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Saliva Gland Test for Parkinson's Shows Promise, Study Finds
Brief Class on Easy-to-Miss Precancerous Polyps Ups Detection, Mayo Study Shows
Physical Rehabilitation in the Intensive Care Unit is Better For Patients and the Hospital’s Bottom Line
Treating eye diseases with anti-VEGF therapies may have side effects
Amoeba: Cheating — and getting away with it
Scholars call for new ethical guidelines to direct research on social networking
Nearby dwarf galaxy and possible protogalaxy discovered
Americans have worse health than people in other high-income countries
Multiple sclerosis study reveals how killer T cells learn to recognize nerve fiber insulators
Powerful enzymes create ethanol from agricultural harvest waste

Saliva Gland Test for Parkinson's Shows Promise, Study Finds

Posted: 12 Jan 2013 06:15 AM PST

Described as a "big step forward" for research and treatment of Parkinson's disease, new research from Mayo Clinic in Arizona and Banner Sun Health Research Institute suggests that testing a portion of a person's saliva gland may be a way to diagnose the disease. The study was released today and will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting in San Diego in March.

Brief Class on Easy-to-Miss Precancerous Polyps Ups Detection, Mayo Study Shows

Posted: 12 Jan 2013 06:02 AM PST

Most people know a colonoscopy requires some preparation by the patient. Now, a Mayo Clinic physician suggests an additional step to lower the risk of colorectal cancer: Ask for your doctor's success rate detecting easy-to-miss polyps called adenomas.

Physical Rehabilitation in the Intensive Care Unit is Better For Patients and the Hospital’s Bottom Line

Posted: 12 Jan 2013 05:50 AM PST

In a study evaluating the financial impact of providing early physical therapy for intensive care patients, researchers at Johns Hopkins found that the up-front costs are outweighed by the financial savings generated by earlier discharges from the intensive care unit and shorter hospital stays overall. An article describing the findings, "ICU Early Physical Rehabilitation Programs: Financial Modeling of Cost Savings," is published online ahead of print in the March issue of Critical Care Medicine.

Treating eye diseases with anti-VEGF therapies may have side effects

Posted: 12 Jan 2013 05:45 AM PST

A new Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (IOVS) article reveals that increasingly aggressive therapies that block VEGF could cause damage in treating eye diseases. Scientists discovered inhibiting anti-VEGF might have a harmful effect on the tissue responsible for producing the fluid that bathes the eye, medically termed the ciliary body.

Amoeba: Cheating — and getting away with it

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 12:29 PM PST

We would all like to believe that there is a kind of karma in life that guarantees those who cheat eventually pay for their bad behavior, if not immediately, then somewhere down the line. But a study of a new gene in the amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum suggests that, at least for amoebae, it is possible to cheat and get away with it.

Scholars call for new ethical guidelines to direct research on social networking

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 12:06 PM PST

The unique data collection capabilities of social networking and online gaming websites require new ethical guidance from federal regulators concerning online research involving adolescent subjects, an ethics scholar from the Morgridge Institute for Research and a computer and learning sciences expert from Tufts University argue in the journal Science.

Nearby dwarf galaxy and possible protogalaxy discovered

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 08:26 AM PST

Peering deep into the dim edges of a distorted pinwheel galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear), astronomers at Case Western Reserve University and their colleagues have discovered a faint dwarf galaxy and another possible young dwarf caught before it had a chance to form any stars.

Within the faint trails of intergalactic traffic, the researchers also found more evidence pointing to two already known dwarf galaxies as probable forces that pulled the pinwheel-shaped disk galaxy known as M101 out of shape.

Americans have worse health than people in other high-income countries

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 08:01 AM PST

On average, Americans die sooner and experience higher rates of disease and injury than people in other high-income countries, says a new report from the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine.

The report finds that this health disadvantage exists at all ages from birth to age 75 and that even advantaged Americans—those who have health insurance, college educations, higher incomes and healthy behaviors—appear to be sicker than their peers in other rich nations.

Multiple sclerosis study reveals how killer T cells learn to recognize nerve fiber insulators

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 07:57 AM PST

Misguided killer T cells may be the missing link in sustained tissue damage in the brains and spines of people with multiple sclerosis, findings from the University of Washington reveal. Cytoxic T cells, also known as CD8+ T cells, are white blood cells that normally are in the body’s arsenal to fight disease.

Powerful enzymes create ethanol from agricultural harvest waste

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 07:51 AM PST

The mainly EU-funded DISCO project coordinated by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed powerful enzymes, which accelerate plant biomass conversion into sugars and further into products such as bioethanol. The project's results include lignin-tolerant enzymes and enzyme cocktails for processing spruce, straw, corn cob and wheat bran. The commercialisation of these enzymes has now begun in the Netherlands.