play integral role in clinical trialsas an internationally recognized researcher into aging and dementia Suzanne Craft is keenly aware of the importance of volunteers in clinical studies.
Craft a professor of gerontology and geriatric medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Medical center and research director of its Sticht Center on Aging is the principal investigator in a National institutes of health-funded study into the effectiveness of insulin administered through the nose in treating individuals with mild cognitive impairment
or mild Alzheimer's dementia. But the $7. 9 million nationwide study involving 30 institutions--one of two projects selected by the NIH to be part of its National Alzheimer's Plan
which aims to find an effective way to prevent or treat the disease by 2025--won't be able to attain its goal without a sufficient number of subjects.
The role played by members of the public--both sick and healthy--is an often-underappreciated aspect of clinical research at academic medical centers
and other institutions even if these studies don't always produce the desired results. Academic medical centers play an integral role in developing new treatments
and cures said Craft who joined the Wake Forest Baptist faculty in October after 18 years at the University of Washington in Seattle.
In our environment your job is to find the truth to the best of your ability
and report openly whether your study is a failure or a success. And we often learn as much from failures as successes. Most clinical trials require people who have the disease
or condition being studied to take medications or provide information. But many studies also require healthy participants
and getting those people to enroll can be a challenge. Ken Getz founder and board chair of the Boston-based Center for Information
and Study on Clinical Research Participation said factors such as strict government protocols and the amount of time required by trials can hinder participation by the healthy.
because they're kind of paying it forward by assisting in advancing medical knowledge or because the study offers some type of compensation.
Medical environmental and other factors can exacerbate those differences she said. For a long time cardiovascular research was tilted toward men
so Craft believes encouraging minorities to participate in clinical trials is a special issue worth focusing on.
That position is echoed by Ronny Bell co-director of the Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity at Wake Forest Baptist.
Participation in research is critical to our understanding of the health disparities that exist in many populations
and our ability to develop solutions to alleviate these health burdens he said. Ultimately clinical-trial participation is about contributing.
One of the most important ways you can contribute directly to science is by volunteering to participate in studies said Christina Hugenschmidt an instructor in gerontology and geriatric medicine at Wake Forest Baptist.
You don't usually think about it but whenever you read about groundbreaking new science in human medicine it means that hundreds
or thousands of people just like you came in and volunteered their time. Story Source:
The above story is provided based on materials by Wake Forest Baptist Medical center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length h
The farmers'families tend to become better educated and local nonprofit groups currently supporting food security health
In recent years several prominent summits on ecological concerns have identified biodiversity in agricultural ecosystems as a major sustainability issue with implications for food security conservation health and well-being and adaptation
#Breast milk reduces risk of sepsis and intensive care costs in very-low-birth-weight infantsfeeding human breast milk to very-low-birth-weight infants greatly reduces risk for sepsis
and significantly lowers associated neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) costs according to a study by Rush University Medical center researchers.
The study published Jan 31 in the advance online version of the Journal of Perinatology showed that every 10 milliliters of human milk per kilogram that a very low birth weight infant received during the first 28
days of life decreased the odds of sepsis by almost 20 percent. A daily dose of 25 to 49.99 milliliters of human milk per kilogram cut NICU costs by more than $20000 while 50 milliliters per kilogram per day lowered NICU costs by nearly $32000.
The research which was led by Dr. Aloka L. Patel is the first report of an economic impact of an average daily dose of human milk for days 1 to 28 of life on risk of infection
and related hospital care costs. Dr. Patel is an associate professor in pediatrics at Rush University Medical center.
She specializes in neonatal and perinatal medicine. Of 175 very-low-birth-weight infants 23 (13 percent) developed sepsis from gram-positive bacteria such as staphylococci Streptococcus and Enterococcus species and gram-negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli
(E coli) as well as species of Klebsiella Enterobacter Pseudomonas and Serratia. Late-onset sepsis commonly occurs in about 22 percent of very-low-birth-weight babies the United states
. In addition to predisposing these infants to other diseases and later neurodevelopmental disabilities sepsis significantly raises NICU costs due to increased use of ventilation and longer lengths of stay.
It also translates into higher societal and educational costs for neurologically affected survivors. The substantial NICU hospital cost savings associated with increased dosages of human milk are likely to offset the maternal and institutional costs of providing
and feeding human milk such as breast pump rental lactation care providers and milk storage Patel stated.
She and her co-researchers are further investigating this premise. Collaborating with Patel on the current study were Tricia J. Johnson;
and Paula P. Meier at Rush University Medical center Chicago. Dr. Engstrom is affiliated also with Frontier Nursing University Hyden Ky.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Rush University Medical center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Journal Reference e
#11,000 elephants slaughtered in national park once home to Africa s largest forest elephant populationthe Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced February 6 that a national park once home to Africa's largest forest elephant
A small camp of 300 artisanal gold miners had expanded to over 5000 miners poachers and arms and drugs dealers.
and outline those associated with rubber biosynthesis rubber wood formation disease resistance and allergenicity. The rubber industry is affected by rubber blight--a fungal disease
--and natural rubber allergenicity a global medical concern for those repeatedly exposed to latex-containing products (e g. gloves).
Ahmad Yamin Rahman and colleagues believe that this draft genome information will accelerate the development of high-yielding natural rubber plants.
This will lead to assistance in latex production wood development disease resistance and allergenicity. Story Source:
#No clear evidence more gluten in new wheat is responsible for increase in celiac diseaseno clear evidence exists to support the idea that celiac disease is increasing in prevalence
because farmers are growing strains of wheat that contain more gluten. That's the conclusion of an article in the ACS'Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Donald D. Kasarda cites evidence that the incidence of celiac disease increased during the second half of the 20th century.
Some estimates indicate that the disease is four times more common today. Also known as gluten intolerance celiac disease occurs
when gluten a protein in wheat barley and rye damages the lining of the small intestine causing a variety of symptoms.
Nobody knows why the disease is increasing. One leading explanation suggests that it results from wheat breeding that led to production of wheat varieties containing higher levels of gluten.
The long-term health of tropical forests will depend on their ability to withstand multiple pressures from changing climate and deforestation.
#Smoking marijuana associated with higher stroke risk in young adultsmarijuana the most widely used illicit drug may double stroke risk in young adults according to research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke
In a New zealand study ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) patients were 2. 3 times more likely to have cannabis also known as marijuana detected in urine tests as other age
and sex matched patients researchers said. This is the first case-controlled study to show a possible link to the increased risk of stroke from cannabis said P. Alan Barber Ph d. M d. study lead investigator and professor of clinical neurology at the University of Auckland
in New zealand. Cannabis has been thought by the public to be a relatively safe although illegal substance.
This study shows this might not be the case; it may lead to stroke. The study included 160 ischemic stroke/TIA patients 18-55 years old who had urine screens upon admission to the hospital.
Among the patients 150 had ischemic stroke and 10 had TIAS. Sixteen percent of patients had positive drug screens mostly male who also smoked tobacco.
Only 8. 1 percent of controls tested positive for cannabis in urine samples. Researchers found no differences in age stroke mechanism or most vascular risk factors between marijuana users and non-users.
In previous case reports ischemic stroke and TIAS developed hours after cannabis use Barber said.
These patients usually had no other vascular risk factors apart from tobacco alcohol and other drug usage.
It's challenging to perform prospective studies involving illegal substances such as cannabis because questioning stroke
and control patients about cannabis use is likely to obtain unreliable responses Barber said. In the study the regional ethics committee allowed researchers to use urine samples from other hospitalized patients.
But researchers knew only the age sex and ethnicity for matching due to a lack of consent.
The study provides the strongest evidence to date of an association between cannabis and stroke Barber said.
But the association is confounded because all but one of the stroke patients who were cannabis users also used tobacco regularly.
We believe it is the cannabis and not tobacco said Barber who hopes to conduct another study to determine
whether there's an association between cannabis and stroke independent of tobacco use. This may prove difficult given the risks of bias and ethical strictures of studying the use of an illegal substance he said.
However the high prevalence of cannabis use in this cohort of younger stroke patients makes this research imperative.
Physicians should test young people who come in with stroke for cannabis use Barber said. People need to think twice about using cannabis
because it can affect brain development and result in emphysema heart attack and now stroke he said.
Co-authors are: Heidi Pridmore M d.;Venkatesh Krishnamurthy M d.;Sally Roberts M d.;David A. Spriggs M d.;
Kristie Carter Ph d.;and Neil E. Anderson M d. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by American Heart Association.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length t
#Thailand: Astonishing ten new species of semiaquatic freshwater earthworms revealedthe semiaquatic earthworms in the genus Glyphidrilus are somewhat unfamiliar species that live between the terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems of rivers streams canals
ponds swamps and paddy systems. Remarkably each species is endemic to a single water basin carrying its own signature of evolution from their common origin.
A study describing ten newly discovered species of the genus has been published in the open access journal Zookeys.
The author Dr. Somsak Panha from the Animal Systematics Research Unit Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok Thailand comments:
and so are likely to be sensitive to modern agrochemical contamination of the environment. They may play an important role in organic rice farming.
#Benefits of Bt corn go beyond rootworm resistanceengineered to produce the bacterial toxin Bt Bt corn resists attack by corn rootworm a pest that feeds on roots
or serve as a poison to herbivores. These chemicals are effective in deterring the feeding of most general insect herbivores.
A well-studied practice by some specialist insects is their predilection to consume these plant poisons sequester those poisons into parts of their body then exploit the poisons for their own protection.
The results contribute to the controversial debate on plant toxicity of nanoparticles and whether engineered nanoparticles can enter into the food chain.
At the same time their high reactivity has raised concerns about their fate transport and toxicity in the environment.
Zno is used widely in sunscreen products as gas sensors antibacterial agents optical and electrical devices and as pigments.
It's a fascinating paper with some genuine concerns in terms of potential health implications. Whilst we are not able to directly attribute nanoparticle ingestion to any particular disease
or symptoms we know from the latest laboratory studies the potency some have in terms of infiltrating our cells and tissue and causing harm.
The fact that these potentially dangerous particles are being taken up by such a common crop suggests a need to review what materials are used in agriculture around the world.
The syrup you pour on a pancake piles up before slowly oozing out to the sides says Dr. David Mccomas IBEX principal investigator and assistant vice president of the Swri Space science and Engineering Division.
#Exposure to pesticides in food, air and water increases risk of type 2 diabetes, study findsa study led by the University of Granada reveals that there is a direct relationship between the presence of Persistent Organic Pollutants
in the body and the development of type 2 diabetes regardless of the patient's age gender or body mass index.
A study conducted at the University of Granada has revealed that there is a direct relationship between exposure to pesticides (Persistent Organic Pollutants CPOS) in food air and water and prevalence of type 2 diabetes in adults regardless
and they might be one of the reasons why obese people are more likely to develop diabetes since the more fat the higher the COP concentrations in the body.
In a paper recently published in the journal Environmental Research researchers demonstrate that people with higher concentrations of DDE-the main metabolite in the pesticide DDT-are four times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than other people.
In addition the risk of type 2 diabetes is associated also with exposure to Î-HCH (beta-Hexachlorocyclohexane)
According to professor Arrebola the mechanism of action by which COPS increases the risk of diabetes is still unknown.
The prevalence of diabetes in the world has increased significantly in the last decades. It is estimated that by 2030 4. 4%of the world population have this metabolic disorder.
This will have a severe impact on public health programs since it is highly resource-consuming. The factors causing such increase in the prevalence of diabetes are not still clearly understood.
This research study was conducted by researchers at San Cecilio University Hospital Granada the University of Granada and the Andalusian School of Public health Santa ana hospital Motril and the Hospital del Mar d
'Investigacions MÃ diques Barcelona. According to the authors of the study we are an example of clinical research focused on common diseases with a high impact on health.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of Granada. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Journal Reference r
#Grooming helps insects keep their senses sharpenedlike a self-absorbed teenager insects spend a lot of time grooming.
Jim Drouillard professor of animal sciences and industry developed a technique that enriches ground beef with omega-3 fatty acids--fatty acids that have been shown to reduce heart disease cholesterol and high blood pressure.
though many doctors and nutritionists recommend between 1200-1600 milligrams daily depending on a person's age and health.
The health benefits of omega-3s are limited not to humans. Studies show that dairy and beef cattle with an enriched diet of flaxseed
and other omega-3 rich grains have fewer respiratory diseases. The cattle also have higher fertility rates which helps offset infertility among dairy cattle.
and reduce diabetes in cattle. Research showed that omega-3 levels dramatically increased in the cattle as more flaxseed was introduced into their diet.
and Drug Administration's seal of approval for containing omega-3 fatty acids. Todd Hansen CEO of NBO3 Technologies LLC said consumer response has been positive in test markets.
We really believe in the health aspect of this product and are using the slogan 'When Every Bite Counts'to emphasize that.
Staff and volunteers stationed on Midway are responsible for monitoring the health of the beautiful seabirds that arrive every year by the hundreds of thousands to nest.
This information helps us measure the health of our oceans that sustain albatross. Almost as amazing as being a parent at 62 is the number of miles this bird has logged likely--about 50000 miles a year as an adult
Present threats to the birds include lead poisoning of chicks on Midway from lead paint used in previous decades;
and infectious diseases accounted for the larger number of deaths during the hot months. Elephants are vulnerable to heat stress
because their large size and because they don't sweat like humans or pant like dogs to cool down.
Dr. Peter Bommert a former postdoctoral fellow in the Jackson lab performed an analytical technique on several maize variants that revealed
#New study sheds light on link between dairy intake and bone health: Not all dairy products are equala study by researchers at the Institute for Aging Research (IFAR) at Hebrew Seniorlife an affiliate of Harvard Medical school (HMS) has found that dairy intake--specifically milk
Published February 1 in the journal Archives of Osteoporosis these findings suggest that not all dairy products are equally beneficial in promoting bone strength.
Dairy foods provide several important nutrients that are beneficial for bone health says lead author Shivani Sahni Ph d. Musculoskeletal Research Team IFAR.
and sodium) and whether individual dairy foods have a significant impact in reducing fractures. IFAR researchers based their findings on data collected from a food frequency questionnaire completed by 3212 participants from the Framingham Offspring study.
This study is an example of a growing area of research focused on the relationship between nutrition and bone health.
Research like this supports the idea that proper nutrition can help combat osteoporosis and fractures.
Osteoporosis is considered a major public health threat for an estimated 44 million Americans or half of those aged 50 and older.#¢
#¢An estimated 10 million in the U s. already have the disease. Women are at higher risk than men.#¢
#¢Another 34 million Americans have low bone density putting them at increased risk for osteoporosis and fractures especially of the hip spine and wrist.
About one-quarter of those who suffer a hip fracture die within a year of the injury.#¢
#¢Osteoporosis-related fractures were estimated responsible for an $19 billion in health care costs in 2005 with that figure expected to increase to $25 billion by 2025.
M p h. This work was supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin diseases (AR#053205 and also AR/AG41398) and by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute's Framingham Heart Study (N01
-HC-25195) the Melvin First Young Investigator Award and General mills Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition.
The method promises to speed research into the underlying causes of disease by making single-molecule microscopy of practical use for more laboratories.
The latest frontier in basic biomedical research is to better understand the molecular machines called proteins and enzymes.
Determining how they interact is key to discovering cures for diseases. Simply put finding new therapies is akin to troubleshooting a broken mechanical assembly line
-if you know all the steps in the manufacturing process it's much easier to identify the step where something went wrong.
To make PALM more practical for use in biomedical research the team wrote a computer script that allows any biologist to upload
Xiaolin Nan of Oregon Health and Science University School of medicine and Sengupta Prabuddha of The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development National institutes of health.
#Genetically modified tobacco plants produce antibodies to treat rabiessmoking tobacco might be bad for your health
but a genetically altered version of the plant might provide a relatively inexpensive cure for the deadly rabies virus.
In a new research report appearing in The FASEB Journal scientists produced a monoclonal antibody in transgenic tobacco plants that was shown to neutralize the rabies virus.
This new antibody works by preventing the virus from attaching to nerve endings around the bite site
Rabies continues to kill many thousands of people throughout the developing world every year and can also affect international travelers said Leonard Both M. Sc. a researcher involved in the work from the Hotung Molecular Immunology Unit at St george's University of London in the United kingdom. An untreated rabies infection is nearly 100 percent fatal
and is seen usually as a death sentence. Producing an inexpensive antibody in transgenic plants opens the prospect of adequate rabies prevention for low-income families in developing countries.
To make this advance Both and colleagues humanized the sequences for the antibody so people could tolerate it.
Then the antibody was produced using transgenic tobacco plants as an inexpensive production platform. The antibody was purified from the plant leaves
and characterized with regards to its protein and sugar composition. The antibody was shown also to be active in neutralizing a broad panel of rabies viruses
and the exact antibody docking site on the viral envelope was identified using certain chimeric rabies viruses.
Although treatable by antibodies if caught in time rabies is said bad news Gerald Weissmann M d. Editor-In-chief of The FASEB Journal.
This is especially true for people in the developing world where manufacturing costs lead to treatment shortages.
Being able to grow safe humanized antibodies in genetically modified tobacco should reduce costs to make treatments more accessible and save more lives.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
and waterways and over-harvesting of plant and animal species. The study was led by Dr. Leandro Castello a research associate at the Woods Hole Research center (WHRC) in collaboration with scientists from various institutions in the United states and Brazil.
and management efforts said coauthor Dr. Laura Hess of Earth Research Institute UCSB. There are environmental issues everywhere
Dr Borbã¡la Gálos who led this study explained While we realize that the amount of afforestation included in our model is unrealistic in practice even a more modest program of planting trees could theoretically reduce the effect of climate change in Northern europe.
and biological control of plagues as their larvae feed on other insects that are damaging to crops
By giving a more detailed description of how the disease moves across the landscape the study opens the door to management efforts that might bring the disease under control says David Crowder a WSU entomologist and the paper's lead author.
Last year the U s. Centers for Disease Control had the highest number of reported cases--5387 including 243 deaths--since 2003.
Roughly one in five infected people experience a fever headache body aches and in some cases a skin rash and swollen lymph glands.
One in 150 people can get a high fever headache neck stiffness disorientation and neurological problems.
Crowder working with fellow entomologist Jeb Owen other WSU colleagues and the State department of Health merged data from a variety of sources including West Nile infections in humans horses
The researchers found that habitats with high instances of the disease in horses and birds also have significantly more mosquitoes--as well as American robins
and house sparrows the two bird species implicated the most in the disease's transmission. These same habitats are also resulting in much higher rates of infection within mosquitoes themselves said Crowder.
We find that all three of these things--abundances of house sparrows and American robins abundance of mosquitoes and the actual prevalence of West Nile in mosquitoes--are increasing in landscapes with a higher proportion of land in orchard habitats.
Together the insects and birds become focal points for the disease. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Washington state University.
#Vultures foraging far and wide face a poisonous futurea first ever study of the range and habits of white-backed vultures across southern Africa shows that they often shun national parks preferring to forage further afield on private farmland.
This behaviour and their tendency to scavenge in groups means that vultures risk encountering dead cattle that have been administered veterinary drugs that are poisonous to them
or even poisoned carcasses intended to control other carnivores such as jackals. The research using Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite transmitters to track the movements of adolescent vultures is published in the journal PLOS ONE.
In India several vulture species are on the verge of extinction due to accidental poisoning from cattle carcasses that contain anti-inflammatory drugs administered by farmers.
These drugs are nonlethal to cattle yet fatal to vultures. There is a concern that these drugs could become more widely used in Africa.
Vultures prefer to feed in savannah grassland habitats and away from other competing carnivores such as lions and the new study shows that the birds will go to considerable lengths to find food crossing multiple state boundaries with each bird on average ranging across an area twice the size of England.
Co-lead author Dr Stephen Willis School of Biological and Biomedical sciences Durham University said: We found that young vultures travel much further than we ever imagined to find food sometimes moving more than 220 kilometres a day.
and nurses the calf until the calf is six to 10 months old. During this time the cow eats rough plants like hay and grasses.
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