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Preventive screenings can help take ‘emergency’ out of colorectal cancer
Diabetic risk can be lowered with diligence, healthy lifestyle
Regular exercise shown to reduce risk of Alzheimer’s disease
Cells from skin create model of blinding eye disease
The brain of OCD sufferers is more active when faced with a moral dilemma
Decisions based on instinct have surprisingly positive outcomes
Inpatient brain injury education increases bike helmet use, study finds
New Habitable Zone Super-Earth Found in ExoSolar System

Preventive screenings can help take ‘emergency’ out of colorectal cancer

Posted: 08 Nov 2012 12:34 PM PST

Almost one in every three patients with colorectal cancer is diagnosed in an emergency setting, with African-Americans and those living in high-poverty areas the most likely, according to new data presented in late October.

Dr. Sandi L. Pruitt, a clinical sciences specialist in medical outcomes and health services delivery research, and her UT Southwestern Medical Center colleagues evaluated national disparities in emergency colorectal cancer presentation using Medicare statistics from 1992 to 2005 of U.S. adults older than 65 with invasive colorectal cancer.

Diabetic risk can be lowered with diligence, healthy lifestyle

Posted: 08 Nov 2012 12:28 PM PST

In the simplest terms, people with diabetes have elevated blood glucose, or sugar, levels. While there are distinct differences between type 1 and type 2 forms, both are caused by insufficient levels of insulin, the hormone needed to produce and regulate blood sugar.

Basic symptoms for both types include fatigue, unexplained weight loss, increased thirst and urination, blurry vision, and increased appetite. One of the most prevalent complications is eye disease such as glaucoma, cataracts, and, most severely, blindness.

Regular exercise shown to reduce risk of Alzheimer’s disease

Posted: 08 Nov 2012 12:25 PM PST

Several recent studies suggest that regular exercise can reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease – an important finding for a condition that currently has no cure and few promising drug treatments.

Cells from skin create model of blinding eye disease

Posted: 08 Nov 2012 08:56 AM PST

For the first time, Wisconsin researchers have taken skin from patients and, using induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology, turned them into a laboratory model for an inherited type of macular degeneration.

Dr. David Gamm, director of the UW's McPherson Eye Research Institute, said that while Best disease is relatively rare, having a patient-specific model of the eye disease, which destroys the macula of the retina, could lead to a greater understanding of more common eye disorders such as age-related macular degeneration.

The brain of OCD sufferers is more active when faced with a moral dilemma

Posted: 08 Nov 2012 08:49 AM PST

Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder are characterised by persistent thoughts and repetitive behaviours. A new study reveals that sufferers worry considerably more than the general population in the face of morality problems.

Along with the help of experts from the Barcelona's Hospital del Mar and the University of Melbourne (Australia), researchers at the Hospital de Bellvitge in Barcelona have proven that patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, known as OCD, are more morally sensitive.

Decisions based on instinct have surprisingly positive outcomes

Posted: 08 Nov 2012 08:43 AM PST

Decision-making is an inevitable part of the human experience, and one of the most mysterious. For centuries, scientists have studied how we go about the difficult task of choosing A or B, left or right, North or South — and how both instinct and intellect figure into the process. Now new research indicates that the old truism "look before you leap" may be less true than previously thought.

Inpatient brain injury education increases bike helmet use, study finds

Posted: 08 Nov 2012 08:40 AM PST

A 30-minute brain injury education program taught in the hospital may increase children’s use of bicycle helmets, Georgia Health Sciences University researchers report.

The researchers provided bicycle helmet safety and brain injury prevention information to 120 patients age 5 to 18 at Georgia Health Sciences Children’s Medical Center and found that helmet usage increased by 72.5 percent within the first month following the program – from only 11 children reporting wearing a bicycle helmet on every ride to 98 always wearing helmets.

New Habitable Zone Super-Earth Found in ExoSolar System

Posted: 08 Nov 2012 08:15 AM PST

Astronomers have discovered a new super-Earth in the habitable zone, where liquid water and a stable atmosphere could reside, around the nearby star HD 40307. It is one of three new super-Earths found around the star that has three other low-mass planets orbiting it.

HD 40307 is a dwarf star that is somewhat smaller and less luminous than the Sun that is about 42 light years away (12.88 parsecs). The previously discovered planets around it are called hot super-Earths because they orbit too close to the star to support life.