Researchers from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center Report

While soy may be beneficial to women in a variety of ways, research in monkeys suggests that it could have an adverse effect on the behavior of men, according to researchers from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

Reporting in the current issue of the scientific journal Hormones and Behavior, the researchers found that in male monkeys, “long-term consumption of a diet rich in soy isoflavones ca

The loss of 2 or more inches in height during adulthood serves as a powerful predictor of osteoporosis in the hip, and thus the risk for hip fractures, in elderly women, according to a new study at The Ohio State University Medical Center. The finding has led researchers to recommend that primary care physicians routinely screen aging patients for height loss.

“May is National Osteoporosis Month, and in 2004, an osteoporotic or fragility fracture of the hip should be preventable,” said Dr. S

Cohort study of sibling effect, infectious diseases, and risk of atopic dermatitis during first 18 months of life BMJ Online First

Having siblings, keeping a pet, or living on a farm helps protect infants against the development of atopic (allergic) diseases, but early infections increase the risk, according to new research from Denmark. This study will be available on bmj.com on Friday 30 May 2004.

Researchers conducted four separate interviews with over 24,000 pregnant wom

Women born in the summer have fewer children on average than women born at other times of the year, according to research published today (Thursday 29 April) in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction[1].

The findings, from a study of more than 3,000 Austrian women, show that despite the advent of modern contraception a woman’s birth month influences her reproductive performance, just as it has been found to do within historic populations.

Lead researcher

A recent study of Parkinson’s disease patients who use the medication pergolide shows a possible link between pergolide and injured cardiac valves. Study details and conclusions will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology 56th Annual Meeting in San Francisco, Calif., April 24 – May 1, 2004.

Valvular heart disease has been reported by various groups, totaling about 25 patients with Parkinson’s disease who take pergolide. “These reports are anecdotal, from uncontrolled ca

The population of the aged, globally, is growing inexorably and by 2020, the figure will have risen by 25%. In fact, the number of those in their 80s will have more than doubled. This means changes in family structures: there are more and more elderly persons living alone while the number of carers is falling.

Falls are one of the most common problems amongst the elderly, 30% of them having a fall at least once a year and representing 75% of the total number of victims of falls. 70% of accid

Baggage screeners have just seconds amid loud airport noises and the pressure of rushed airline travelers to scan X-rays of carry-on items for weapons. How good they are at finding one may depend on the specificity of their training, say researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The findings, published in the May issue of the journal Psychological Science, suggest that initial training of federal airport screeners needs to last long enough for them to be exposed to a var

Direct to consumer ads can be misleading, say researchers

Pharmaceutical ads marketed directly to the consumer may minimize the risks and exaggerate the benefits of medications, often confusing the public about what drugs are most effective, but Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) researchers have found a remedy. The solution, they say, lies in a “prescription drug benefits box,” a standardized table on every direct-to-consumer (DTC) ad that would present FDA approval data in clear, easy t

The progression from HIV infection to AIDS and death from AIDS is more rapid in people living in developing countries than those living in the United States and Europe, according to researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences and Chiang Mai University in Thailand. The researchers tracked the length of time between HIV infection and AIDS among young Thai men. They also studied the death rate of the men 5-7 years after th

UK advice provision is fragmented, underfunded and patchy, says research

Lone parents are not getting the advice they need because advice provision is fragmented, underfunded and patchy, according to research by Cardiff University. The research, published by One Parent Families, was funded by The Nuffield Foundation.

Looking at 12 types of legal and social welfare problems faced by single parents – including debt, contact, benefits and child maintenance – depending on the pro

Women are better than men at remembering the appearance of others, a new study shows.

The gender difference in appearance memory was not great, but it shows another area where women are superior to men in interpersonal sensitivity, said Terrence Horgan, lead author of the study and research fellow in psychology at Ohio State University.

“Women have an advantage when it comes to remembering things like the physical features, clothing and postures of other people,” Horgan said.

Elderly people living in residential homes are at significantly lower risk of hip fracture if they fall on carpeted wooden floors than onto any other type of flooring, says new research from the University of Warwick in a recently published report.

Changing floor coverings could have a real impact on the number of hip fractures suffered by the elderly. The study from Warwick’s Centre for Primary Healthcare Studies and the University of Edinburgh, published in May’s edition of the journal Ag

The European Commission has selected 14 pilot projects, to be allocated a total of €2.5 million, to boost the regional dimension of the knowledge economy.The projects were selected from a call for proposals published on August 1st, 2003. The “Regions for Knowledge” initiative (KnowREG) was called for by the European Parliament in order to encourage local players to design and shape regional knowledge development models. The models are to foster university involvement with the local economy and de

More and more, physicians are using the left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, to sustain patients who are awaiting heart transplants. The surgically implanted mechanical device takes over for weak and diseased hearts, acting as a bridge to transplant surgery.

For the LVAD to work optimally, however, the aortic valve, which releases oxygen-rich blood from the heart into the body, must be free from disease. In a study presented Thursday (April 22, 2004) at the International Society of Hear

Brothers and sisters who fight while growing up lay the groundwork for battering their dates by the time they get to college, a new University of Florida study finds.

In fact, the study found that sibling violence is a predictor of dating violence and is compounded by the experience of growing up in families where parent-to-child violence or parent-to-parent violence exists, said Virginia Noland, a UF professor of health science education.

“The findings suggest that sibling violence

Even biology majors may not have heard much about archaea. Along with bacteria and eukarya (which encompass every organism from fungi to mammals), the elusive microbes make up one of the three domains of life. Now researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have for the first time tied a specific disease to one of these unfamiliar organisms.

“It’s not surprising that no one has really heard about them; archaea have still not even penetrated mainstream biology textbooks,”