Researchers have found that mammography coupled with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is extremely sensitive in the detection of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). DCIS, or early stage breast carcinoma, is a pre-invasive malignancy and MRI may help identify this type of disease, which may not be visible on a mammogram. This study is published in The Breast Journal.

The study examined the medical records of women diagnosed with DCIS, aged 34 to 79 years, who underwent MRI and mammographic ex

Even at very low levels, ozone–the principal ingredient in smog–increases the risk of premature death, according to a nationwide study to be published in the April edition of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

The study, sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control, found that if a safe level for ozone exists, it is only at very low or natural levels and far below current U.S. and international regulations. A 10 part-per-bil

Marketing rail services in a similar style to ‘no-frills’ airlines and improving the reliability of trains could help to reduce stress levels among commuters, researchers at The University of Nottingham believe.

The psychologists in the University’s Institute of Work, Health and Organisations have examined the existing evidence into stress levels among rail passengers and how it might be associated with crowding on trains.

Few research projects have been carried out

Treatment in the form of floating in huge tanks of saltwater, so-called ‘floating,’ is effective for chronic stress-related pain. This is shown in a study at Karlstad University, Sweden, led by Professor Torsten Norlander.

The research study shows that individuals suffering from stress-related health problems such as chronic pain, depression, or anxiety are often helped a great deal by floating. The effect remains four months after the treatment period. A control group, which did

Loud music prolongs the effects of taking ecstasy for up to five days. A study published today in the open access journal BMC Neuroscience shows that the reduction in rats’ brain activity induced by 3,4 -Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or ecstasy) lasts long after administration of the drug – up to five days – if loud music is played to them simultaneously. The effects wear off within a day when no music is played.

Michelangelo Iannone from the Institute of Neurological Science,

X chromosome dosage compensation does occur in germ cells. A study published today in the open access journal Journal of Biology reveals that expression of the genes on the X chromosome is doubled in Drosophila germ cells to compensate for the missing second X chromosome. The study shows that this also occurs in C. elegans and mice somatic cells. In human female somatic cells, one of the two X chromosomes is inactivated to equilibrate expression between the sexes, but this unbalances the express

Most people have heard stories about an older person who “dies of a broken heart” shortly after their partner’s death. A new study finds that hospitalization of a spouse for a serious illness also increases their partner’s risk of death. Further, the risk is greater with certain diagnoses, such as dementia, stroke and hip fracture. The study was sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The report, by Nicholas A. C

Cognitive neuroscientists have shown that babies have an abstract numerical sense, as demonstrated by their ability to match the number of voices they hear to the number of faces they expect to see. This numerical perception across senses demonstrates that babies have a truly abstract sense of numerical concepts — and not just one that is a function of a particular sense — even before they learn to speak. Previous experiments on this topic have yielded conflicting and equivocal results, sai

Researchers at a trio of universities have found that reactivating a specific memory does not affect associated or related memories, adding to our understanding of how memories are stored and influenced. The study appears in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study’s authors are Jacek Debiec and Joseph LeDoux of New York University’s Center for Neural Science, Valérie Doyère of NYU and Université Paris-Sud, and Karim Nader, a psychology professo

EORTC 20981 trial demonstrates: Risk of death can be halved

Two years of maintenance therapy with rituximab dramatically improves the chances of survival for patients suffering from one of the most frequent forms of lymphoma, indolent non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL). The EORTC 20981 trial reveals that rituxibam maintenance treatment prologns progression free survival by about 2,5 years, irrespective of initial treatment. Moreover, the risk of death is halved for patients who receive

Scientists are casting a wide, tightly woven net with the goal of catching the causes of type 1diabetes.

Study sites around the world are screening 220,800 healthy babies for genes that put them at risk for type 1diabetes.

They expect to identify the genes in about 13,000 babies in this four-year screening. About half those babies will embark with their families on a 15-year journey that may help cure the disease.

“Our hope is to identify environmental factors

Older people who do not have help for daily tasks such as dressing and bathing are much more likely to be hospitalized for acute illness than older adults who receive the help they need, a Purdue University study indicates, suggesting that reducing health-care costs for older adults may be as simple as providing them with a little household help each day.

A research team, including Purdue nursing professor Laura P. Sands, has found evidence that older adults who qualify for nurs

A contrast agent currently used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), called mangafodipir, may increase the cancer-killing ability of some chemotherapy drugs while protecting normal cells, according to a study in the February 15 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute .

Many anticancer drugs work by increasing the levels of tumor cell hydrogen peroxide. Tumor cells are particularly sensitive to hydrogen peroxide and die as a result. However, certain enzymes in the

Information can be gathered in minutes using 12-question form in doctor’s waiting room

Researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center have created an index that is 81 percent accurate in predicting the likelihood of death within four years for people 50 and older.

The index, which weighs different mortality risk factors according to a simple point system, is potentially useful to health care providers, policymakers, and researchers, say the study authors.

The widely used erectile dysfunction drug Levitra is now the second drug in its class found to protect the heart against tissue damage following acute heart attack, according to a new study by Virginia Commonwealth University researchers.

“Our findings further support the concept that the novel class of phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors, or PDE-5 inhibitors, including Levitra and Viagra, may have a new utility in cardiac protection, in addition to their well-known use for the m

A new study has found that supplements of vitamin C can largely stop the serious depletion of vitamin E that occurs in smokers, demonstrating for the first time in humans a remarkable interaction between these two antioxidants as they work together.
The research also suggests a possible mechanism by which smoking can cause cancer.

The findings are being published today in Free Radical Biology and Medicine, a professional journal, by scientists from the Linus Pauling Institute at Orego