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Trials 2015, 16:4 doi:10.1186/1745-6215-16-4 Published: 6 January 2015

World Journal of Surgical Oncology 2015, 13:3 doi:10.1186/1477-7819-13-3 Published: 6 January 2015

Trials 2015, 16:6 doi:10.1186/1745-6215-16-6 Published: 6 January 2015

A study, in which the International School for Advanced Studies collaborated with the Josef Stefan Institute of Ljubljana, analyzed how genome mutations of RNA viruses tend to be lethal for these infectious agents. It takes very little to make the RNA too messy and bulky to fit into the capsid—the shell that contains the viral genome—and by doing so disrupt the reproductive process. To get into the capsid, the “exoskeleton” of viruses, RNA must be

Yes, you rock your yoga gear and your downward dog form is totally on point, but it turns out your skeletal system looks pretty awesome during your yoga session, too. Hybrid Medical Animation created the ridiculously cool animation below to show “a realistic representation of radiological (X-ray) imaging” of a person crushing classic yoga poses such as Crow and Wheel. Check it out: Seriously, this video proves just how amazing your body is. Now click here

You just started your weight-loss plan, and you feel pretty unprepared. But (whether it’s for better or for worse) your dating experience can actually tell you a whole heckuva lot about what you’re getting into with your weight-loss journey. Check out these 14 hilarious, frustrating, and totally awesome ways trying to drop pounds is just like dating. 1. You Swear Them Off at Least Once a Week #ImSoOverThis 2. You Obsess Over Both You check

Do you resolve to eat healthier and lose weight in 2015? Watch out for this “healthy illusion” discovered by researchers at the Cornell Food and Brand Lab. First, the researchers found that shoppers spend 15% more on food during the holiday season (Thanksgiving to New Year’s) and only about 25% of that additional food is healthy. This means that during the holidays we tend to buy more junk food—not a big surprise. “What was surprising,

IMAGE: This shows RNA in capsid. view more Credit: SISSA To get into the capsid, the “exoskeleton” of viruses, RNA must be well combed and “packed”, because otherwise it won’t fit. The packing of RNA is governed by the genome itself. Based on previous research that demonstrated that viral RNA is normally optimized for packing (outside the capsid it is only slightly bigger than the capsid itself), a Italian-Slovenian research team, including Cristian Micheletti of SISSA,

Vitamin D status may influence the duration of respiratory support needed for surgical intensive care patients, according to a new cohort study conducted by researchers at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. The study demonstrated that plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) levels on admission to the surgical ICU were inversely associated with the need for mechanical ventilation in critically ill surgical patients. The study’s results are published today in the OnlineFirst version of the

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (JANUARY 6, 2015). The use of flow-diverting stents to treat intracranial aneurysms appears safe and highly successful. Recently, however, there have been reports of ischemic complications occurring in brain territories supplied by the parent artery in which the stent is placed and in brain regions fed by small arterial branches whose ostia are covered by the stent. To determine the extent of these ischemic complications and their implications on clinical outcomes in patients

IMAGE: This is one of an estimated 28,000 lemurs that have been illegally held captive as a pet in Madagascar. Illegally keeping lemurs as pets may threaten conservation efforts, as well… view more Credit: Kim Reuter/Temple University An estimated 28,000 lemurs, the world’s most endangered primates, have been illegally kept as pets in urban areas of Madagascar over the past three years, possibly threatening conservation efforts and hastening the extinction of some of lemur species, according

IMAGE: This is Lihong Wang, Ph.D. view more Credit: Washington University in St. Louis Lihong Wang, PhD, continues to build on his groundbreaking technology that allows light deep inside living tissue during imaging and therapy. In the Jan. 5 issue of Nature Communications, Wang, the Gene K. Beare Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, reveals for the first time a new technique that focuses diffuse light inside a dynamic scattering medium containing

I have this theory that most of us, deep down, know exactly what changes we need to make in our lives. But these changes are uncomfortable and scary and we keep their screams for attention muffled under layers and layers of status quo. We go to work, we fold the laundry, we watch our shows, we lather, we rinse, we repeat. What was that? Oh nothing, nothing at all. Carry on. Maybe at some level,

Thank you for reading this blog post. I appreciate it. Especially because you didn’t have to. I was chopping scallions last night, muttering to myself and thinking, “I can’t believe I have to cook dinner again!” Ridiculous, I know, I am actually pretty lucky and grateful to have this “problem.” It’s great to notice how automatic this kind of thinking is, “I have to…” comes out of our mouths all day long. Is it true?

You may have seen a photo on Facebook or Pinterest of a cute little mason jar half-filled with slips of paper with a caption: “Fill a gratitude jar this year.” I’m not sure how many people who share those images actually follow through with theirs. I just saw a post from Elizabeth Gilbert who has a big honking jar completely filled. I did not write a slip every day. I did not use a mason

We all have two wolves inside us, a Cherokee lesson suggests. One tugs at us to do evil and the other to act good. What will we do? It depends on which wolf we feed. The one you feed is the one that grows stronger. Pope Francis suggested that year’s end is an apt time to examine our conscience. That’s not always easy but always vital as Todd Essig suggests, citing Peter Seeger and Martin

Below is a three-panel cartoon depicting what it means to recover from depression. What do you think? Is this an accurate depiction? Does this help you better understand depression? This cartoon was created by Karen Zainal and was originally published on Under Reconstruction. You can follow the blog on Facebook. Karen is currently recovering from her second major depressive episode.

Trials 2015, 16:8 doi:10.1186/1745-6215-16-8 Published: 6 January 2015

In October 2014, a 41-year-old man in the goldfields region of Western Australia collapsed and died within an hour of being bitten by the brown snake he was trying to capture. While such deaths are infrequent, around 580 Australians are hospitalised for snakebites each year. But compared to centuries past, we now have a much better understanding of this bush hazard and how to combat venom toxicity. In the 19th century, the treatment for a

Who doesn’t want a blissed-out relationship based on the kind of love musicians write songs about? That might be the dream, but you may actually be standing in your own way of achieving it. The good news is that you can ID the sneaky things you do that might sabotage your happiness without realizing it, then change them to boost your chances of finding forever love. We talked to Jane Greer, Ph.D., New York-based relationship

Grandmas love to dole out words of wisdom—whether you want to hear them or not. Their wealth of knowledge extends to the beauty world, but whether their tips are worth their salt (or Vaseline) is another story. Here, Women’s Health readers share the beauty regimens their grandmothers recommended—the good, the bad, and the just plain weird. Vaseline Works for Everything “Grandma always relied on Vaseline for pretty much every beauty trick in the book. Makeup remover?

You know what would be awesome? If we could all work out with a personal trainer every single time we hit the gym. Yeah, not going to happen. Of course, that doesn’t mean you don’t always want to get the most out of your workout—burn-wise, confidence-wise, and safety-wise. In each of our Fix Your Form videos, certified strength and conditioning specialist Holly Perkins breaks down the right way to do one of your favorite exercises. Watch the

Oncoceutics Inc. and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center today announced the initiation of a strategic alliance and research collaboration agreement for the clinical development of ONC201, a novel anti-cancer drug. Earlier, preclinical studies of ONC201 have indicated there is merit in further investigation of the drug, which appears to kill cancer cells without harming healthy cells. The Oncoceutics and MD Anderson agreement will result in clinical trials in specific hematologic tumors. This

By adjusting the levels of a key signaling protein, researchers improved motor function and brain abnormalities in experimental animals with a form of Huntington’s disease, a severe neurodegenerative disorder. The new findings may lay the groundwork of a novel treatment for people with this fatal, progressive disease. “This research shows the intricate workings of a biological pathway crucial to the development of Huntington’s disease, and is highly relevant to drug development,” said study leader Beverly

/ no comments Thomas Jefferson University

Women who have adequate levels of B vitamins in their bodies are more likely to get and stay pregnant even when they also have high levels of a common pesticide known to have detrimental reproductive effects, according to new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research. The findings, published in the December issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggest that B vitamins may have a protective effect that counteracts the levels of

A 12-year study of two measles-containing vaccines, published today in Pediatrics, found that seven main adverse outcomes were unlikely after either vaccine. The study, conducted by the Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center, included children aged 12 to 23 months, from January 2000 through June 2012, who received measles-mumps-rubella-varicella (or MMRV) or separately administered, same-day measles-mumps-rubella and varicella (or MMR + V) vaccines. A total of 123,200 MMRV doses and 584,987 MMR + V doses were

1 Department of Nephrology, VU University Medical Centre, De Boelelaan 1117, Amsterdam, 1081HV, The Netherlands 2 Department of Surgery, University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands 3 Department of Intensive Care, Medical Spectrum Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands 4 Department of Intensive Care, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 5 Department of Intensive Care, Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands For all author emails, please log on.

Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation 2015, 12:2 doi:10.1186/1743-0003-12-2 Published: 5 January 2015

Malaria Journal 2015, 14:7 doi:10.1186/1475-2875-14-7 Published: 5 January 2015

Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy, the Christmas Comet, is brightest this Sunday, January 11. Not that it will be obvious, at a predicted magnitude 4.5 it will be quite dim and be only marginally brighter than the days before or after. However, it is bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye in dark sky locations during the next two weeks, and people with good eyesight may glimpse it with the unaided eye from relatively

Interview conducted by April Cashin-Garbutt, BA Hons (Cantab) insights from industryDr. Joseph HigginsM.D., F.A.A.N., Medical Director of Neurology for Athena Diagnostics, a business of Quest Diagnostics What are the main difficulties in diagnosing neurological disorders? Neurological disorders with genetic causes can be very difficult to diagnose without reliable, clinically relevant tests tailored to specific phenotypes. Neurological disorders that are rare – affecting about 200,000 or fewer people — are even more difficult to diagnose because

Elderly patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) are about 35 percent more likely to die within five years of leaving the hospital if they develop an infection during their stay, a new study finds. Preventing two of the most common health care-acquired infections – sepsis caused by central lines and pneumonia caused by ventilators – can increase the odds that these patients survive and reduce the cost of their care by more than $150,000.

The idea of “healthy” obesity is a misleading concept in that most obese individuals become progressively less healthy over time, according to a study that tracked the health of more than 2,500 men and women for 20 years. The research was published online today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Researchers from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London in England studied 2,521 men and women between the

A new study that followed nearly 70,000 women for two decades concluded that three-quarters of heart attacks in young women could be prevented if women closely followed six healthy lifestyle practices. The study, published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, followed participants in a study of nurses established in 1989, which surveyed more than 116,000 participants about their diets and other health habits every two years. Researchers from Indiana University, the

(HealthDay)—Several factors, including duration of symptoms, influence the decision to seek low vision rehabilitation services, according to a study published in the January issue of Ophthalmic Physiological Optics. Sarah A. Fraser, Ph.D., from McGill University in Montreal, and colleagues examined critical factors indicative of an individual’s choice to access low vision rehabilitation services. A structured interview and questionnaires were administered to 749 visually impaired individuals. Seventy-five factors were assessed to determine awareness group: positive personal

(HealthDay)—For teens who suffer a mild concussion, more rest may not be better—and may be worse—in aiding recovery from the brain injury, new research suggests. The researchers compared five days of strict rest to the traditionally recommended day or two of rest, followed by a gradual return to normal activities as symptoms disappear. The Medical College of Wisconsin researchers found no significant difference in balance or mental functioning between teens who rested five days and

This has been a bad year for homeopathy, first there was the Draft Information Paper on Homeopathy from the NHMRC, which concluded there was no reliable evidence for the use of homeopathy in the treatment of the 61 health conditions looked at. Then a homeopathic remedy manufacturer left the North American market due to law suites over the ineffectiveness of their products, then the Federal Court has found that Homeopathy Plus! was engaged in misleading

i i The massive first stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is designed to return to earth. SpaceX Early Tuesday morning, the California firm SpaceX will launch a resupply mission carrying 5,000 pounds of food and experiments to the International Space Station. But just as important as the stuff going up is what comes back down. The rocket’s massive first stage — a metal tube 14 stories high — won’t just drop into the ocean

If you’re already feeling a little overwhelmed about how far you have to go to achieve your 2015 resolutions, get ready for some major life motivation. In the video below, Tami Martin, who is paraplegic, walks down the aisle at her wedding.    According to the video from WXIA-TV in Atlanta, part of Tami’s spine was crushed in a car accident in 1999, leaving her unable to walk. Physical therapy proved challenging, and as time

You don’t have to be a burlesque dancer to deliver a steamy strip tease—but it does help to know some of their tricks of the trade. So we talked to the pros to get their best tips for a sultry performance. 1. Make Sure Your Music Fits the Mood Choose music that you both like, recommends Jo Weldon, headmistress and founder of the NY School of Burlesque and author of The Burlesque Handbook, Tease Enabler. “You

Emily Schromm nabbed our second-annual The Next Fitness Star title with her sick moves and infectious energy.  Don’t miss out on ordering The Next Fitness Star DVD (sold by Women’s Health‘s parent company, Rodale), available now! – Emily Schromm is not afraid of tougher-than-tough, blast-your-butt-off workouts. (Just check out her badass routine, featured in the January/February issue of Women’s Health, for proof.) That awesome, motivating attitude is also evident in her fitness philosophy. One tenet: “Really push yourself—you’ll see

Staying active allows you to age optimally, according to a study by King’s College London and the University of Birmingham. The study of amateur older cyclists found that many had levels of physiological function that would place them at a much younger age compared to the general population; debunking the common assumption that ageing automatically makes you more frail. The study, published in The Journal of Physiology, recruited 84 male and 41 female cycling enthusiasts

When metastatic cancer spreads to the spine, it can cause spinal fractures, severe pain and impaired mobility. Loyola University Medical Center has launched the first clinical trial in the United States of a minimally invasive treatment designed to help relieve pain, heal spinal fractures and prevent new fractures. In metastatic cancer, the most common sites the cancer spreads to are bones, and the spine is the most common site of bone metastases. A tumor can

Up to a quarter of patients with bowel cancer who have a family history of the disease could have the causes of their cancer identified through gene testing, a new study reports. Wider testing for known cancer genes in patients with bowel cancer could help in their diagnosis and treatment, and in the early detection or prevention of cancers in their relatives, the researchers said. Scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, sequenced genes

A public reporting website that allows insurance companies and others to compare hospitals based on quality has injected a dose of competition into negotiations on the hospital prices for common procedures, according to a first-of-a-kind study out today in the January issue of Health Affairs. Avi Dor, a professor of health policy and management at Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University and colleagues, looked at the impact of Medicare’s Hospital

Adding radiation treatment to hormone therapy saves more lives among older men with locally advanced prostate therapy than hormone therapy alone, according to a new study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology this week from Penn Medicine researchers. The researchers found that hormone therapy plus radiation reduced cancer deaths by nearly 50 percent in men aged 76 to 85 compared to men who only received hormone therapy. Past studies have shown that 40 percent of

IMAGE: Upon hearing the song of another male in his territory, a male swamp sparrow vigorously waves one wing at a time as a warning signal to ward off a potential… view more Credit: Photo by Robert Lachlan. DURHAM, N.C. — The song of the swamp sparrow — a grey-breasted bird found in wetlands throughout much of North America — is a simple melodious trill, repeated over and over again. “It’s kind of like a harmonious

WHAT: New research in mice shows that the immune system in the skin develops distinct responses to the various microbes that naturally colonize the skin, referred to as commensals. A team led by scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, found that each type of microbe triggers unique aspects of the immune system, suggesting that immune cells found in the skin can rapidly sense

Scientists have traditionally studied bacteria in large numbers, not individually. Working with tens of millions of cells in a culture flask, they tracked their growth by looking at how much the cells dimmed light passing through a tube. Using this method, scientists learned that populations of bacteria grow exponentially, doubling in mass at regular time intervals. And so, not unreasonably, they assumed that individual cells would do the same, dividing only when they have doubled

Cold Spring Harbor, NY — Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) today report the discovery of a novel cellular biomarker that could make it comparatively easy for cancer surgeons to determine if a patient has a potentially lethal mutation in a protein called p53, the most powerful of the body’s natural tumor suppressors and often called “the guardian of the genome.” The p53 gene, and the protein it encodes with the same name, are

I am an expert in rejection. In work, in romance, in writing, in apartment-hunting, in basically every area of my life. Before this starts to sound like a pity party, allow me to explain — this is a good thing. Everyone experiences rejection at some point in their lives (unless you’re born into royalty. Even then, there are probably things you want but don’t get, like a private home life), but writers are trained to

SEATTLE (Reuters) – The number of children treated annually for accidental pot consumption in Colorado has reached double-digits and a drug treatment chain has seen a surge of teens treated for cannabis abuse, a leading U.S. anti-marijuana group said on Monday. In a report that urged stricter cannabis controls, Smart Approaches to Marijuana also pointed to higher-than-average marijuana use in the first two states to legalize recreational pot, Colorado and Washington, and an increase in

Miami (AFP) – Older men with prostate cancer may live longer if they receive a combination of radiation and hormone therapy, but many men do not get the right treatment, US researchers said Monday. The dual therapy saved nearly 50 percent more lives among men aged 76 to 85 with locally advanced prostate cancer, compared to those who received hormone therapy alone, said the findings in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The study is the

DENVER (AP) — Colorado is taking a novel approach to marijuana education — not telling people to avoid the drug, just to use it safely. State health officials announced a new $5.7 million campaign Monday. The ads are different from previous pot-education efforts because they don’t demonize the drug. Colorado’s campaign last year to deter teen pot use, for instance, featured giant rat cages and was widely panned. Dr. Larry Wolk, the state’s chief medical

Most weight loss programs, in my opinion, are difficult to follow and are often very restrictive, requiring a great deal of discipline, which makes them unsustainable over the long term. Fad diets almost always fail. They are not realistic for healthy living, and they are focused on the “quick fix.” We are constantly bombarded with the latest “theme of the month”: fat is bad for you… fat is good for you… too much salt is

Miami (AFP) – People who are obese may appear healthy for a while but their condition declines over time, said a study out Monday that followed more than 2,500 people for 20 years. The research by scientists at University College London is the longest of its kind, and its findings support previous research that has shown people who are overweight face a higher risk of heart attack, stroke and some kinds of cancer than thin

My New Year’s resolution lists used to be huge. Packed with big aspirations to wear a smaller size dress, exercise more, try new beauty tricks, and work longer hours to get ahead in my career, I was essentially resolving to become the “perfect” woman. Year after year, it never worked. A few healthy habits would stick and I would feel proud for a few weeks, but many would not. While I continued to grow and

It’s that time again! New Year’s resolutions are almost a running joke, if they’re not already. Lose weight. Quit smoking. Find love. Recycle. Take a vacation. New year, New you! Do you ever feel like making a resolution is like setting yourself up for failure? If you really want to do something — or stop doing something — you don’t have to let your goal become a cliché. Here are six easy tips on how

Five Steps to Make Fast and Meaningful Resolutions to Live Your Best (and Balanced) Life in 2015! How do we make and keep meaningful resolutions for ourselves that set us on a path to passionate, fulfilling, and purposeful lives, amidst the busyness of our lives? Now is the time to ask and answer this question for ourselves before we get lost in the to-do list of another year. This year, instead of making a wish

Okay, I admit it. I’ve posted a few. Facebook. Twitter. Instagram and Snapchat. They can be fun, funny, sexy, beautiful, expressive, revealing and even daunting! Selfies. In this picture posting world, where exactly does the “selfie” fit? What is the real purpose of that selfie you just posted? Why are you looking to expose (not meant derogatorily) yourself? Do you want freedom because there is rarely no real P2P contact in the virtual world? Do

i i How would you sound in front of an NPR microphone? Meredith Rizzo/NPR hide caption itoggle caption Meredith Rizzo/NPR How would you sound in front of an NPR microphone? Meredith Rizzo/NPR Most radio reporters, I think it’s fair to say, think about their voices a lot, and work to sound powerful and authoritative. I know my voice has changed since my very first radio story 10 years ago: ‘); var $visualizer = $audioElm.find(‘.audio-visualizer’); var

A British nurse hospitalised with Ebola is in a critical but stable condition, a week after she was diagnosed with the deadly virus, Britain’s health minister said Monday. Nurse Pauline Cafferkey, who is being treated at London’s Royal Free hospital, contracted the disease while working at a British-built Ebola treatment centre in Sierra Leone. “As has been reported, Pauline’s condition has deteriorated to a critical state although she stabilised yesterday and continues to receive the

The death toll from the Ebola outbreak in west Africa has risen to 8,153 out of 20,656 cases recorded, the World Health Organization said Monday. Almost all the deaths and cases have been recorded in the three west African countries worst hit by the outbreak: Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. Elsewhere, six people have died in Mali, one in the United States and eight in Nigeria, which was declared Ebola-free in October. Spain and Senegal,

America’s preoccupation with the “word gap”— the idea that parents in impoverished homes speak less to their children, which, in turn, predicts outcomes like school achievement and income later in life—has skyrocketed in recent years, leading to a rise in educational initiatives aiming to narrow the achievement gap by teaching young children more words. In a forthcoming article titled “Listen Up! Speech Is for Thinking During Infancy,” to be published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences,

Higher alcohol taxes strongly protect against binge drinking, according to a new study by Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) researchers. The study, published in the journal Addiction, found that a one-percent increase in alcohol beverage prices from taxes was associated with a 1.4 percent decrease in the proportion of adults who binge drink. Most previous studies have examined the effect of taxes on average consumption, while the effect of taxes on high-level drinking

It’s been well established among doctors and researchers alike, that babies with lower birth weight have a greater risk of having high blood pressure later in life. However, a Michigan State University study is the first to suggest that the exercise habits of expecting moms can actually reverse this long-standing belief and possibly lower a child’s chances of high blood pressure, even though they may weigh less at birth. High blood pressure, or hypertension, is

Our parents teach us what is to eat. But this process begins well before the fight to get toddlers to eat their veggies. Not only do our parents give us the genes that define our taste receptors, research suggests that what women eat while pregnant and breastfeeding might also affect their child’s taste preferences later life. Back in the 1980s and 90s, researchers showed that the amniotic fluid (that surrounds the fetus while it grows)

i i Postdoctoral researcher Jennifer Foulke-Abel holds the gut-on-a-chip inside the lab at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Richard Harris/NPR hide caption itoggle caption Richard Harris/NPR Postdoctoral researcher Jennifer Foulke-Abel holds the gut-on-a-chip inside the lab at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Richard Harris/NPR Great balls of cells! Scientists are developing mock human organs that can fit in the palm of your hand. These organs-on-a-chip are designed to test drugs and help understand the basics

Crunches, balance boards, yoga for your core—you could devote your life to exercises that supposedly target your abs, yet still watch your waistline spread. So what’s the smartest approach for targeting this trouble spot? A new study suggests daily weight training. Harvard University researchers found that men who did 20 minutes of weight training a day packed on the least amount of belly fat, compared to men who did cardio workouts or steered clear of