A new study from the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center at the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences (NSSS) shows that six out of ten head injuries in alpine skiers and snowboarders can be prevented by using a ski helmet.

The Alpine Operators Association and Martina Hansens Hospital contributed information about 3,277 injured alpine skiers and snowboarders during the course of the 2002 winter season at eight of the larger alpine ski areas in Norway

Snowboarders running

Some patients may no longer need hypertensive medications after bariatric surgery

Severely obese patients may experience significant, long-term improvements in blood pressure as they lose substantial amounts of weight after gastric bypass surgery, thereby contributing to their overall health, according to a new University of Pittsburgh study, published in the March issue of the Archives of Surgery. Excess body weight is associated with a host of health complications includin

An analysis of H5N1 influenza samples in Southeast Asia shows not only how the two strains that have caused human disease are related but also that they belong to two different, distinct genetic subgroups. Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report their findings today at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases.

“As the virus continues its geographic expansion, it is also undergoing genetic diversity expansion,” says Rebecca Garten, a resea

In the Netherlands school-aged children in the age range 5 to 16 years no longer participating in any form of education is an increasingly frequent phenomenon. Children who are absent from school for a period of two months or more are referred to as long-term truants. On behalf of NWO, Theo van Batenburg and his colleagues investigated the number of long-term truants, their characteristics and the underlying causes of this absenteeism. The report has recently been published.

Each year

Four proposals have been honoured in the subsidy programme ’Medium Investments Social Sciences’. A total of 950,000 euros has been awarded. The projects are an international study into integration, a magnetic laboratory for brain research, a computer for genetic analyses and virtual reality as a trial area for psychological experiments.

The programme for medium-sized investments covers subsidies for the purchase of equipment and for the setting up of data collections, associat

WHAT: The recent spread of deadly H5N1 influenza A virus among birds in Asia, Europe, and Africa has been the focus of much attention and concern worldwide–largely because of the danger that the virus will mutate into a form that will become easily transmissible from person to person.

In a March 16 article published online by Science, a research team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute in California reveals the structure of an H5 protein from a highly pathogenic strain

In a forthcoming study from the Journal of Consumer Research, researchers from Indiana University explore the process by which consumers evaluate new products, be it a new razor with an unprecedented number of blades or an even mintier chewing gum. The researchers argue that when a multi-product brand – such as Nike, which recently added electronic gadgets to its core of athletic apparel – releases a new product, the consumer’s evaluative process is significantly different than when a brand

The UK’s eight Research Councils have begun an initiative to assess the efficiency and value for money of their grant peer review process.

The UK peer review system provides an international benchmark of research quality and the project is based on a continuing commitment of the Research Councils and Government to the principle of the project-based peer review system. The initiative will provide evidence that will inform possible efficiency gains while maintaining the high quali

For years, neural activity in the brain’s visual cortex was thought to have only one job: to create visual perceptions. A new study by researchers at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory shows that visual cortical activity can serve another purpose–connecting visual experience with non-visual events.

The study, slated to appear in the March 17 issue of Science, implies that sensory parts of the brain may be able to accomplish more complex tasks than previously

Problem gambling runs in families according to a University of Iowa study published online Feb. 24 in the journal Psychiatry Research. The study also found an excess of alcoholism, drug disorders and antisocial personality disorder in families with pathological gamblers.

This is the first study of its kind to include detailed family interviews of relatives of persons with pathological gambling, said Donald W. Black, M.D., professor of psychiatry in the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Car

Study Offers Piece of “Missing Link” Needed in Understanding Receptor Function—Possibly Providing Safe, Ethical Source for Replacing Brain Cells, Reports March Journal of Nuclear Medicine

Japanese researchers have found a piece of the “missing link” about how bone marrow stromal cells restore lost neurologic function when transplanted into animals exhibiting central nervous system disorders, according to a study in the March issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

“Our

Study is giant leap towards prevention and treatment

Researchers at Children’s Hospital & Research Center at Oakland (CHRCO) have published a new study that is the first to explain how brain cells die in patients with Alzheimer’s Disease. This discovery is an important first step to helping researchers devise ways to slow, prevent and eventually cure a disease that affects an estimated 4.5 million Americans.

In a study published in the February 28th issue of the

Inhibiting gamma secretase may prevent amyloid plaque build-up thought to trigger disease, but trials continue

Oregon Health & Science University is participating in a national study of a drug that may prevent Alzheimer’s disease by blocking an enzyme that produces plaques believed to trigger the disorder.

OHSU is one of six sites around the country taking part in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of the agent known as LY450139, a gamma secretase inhibitor m

Capsaicin, the stuff that turns up the heat in jalapeños, not only causes the tongue to burn, it also drives prostate cancer cells to kill themselves, according to studies published in the March 15 issue of Cancer Research.

According to a team of researchers from the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, in collaboration with colleagues from UCLA, the pepper component caused human prostate cancer cells to undergo programmed cell death or ap

New ways to improve adherence, tolerance needed

Wearing a special mask to bed helps children with sleep apnea breathe and sleep better, but a small, six-month study at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and two other pediatric hospitals suggests children aren’t always using them consistently enough to reap the maximum benefits.

The breathing masks, which deliver a gentle, steady flow of air called positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy, significantly improve

’Proof of principle’ trial shows promise, but it’s too early to recommend drug treatment for all with pre-hypertension

A new study offers intriguing insight into the possibility of postponing hypertension among the 59 million Americans whose blood pressure is slightly high. If confirmed, the concept may offer a chance to keep many people from facing the high risk of heart disease and stroke that currently confronts the 65 million Americans with hypertension. But for