Popular Articles

Blood Test Shows Statistically Significant Association With Alzheimer's Disease (AD), May Predict Conversion Of Mild Cognitive Impairment To AD
Dr. Zsuzsanna Nagy of the University of Birmingham presented data from a clinical study, funded by Cytox Limited, demonstrating that a simple blood-based biomarker discriminated between patients with Alzheimer"s disease (AD) and control subjects. The findings were statistically highly significant, and the test discriminated between the two groups with 80% sensitivity and 80% specificity. The results also showed that 40% of the mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients tested had the same test results as AD patients. Follow up study of MCI patients enrolled in an earlier study found that the test allowed early identification of those MCI patients who later developed dementia. The results were presented at the 2009 Alzheimer"s Association International Conference on Alzheimer"s Disease (ICAD 2009), held in Vienna, Austria.

'Shock And Kill' Research Gives New Hope For HIV 1 Eradication
Latent HIV genes can be "smoked out" of human cells. The so-called "shock and kill" technique, described in a preclinical study in BioMed Central"s open access journal Retrovirology, might represent a new milestone along the way to the discovery of a cure for HIV/AIDS.
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Memory Impairment Predicts Alzheimer's Disease
Self perceived memory impairment is an indicator of pending Alzheimer dementia but not of vascular dementia, according to results of the LADIS (Leukoaraiosis and Disability) study which explores the impact of brain white matter changes on the functioning of independent elderly individuals over a 3 year period. The study is being presented at the current meeting of the European Neurological Society (ENS), a major meeting in European neurology that is gathering more than 2,900 experts from all over the world in Milan.
Cardiovascular

New National Study Finds Increase In P.E. Class-Related Injuries

Physical education (PE) in schools is one of the main tools used to increase physical activity and to prevent childhood obesity, and PE-related injuries are on the rise. Although increasing physical activity may reduce obesity, it may also increase the risk of injury. While recognizing that PE classes and physical activity are important components in combating obesity, parents and school administrators should remain vigilant for injuries. A recent study conducted by the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children"s Hospital, found that the number of PE-related injuries to elementary, middle and high school students in the United States increased 150 percent between 1997 and 2007. According to the study, published in the online issue of Pediatrics, the most common PE-related injuries were lower-extremity sprains and strains (23 percent), followed by upper extremity sprains and strains (14 percent) and fractures (14 percent). Middle school-aged children (11-14 years of age) accounted for the majority of PE-related injuries (52 percent). Elementary school-aged children (5-10 years of age) had almost double the odds of a head injury, compared with other injuries. Nearly 70 percent of PE-related injuries occurred while children were participating in six activities (running, basketball, football, volleyball, soccer and gymnastics). Injuries were caused by contact with another person, playing surface, equipment, stationary structures, pulled muscles, overuse and activity-related illnesses such as heat stroke. "The 150 percent increase in PE-related injuries presenting to emergency departments was consistent across gender and age groups. It is unlikely that this increase was attributable to an increase in PE participation," explained study author Lara McKenzie, PhD, principal investigator at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children"s Hospital and faculty member of The Ohio State University College of Medicine. "Identifying patterns of PE-related injuries is the first step toward preventing them. Injury prevention education should be made a priority for all PE activities, especially for those activities with the highest injury rates." This is the first published study to examine PE-related injuries on a national level. Data for this study were collected from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), which is operated by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The NEISS dataset provides information on consumer product-related and sports and recreation-related injuries treated in hospital emergency departments across the country. Mary Ellen Peacock Nationwide Children"s Hospital


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