Heparin plays a key role in allergic and inflammatory reactions driven by mast cells, scientists from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden shows in an international collaboration involving colleagues from Germany and Switzerland. The study is published in the recent issue of Immunity, and sheds some new light on the biological function of heparin. Heparin has a long history at Karolinska Institutet, since here the substance was originally purified and its chemical structure was characterized back in 1935 by Professor Erik Jorpes... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Archaeologists in Egypt have thwarted the attempted looting of a 160-ton statue of King Ramses II. Archaeologists and guards arrested the looters, who were trying to damage and steal the statue that is part of an ancient quarry in Aswan in Upper Egypt, MENA said, citing Minister of State for Antiquities Zahi Hawass and other [...]
In what is being hailed as a discovery as important as Machu Picchu, Wari tombs dating back to between the 7th – 12th centuries, have ben found in Peru. Archaeologists found a y-shaped silver chest plate, a silver mask, two golden bracelets with feline figures and two wooden walking sticks laminated with silver in the [...]
In women with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive early breast cancer, treatment with
trastuzumab for one year after chemotherapy is associated with significant disease-free survival at a four-year
follow-up, according to a study published online Feb. 25 in The Lancet Oncology.
Patients with type 1 diabetes and macroalbuminuria remain at high risk for developing end-stage renal
disease despite the increased use of renoprotective treatment, according to a study published online Feb. 25 in the
Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
An increase in the urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio may indicate deterioration of endothelial
function by reduction of nitric oxide activity that is unrelated to changes in blood pressure, according to a study
in the February issue of Diabetes.
Many dialysis patients are exposed to high levels of radiation because of frequent medical imaging
procedures, putting them at increased risk of cancer, according to a study published online Feb. 25 in the Journal
of the American Society of Nephrology.
A current guideline on early detection of prostate cancer, which recommends biopsy based on high
prostate-specific antigen velocity even without other indications, may lead to many unnecessary biopsies, according
to a study published online Feb. 24 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Peer support interventions decrease symptoms of depression more than usual care alone, and at least as
much as group cognitive behavioral therapy, according to a meta-analysis published in the January/February issue of
General Hospital Psychiatry.
Researchers have identified strategies for implementing environmentally friendly practices in
operating rooms and other hospital facilities that could lead to much lower health care costs without risks to
patient safety; their recommendations have been published in the February issue of the Archives of
Surgery.
Kidney transplant recipients are receptive to performing skin self-examinations and acting on
recommendations from an education intervention when they discover a concerning skin lesion, according to a study
published online Feb. 21 in the Archives of Dermatology.
The emotional distress some women experience prior to undergoing fertility treatment appears to have
no bearing on the likelihood that the treatment will result in a successful pregnancy, according to a literature
analysis published Feb. 23 in BMJ.
Patients with diabetes who undergo surgery for spine problems experience less improvement compared to
those without diabetes, according to research published in the Feb. 15 issue of Spine.
Denosumab prevents skeletal-related events for longer than zoledronic acid in patients with
castration-resistant prostate cancer with bone metastases, according to research published online Feb. 25 in The
Lancet.
The American College of Rheumatology and the European League Against Rheumatism have developed two
provisional definitions of remission in rheumatoid arthritis that can be applied uniformly and used as outcome
measures in clinical trials, according to an article published in the March issue of Arthritis &
Rheumatism.
Neurologic post-treatment Lyme disease and chronic fatigue syndrome can be differentiated by
group-specific and individual cerebrospinal fluid protein complements, according to a study published online Feb.
23 in PLoS ONE.
Cardiovascular risk factors may play an important role in age-related hearing dysfunction, a common
condition in middle-aged adults, according to a study published online Feb. 21 in the Archives of Otolaryngology --
Head & Neck Surgery.
Early-onset androgenic alopecia is associated with the development of prostate cancer later in life,
according to a study published online Feb. 15 in the Annals of Oncology.
: : Medieval News Medieval News Archive 2011 111 February 44 University of Minnesota conference to explore Isla . Book Review : Ibn Taymiyya and his times Alchemists , ancient and modern Getty Museum Displays Stories to Watch : Narrative Middle East Mirrors Great Inflation Revolutions Si . Rick Santorum : The Crusades Get A Bad Rap Treasures of Heaven : Saints , Relics and Devotion i . Medieval Churches in England receive funding for r . Living churches exhibition at Norwich cathedral The Medievalverse 2nd Video Blog Witan Publishing offers epublishing service for me . Conservation Works Planned for St . Albans Medieval . Black Death' director Christopher Smith talks abo . Medieval site in Qatar reveals signs of wealth Medieval weir will be washed away' Killing Kings : Patterns of Regicide
Lumbar fusion surgery is associated with poor return to work status, as well as increased disability,
opiate use, reoperations, and complications, according to research published in the Feb. 15 issue of
Spine.
The risk of pulmonary embolism is significantly higher for outpatients with central nervous system,
pancreatic, upper gastrointestinal, and lung/pleural malignancies, and lower for hematological and breast
malignancies, according to a study published online Feb. 11 in Cancer.
A quantitative micro-nuclear magnetic resonance chip attached to a smart phone appears capable of
quickly detecting tumor cells at a patient's bedside, with quicker turnaround and better accuracy than
immunohistochemistry, according to research published in the Feb. 23 issue of Science Translational
Medicine.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology has issued updated guidelines for the use of bone-modifying
agents in treating breast cancer patients with bone metastases to include a new drug, denosumab, and provide new
advice regarding a potentially serious complication of treatment, osteonecrosis of the jaw; an overview of the
guideline update has been published online Feb. 22 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Melanoma has a greater impact on health-related quality of life for women than for men, according to a
study published in the February issue of the Archives of Dermatology.
The health of children with persistent asthma is linked to the quality of social interaction with
their families during mealtime, according to a study published in the January/February issue of Child
Development.
Proton pump inhibitor therapy may bring about remission of esophageal eosinophilic infiltration (EEI),
calling into question the use of EEI as a histological tool to diagnose eosinophilic esophagitis, according to a
study published in the February issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
Predictive equations can be used to assess maximal quadriceps strength in individuals who have
osteoarthritis in a knee joint, according to a study published in the February issue of Arthritis Care
& Research.
Postpartum teens who eat breakfast on most days consume fewer calories from snacks and sweetened
drinks, and have a lower body mass index than those who tend to skip breakfast, according to a study published in
the January issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
Children with perforated appendicitis who undergo an appendectomy within 24 hours of hospital
admission spend significantly less time away from normal activities and experience fewer adverse events compared to
those who undergo removal six to eight weeks after diagnosis, according to a study published online Feb. 21 in the
Archives of Surgery.
A diet high in red and processed meats and sweets may lead to microalbuminuria and rapid kidney
function decline, but a diet high in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains may protect against rapid estimated
glomerular filtration rate decline, according to research published in the February issue of the American Journal
of Kidney Diseases.
Air pollution triggers about the same number of myocardial infarctions as individual risk factors such
as physical exertion and alcohol and coffee consumption, according to research published online Feb. 24 in The
Lancet.
Inaccuracies in clinical diagnoses of dementia are common, according to research released Feb. 23 to
be presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, which will be held from April 9 to 16 in
Honolulu.
The trend toward the earlier onset of childhood type 1 diabetes is undergoing a statistically
significant reversal in Sweden, according to a study published in the February issue of Diabetes.
Intensive treatment of type 1 diabetes slows the progression of atherosclerosis during a 12-year
period after therapy, according to a study published in the February issue of Diabetes.
Among all Asian populations, underweight is associated with a substantially increased risk of death,
but the excess death risk related to a high body mass index is seen only among East Asians, according to the
results of a large pooled analysis published in the Feb. 24 issue of the New England Journal of
Medicine.
Ultrasonography with power Doppler may detect clinically silent enthesitis in patients with juvenile
idiopathic arthritis and other enthesitis-related arthritis, according to research published online Feb. 10 in
Arthritis Care & Research.
Although mothers with type 1 diabetes are less likely to partially or exclusively breast-feed at two
months, diabetes is not an independent risk factor for the initiation and maintenance of breast-feeding, according
to a study published in the February issue of Diabetes Care.
Circumferential spine fusion surgery that is performed in two stages on different days may expose
patients to increased morbidity and mortality, compared to same-day surgeries, according to a study published
online Feb. 4 in Spine.
Light to moderate alcohol consumption appears to have a protective effect against cardiovascular
disease, according to two meta-analyses published online Feb. 22 in BMJ.
Nitroglycerin ointment appears to increase bone mineral density and decrease bone resorption in
postmenopausal women when administered daily, according to research published in the Feb. 23 issue of the Journal
of the American Medical Association.
There appears to be an inverse relationship between asthma and exposure to a wide variety of microbes,
according to comparative analyses of children who grow up on farms and those who do not; the results have been
published in the Feb. 24 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Recurrence and survival outcomes are similar for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma following
living donor liver transplant and deceased donor liver transplant, according to a study published online Feb. 11 in
Hepatology.
Near-infrared laser illumination is a safe and sustained method of treating chronic rhinosinusitis and
may not interfere with ciliary motility, according to a study published online Feb. 2 in Lasers in Surgery and
Medicine.
Patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, especially those using oral steroids,
are at increased risk of developing herpes zoster, according to a study published online Feb. 22 in CMAJ, the
journal of the Canadian Medical Association.
Patients with hemoglobin H disease caused by hemoglobin H Constant Spring appear to be at much higher
risk for poor outcomes than those whose disease is caused by deletion of three out of four α-globin
genes, according to research published in the Feb. 24 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Ingestion of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient in cannabis, appears to improve sense
of taste and increase appetite in cancer patients with chemosensory alterations, according to the results of a
pilot trial published online Feb. 22 in the Annals of Oncology.
A new noninvasive test, using the standard electroencephalogram to compute modified multiscale
entropy, may be a useful predictor of an infant's risk for autism, according to a study published online Feb. 22 in
BMC Medicine.
Senior citizens who speak more than two languages have a lower risk of developing cognitive
impairment, according to research released Feb. 22 to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of
Neurology, which will be held from April 9 to 16 in Honolulu.
Patients with type 2 diabetes who are treated with bupiron for major depressive disorder show
significant improvement in sexual function, according to a study published in the February issue of Diabetes
Care.
Coronary artery stent thrombosis tends to follow circadian and seasonal fluctuations, occurring most
frequently in the early morning and during the summer, according to a study published in the February issue of the
Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Interventions.
Several office-based tests on road safety can be administered to post-stroke patients to identify
those individuals at risk of failing an on-road evaluation, according to a review published in the February issue
of Neurology.
Obesity is independently associated with fatal coronary heart disease, irrespective of other known
biological or social risk factors, according to a study published online Feb. 14 in Heart.
Gastric bypass surgery with duodenum exclusion is more likely than sleeve gastrectomy without duodenum
exclusion to result in remission of type 2 diabetes, according to a study published in the February issue of the
Archives of Surgery. According to a related article in the same issue, laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass has a
better risk-benefit profile than laparoscopic gastric banding.
Interpreting a high volume of mammograms may not lead radiologists to find more cancers but may help
them to better distinguish between malignant and non-malignant lesions, according to research published online Feb.
22 in Radiology.
Acute cell phone use affects brain glucose metabolism in the area nearest to the phone's antenna,
according to a study published in the Feb. 23 issue of the Journal of the American Medical
Association.
Low-dose aspirin therapy may lower the risk of atherosclerotic events in patients with type 2 diabetes
with mild renal dysfunction, according to a study published in the February issue of Diabetes Care.: , Medieval News Medieval News Archive 2011 95 February 28 Dozens of medieval finds reported in Scotland’s tr . UTSA art department hosts symposium on Spain , medi . Queen Hereafter , by Susan Fraser King The battle for Valentine's Day First Valentine : Lasting legacy of 500-year-old lo . Tolkien Professor' Corey Olsen brings Middle-eart . William Wallace's victory set to win iconic status . The Medievalverse The Vlog from Medievalists.net . Mysterious Voynich manuscript dates back to the 15. . William Brinner , scholar of Near Eastern studies , From hagiography to Hitler : Medieval Research Cent . Google Art Project brings viritual tours to world’ . Sensentional medieval sculpture discovery Medieval Tower Defense Game Migrates to the Mac University of Otago holds workshop on medieval man
A team of researchers looking for fossils of giant rats in East Timor stumbled across ancient carved faced in a limestone cave. ‘Looking up from the cave floor at a colleague sitting on a ledge, my head torch shone on what seemed to be a weathered carving,’ CSIRO’s Dr Ken Aplin said. ‘I shone the [...]
The famous Nazca lines in Peru have been spared by flooding in the region. Archaeologist explained that this situation is the result of rainfall that occurs in the highlands of the province of Nazca at this time of the year. [Full story] Story: Living In Peru | Photo: Wikimedia Commons ShareThis