Tech Science Daily News

The website of a global partnership formed to wipe out deadly meningitis epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa is closing down with a simple message: “Thank you and goodbye!” Barely five years after the team began rolling out a tailor-made vaccine in Africa’s “meningitis belt”, the disease has all but disappeared there and the Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP) is closing down after pioneering what may be a model for tackling infectious diseases in developing countries. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT

LAS VEGAS You earned 3,000 Fuel points! You walked 8,755 steps. Your heartbeat was 65. Your sleep efficiency was 60 percent. As fitness trackers and other wearable devices have flooded the market, a vast amount of data has been produced on everything from how often people tossed and turned at night to how many steps they walked to the water cooler. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT But what does it all mean? “Lots of data from our wearables

Sketch of Ludwig Van Beethoven, German composer (AP) Researchers analyzing patterns in Beethoven’s music believe the famous composer may have suffered from an irregular heartbeat, evidenced by what they say are musical arrhythmias found in some of his work. The authors, which include a medical historian, cardiologist and a musicologist from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, further suggest that Beethoven’s believed deafness may have

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Influenza is widespread across the United States and this flu season is shaping up to be especially harsh, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday. Antiviral drugs such as Roche’s Tamiflu were underutilized, the CDC’s Dr. Thomas Frieden said, urging doctors to prescribe the drugs to patients with flu-like symptoms even before tests confirm influenza as the cause. The United States is about midway through

Monday January 5 2015 The drugs disrupt the messages that cancers spread “New skin cancer drug set for clinical trials,” The Guardian reports. In fact, two new compounds designed to treat malignant melanoma are due for trials after promising results in laboratory research. Both are signalling inhibitors, which work by disrupting the messages a cancer uses to co-ordinate its growth. These have proven effective in the short to medium term, but it is common for

Monday January 5 2015 The study investigated how different tissue types developed “Most types of cancer can be put down to bad luck rather than risk factors such as smoking,” BBC News reports. A US study estimates around two-thirds of cancer cases are caused by random genetic mutations. The researchers who carried out the study wanted to see why cancer risk varies so much between different body tissues. For example, the average lifetime risk of lung

Tuesday January 6 2015 Wholegrains can help lower cholesterol “The key to a long and healthy life? A bowl of porridge every day,” is the somewhat inaccurate headline in the Daily Mail. The study it reports on was looking at the health benefits of wholegrains in general, not just porridge. These headlines are based on a study of more than 110,000 men and women in the US, who were followed up from the 1980s to

Tuesday January 6 2015 Exposure to cold may reduce immunity The “common cold ‘prefers cold noses’,” reports BBC News today, while The Independent recommends that you “heed your mother’s warning: cover up or you’ll catch a cold”. While these headlines might make you think this study is proof of a link between colder temperatures outside and catching a cold, this isn’t quite what the researchers looked at. Our nasal passages are naturally a few degrees

Wednesday January 7 2015 Criminal activity was not linked to all forms of dementia “Could criminal behaviour be the first sign of dementia?” the Mail Online asks. A US study found an association between sudden, unusual criminal behaviour, such as shoplifting or urinating in public, and various types of dementia. The study looked at crimes committed by patients suffering from a number of diseases that damage the brain and cause dementia. It found more than

Sketch of Ludwig Van Beethoven, German composer (AP) Researchers analyzing patterns in Beethoven’s music believe the famous composer may have suffered from an irregular heartbeat, evidenced by what they say are musical arrhythmias found in some of his work. The authors, which include a medical historian, cardiologist and a musicologist from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, further suggest that Beethoven’s believed deafness may have

(Reuters) – UBS Group AG , Switzerland’s biggest bank, has lost two more blue-chip corporate broking clients, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the situation. British-based defense contractor BAE Systems Plc and Smith Nephew Plc , Europe’s largest maker of artificial joints, have both dropped UBS as their corporate broking adviser, the newspaper said. Smith Nephew selected Bank of America Merrill Lynch as one of its corporate brokers along with JPMorgan Cazenove which

The success of different smoking cessation treatments could be predicted by how quickly smokers break down (metabolise) nicotine in their bodies, according to new research published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal. The findings, from the largest pharmacogenetic [1] study of tobacco dependence treatment to date, reveal that normal metabolisers of nicotine have better quit rates with the non nicotine replacement therapy drug varenicline (trade name Chantix or Champix) compared with the nicotine patch, whereas

Data from a large ongoing study into the health of African-American women show that those who work night shifts are significantly more likely to develop diabetes than those who have never worked night shifts, with more years working the night shift resulting in a higher risk. Furthermore, the increased risk of diabetes seen in shift workers was more pronounced in younger women than older women. The study is published in Diabetologia (the journal of the

HARTFORD, Conn. – A 17-year-old girl being forced by state officials to undergo chemotherapy for her cancer said she understands she’ll die if she stops treatment but it should be her decision. The state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that state officials aren’t violating the rights of the girl, Cassandra C., who has Hodgkin lymphoma. Cassandra told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Thursday from her hospital it disgusts her to have “such toxic harmful

January 11, 2015, 5:29 PM|A Montana couple is welcoming their newborn identical triplets, which are rare — roughly one in a million in the medical world.

Thursday January 8 2015 The Nordic diet is rich in fish and wholegrain products “A Nordic diet could reduce the dangers of being overweight, a study suggests,” The Daily Telegraph reports. The headline comes from the results of a small randomised controlled trial. Half the people in the trial were put on the Nordic diet, which consists of wholegrain products, vegetables, root vegetables, berries, fruit, low-fat dairy products, rapeseed oil, and three servings of fish

Thursday January 8 2015 The new antibiotic proved effective against MRSA “New class of antibiotic could turn the tables,” on antibiotic resistance, The Guardian reports and is just one of many headlines proclaiming the discovery of a “super-antibiotic”. For once, such enthusiastic headlines might be largely justified. The study in the spotlight shows the discovery of a new antibiotic, teixobactin, and is exciting for two main reasons. Firstly, teixobactin proved effective against certain types of

Friday January 9 2015 Babies seem to be born hard-wired with language skills “Say ‘mama’! Talking to babies boosts their ability to make friends and learn,” the Mail Online reports. In a review, two American psychologists argue that even very young infants respond to speech and that “baby talk” is essential for their development. It is important to stress that a review of this sort is not the same as fresh evidence. The review must

Friday January 9 2015 Treated rats were able to walk after a few weeks “Elastic implant ‘restores movement’ in paralysed rats,” BBC News reports after researchers developed an implant that can be used to treat damaged spinal cords in rats. The spinal cord, which is present in all mammals, is a bundle of nerves that runs from the brain through the spine, before branching off to different parts of the body. It is the main

The “warming hiatus” that has occurred over the last 15 years has been partly caused by small volcanic eruptions. Scientists have long known that volcanoes cool the atmosphere because of the sulfur dioxide that is expelled during eruptions. Droplets of sulfuric acid that form when the gas combines with oxygen in the upper atmosphere can persist for many months, reflecting sunlight away from Earth and lowering temperatures at the surface and in the lower atmosphere.

MADISON, Wis. — In 1961, with memories of Holocaust atrocities and the prosecution of Nazi officials at Nuremburg still fresh, psychologist Stanley Milgram undertook a series of now infamous experiments on obedience and reprehensible behavior. About two-thirds of Milgram’s nearly 800 study subjects, pressed by an authoritative experimenter, were willing to administer increasingly powerful electric shocks to an unseen stranger despite cries of agony and pleas to stop. “Milgram claimed to have found sort of

January 9, 2015, 11:34 AM|Katie Kropas of Weymouth, Massachusetts, gave birth to a healthy 10-pound baby girl this week but didn’t even realize she was pregnant until she went into labor. WBZ-TV’s Lisa Hughes reports.

WEYMOUTH, Mass. – It was the surprise delivery of a lifetime. Katie Kropas of Weymouth, Massachusetts, gave birth to a healthy baby girl this week, and she didn’t know she was pregnant until she went into labor. “Tuesday morning I woke up and I had crazy lower back pain,” she told CBS Boston. Kropas rushed to South Shore Hospital and was shocked to hear the diagnosis. “They told me that I had a full term

It’s 6:30 a.m. and your alarm clock is insistently telling you it’s time to get out of bed. For many people — me included — the automatic reaction is to hit the snooze button, often more than once. Read the whole story at Business Insider

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is a science-based regulatory agency that works to protect and promote the public health. In this role, it is our responsibility to regulate the blood supply and to help ensure its continued safety for the patients who receive these life-saving products. Over the past several years, in collaboration with other government agencies, the FDA has carefully examined and considered the available scientific evidence relevant to its blood donor deferral

Why do some people develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) while others who suffered the same ordeal do not? A new UCLA discovery may shed light on the answer. UCLA scientists have linked two gene variants to the debilitating mental disorder, suggesting that heredity influences a person’s risk of developing PTSD. Published in the February 2015 edition of the Journal of Affective Disorders, the findings could provide a biological basis for diagnosing and treating PTSD more

Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) and Columbia University Medical Center have formed a $30 million strategic alliance to conduct genetics discovery research on the underlying causes of disease and to identify new treatment approaches. As part of this agreement, a sequencing and analysis facility and shared postdoctoral program will be established at Columbia to support collaborative genetics studies. The agreement will integrate genomics research conducted at Columbia with Biogen Idec’s understanding of disease mechanisms and pathways,

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) has awarded La Jolla Institute (LJI) researcher Stephanie Stanford, Ph.D., a $1.6 million grant to investigate the genetic and environmental factors that trigger the onset of type 1 diabetes. The “Initiator Award” given to Dr. Stanford is just one of two such ADA awards given nationally each year to young scientists at the beginning of their research careers. The award, part of the ADA’s Pathway to Stop Diabetes initiative, provides

Micro Interventional Devices, Inc.

/ no comments Alere Inc.

(HealthDay)—Many hepatitis C patients get “lost” in the U.S. health care system, a new study suggests. Researchers looked at data from about 13,600 people in Philadelphia who tested positive for hepatitis C virus between January 2010 and December 2013. During that time, just 27 percent of the patients were in care and 15 percent had been treated or were receiving treatment, the study authors found. The study was recently published in the journal Hepatology. “Our

Irish drugmaker Shire PLC said Sunday it will pay $5.2 billion to acquire NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc., which specializes in drugs for rare conditions. The acquisition will expand Shire’s portfolio of specialty drugs, medications for niche diseases and conditions that typically command much higher price tags than conventional medications. Shire’s best-selling drugs currently include the attention deficit disorder drugs Vyvanse and Adderall XR. Under the agreement, approved by the boards of directors from both companies, Shire

(HealthDay)—The American Medical Association recently surveyed physicians to find what activities they pursue when not in the exam room. According to the results of the survey, physicians of all ages report being physically active, with the most-enjoyed activity for physicians under age 40 being running or jogging (about one-half of physicians of this age run or jog). Physicians aged 40 to 59 report that they most enjoy running or jogging (36 percent), bicycling (35 percent),

(HealthDay)—Vapor from electronic cigarettes may increase young people’s risk of respiratory infections, regardless of whether or not it contains nicotine, according to a new laboratory study reported in a recent issue of PLOS ONE. For the study, researchers obtained respiratory system tissue from children aged 8 to 10 who had died and donated their organs to medical science. The human cells were placed in a sterile container at one end of a machine, with an

On the third-floor hospital maternity ward at the University of Chicago Medical Center, Bionka Burkhalter had just given birth to her first child, a 7-pound, 4-ounce boy named Josiah. There was a knock on the door, and two women asked to give a presentation on how to build her baby’s brain. The 21-year-old single mother gave them her attention. In the next 15 minutes, she heard about the importance of talking a lot to Josiah,

The simple training exercise of catching a weighted medicine ball can improve balance and may help prevent falls in the elderly, according to research at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Their results are reported in studies available online to subscribers in advance of print in two journals: Electromyography and Kinesiology, and Experimental Brain Research. When someone is jostled by a bump or a stumble, the brain uses two strategies to maintain balance and prevent

/ no comments The Advisory Board Company

/ no comments MemorialCare Medical Group

AMN Healthcare Services, Inc.

Sao Paulo (AFP) – Brazil says it must stem the “epidemic” of Caesarean sections — now more than half of all births, or more than any other country in the world. Whether from a fear of pain or that a vaginal birth will leave permanent changes in their sex life — or based on the recommendation of doctors perhaps looking to bag higher fees associated with the surgery — more and more Brazilian women are

Taipei (AFP) – Taiwan on Sunday ordered the slaughter of 16,000 geese and ducks to try to curb a bird flu outbreak that has already led to the culling of 120,000 chickens. Authorities on Friday ordered the culling of the chickens at a farm in the southern county of Pingtung after samples tested positive for H5N2, one of the less virulent strains of avian flu. Officials Sunday ordered the slaughter of 7,500 ducks at a

Thought to be the world’s first smart pacifier, Pacif-i was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week. It records the baby’s temperature by means of a sensor that’s built into the silicone teat and sends it to a corresponding smartphone app where parents can monitor it. Temperature readings are time-stamped and plotted into a graph for easy viewing. The gadget also contains a proximity sensor that alerts parents if their

Don’t let the language of health care get you down! Find out what’s behind the words. Their roots speak directly to you about how you think about your body– while putting a smile on your face. A little bit of sugar helps the medicine go down in this tongue-in-cheek series of educational comics by Larry Paros. Enjoy! Feel free to share your thoughts. Feedback and Pushback are encouraged. Follow Larry Paros @insomanywords.net Take words with

Nowadays we rarely pick up a pen and paper to communicate with one another, but it might not be wise for us to trade this long-standing, cultural practice entirely for the convenience of text messages and emails. Research has shown that the general act of writing by hand can promote quite a few physical and mental benefits, from improving learning abilities to fostering a more positive outlook on life. And when it comes to writing

It’s undeniable that there’s an irreconcilable conflict of interest in the alcohol industry being involved in developing health policy. And by participating in meetings involving industry representatives, scientists risk giving credibility to a fundamentally flawed process that’s unlikely to produce sound policy. Let me explain why this is with examples of two such meetings I have participated in. A direct conflict The more recent was the Intergovernmental Committee on Drug Policy (IGCD) National Stakeholder Meeting

By Arshad Mohammed GANDHINAGAR, India (Reuters) – There could be progress on U.S.-India civil nuclear cooperation, solar power and climate change when U.S. President Barack Obama visits India in two weeks, U.S. officials said on Sunday. While stressing there were no guarantees that some of the most vexing economic issues between India and the United States would be resolved, the officials said some agreements were conceivable. “We are working on the civil nuclear liability issue,”

i i “Flavor is the most important ingredient at the core of what we are. It created us,” John McQuaid writes in his book Tasty: The Art and Science of What We Eat. Getty Images hide caption itoggle caption Getty Images “Flavor is the most important ingredient at the core of what we are. It created us,” John McQuaid writes in his book Tasty: The Art and Science of What We Eat. Getty Images Our

You may do it standing in line, sitting at a red light or even in the middle of a conversation. Mark Zuckerberg himself estimates you spend 40 minutes of every day doing it. It’s Facebook. And research indicates the pervasive urge to see what’s been posted since the last time you checked could be cutting into your sleep, your relationships and your health. While using Facebook may seem like a harmless habit, some research points

Breast-feeding is no easy feat but for some moms, it can be downright miserable. The culprit? Tongue-tie, an often overlooked condition that affects breast milk supply and baby’s weight gain, and can make breast-feeding not only difficult, but painful. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Here, find out what tongue-tie is, the signs you should look for and what you can do to make sure you and your baby are healthy for a lifetime. What is tongue-tie? Ankyloglossia, or

Whether or not your New Year’s resolution was about slimming down, we can all take the opportunity for a fresh start when it comes to our approach to health. Here are a few easy changes you can make, from our new book, “The New Health Rules.” ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT 1. Make over your grocery list. Cross off bread and pasta, and each week buy: dark leafy greens, which are more nutritious, calorie for calorie, than any

BMC Medical Ethics 2015, 16:2 doi:10.1186/1472-6939-16-2 Published: 11 January 2015

i i “Flavor is the most important ingredient at the core of what we are. It created us,” John McQuaid writes in his book Tasty: The Art and Science of What We Eat. Getty Images hide caption itoggle caption Getty Images “Flavor is the most important ingredient at the core of what we are. It created us,” John McQuaid writes in his book Tasty: The Art and Science of What We Eat. Getty Images Our

Lonesome George was a celebrity tortoise. Millions of humans made the pilgrimage to see him while he lived, and his death was international news. Why? He wasn’t particularly large for a Galapagos giant tortoise — just 5 feet long with his neck stretched out, and only 200 pounds. He wasn’t particularly old either — about a century by some estimates — still in tortoise middle age. But Lonesome George was the “rarest animal on earth”

/ no comments Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC

1 Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, Guatemala City, Guatemala 2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Regional Office for Central America and Panama, Guatemala City, Guatemala 3 Global Disease Detection Branch, Center for Global Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA 4 USDA/APHIS/WS/National Wildlife Research Center, Fort Collins, CO, USA 5 Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre, St. Kitts, West Indie 6 Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, Centers for Disease

1 School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, NSW, Australia 2 Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney 2031, NSW, Australia 3 School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, NSW, Australia 4 Present address: Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney 2010, NSW, Australia For all author emails, please log on.

1 Rheumatology/AIR, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, SE-581 85, Sweden 2 Swedish Institute for Disability Research, Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden For all author emails, please log on.

Research Tim Colbourn1*, Anni-Maria Pulkki-Brännström15, Bejoy Nambiar1, Sungwook Kim1, Austin Bondo2, Lumbani Banda2, Charles Makwenda2, Neha Batura1, Hassan Haghparast-Bidgoli1, Rachael Hunter3, Anthony Costello1, Gianluca Baio4 and Jolene Skordis-Worrall1 * Corresponding author: Tim Colbourn [email protected] Author Affiliations 1 UCL Institute for Global Health, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH, UK 2 Parent and Child Health Initiative (PACHI), Amina House, Western Wing – Second Floor, Capital City, Lilongwe 3, Malawi 3 Research Department of Primary Care Population

1 Department of Radiation Oncology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, 270 Dongan Road, Shanghai 200032, China 2 Department of Pancreatic and Hepatobiliary Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, 270 Dongan Road, Shanghai 200032, China 3 Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, 270 Dongan Road, Shanghai 200032, China 4 Department of Radiation Oncology, Shanghai Proton and Heavy Ion Center, 4365 Kangxin Road, Shanghai 201321, China For all author emails, please log on.

1 Public Health, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Health and Population Sciences, College of Dental and Medical Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, West Midlands B15 2TT, UK 2 Warwick Centre for Applied Health Research and Delivery, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK 3 Ministry of Finance, Government of South Sudan, Juba, South Sudan 4 School of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK For all author emails, please log on.

HOUSTON (Reuters) – A man distraught about his son’s condition at a hospital in the Houston suburb of Tomball on Saturday caused a commotion that led to an evacuation of part of the facility, in what was initially believed to be a hostage situation, police said. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement it did not know whether the man, who was with his son in the critical care unit at Tomball Regional

Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology 2015, 13:3 doi:10.1186/1477-7827-13-3 Published: 11 January 2015

Nutrition Journal 2015, 14:7 doi:10.1186/1475-2891-14-7 Published: 11 January 2015

1 GH Sergievsky Center, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA 2 Department of Neurology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA 3 Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA 4 Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA 5 Program in Physical Therapy, Department of

Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology 2015, 13:2 doi:10.1186/1477-7827-13-2 Published: 11 January 2015

Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology 2015, 6:1 doi:10.1186/2049-1891-6-1 Published: 11 January 2015

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Strains of listeria bacteria found inside a California apple processing plant are believed to be the same ones associated with an outbreak that killed seven people and sickened dozens of others last year, federal officials said. Two strains of Listeria monocytogenes were confirmed in the Bidart Bros. apple processing plant near Bakersfield, California, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said. “Those same strains were also found in Bidart Bros. apples collected from

Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger disorder (AD) or simply Asperger’s, is an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication. The syndrome is named after the Austrian pediatrician Hans Asperger who, in 1944, studied and described children in his practice who lacked nonverbal communication skills, demonstrated limited empathy with their peers, and were physically clumsy. The modern conception of Asperger syndrome came into existence in

Nutrition Journal 2015, 14:6 doi:10.1186/1475-2891-14-6 Published: 10 January 2015

BMC Medical Ethics 2015, 16:1 doi:10.1186/1472-6939-16-1 Published: 10 January 2015