Low flu vaccination rates among healthcare workers could be risking the lives of frail elderly patients and increasing winter pressures in UK hospitals, according to research published in the latest issue of Journal of Clinical Nursing.

Less than eight per cent of nurses and healthcare assistants surveyed in two Liverpool hospitals said they had annual flu injections.

29 per cent of the 144 healthcare workers who took part in the study said they didn’t feel they needed

Preliminary results from a large, clinical trial of digital vs. film mammography show no difference in detecting breast cancer for the general population of women in the trial. However, those women with dense breasts, who are pre- or perimenopausal (women who had a last menstrual period within 12 months of their mammograms), or who are younger than age 50 may benefit from having a digital rather than a film mammogram. The results were reported September 16, 2005 in a special online publication

A new family of genes could hold the key to winning the battle against breast cancer, according to new research at the University of East Anglia.

Cancer specialists at UEA have discovered that several ‘ADAMTS’ genes are turned off in breast cancer compared to normal breast tissue, while others are switched on. These genes could be targets for the development of ‘smart’ drugs tailored to treat individual patients’ tumours.

The ADAMTS genes are recent additions to a larg

According to the most accepted theory on the origin of life, life began with very simple molecules, RNA chains, which were able to self-replicate. The problem with the theory, however, is that the fragility of these chains when there are replication errors (mutations) made it almost impossible for them to have evolved into more complex life forms. An international team of scientists, including Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona researchers, has discovered that these early molecules were much m

Water management is the key to regulating cell volume says Dutch researcher Bas Tomassen. He investigated the uptake and secretion of water by the plasma membrane of animal and human cells.

Cell volume is the outcome of a subtle balance between water uptake and secretion by the cell plasma membrane. A cell can regulate its volume by adjusting the salt concentrations in and around the cell. Exactly how this process works is still not known. Bas Tomassen has identified a number o

UCSD biochemists have developed a computer program that helps explain a long-standing mystery: how the same proteins can play different roles in a wide range of cellular processes, including those leading to immune responses and cancer.

Prior to the UCSD team’s findings, which are published in the September 16 issue of the journal Science, many scientists expressed doubts that a computational approach could represent the intricate mechanisms through which cells respond to outside

When Dr. Susan Rosenberg, professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, first published her finding that the mutation rate increased in bacteria stressed by starvation, sometimes resulting in a rare change that benefited the bacteria, it was controversial.

In a report in the current issue of the journal Molecular Cell, she and her colleagues describe not only how it happens but also show that this only occurs at a special time and place in the stres

Animal study shows potential for new therapies to aid drug-addiction recovery efforts

A novel chemical compound that blocks memory-related drug cravings has the potential to be the basis of new therapies to aid drug-addiction recovery efforts, UC Irvine neurobiologists have found.

Because exposure to people, places and objects previously associated with a drug habit can trigger overwhelming memory-based cravings, many former drug users often relapse into drug-taking be

Scientists from Maryland and New Jersey have identified a molecular pathway in mice that makes prostate cells vulnerable to cancer-causing oxygen damage. The pathway, which is also involved in human prostate cancer, may help determine how and whether antioxidants, such as certain vitamins or their products that reverse the damage, can prevent prostate cancer.

The researchers, from Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, found that when the tu

U-M Kellogg Eye Center scientists are first to screen for multiple retinal disease genes on a single microchip — and it’s cost-effective

Rapid genetic testing for eye disease is becoming a reality, thanks to a technology developed at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center. Scientists have created a first-of-its-kind test on a microchip array that will help physicians hone their diagnoses for patients with the blinding disease known as retinitis pigmentosa (RP). The

Scientists at the University of Liverpool believe gaps in the intestinal barrier could be a cause of inflammatory diseases of the gut such as Crohn’s Disease.

Their research, led by Professor Alastair Watson in the University’s Faculty of Medicine, could have important implications for the treatment of patients with diseases like Crohn’s – an inflammatory bowel disorder that causes severe ulceration in the intestine, leading to pain, bleeding and diarrhoea.

Profess

An innovative vaccination can significantly reduce deposits of the substances in the brain responsible for causing Alzheimer’s disease. This result was disclosed today by Affiris GmbH, a company located at the Campus Vienna Biocenter, Austria. The rapid progress during the pre-clinical development phase has already enabled the Vienna-based company, although having operated only since April 2004, to plan clinical trials for 2006, and thus proves the international competitiveness of the Campus Vienna

In one of the largest studies of its kind, UCSF researchers have found that eating lots of fruits and vegetables – particularly vegetables — is associated with about a 50 percent reduction in the risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer is difficult to diagnose and remains largely untreatable. It kills about 30,000 people in the U.S. each year and has a five-year survival under four percent.

The vegetables most strongly associated with increased protection were

Researchers have determined the first detailed molecular images of a piece of the spike-shaped protein that the SARS virus uses to grab host cells and initiate the first stages of infection. The structure, which shows how the spike protein grasps its receptor, may help scientists learn new details about how the virus infects cells. The information could also be helpful in identifying potential weak points that can be exploited by novel antiviral drugs or vaccines.

The SARS (seve

It’s more than a question of taste

Eating an apple is infinitely better than looking like one, according to experts at the American College of Cardiology (ACC). Humor aside, research has drawn significant links between body shape and heart disease. The American College of Cardiology is hoping to reshape America by highlighting this new health data on World Heart Day.

“People whose fat collects around the waist – the classic apple shape – are at higher risk of heart

A pioneering University of Queensland (UQ) research project will help children overcome extreme anxiety.

The Kids Coping Team, headed by Sonja March and Professor Sue Spence have developed a new treatment program for childhood anxiety.

According to Psychologist Sonja March, international research shows that anxiety is one of the most common psychological problems found in children and adolescents.

“Around 8-10% of children are affected by anxiety which can h