WEDNESDAY, July 20 — The value of annual mammograms for women in their 40s — the topic of a lingering debate among health policy and advocacy groups — has drawn resounding support from the nation’s largest group of obstetricians/gynecologists.
On Wednesday, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) issued new guidelines calling for mammograms to be done every year beginning at age 40.
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Scientists are reporting development and successful initial laboratory tests on the key ingredient for a much-needed vaccine to help individuals addicted to heroin abstain from the illicit drug. Their study appears in ACS’ Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. Kim D. Janda and colleagues note that heroin use cost the United States more than $22 billion in 1996 annually due to medical and law enforcement expenses and productivity loss. Although behavioral therapy and certain medicines help heroin-addicted patients, many experience relapse, lack access to treatment, or develop unwanted side effects from the treatments themselves. To overcome these challenges, the researchers made and tested a new vaccine formulation that might serve as an additional tool in helping addicts maintain abstinence.
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A nationwide audit of the extent, safety, efficacy and tolerability of reported off-license exenatide use has found that the addition of exenatide to obese insulin-treated patients can improve glycemia and weight. The anonymous online audit was carried out by the Association of British Clinical Diabetologists and assessed real clinical practice by 315 contributors from 126 U.K. centers. HbA1c and weight changes, exenatide discontinuation, adverse events and treatment satisfaction were compared among 4,857 patients with mean baseline HbA1c of 9.45% and BMI of 40 kg/m2, 39.6% of whom used exenatide with insulin. A comparison of patients using exenatide with insulin versus non-insulin-treated patients revealed mean latest HbA1c of 0.51% vs.
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A study has shown how bacteria move across surfaces prior to forming multicellular bacterial biofilms.
Bacteria use various appendages to move across surfaces prior to forming multicellular bacterial biofilms. Some species display a particularly jerky form of movement known as ‘twitching’ motility, which is made possible by hairlike structures on their surface called type IV pili, or TFP.
TFP act like Batmans grappling hooks, said Gerard Wong, a professor of bioengineering and of chemistry and biochemistry at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) at UCLA.
These grappling hooks can extend and bind to a surface and retract and pull the cell along,” added Wong.
In a study, Wong and his colleagues at UCLA Engineering identify the complex sequence of movements that make up this twitching motility in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a biofilm-forming pathogen partly responsible for the deadly infections seen in cystic fibrosis.
During their observations, Wong and his team made a surprising discovery. Using
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HOUSTON – Feeling a little less than svelte lately? It’s no wonder, if you’ve been eating at some of these restaurants. The Center for Science in the Public Interest just released their 2011 list of the most gut-busting foods out there – and the winners definitely made the calories count.
“It’s as if the restaurants were targeting the remaining one out of three Americans who are still normal weight in order to boost their risk of obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, and cancer,” said CSPI nutrition director Bonnie Liebman.
The eight “Xtreme Eating Award” winners come from a number of national chains, including Denny’s, Applebee’s and The Cheesecake Factory.
This year’s top offender is the PB&C Shake at Cold Stone Creamery. A 24-oz. servin
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A class of virus has for the first time been shown to jump from animals to humans — and then to infect other humans.
The virus is described in PLoS Pathogens today. The team that discovered it might also have found the first human to be infected: the primary carer for a colony of titi monkeys (Callicebus cupreus) that suffered an outbreak.
The culprit is an adenovirus, one of a class of viruses that cause a range of illnesses in humans, including pneumonia. But this particular strain has never been seen before. It has been dubbed TMAdV, or titi-monkey adenovirus. <
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