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Pocket test measures 50 things in a drop of blood
Aspirin Therapy Associated with Increased Risk of Macular Degeneration
Super-fine sound beam could one day be an invisible scalpel
Rise in teen marijuana use stalls, use of synthetic marijuana and 'bath salts' is very low
Scientists Discover New Genetic Basis for Dystonia, a Debilitating Movement Disorder Impacting 500,000 North Americans
Heads Up, Don't Duck, Youth Hockey Players
Webcams, crowd-sourcing compelling tools in measuring effectiveness of bike lanes, other open spaces
Men with Fibromyalgia Often Go Undiagnosed, Mayo Clinic Study Suggests
MRIs Reveal Signs of Brain Injuries Not Seen in CT Scans
Protein Kinase Akt Identified as Arbiter of Cancer Stem Cell Fate

Pocket test measures 50 things in a drop of blood

Posted: 19 Dec 2012 01:24 PM PST

A new device about the size of a business card could allow health care providers to test for insulin and other blood proteins, cholesterol, and even signs of viral or bacterial infection all at the same time—with one drop of blood. Preliminary tests of the V-chip, created by scientists at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute and MD Anderson Cancer Center, were published last night by Nature Communications.

Aspirin Therapy Associated with Increased Risk of Macular Degeneration

Posted: 19 Dec 2012 01:01 PM PST

People who regularly took aspirin 10 years prior to examination had a small but statistically significant increase in the risk of a subtype of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to a study by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers.

Dr. Barbara Klein and her collaborators studied nearly 5,000 people who took part in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health’s Beaver Dam Eye Study. Results are being published in the Dec. 19 Journal of the American Medical Association.

Super-fine sound beam could one day be an invisible scalpel

Posted: 19 Dec 2012 12:57 PM PST

A carbon-nanotube-coated lens that converts light to sound can focus high-pressure sound waves to finer points than ever before. The University of Michigan engineering researchers who developed the new therapeutic ultrasound approach say it could lead to an invisible knife for noninvasive surgery.

Rise in teen marijuana use stalls, use of synthetic marijuana and 'bath salts' is very low

Posted: 19 Dec 2012 12:43 PM PST

National samples of 45,000 to 50,000 students in three grades (8, 10, and 12) have been surveyed every year since 1991 as part of the nationwide Monitoring the Future study. Among the most important findings from this year's survey of U.S. secondary school students are the following:

Scientists Discover New Genetic Basis for Dystonia, a Debilitating Movement Disorder Impacting 500,000 North Americans

Posted: 19 Dec 2012 10:48 AM PST

Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in collaboration with researchers from other institutions, have identified a causative gene for primary torsion dystonia (PTD), a debilitating movement disorder that impacts an estimated 500,000 people in North America alone.

Heads Up, Don't Duck, Youth Hockey Players

Posted: 19 Dec 2012 10:40 AM PST

As youth hockey players careen toward the boards, it is almost instinctive for them to duck their heads. But that is exactly the wrong thing to do. Experts say that this fast, powerful and physical sport can be safer if players follow some simple advice. USA Hockey, the national governing body for the sport, worked with Mayo Clinic to release a video with animation demonstrating the dangers of players ducking their heads as they crash into the boards during play.

Webcams, crowd-sourcing compelling tools in measuring effectiveness of bike lanes, other open spaces

Posted: 19 Dec 2012 10:35 AM PST

A new study out of Washington University in St. Louis is one of the first to use technology to effectively measure the use of built environments — parks, greenways, trails and other man-made public areas — as a means to improve public health.

The study, “Emerging Technologies: Webcams and Crowd-Sourcing to Identify Active Transportation,” will be published Dec. 18 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Lead author is J. Aaron Hipp, PhD, assistant professor of public health at the Brown School.

Men with Fibromyalgia Often Go Undiagnosed, Mayo Clinic Study Suggests

Posted: 19 Dec 2012 10:11 AM PST

Fibromyalgia is a complex illness to diagnose and to treat. There is not yet a diagnostic test to establish that someone has it, there is no cure and many fibromyalgia symptoms — pain, fatigue, problems sleeping and memory and mood issues — can overlap with or get mistaken for other conditions. A new Mayo Clinic study suggests that many people who have fibromyalgia, especially men, are going undiagnosed. The findings appear in the online edition of the journal Arthritis Care & Research.

MRIs Reveal Signs of Brain Injuries Not Seen in CT Scans

Posted: 19 Dec 2012 09:13 AM PST

Hospital MRIs may be better at predicting long-term outcomes for people with mild traumatic brain injuries than CT scans, the standard technique for evaluating such injuries in the emergency room, according to a clinical trial led by researchers at UCSF and the San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (SFGH).

Protein Kinase Akt Identified as Arbiter of Cancer Stem Cell Fate

Posted: 19 Dec 2012 09:07 AM PST

The protein kinase Akt is a key regulator of cell growth, proliferation, metabolism, survival, and death. New work on Akt’s role in cancer stem cell biology from the lab of senior author Honglin Zhou, MD, PhD and Weihua Li, co-first author, both from the Center for Resuscitation Sciences, Department of Emergency Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and Xiaowei Xu, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, appears in Molecular Cell. The findings were also highlighted in Nature and Science reviews.