Medication commonly used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be effective for treatment of hyperactivity symptoms in children with autism and related pervasive developmental disorders, according to a study in the November issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Children with autism and other pervasive developmental disorders often also have symptoms of hyperactivity, distractibility and impulsiveness requiring treatme

Although the Canadian National Advisory Committee on Immunization recommends that children receive the new pneumococcal vaccine PCV7 beginning at 2 months of age, provincial implementation of the recommendation has been slow. The vaccine protects against infections that result in pneumonia, otitis media, meningitis and other diseases. In Alberta, however, the vaccine is a publicly funded service.

This report of the experience with the vaccine in the greater Calgary region shows 2 imp

Obstruction of the intestines due to adhesions resulting from previous abdominal surgery is painful, results in vomiting and dehydration and requires urgent medical and often surgical intervention.

Typical management requires placement of a nasogastric tube (a small plastic tube inserted to drain the contents of the stomach and its gastric juices), intravenous rehydration and prolonged observation to see if the obstruction will spontaneously resolve. Often surgical intervention is

Certain behaviors, such as eating, drinking and urinating, are so crucial to survival that the brains of all vertebrates contain clusters of nerve cells that can suppress pain long enough to allow the animal to eat, drink — or pee — in peace.

A report from researchers at the University of Chicago, published early online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that by activating “OFF” cells and shutting down “ON” cells in the ventromedial medulla (VMM) – a

Tailored follow-up plans, new clinical guidelines are needed

Citing shortfalls in the care currently provided to the country’s 10 million cancer survivors, a new report recommends that each cancer patient receive a “survivorship care plan.” The report, by the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council of the National Academies, says such plans should summarize information critical to the individual’s long-term care, such as the cancer diagnosis, treatment, and

Scientists at the University of Bradford have discovered that the hormone oestrogen could be responsible for giving women the advantage when performing certain tasks such as driving.

In a test carried out on volunteers aged between 18 and 35, results showed that a woman’s attention span and her ability to learn rules are far higher than a man’s.

This might explain why girls find it easier than boys to concentrate at school, and why women are more careful drivers.

Scientists recently discovered an anti-aging hormone called Klotho. Now, a new study shows that this protein acts by increasing the cell’s ability to detoxify harmful reactive oxygen species. The research appears as the “Paper of the Week” in the November 11 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, an American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology journal.

The klotho gene, named after the Greek goddess who spins life’s thread, is associated with preven

Scientists at Oregon State University have successfully cultured in a laboratory a microorganism with a gene for an alternate form of photochemistry – an advance that may ultimately help shed light on the ecology of the world’s oceans.

The microorganism is SAR11, the smallest free living cell known and probably the most abundant organism in the seas. By being able for the first time to study the SAR11 “proteorhodopsin” gene in a laboratory, researchers will be able to better

A newly identified gene expression profile could help predict how patients with advanced ovarian cancer will respond to chemotherapy treatment. Described in a study in the November 1, 2005 issue of The Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO), the new findings further establish an important role for microarray gene profiling as a predictor of clinical outcome in ovarian cancer, and could eventually provide clinicians with insights into the mechanisms of drug resistance.

“In many pati

Modern humans arrival in South Asia may have led to demise of indigenous populations

In a major new development in human evolutionary studies, researchers from the University of Cambridge argue that the dispersal of modern humans from Africa to South Asia may have occurred as recently as 70,000 years ago. “Paleoanthropological projects must now be launched in South Asia if we hope to document the spread of our species and if we wish to explain how we became behaviorally mode

Most comparisons of language and inherited traits consider whether genetic patterns conform with expected relationships observed by linguists. But few have considered the use of genetic data to support specific hypotheses raised by linguists regarding the relationships between language families.

In a forthcoming article in Current Anthropology, Francisco M. Salzano (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil) examines the proposals of three eminent lingu

Initial results in mice show this promising new treatment may disrupt the vessels supplying blood and nutrition to tumors

For the first time, ultrasound is being used in animal models – to treat cancer by disrupting tumor blood vessels. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine completed a study in mice in which they used ultrasound both to see a tumor’s blood perfusion and then to treat it with a continuous wave of low-level ultrasound. After three minu

Perceiving a simple touch may depend as much on memory, attention, and expectation as on the stimulus itself, according to new research from Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) international research scholar Ranulfo Romo and his colleague Victor de Lafuente. The scientists found that monkeys’ perceptions of touch match brain activity in the frontal lobe, an area that assimilates many types of neural information.

Romo and de Lafuente, both of the Institute of Cellular Physiol

A team of researchers led by scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have discovered that a new class of drugs — now in early stage clinical trials — work best in patients with mutations in the BRAF gene. BRAF is a protein that plays a central role in the growth and survival of cancer cells and is mutated in the majority of patients with melanoma and in a minority of patients with colon, breast, and lung cancers. The findings, available in an advance online publication of Natur

Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of Virginia hope to reset part of the “epigenetic code” in lupus patients and thus improve treatment.

The epigenetic research focuses on histones, the tiny spools in the nuclei of cells around which DNA winds and compacts when it is not in the process of copying in cell division. Epigenetic changes in the histones are those that can alter gene expression – and associated proteins – without altering the unde

Samples collected by WCS in international collaboration effort in Mongolia to be used in development of human pandemic influenza vaccine

Avian influenza virus samples collected from wild birds in Mongolia by field veterinarians from the New York City-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have been selected by the World Health Organization to be part of a new human pandemic influenza vaccine currently in development. The samples, collected in the midst of an outbreak in Augu