A study in the February issue of JAMA, reports that female heart attack patients are more likely to go to hospital without chest pain and have a much higher rate of in-hospital death following a heart attack, compared to men of the same age group. The study, by John G. Canto, M.D., M.S.P.H., of the Watson Clinic and Lakeland Regional Medical Center, Lakeland, Fla., and colleagues, analyzed the links between; the gender of the patient, the symptoms of myocardial infarction (heart attack) they develop, and risk of death in hospital...

A study in rats has found that a new medication called clazosentan, may be effective in blocking the harmful effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI). The study will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 64th Annual Meeting in New Orleans April 21 to April 28, 2012. Michael Kaufman, study author, a second year medical student at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, and member of the American Academy of Neurology, explained: "There are currently no primary treatments for TBI, so this research provides hope that effective treatments can be developed...

A study published in the print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, suggests that a larger waistline may be associated with a greater risk of decreased mental functioning in HIV-positive individuals. J. Allen McCutchan, M.D., MSc, of the University of California, San Diego, and lead researcher of the study, explained: "Interestingly, bigger waistlines were linked to decreased mental functioning more than was general obesity...

General practitioners in the UK could soon be "prescribing" cheap or free smartphone apps to help their patients manage their health and medical conditions, according to news released on Wednesday by the Department of Health. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: "So many people use apps every day to keep up with their friends, with the news, find out when the next bus will turn up or which train to catch. I want to make using apps to track blood pressure, to find the nearest source of support when you need it and to get practical help in staying healthy the norm...

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) research has found that insulin production may persist for decades after the onset of type 1 diabetes. Beta cell functioning also appears to be preserved in some patients years after apparent loss of pancreatic function. The study results appear in the March issue of Diabetes Care. "Traditionally, it was thought that beta cell function completely ceased in patients with advanced type 1 diabetes...

When first exposed to cocaine, the adolescent brain launches a strong defensive reaction designed to minimize the drug's effects, Yale and other scientists have found. Now two new studies by a Yale team identify key genes that regulate this response and show that interfering with this reaction dramatically increases a mouse's sensitivity to cocaine. The findings may help explain why risk of drug abuse and addiction increase so dramatically when cocaine use begins during teenage years. The results were published in the Feb. 14 and Feb. 21 issues of the Journal of Neuroscience...

A leaky gut may be the root of some cancers forming in the rest of the body, a new study published online Feb. 21 in PLoS ONE by Thomas Jefferson University researchers suggests. It appears that the hormone receptor guanylyl cyclase C (GC-C) - a previously identified tumor suppressor that exists in the intestinal tract - plays a key role in strengthening the body's intestinal barrier, which helps separate the gut world from the rest of the body, and possibly keeps cancer at bay. Without the receptor, that barrier weakens. A team led by Scott Waldman, M.D., Ph.D...

A novel bacterium, thought to be a common inhabitant of the oral cavity, has the potential to cause serious disease if it enters the bloodstream, according to a study in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. Its identification will allow scientists to work out how it causes disease and evaluate the risk that it poses. The bacterium was identified by researchers at the Institute of Medical Microbiology of the University of Zurich and has been named Streptococcus tigurinus after the region of Zurich where it was first recognised. S...

Electronic health records and embedded tools can alert and direct pediatricians so they can better manage the weight of children and teenagers, according to a new Kaiser Permanente study published online in The Journal of Pediatrics...

Johns Hopkins and National Taiwan University researchers have discovered more details about how an energy sensing "thermostat" protein determines whether cells will store or use their energy reserves. In a report in Nature, the researchers showed that a chemical modification on the thermostat protein changes how it's controlled. Without the modification, cells use stored energy, and with it, they default to stockpiling resources. When cells don't properly allocate their energy supply, they can die off or become cancerous...