, air pollution
...e increase in the disease. In addition, Lockwood's letter notes, "environmental toxins, notably dioxins, also have been suggested as contributing factors. "The nature of the relationship between air pollutants and diabetes remains to be determined, but there is a potentially plausible link," he said. "What...Therapy for mice with prion disease could offer benefit to human beings with CJD
Authors of a fast-track research letter in this week's issue of THE LANCET describe a therapeutic treatment which increased the survival time for mice with prion disease. These results could represent a new approach to treating CJD in human beings. The lack of an immune response to prions...Straightforward assessment to improve identification of people at high risk from colorectal cancer
... surgeon separately for the general practitioner's letter and for the questionnaire. A weighted numerical score was derived from the weighting of the main disease symptoms and symptom complexes (presence of more than one major symptom) and was calculated automatically when the questionnaire data were entere...Teenage boys exposed to environmental pollutants
A research letter in this week's issue of THE LANCET provides further evidence that adolescent boys exposed to organic pollutants are less likely to father a male child in adulthood. Investigators from the National Cheng Kung University Medical College, Taiwan, and th...Poor adherence to control measures for older children with phenylketonuria
Authors of a research letter in this week's issue of THE LANCET highlight how older children are less likely to adhere to recommended guidelines to control phenylketonuria (PKU), a metabolic disorder which can cause severe cognitive impairment. PKU is one of the most frequent in...Personality disorders change over time
A research letter in this week's issue of THE LANCET challenges the widely held view that personality disorders do not change over a long period of time. Personality disorders, by contrast with other mental disorders, are generally considered to be persistent. Helen ...Should people with diabetes sleep with the lights on?
A research letter in this week's issue of THE LANCET suggests that night-time illumination could help prevent the onset of diabetic retinopathy, a condition which can result in severe visual impairment in people with diabetes. People with diabetes generally have impai...Feeding tubes may not help in severe dementia, yet use varies widely
...wn Medical School. The study appears as a research letter in the June 26, 2002, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Teno and colleagues analyzed records for 1999 from the Minimum Data Set, a national repository of nursing home data. The data set included information on feeding tube use...