Despite marketing claims, parents who want to give their infants a boost in learning language probably should limit the amount of time they expose their children to DVDs and videos such as “Baby Einstein” and “Brainy Baby. [click link for full article]

Researchers have reported for the first time that genetic variants in mitochondria-energy-producing structures harboring DNA that are inherited only from the mother-are directly linked to metabolic markers for type 2 diabetes. The study, which highlights the role of mitochondrial genome variation in the pathogenesis of common diseases, is published online in Genome Research (http://www.genome.org). [click link for full article]

Cancer of the liver is very difficult to detect, and it is a major cause of death in Asia and Africa, with rising incidence in Western countries as well. Now, VIB researchers connected to Ghent University, in collaboration with research centers in Beijing and Shanghai in China, have developed a test to detect liver cancer in an early stage. A small blood sample is the only requirement for the test. [click link for full article]

The Indiana University School of Medicine’s Division of Nephrology has been awarded a five-year, $6 million George M. O’Brien Kidney Research Center grant from the National Institutes of Health, one of just six such centers funded in the United States.The grant recognizes the imaging technology and expertise that has been developed at IU using advanced light microscopy systems to conduct research in kidneys and other organs in vivo, said Bruce Molitoris, M.D. [click link for full article]

Almac Diagnostics has announced a major study analysing ductal carcinoma in situ tissue samples using its novel Breast Cancer DSA® microarray. DSA® research tools focus on the transcriptome of an individual disease, in this case breast cancer, and contain significant additional data, relevant to the disease of interest that is not available on other generic microarrays. [click link for full article]

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that a group of liver enzymes called proprotein convertases (PCs) may be the key to raising levels of good cholesterol (HDL-C). The pathway by which these proteins are able to achieve an increase in HDL cholesterol involves another enzyme that normally degrades HDL-C, and was also discovered at Penn. [click link for full article]

Chronically ill older persons frequently refuse medical and surgical interventions recommended by their physicians, according to a recent study by Yale School of Medicine researchers. The study suggests that physicians continue to recommend invasive or risky interventions for people with advanced illness despite the patient’s view that these treatments may be too burdensome, or that the treatment doesn’t fit with their goals of care. [click link for full article]

For patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), the risk of elevated levels of parathyroid hormone (PTH), or hyperparathyroidism — a significant complication that increases the risk of cardiovascular problems and death — increases along with body weight, reports a study in the September Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. [click link for full article]

While the thyroid has long been linked to metabolism, cutting-edge research underway at Rutgers University-Camden is investigating the possibility that thyroid hormones have an important role in sleep regulation.Thanks to a $415,369 grant from the National Science Foundation, a team of Rutgers-Camden researchers will pinpoint precisely how and when thyroid hormones influence the brain’s sleep-related structures. [click link for full article]