Four honored for genetic research and developing anesthetic

Four scientists have won prestigious medical awards for genetics research and development of a widely used anesthetic nicknamed “milk of amnesia.” Winners of the $250,000 awards from the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation were announced Tuesday. The prizes will be presented later this month in New York. The clinical medicine award went to John B.

Widely used youth behaviour treatment may be ineffective: study

A long-established treatment used around the world to help troubled young people and their families tackle behavioural problems may not be as effective as its practitioners claim—a new study reveals. Functional Family Therapy (FFT) is a short-term, evidence-based intervention provided at over 270 sites worldwide—mostly within the US, but also in Belgium, Ireland, The Netherlands,

New technique reveals how Zika virus interacts inside our cells: Discovery could enable development of new anti-viral therapies

Scientists have developed a new technique that can determine how viruses interact with a host’s own RNA. As well as providing insight into how viruses direct the host cell to create new virus particles, this technique, published today in Nature Methods, could allow researchers to design artificial molecules capable of blocking the virus replication process

Chronic pain may be an important contributor to suicide

Chronic pain may be an important contributor to suicide. Nearly 9 percent of people who died by suicide in 18 states from 2003 to 2014 had documentation of chronic pain in their incident records. Findings from the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) are published in Annals of Internal Medicine. More than 25 million adults

Maternal holding with glucose or breastfeeding best analgesic

(HealthDay)—Maternal holding of newborns, combined with oral glucose and in breastfeeding, is associated with the greatest analgesic effect in infants, according to a study published in the September issue of Pediatrics. Stefano Bembich, Ph.D., from the Institute for Maternal and Child Health in Italy, and colleagues randomly assigned 80 healthy term newborns undergoing a heel

Blocking ovarian cancer’s energy supply helps curb spread

A new study, led by the University of Chicago in Illinois, has unraveled the role of glycogen in fueling ovarian cancer spread. It is the first to reveal how tumor cells interact with support cells called cancer-associated fibroblasts to make this happen. “No systematic study,” says senior study author Ernst Lengyel, who is a professor

What’s a dangerous level of blood pressure in pregnancy?

High blood pressure rates could nearly double in women of childbearing age if the latest guidelines are used, according to a new study. But researchers say more investigation is needed to see if those lower blood pressure targets in pregnant women are safe—or effective. The study, published Sept. 10 in the journal Hypertension, set out

Talking to baby might boost middle school success

(HealthDay)—Time spent reading to toddlers or having “conversations” with them helps boost their intelligence and thinking skills, even a decade later, new research shows. The study found that the more “conversational turns” that occurred in a toddler’s day, the better children performed on tests that measure IQ, language skills and thinking skills in middle school.

Simple new blood test reveals your body’s precise internal clock to guide treatments, improve health

The first simple blood test to identify your body’s precise internal time clock as compared to the external time has been developed by Northwestern Medicine scientists. The test, TimeSignature—which requires only two blood draws—can tell physicians and researchers the time in your body despite the time in the external world. For instance, even if it’s

Early-stage clinical trial of antimalarial drug begins

Enrollment has begun in a Phase 1 clinical trial to test the safety of a new investigational drug designed to treat malaria, as well as its effect on the human body. The first-in-human study is sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and

Superbugs jumping frequently between humans and animals

The MRSA staphylococcus is an example of a pathogen, the likes of which are often called superbugs. These are resistant to most antibiotics and can cause serious infections. “In the case of MRSA, these bacteria have also spread in hospitals almost world-wide,” says Jukka Corander, professor at the University of Helsinki, who was a member

Commonly-prescribed antidepressant may be behind antibiotic resistance

Prozac may be driving the antibiotic-resistance crisis Commonly-prescribed antidepressant Prozac may be driving the antibiotic-resistance crisis E.coli undergoes genetic mutations when exposed to the antidepressant Up to 11% of the antidepressant passes through a person’s body into sewers Experts have warned antibiotic resistance poses ‘as big a risk as terrorism’ e-mail 1 View comments The

Low fitness may indicate poor arterial health in adolescents

A recent Finnish study conducted at the University of Jyväskylä showed that adolescents with better aerobic fitness have more compliant arteries than their lower fit peers do. The study also suggests that a higher anaerobic threshold is linked to better arterial health. The results were published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology. Arterial stiffness