Using a mouse model, researchers at Johns Hopkins and Ohio State University discovered that some copies of a specific gene can influence the severity of colon cancer. They explain, in the journal Nature, how trisomy 21 (Down syndrome in humans) can hold back tumor growth. Roger H. Reeves, Ph.D.

If you have a heart attack in an airport, or even a casino, there is a 50% chance you survive, compared to just one third if your heart attack takes place at a US hospital, according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). It seems that all too often patients do not get life-saving defibrillation within the crucial two minutes when in hospital.

A Stanford scientist has spelled out for the first time the direct links between increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and increases in human mortality, using a state-of-the-art computer model of the atmosphere that incorporates scores of physical and chemical environmental processes.

A new study finds that a chemical found in the body is capable of promoting weight loss, improving insulin resistance and reversing diabetes in an animal model. The hormone is gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP) receptor blockade.BackgroundGIP is a peptide hormone that is secreted in response to food. It inhibits the secretion of acids stimulates the releases insulin as part of the digestive process in response to food.

* Very little is known about alcohol use by children. * New findings show that the introduction to alcohol use may occur as early as eight or 10 years of age, and is an experience that typically occurs in the home. * Sipping and tasting reflect exposure to parental alcohol use in the home and do not reflect a proneness to engage in delinquent behavior or other problem behaviors.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) and Theravance, Inc. (NASDAQ: THRX) announced the start of large Phase 2b asthma dose-optimisation studies with both the lead inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) GW685698 (’698) and the lead long-acting beta agonist (LABA) GW642444 (’444) assets in the ‘Horizon’ programme to develop a next-generation combination product.

New perspectives on lung cancer screening, complications of sleep apnea, cystic fibrosis, and other key topics in pulmonary and critical care medicine are presented in the special January issue of The American Journal of Medical Sciences, published by the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation and Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, provider of leading healthcare content, context and consulting.

At present, animal tests are the only way of determining whether a particular chemical can cause an allergic reaction. Researchers working on the Sens-it-iv project are developing alternative methods that can reliably predict the allergy risk of chemicals without animal testing.There is danger lurking everywhere in textiles, cosmetics, medicines, detergents, foodstuffs, toys, and even at work. Potentially allergenic substances surround us all the time.

The number of damaging knee injuries among female soccer players has grown at an alarming rate. “Women injure their knees, especially their anterior cruciate ligaments (ACL), six to nine times more than men,” said Dr. Kaare Kolstad, an orthopedic surgeon with The Methodist Hospital in Houston. “Most female soccer players tear their ACL when they stop abruptly or land awkwardly after jumping. It is typically a non-contact injury.

An American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) analysis of several studies monitoring the impact of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) shows young women in early menopause may not only have no increased cardiovascular risk from the therapy, but may indeed show benefit in the future. HRT has powerful effects in relieving menopausal symptoms.