'Sobering' disparity: African-Americans receive less compensation for job-related back injuries
... noted. Tait speculated that negative stereotypes represent the most likely reason for the differences in treatment and settlements. "The diagnosis of lower back pain is a bugaboo in medicine today," Tait said. "It is not an exact science. There is no well-recognized paradigm for diagnosing and treating back...Cocaine addicts show reduced brain structure that underlies judgment
... studies suggested that the amygdala changes might represent changes in the brain or damage resulting from drug use. However, they said "An alternative hypothesis is that the observed amygdala abnormalities are a developmental condition that predisposes subjects to cocaine abuse or addiction." They pointed out...Tide of new nurses rises but shortages still loom large
...enrollments at nursing schools since 2001, and may represent the first wave of two-year program graduates." The number of men entering workforce has also been growing at a steady rate over the past two decades, increasing from 5 percent in 1983 with about 60,000 R.N.'s in the workforce, to nearly 9 percent, o...Imaging study finds a structural difference in the brains of cocaine addicts
...addiction or result from drug use. These findings represent the first output of a long-term Phenotype-Genotype Project in Addiction and Depression, directed by Breiter and Gasic, which will use advanced imaging technology to investigate the interaction between genetic differences and functional brain activity...Elderly cancer patients are significantly under-represented in cancer clinical trials
...a significant concern, given that elderly patients represent the majority of cancer patients in the U.S." Dr. Talarico noted that the FDA recommends that treatments be studied in all age groups for which they will have significant utility, including the elderly, so that the true risks and benefits can be asses...Heavy, lifetime alcohol users may be toasting metabolic syndrome
...intensity drinkers. The lowest intensity drinkers represent females who consume an average of one drink per drinking day and males who consume an average of 1.3 drinks per drinking day.Those in the second quartile category had a 23 percent higher risk, and those in the third quartile category had a 43 percent...New study finds significant improvements in pelvic pain, depression after hysterectomy
...rge academic medical centers, they more accurately represent the population of women undergoing hysterectomy for benign reasons, such as fibroids, Hartmann said. Nearly 600,000 hysterectomies are performed in the United States annually. Of these, 10 percent of women have pelvic pain as the primary medical indi...St. Jude scientist to lead NCI Pediatric Preclinical Testing Program
...our-eight xenograft lines. The in vitro panel will represent a similar range of childhood cancers and will include 20-25 cell lines. Each of the xenograft and cell lines used in the PPTP will undergo extensive molecular characterization. Gene expression profiles for the lines will be available using both cDNA ...Cancer researchers seek to predict tumor growth
...e usefulness of these models. The new ICBP centers represent a broad spectrum of cancer research. The centers and their individual projects include Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, "Development of Virtual Tumor;" Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, "Signatures of Kinase Activation in Cancer;" Lawrence...New compounds effective against Alzheimer's disease onset and progression
...late these disease-linked biological processes may represent alternative therapeutic approaches and lead to future identification of new drug discovery targets, Van Eldik said. Van Eldik and co-researchers found that the aminopyridazines inhibited both oxidative and inflammatory cytokine pathways and reduced...Less risks for patients participating in early phase cancer drug trials
...industry reach the clinic. Phase 1 clinical trials represent the first testing of an investigational agent in humans. The major objectives during phase 1 are to characterize the agent's toxicity profile and to determine a dose and schedule appropriate for phase 2 testing. Patients who chose to participate may...Electroconvulsive therapy improves mood, quality of life
...est several times], it is equally likely that they represent true improvements in cognitive efficiency," he said. Also involved in the study were Peter B. Rosenquist, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry, and Aaron Dunn, B.A., an associate project manager in the Psychiatry Department,...Molecular clock genes influence metabolism of sugar and dietary fats
...nduced by a high-fat diet. Together these findings represent the first molecular insight into how timing of what we eat via the clock can influence metabolism. The findings appear in the November 2 issue of the online journal PLoS Biology. The master molecular clock in mammals is located in the brain ...Dana-Farber receives CDC grants to develop health promotion/prevention programs in the work place
...omotion and prevention programs. The DFCI studies represent an unusual opportunity for public health researchers to collaborate with partners in organized labor and industry. The grants will support studies examining smoking behaviors, smoking cessation, job hazards, and obesity for workers in cooperation wi...Virco establishes comprehensive set of clinical cutoffs for the vircoTYPE HIV-1 resistance test
...n be applied. Compared to biological cutoffs, CCOs represent a different, more clinically relevant approach to interpreting resistance information, providing a higher degree of correlation with virologic outcomes. Additionally, unlike the approach for biologic cutoffs, the approach used to determine CCOs consi...Some chest pain patients may benefit from more evaluation
...id these levels may seem relatively low, but would represent a significant level of death and illness on a nationwide scale. There is no single, definitive test to diagnose heart attacks, making it difficult to evaluate chest pain patients, the researchers said. It is too costly to admit seemingly low-risk pat...Radiotherapy + cetuximab significantly improve disease control and survival in head and neck cancer
...Giralt. "These results are extremely promising and represent a major step forward in the treatment of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck," said Dr. Giralt. "This combination treatment should be explored in other common epithelial malignancies that demonstrate EGFR overexpression in which radiotherapy...Worldwide approach tackles kidney disease
...idney disease (CKD). Chronic kidney diseases represent a new and rapidly developing worldwide threat, according to the International Society of Nephrology (ISN). Today, more than 1 million people around the world are alive on renal dialysis. The incidence and prevalence of kidney failure have doubled i...New hope for ALS seen with genetic techniques, growth factors
...tant genes, and use of a neuron support factor may represent new ways to treat the fatal brain disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Research suggests that implanting cells to support the motor neurons that die off in ALS can help stave off the disease. Another group has developed technology to "silen...New protein associated with aggressiveness in breast and ovarian cancer
... associated with poorer outcome. Thus, Rab25 could represent a novel therapeutic target or marker of tumor behavior, they say. The researchers matched tumor samples to outcomes in about 100 patients diagnosed with either breast or ovarian cancer and found that a low level of Rab25 protein on a patient's cancer...