http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Severity of emphysema, as measured by computed tomography (CT), is a strong independent predictor of all-cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality in ever-smokers with or without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a study from researchers in Norway. In patients with severe emphysema, airway wall thickness is also associated with mortality from respiratory causes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-severity-emphysema-mortality.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 18 Jan 2013 00:00:02 EST news277661731 Living in a caring community may help curb teenage alcohol use, while hanging out with antisocial peers can have the opposite effect, according to Penn State researchers studying substance abuse patterns. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-teens.html Health Wed, 09 Jan 2013 16:39:36 EST news276971962 (HealthDay)—For patients with acute or chronic low back pain (LBP), predictors have been identified for clinically relevant improvements in LBP, pain down the leg (LP), and disability at three months, according to research published in the November issue of The Spine Journal. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-spanish-registry-ids-predictors-pain.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 20 Dec 2012 13:30:01 EST news275228975 (HealthDay)—Data from electronic health records (EHRs) can be used to detect more cases of diabetes than claim codes alone and can be used to accurately distinguish between type 1 and type 2 diabetes, according to a study published online Nov. 27 in Diabetes Care. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-ehr-algorithm-diabetes.html Diabetes Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:00:02 EST news274378998 It's common knowledge that excessive UV exposure from sunlight raises your chances for skin cancer, but predicting whether someone will actually develop skin cancer remains difficult. In a new research report, scientists from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the University of Wisconsin–Madison show that the risk for skin cancer involves numerous genetic factors including family history, ethnicity, and genetic variations specific to each individual. Using these factors, the researchers developed a more precise model for assessing risk, which is published in the December 2012 issue of the journal Genetics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-genetic-skin-cancer-uv-exposure.html Cancer Tue, 04 Dec 2012 09:53:17 EST news273837178 In a column appearing in the current issue of the journal Nature, McLean Hospital biostatistician Nicholas Lange, ScD, cautions against heralding the use of brain imaging scans to diagnose autism and urges greater focus on conducting large, long-term multicenter studies to identify the biological basis of the disorder. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-brain-imaging-autism.html Autism spectrum disorders Fri, 02 Nov 2012 12:17:34 EST news271077435 (Medical Xpress)—Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have identified tissue mechanisms that may influence a woman's susceptibility or resistance to breast cancer after exposure to low-dose ionizing radiation, such as the levels used in full-body CT scans and radiotherapy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-ways-id-women-higher-breast.html Cancer Tue, 16 Oct 2012 06:45:32 EST news269588720 Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have developed a novel method for determining how ready acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells are to die, a discovery that may help cancer specialists to choose treatments option more effectively for their patients who have AML. In a study published in the Oct. 12 issue of the journal Cell, the researchers report that their findings may lead to improved tests to predict which patients successfully treated for AML can continue in remission with standard chemotherapy alone, and which patients are likely to relapse despite additional treatment, but might benefit from a bone marrow transplant. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-tool-leukemia-cells-readiness-die.html Cancer Thu, 11 Oct 2012 12:26:14 EST news269177167 Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have identified a six-gene signature that can be used in a test to predict survival in men with aggressive prostate cancer, according to new research published in the October issue of The Lancet Oncology. This is the first study to demonstrate how prognostic markers may be useful in a clinical setting. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-gene-signature-prostate-cancer-survival.html Cancer Wed, 10 Oct 2012 15:13:15 EST news269100532 (HealthDay)—In children under the age of 3, a high dot-blot count for retinal hemorrhages (RHs) is a strong predictor of inflicted traumatic brain injury (ITBI) rather than accidental traumatic brain injury (ATBI), according to research published online Oct. 8 in Pediatrics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-retinal-hemorrhage-pattern-inflicted-brain.html Pediatrics Tue, 09 Oct 2012 19:30:01 EST news269024247 Not all head and neck cancers are created equal. Those started by infection with the human papillomavirus are less often fatal than those with other causes, such as smoking. Detection of a reliable fingerprint for HPV could help patients avoid unnecessarily harsh treatment. A new study finds that while one popular biomarker for HPV is not a reliable predictor of mortality from the cancers alone, combinations of some biomarkers showed much more promise. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-hpv-biomarkers-neck-cancers-combinations.html Cancer Tue, 18 Sep 2012 13:00:01 EST news267187425 (HealthDay)—Using a glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) threshold of ≥6.5 percent is a specific but not sensitive early indicator of type 1 diabetes (T1D) in high-risk children and young adults, according to a study published in the September issue of Diabetes Care. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-hba1c-percent-specific-sensitive-t1dm.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Sun, 02 Sep 2012 04:50:02 EST news265778778 (Medical Xpress)—A new study from the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute shows that a two-hour exposure to electronic devices with self-luminous "backlit" displays causes melatonin suppression, which might lead to delayed bedtimes, especially in teens. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-self-luminous-tablet-affect-evening-melatonin.html Medical research Mon, 27 Aug 2012 18:24:08 EST news265310635 (Medical Xpress) -- If the temperature hits 30 degrees, Brisbane ambos can expect approximately 10 per cent more call-outs that day for people with chronic conditions, research from QUT's Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation has found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-ambos-call-outs-fall-temperature.html Health Wed, 22 Aug 2012 07:49:44 EST news264840573 Using a new assay method to study tumor cells, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center have found evidence of clonal evolution in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The assay method distinguishes features of leukemia cells that indicate whether the disease will be aggressive or slow-moving, a key factor in when and how patients are treated. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-tumor-cells-cancer.html Cancer Fri, 27 Jul 2012 15:42:36 EST news262622533 Among patients with mild or no cognitive impairment, brain scans using a new radioactive dye can detect early evidence of Alzheimer's disease that may predict future decline, according to a multi-center study led by researchers at Duke University Medical Center. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-alzheimer-plaques-pet-brain-scans.html Neuroscience Wed, 11 Jul 2012 16:00:06 EST news261240709 (HealthDay) -- Intranasally administered insulin is associated with higher brain energy levels and reduced calorie intake, according to a study published online May 14 in Diabetes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-intranasal-insulin-linked-food-intake.html Diabetes Thu, 07 Jun 2012 16:28:02 EST news258305273 (HealthDay) -- Fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (F-18-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) is significantly more sensitive and equally specific compared with traditional computed tomography (CT) imaging for evaluation of the regional lymph node basin in patients with Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), according to research published online May 2 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-pet-sensitive-ct-merkel-cell.html Cancer Tue, 15 May 2012 14:20:01 EST news256308835 Brain scans of a small group of people can predict the actions of entire populations, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Michigan, the University of Oregon and the University of California at Los Angeles. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-small-neural-focus-groups-anti-smoking.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:48:54 EST news254569625 (HealthDay) -- Black patients with hypertension face a significantly increased risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) compared with nonblack patients, even after adjusting for multiple confounding variables, according to a study published in the April issue of Heart Rhythm. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-sudden-cardiac-death-black-patients.html Cardiology Fri, 13 Apr 2012 04:40:52 EST news253510843 (HealthDay) -- Showing patients with clogged arteries evidence of their condition makes them more likely to stick with treatments such as weight loss and cholesterol-lowering statins, two related studies found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-patients-images-clogged-arteries-powerful.html Cardiology Mon, 26 Mar 2012 07:10:02 EST news251957194 (HealthDay) -- Electrocardiogram (ECG), with or without echocardiogram (ECHO), may have potential value as a mass screening tool to identify the most common causes of pediatric sudden cardiac death (SCD), according to a meta-analysis published online March 5 in Pediatrics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-negative-sudden-cardiac-death-high.html Cardiology Tue, 06 Mar 2012 13:40:01 EST news250262746 (HealthDay) -- Model for Acetaminophen-induced Liver Damage (MALD), a mathematical model that utilizes commonly obtained laboratory values, including overdose amount and time elapsed since overdose, is effective for predicting outcomes in patients with acute liver failure due to acetaminophen overdose, according to research published online Feb. 13 in Hepatology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-death-due-acetaminophen-overdose.html Medications Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:40:01 EST news249309408 Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch have developed the first accurate predictive model to differentiate between dengue fever (DF) and its more severe form, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF). The breakthrough, which could vastly reduce the disease's mortality rate, was reported in related papers in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and Clinical and Translational Science. These studies could lead to a personalized approach to treatment of dengue fever. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-accurately-deadly-dengue-fever.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:49:12 EST news248626100 In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting, in Dallas, Texas, researchers will report findings that indicate that massively parallel sequencing can be used to diagnose fetal aneuploidies, including Down syndrome, Edwards syndrome, Patau syndrome and Turner syndrome. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-massively-parallel-sequencing-fetal-aneuploidies.html Health Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:00:01 EST news248073784 A key feature of human and animal brains is that they are adaptive; they are able to change their structure and function based on input from the environment and on the potential associations, or consequences, of that input. For example, if a person puts his hand in a fire and gets burned, he learns to avoid flames; the simple sight of a flame has acquired a predictive value, which in this case, is repulsive. To learn more about such neural adaptability, researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have explored the brains of insects and identified a mechanism by which the connections in their brain change to form new and specific memories of smells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-mechanism-associative-memory-exploring-insect.html Neuroscience Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:56:02 EST news246808549 Using outbreak data from 2003-2010, Kathleen O'Reilly of Imperial College London, UK and colleagues develop a statistical model of the spread of wild polioviruses in Africa that can predict polio outbreaks six months in advance. The authors' findings, published in this week's PLoS Medicine, indicate that outbreaks of polio in Africa over the study period resulted mainly from continued transmission in Nigeria and other countries that reported polio cases, and from poor immunization status. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-polio.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 18 Oct 2011 17:23:35 EST news238177407 In the largest reported series yet to compare transcervical extended mediastinal lymphadenectomy (TEMLA) with endoscopic and surgical primary staging and restaging of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), TEMLA showed a significantly higher diagnostic yield, according to research presented at the 14th World Conference on Lung Cancer in Amsterdam, hosted by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-temla-higher-diagnostic-yield-ebus.html Cancer Thu, 07 Jul 2011 06:42:06 EST news229239703 Conway Fellow, Professor William Watson and Professor John Fitzpatrick, UCD School of Medicine and Medical Science and Mater Misericordiae University Hospital recently received a translational research award for the validation of a panel of serum biomarkers to inform surgical intervention for prostate cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-prostate-cancer-biomarkers-closer-clinical.html Cancer Fri, 17 Jun 2011 09:28:15 EST news227521664 An analysis of over 400,000 IVF cycles in the UK has shown that doctors should aim to retrieve around 15 eggs from a woman's ovaries in a single cycle in order to have the best chance of achieving a live birth after assisted reproduction technology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-eggs-birth-ivf.html Other Wed, 11 May 2011 03:48:13 EST news224304463