Mailman School of Public Health researchers analyze air quality and weather changes by 2050
...ompared to present-day conditions. This new system makes it possible for the first time to examine the separate and joint influences of land use, climate and emissions changes on future environmental conditions and resulting health implications such as asthma attacks and difficulty in breathing, ER visits...Dealing deadly cancers a knockout punch
... all human cancers. Reovirus enters a cancer cell, makes thousands of copies of itself, and then causes the cell to burst, which releases viruses that infect and kill adjacent cancer cells. Normal cells are not harmed. In addition to killing cancer cells directly, reovirus is believed to activate an ant...Use of Swedish 'snus' is linked to a doubled risk of pancreatic cancer
...he effects of the different kinds of tobacco. What makes this new study unique is that it has been possible to study the correlation between snus and cancer risk in a large enough group of men who have never smoked. The subjects attended health check ups between 1978 and 1992, during which they were ask...Is the UK prepared for pandemic flu?
...g, drug interventions, and communications. It also makes clear the primary responsibility for planning and responding to any major emergency rests with local organisations. But the author questions whether timely and effective implementation in a time of crisis can be achieved under a devolved system an...Cause of gender differences in blood pressure, kidney damage under study
... She's finding that nitric oxide synthase, which makes nitric oxide, a signaling molecule that tells smooth muscles cells to relax, may make more nitric oxide in females. Just how active an enzyme is depends on how it's phosphorylized, or turned on by adding phosphate groups. "Our preliminary data says t...Promising drug fails to improve COPD symptoms
...d emphysema, which, along with chronic bronchitis, makes up most COPD cases. When the TNF- receptor was turned off in mice, they were less likely than mice that had not be genetically altered to develop emphysema when exposed to chronic cigarette smoke. The latest study, however, did confirm a recently r...Urologic diseases cost Americans $11B a year
...neys, affects about 10 percent of all children and makes them prone to urinary tract infections and kidney damage. The cost of hospitalizations for reflux alone rose from $10 million in 1997 to $47 million in 2000; Southern states, defined using U.S. Census Bureau regions, saw the highest rise--56 percent...Combination treatment stymies breast cancer growth
...ancers have high levels of HER-2. While the HER-2 makes the tumors more aggressive, it also provides a target against which new drugs can act. Previously, treatment for patients with HER-2 positive tumors was less effective. "Now we have effective treatment, and survival is markedly improved," said Dr. ...Jefferson pharmacologist says biomarker discovery bodes well for better cancer diagnostics
... chromosome and gene to the protein machinery that makes the cell run," says Dr. Waldman. "No one knew about this intermediate level of regulation in every cell in the body. Its part of the cells normal machinery that regulates in part how cells become specialized." The Ohio State team found that prelimi...Study raises new treatment possibilities for cognitive disorders
...ting and adapting to change and poor memory, which makes it more difficult for them to remember to take their antipsychotic medication. "We could probably treat more schizophrenics on an outpatient basis and allow them to re-enter mainstream society if we could address cognition," Gee said. Anecdotall...Eye muscles -- those go-getters of the anatomical world
...onvention Center. We think that by learning what makes these muscles unique, we will understand why they are spared by some neuromuscular diseases and targeted by others, said Francisco H. Andrade, Ph.D., who will lead the symposium. These insights will lead, in turn, to better treatment options for thes...Your brain and hormones may conspire to make you fat
...s are less responsive to leptin and insulin, which makes them more at risk to become obese. Why? It appears that the brain can be programmed to accept a higher body weight by early-life factors, including the environment of the womb in late pregnancy and the individuals activity level in early life. These ...Mice with a migraine show signs of brain damage
...Nature Neuroscience. The scientists say the work makes it crucial for migraine sufferers to do everything...actor, the scientists say the risk of brain damage makes it imperative to prevent the headaches, by avoiding a persons triggers for the headaches and by usin...Exercise science principles strengthen swallowing rehabilitation
Just thinking about swallowing makes it harder to do. Head and neck cancer, a stroke, brain tumor, brain injury or even a tracheostomy tube and mechanical ventilation needed to sustain life can make it impossible. Dysphagia, or swallowing problems, can also result from aging and acc...Study puts us one step closer to understanding the function of sleep
...a wave that looks identical to the waves the brain makes normally during sleep." The researchers have learned to locate the TMS device above a specific part of the brain, where it causes slow waves that travel throughout the brain. "We don't know why, but this is a very good place to evoke big waves tha...Plasmonics book gives overview of technology that could revolutionize computing
... surfaces of small metallic nanostructures. This makes it possible to create light circuits that are much smaller than those that can be made with insulating materials such as glass, the backbone of fibre-optic communications. The new plasmonic devices could pave the way for computer chips that transmi...Anti-dandruff compound may help fight epilepsy
...pen it, Li says. But here we found a chemical that makes a defective protein work better. So now we have a chance to actually try to fix the causes of epilepsy, rather than traditionally circumventing them. Plus, this study really shows that we dont fully appreciate the biological roles of many familiar ch...Hay fever can send work productivity down the drain
...ntact with allergy patients, Szeinbach said. So it makes sense that family physicians would see patients with a broad spectrum of allergy symptoms. Both kinds of physicians have access to thorough diagnostic tests, and can also prescribe heavy-duty allergy drugs, such as steroids that help block the body...Livestock interventions can protect lives, livelihoods
...hiopia had a benefit-cost ratio of around 41:1. It makes far more sense to support a manageable core herd of animals during drought, than allow all the animals to die and have to replace them through expensive restocking programs."...Speeding 'fingertip' discovery -- 20 years of protein info in 1 place
...ins to identify nearly all chemical changes nature makes by adding phosphate to proteins manufactured in human cells. The Hopkins team then added its list of these so-called phosphorylation events to lists compiled by others and created a publicly available database on the Web - PhosphoMotif Finder [ h...