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Medical News Novel Approach in Primary Care Setting May Help Identify Patients with COPD With five simple questions and an inexpensive peak expiratory flow (PEF) meter, primary care clinicians may be able to diagnose many more patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, according to new research published online in the ... – American Thoracic Society (ATS) American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine Embargo expired on 28-Oct-2016 at 00:15 ET Could Minority-serving Hospitals Be Unfairly Penalized by CMS for Readmissions? A new probe into why colorectal surgery patients end up back in the hospital after surgery suggests that it has less to do with the hospital or treatment received but rather more determined by patient factors such as race, income, and insurance statu... – Georgetown University Medical Center Surgery; P30 CA051008 Embargo expired on 28-Oct-2016 at 00:05 ET Male Birth Control Shots Prevent Pregnancy Men can take birth control shots to prevent pregnancy in their female partners, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. – Endocrine Society Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Embargo expired on 27-Oct-2016 at 14:00 ET Customized Vitamin D Supplements May Benefit Pregnant Women Individualized supplement doses help protect pregnant women from vitamin D deficiency, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. – Endocrine Society Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Embargo expired on 27-Oct-2016 at 14:00 ET Vitamin D Supplements for Pregnant Women Should Be Customised to the Individual to Ensure Benefits Are Felt Vitamin D supplements are less effective at raising vitamin D levels in pregnant women if they deliver their babies in the winter, have low levels of vitamin D early in pregnancy or gain more weight during pregnancy, a new Southampton study has shown... – University of Southampton Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 10.1210/jc.2016-2869 Embargo expired on 27-Oct-2016 at 14:00 ET Natural Compound Reduces Signs of Aging in Healthy Mice Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that supplementing healthy mice with a natural compound called NMN can compensate for the loss of energy production that is typical of aging. Older NMN-supplemented mice s... – Washington University in St. Louis Cell Metabolism Embargo expired on 27-Oct-2016 at 12:00 ET Hospital Rooms and Patients Equally Likely to Transmit Pathogens “This study is a good wake-up call that health care personnel need to concentrate on the idea that the health care environment can be contaminated,” said Deverick Anderson, M.D., the study’s lead author and associate professor of medicine at Du... – Duke Health Embargo expired on 27-Oct-2016 at 10:00 ET Stability of Exhausted T Cells Limits Durability of Cancer Checkpoint Drugs Reinvigorating exhausted T cells in mice using a PD-L1 blockade caused very few T memory cells to develop. After the blockade, re-invigorated T cells became re-exhausted if antigen from the virus remained high, and failed to become memory T cells whe... – Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania CA78831, AI105343, AI112521, AI082630, AI115712, AI117950, AI108545 Embargo expired on 27-Oct-2016 at 14:00 ET Fatty Liver: Turning off TAZ Reverses Disease Scientists at Columbia University have identified a factor in liver cells that is responsible for turning AAFLD into a serious disease that can lead to liver failure. – Columbia University Medical Center Cell Metabolism Embargo expired on 27-Oct-2016 at 12:00 ET Mayo Clinic Research Links Senescent Cells and Atherosclerosis Progression Atherosclerosis is a disease in which arteries narrow due to plaques. That narrowing can lead to heart attacks and strokes — both of which are leading causes of death in the U.S. Now, in a paper published in Science, Mayo Clinic researchers and col... – Mayo Clinic Embargo expired on 27-Oct-2016 at 14:00 ET Montefiore and the Hebrew Home at Riverdale Bring Cutting Edge Geriatrics, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation to Sub-Acute Care Montefiore Health System and the Hebrew Home at Riverdale are proud to announce a unique partnership to improve care for patients requiring sub-acute rehabilitation at the Hebrew Home at Riverdale. – Montefiore Health System Embargo expired on 27-Oct-2016 at 15:00 ET Large Integrated Health Outcomes Study Reveals Shifting Epidemiology in Drug-Resistant Organisms A first-of-its-kind study of 900,000 hospital admissions from an integrated health system has yielded insights into shifts in the epidemiology of multi-drug resistant organisms (MDROs) in the community. – Intermountain Medical Center Penn Physician-Scientist with Rare Disease to Lead Patient-Driven Project to ACCELERATE Research An innovative, new, patient-driven natural history registry for the rare and poorly understood immune system disorder Castleman disease (CD) will propel care and research for CD through a collaborative research agreement between Janssen Research & De... – Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania A Metabolic Switch to Turn Off Obesity A research team at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre has discovered that the ABHD6 enzyme in certain brain neurons plays a key role in controlling body weight. – Universite de Montreal Cell Report, October 25, 2016.; Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), (MOP115042), (MOP123280), and (MOP114974) 50-Year-Old Bacteria Could Be Alternative Treatment Option for Cancer Salmonella has a unique characteristic that allows the bacteria to penetrate through cell barriers and replicate inside its host. Now, scientists at the Cancer Research Center and the University of Missouri have developed a non-toxic strain of Salmon... – University of Missouri Health PLOS One Patients Benefit From Tranexamic Acid During Heart Surgery, Withholding Blood Pressure Meds Before Surgery, Studies Show Four innovative studies exploring ways to reduce complications related to heart surgery or minimize patient mortality due to risks associated with low blood pressure and surgery were highlighted during the Anesthesiology Major Trials Session held at ... – American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Study: Most Pediatric ICU Physicians Don’t Use Current Guidelines to Diagnose Acute Kidney Injury A study by University at Buffalo researchers has shown that physicians in pediatric intensive care units are not using the newest guidelines to diagnose acute kidney injury (AKI) in critically ill children, a practice that could affect their patients... – University at Buffalo Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Blood Test for Early Osteoarthritis Diagnosis Unveiled Patients could soon be diagnosed with early-stage arthritis several years before the onset of physical and irreversible symptoms, thanks to a new test developed by researchers at the University of Warwick. Led by Dr Naila Rabbani of Warwick Medical ... – University of Warwick The Transition From Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time Leads to Depressions The number of people diagnosed with depression at psychiatric hospitals increases immediately after the transition from daylight saving time to standard time -- this is the conclusion of a recent register-based study from Denmark. – Aarhus University EPIDEMIOLOGY Researchers Use Video Gamelike Test to Study Learning and Recovery in Stroke Patients A robotic arm and a virtual game were essential tools in a new study from researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine. The study results suggest that while training doesn't change neurological repair in chronic stroke patients, it can indeed help such pati... – Johns Hopkins Medicine Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair New Study: Children with Autism May Be Over-Diagnosed with ADHD Pediatric researchers report that children with ASD may mistakenly be diagnosed with ADHD because they have autism-related social impairments rather than problems with attention. This is important for understanding what are the right services and tre... – Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Published Online, October 13,2 2016 Battle Hymns and Lullabies: SLU Scientist Sheds New Light on How Dendritic Cells Conduct the T Cell Orchestra SLU researchers report new findings about how the immune system directs T cells to learn tolerance for the body's own cells. – Saint Louis University Medical Center Immunity Clinical Trial Data Sharing Off to a Slow Start For many years, doctors, scientists and researchers have urged that clinical drug trial data be shared to accelerate medical advances in treating multiple diseases. But two years after free patient data became available in a major data-sharing projec... – Rutgers University N Engl J Med 2016; 375:1608-1609 Cancer Sequencing Results Differ Based on Genetic Background of Comparison Genome University of Colorado Cancer Center study shows that comparing cancer cell sequencing results to published reference genomes may be less accurate than comparing to healthy cell from same organism. – University of Colorado Cancer Center BMC Genomics Antibody Breaks Leukemia’s Hold, Providing New Therapeutic Approach Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an aggressive cancer known for drug resistance and relapse. In an effort to uncover new treatment strategies, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center discovered tha... – University of California San Diego Health Sciences Cancer Cell UofL-Led Researchers Developing Ethical Standards for Biorepositories What if a patient gave permission to a researcher at her local hospital to use her blood or specimen for research, and later the researcher decided to share that sample with others? What if that patient received assurances that the specimen would be ... – University of Louisville High Quality Evidence Suggests Vitamin D Can Reduce Asthma Attacks A recent Cochrane Review has found evidence from randomised trials, that taking an oral vitamin D supplement in addition to standard asthma medication is likely to reduce severe asthma attacks. – Wiley Cochrane Review UTHealth Now Offers a Fellowship in Obesity Medicine To help doctors address the obesity epidemic, McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) now offers a fellowship in obesity medicine. – University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Bioluminescent Sensor Causes Brain Cells to Glow in the Dark A new kind of bioluminescent sensor causes individual brain cells to imitate fireflies and glow in the dark. The probe, which was developed by a team of Vanderbilt scientists, is a genetically modified form of luciferase, the enzyme that a number of ... – Vanderbilt University Nature Communications (27Oct2016) Placebo Sweet Spot for Pain Relief Identified in Brain Scientists have identified for the first time the region in the brain responsible for the “placebo effect” in pain relief, when a fake treatment actually results in substantial reduction of pain, according to new research from Northwestern Medici... – Northwestern University PLOS Biology; AT007987; NS035115 A Skin Graft for Bad Burns To get a head start on healing burn wounds, biomedical engineers at Michigan Technological University turn to the body's natural network. They combine engineered stem cell sheets with split thickness skin grafts to do so. – Michigan Technological University Theranostics, Oct-2016; NIH ; Portage Health Foundation Standardize 4 Safety Initiative Releases Final IV Recommendations for Medication Safety ASHP announced that its Standardize 4 Safety initiative has finalized its list of recommended concentrations for adult IV continuous infusions. The list, which marks the first major milestone in Phase I of the initiative, is posted on ASHP’s Standa... – ASHP (American Society of Health-System Pharmacists) The Medical Minute: The Evolving Guidelines on Screen Time for Kids Digital media changes so quickly that the American Academy of Pediatrics updated its recommendations on media use and screen time for children just a year after issuing its previous guidelines. – Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center HealthHacks RI: Young Entrepreneurs Push Boundaries of Discovery Frenzied activity defined HealthHacks RI 2016, the health and wellness hack-a-thon at which some award-winning technologies were developed. – University of Rhode Island Health Tip: Four Ways to Prevent a Stroke Regardless of one’s age or family history, 90 percent of strokes are preventable. In honor of World Stroke Day on October 29, University of the Sciences Associate Professor of Physical Therapy Greg Thielman, PT, MSPT, EdD, is sharing tips for preve... – University of the Sciences Epipen Sticker Shock? No Problem. We’Ll Make Our Own. Concerned about both safety and the skyrocketing costs of EpiPen, University of Utah Health Care (UUHC) nurses were already searching for solutions before the media storm hit. At a summer meeting, the group voted to ditch the EpiPen and instead creat... – University of Utah Health Sciences From 275 to 155: A Physician Shares Her Weight Loss Story and Tips Dr. Patricia Happel, a family medicine physician who lost more than 100 pounds, shares her story and key components of successful weight loss and healthy living Expert Available – New York Institute of Technology Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation Launches Expanded Brain Health and Dementia Prevention Website The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) announced today the relaunch of CognitiveVitality.org, its brain health and dementia prevention website. The streamlined, easy-to-navigate site separates fact from fiction and empowers people to make... – Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation Are You READI? The Association of Academic Physiatrist’s Education Committee unveils an exciting new program to advance resident education – Association of Academic Physiatrists (AAP) Science News A Death Star's Ghostly Glow The eerie glow of a dead star, which exploded long ago as a supernova, reveals itself in this Hubble Space Telescope image of the Crab Nebula. But, the ghoulish-looking object still has a pulse. Buried at its center is the star's tell-tale heart, whi... – Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) Blast of Thin Air Can Reset Circadian Clocks The low pressure in airplanes can make traveling unpleasant – but it could also ease jetlag, finds the Weizmann Institute’s Dr. Gad Asher. Every cell in the body contains a circadian clock, and when these clocks are disrupted, imbalances result. ... – Weizmann Institute of Science Cell Metabolism, Oct-2016 Under Pressure – Changing Semiconductor Properties at Room Temperature, in the Open Air It’s a small change that makes a big difference. Researchers have developed a method that uses a one-degree change in temperature to alter the color of light that a semiconductor emits. The method, which uses a thin-film semiconductor layered on to... – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Busted: Revealing Mismatches in MJO Modeling Researchers found that certain models get the relationship between environmental moisture and precipitation wrong. This mismatch produces more precipitation than is observed particularly during inactive phase of the Madden-Julian Oscillation. – Department of Energy, Office of Science Journal of Climate 29(3), 1091 (2016). [DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0349.1] PPPL Physicists Win Funding to Lead a DOE Exascale Computing Project A proposal from PPPL scientists has been chosen as part of a national initiative to develop the next generation of supercomputers. Known as the Exascale Computing Project, the initiative will include a focus on exascale-related software, applications... – Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory $3m NSF Grant to Send UIC Students on Historic Arctic Expedition The University of Illinois at Chicago College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is seeking a select group of students for a historic summer expedition that will send them from city to sea under the banner of the National Science Foundation. – University of Illinois at Chicago Exploring the Evolution of Spider Venom to Improve Human Health More than 46,000 species of spiders creepy crawl across the globe. Each one produces a venom composed of an average of 500 distinct toxins, putting the conservative estimate of unique venom compounds at more than 22 million. Researchers are studying ... – NIH, National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Little-Studied Coral Reefs of Saudi Arabia Explored with Launch of Extensive Survey U.S. and Saudi Arabian scientists launched the most extensive baseline survey to-date of coral reef ecosystems along the Saudi coast of the Gulf of Aqaba during late September 2016 — investigating multiple reef species in detail to support conserva... – Mote Marine Laboratory NAU Scientists Develop a Novel Strategy for Restoring Sagebrush Habitat The $335,000 grant will allow scientists with the Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research to test the nucleation approach. – Northern Arizona University Burning Fossil Fuels Poses Existential Threat to Earth Burning coal for electricity is in decline, while the use of natural gas, solar and wind power are on the rise. But how close are we to creating a clean energy economy to help protect our planet from the impacts of climate change? Rutgers Today asked... Expert Available – Rutgers University Project Pumpkin: Professor and Students Harvest 17 New and Experimental Varieties of Pumpkins URI Professor harvests student enthusiasm with hands-on research. Expert Available – University of Rhode Island Brookhaven Lab 'Higgs Hunter' Sally Dawson Receives J.J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics UPTON, NY — Sally Dawson, a theoretical physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, has been named a recipient of the 2017 J.J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics. The award, given by the American Physic... – Brookhaven National Laboratory Robert Goldston Receives 2015 Nuclear Fusion Award at IAEA Conference for Best Paper Published in 2012 Piece describes R. Goldstone's 2015 Nuclear Fusion Award. – Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Nigeria’s Superhighway Threatens Local Communities, Elephants, and Gorillas NEW YORK (October 27, 2016) — A proposed superhighway in Nigeria’s Cross River State will displace 180 indigenous communities and threaten one of the world’s great centers of biodiversity if completed, according to WCS (Wildlife Conservation So... – Wildlife Conservation Society Lifestyle & Social Sciences Presidential Election Victories Paved by Non-Competitive, Rather Than Battleground, States, Game Theorists Conclude The role of non-competitive states in presidential elections has been underestimated, an analysis by a pair of game theorists shows. – New York University Public Choice States Increasing Regulation of Retail Tobacco Sales, but Could Be More Effective State actions to regulate retail sales of tobacco nearly doubled between 2012 and 2014, according to new research from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, but much of that activity involved e-cigarettes, perhaps the least harmful ... – Washington University in St. Louis Tobacco Control October 2016 A Patriot Fights for Gender Freedom Johns Hopkins Hospital nurse Paula Neira, co-sponsor of USNS Harvey Milk, views activism on behalf of LGBTQ service members as a continuing service to the military – Johns Hopkins School of Nursing White Supremacist Activity Spikes When Trump Talks Anti-Immigration: Vanderbilt Researcher The presidential race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump has coincided with a large spike in white supremacist activity on the Internet, with Jewish journalists targeted in particular, according to a Vanderbilt professor. “The Trump campaign ... – Vanderbilt University Can Therapy Dogs Assist in Motivating Children on the Autism Spectrum? Research by a Texas Tech University behavioral analyst who works with therapy dogs suggests using canines as a reward for completed tasks could be useful. – Texas Tech University Are You Addicted to Social Media? Expert Offers Six Questions to Ask Yourself Yes, you spend a lot of time on social media. You might even check your phone every few minutes to see how many people have liked your latest Facebook post. But are you addicted? And even if you are, what’s the big deal? Expert Available – Baylor University Baylor Author Discusses Art of the Short Story, Recommends Five Scary Tales for Halloween This Halloween, a Baylor University creative writing professor is urging readers to resurrect their interest in short stories. Arna Hemenway, assistant professor of English in the College of Arts & Sciences, says short stories still have a lot to off... Expert Available – Baylor University New University of North Florida Poll Shows Clinton, Rubio and Amendment 2 Hold Leads in Florida A new poll of likely voters in Florida by the Public Opinion Research Laboratory (PORL) at the University of North Florida, shows that in a four-candidate contest—with Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Gary Johnson and Jill Stein—Clinton holds the l... – University of North Florida Toronto Police Service Supports Breastober with Pink Fundraising Campaign The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation is pleased to announce the Toronto Police Service has come on board to support breast cancer research at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. – University Health Network (UHN)