http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. The antibiotic, called azithromycin, is effective in treating infections such as syphilis, Chlamydia and Ureaplasma urealyticum - a bacterial infection thought to play a significant role in causing preterm labour. Recent studies have also shown that the drug is effective in reducing the risk of miscarriage following amniocentesis, a medical test for infection and foetal abnormalities. http://www.physorg.com/news178867963.html Medicine & Health Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:10:01 EST news178867963 Middle-aged men and women who engage in high levels of physical activity may be unknowingly causing damage to their knees and increasing their risk for osteoarthritis, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). http://www.physorg.com/news178780875.html Medicine & Health Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:21:57 EST news178780875 The addition of a "genetic sonogram" maximizes the accuracy of non-invasive testing for Down syndrome, said a Baylor College of Medicine researcher who was lead author of a landmark study in the current issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology. http://www.physorg.com/news177960758.html Medicine & Health Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:00:04 EST news177960758 A study of 145 preschool children reports, for the first time, that when the concentrations of two common phthalates in mothers' prenatal urine are elevated their sons are less likely to play with male-typical toys and games, such as trucks and play fighting. http://www.physorg.com/news177573699.html Medicine & Health Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:02:35 EST news177573699 To best detect early signs of life-threatening heart defects in young athletes, screening programs should include both popular diagnostic tests, not just one of them, according to new research from heart experts at Johns Hopkins. http://www.physorg.com/news177515705.html Medicine & Health Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:56:28 EST news177515705 More than half the people who take antidepressants for depression never get relief. Why? Because the cause of depression has been oversimplified and drugs designed to treat it aim at the wrong target, according to new research from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. The medications are like arrows shot at the outer rings of a bull's eye instead of the center. http://www.physorg.com/news175521459.html Medicine & Health Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:00:21 EST news175521459 Young animals treated with commonly-prescribed drugs develop behavioral abnormalities in adulthood say researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center. The drugs tested include those used to treat epilepsy, mood disorders and pain. http://www.physorg.com/news175271238.html Medicine & Health Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:10:02 EST news175271238 Children whose bones are "older" than their chronological age may be at an increased risk of hypertension, according to a study reported today in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association. As a result, the investigators suggest that markers of biological maturity should be evaluated in hypertensive children, and that physical activity and diet may deter the accelerated development of biological maturity. http://www.physorg.com/news175257456.html Medicine & Health Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:10:01 EST news175257456 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers in Denmark have studied almost half a million Danish children and found a slightly higher rate of septal heart abnormalities in babies whose mothers took an SSRI antidepressant drug during early pregnancy, especially if they took more than one type. http://www.physorg.com/news173424171.html Medicine & Health Tue, 29 Sep 2009 07:10:02 EST news173424171 A statewide team of researchers led by a Michigan State University epidemiologist are hoping Michigan's archive of newborn blood spots will help them uncover the causes of cerebral palsy, the most common disabling motor disorder in children with annual health costs of $12 billion. http://www.physorg.com/news171044315.html Medicine & Health Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:30:01 EST news171044315 (PhysOrg.com) -- A large head-to-head study of two anti-clotting medications for heart patients has found that the investigational compound ticagrelor (Brilinta) was more effective at reducing cardiovascular death than the current standard of care, clopidogrel (Plavix), according to researchers at Duke University Medical Center. http://www.physorg.com/news170863591.html Medicine & Health Sun, 30 Aug 2009 15:11:03 EST news170863591 "A biologist, a physicist, and a nanotechnologist walk into a..." sounds like the start of a joke. Instead, it was the start of a collaboration that has helped to decipher a critical, but so far largely unstudied, phase of how cells divide. Errors in cell division can cause mutations that lead to cancer, and this study could shed light on the role of chromosome abnormalities in uncontrolled cell replication. http://www.physorg.com/news169736758.html Biology Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:20:02 EST news169736758 Janet Davison Rowley, MD, a pioneer in demonstrating that cancer is a genetic disease, will receive the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom the White House announced Thursday. President Barack Obama will award the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, to Rowley and 15 others at a ceremony Wednesday, August 12. http://www.physorg.com/news168187760.html Medicine & Health Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:00:02 EST news168187760 Researchers have devised a scheme for identifying genes in yeast that could lead to the identification of new cancer genes in humans. The study is published online this week in the open-access journal PLoS Biology. http://www.physorg.com/news167989074.html Biology Tue, 28 Jul 2009 09:00:04 EST news167989074 Mayo Clinic researchers have found that children exposed to anesthesia during Cesarean section are not at any higher risk for learning disabilities later in life than children not delivered by C-section. These findings are reported in the current issue of the journal Anesthesiology. http://www.physorg.com/news167935433.html Medicine & Health Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:20:01 EST news167935433 Structural cardiovascular abnormalities present at birth are the leading cause of heart failure in children. Nearly half a million children in the United States have structural heart problems ranging in severity from relatively simple issues, such as small holes between chambers of the heart, to very severe malformations, including complete absence of one or more chambers or valves. http://www.physorg.com/news166193096.html Medicine & Health Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:20:01 EST news166193096 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new Northwestern University-led study of human colon, pancreatic and lung cells is the first to report that cancer cells and their non-cancerous cell neighbors, although quite different under the microscope, share very similar structural abnormalities on the nanoscale level. http://www.physorg.com/news166192501.html Medicine & Health Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:35:47 EST news166192501 Severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with lower cognitive function in older adults, according to research from Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Researchers compared cognitive performance in over 4,150 adults with and without COPD and found that individuals with severe COPD had significantly lower cognitive function than those without, even after controlling for confounding factors such as comorbidities. http://www.physorg.com/news166186706.html Medicine & Health Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:20:03 EST news166186706 A study of more than 64,000 pregnant women has found that miscarriage rates following amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (CVS) - two invasive procedures to detect chromosomal abnormalities and birth defects - were 1.4 per cent and 1.9 per cent, respectively. http://www.physorg.com/news166183195.html Medicine & Health Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:02:14 EST news166183195 (AP) -- An 84-year-old University of Chicago researcher has won a half-million-dollar genetics prize for her pioneering work in showing that cancer is a genetic disease. http://www.physorg.com/news165678629.html Medicine & Health Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:50:02 EST news165678629 (AP) -- Puzzling new research suggests women have a harder time than men looking at babies with facial birth defects. It's a surprise finding. Psychiatrists from the Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital, who were studying perceptions of beauty, had expected women to spend more time than men cooing over pictures of extra-cute babies. Nope. http://www.physorg.com/news165038430.html Medicine & Health Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:20:01 EST news165038430 (AP) -- Drinking during pregnancy can seriously harm a baby's brain, yet thousands of mothers-to-be still do. Now scientists have begun testing whether a prenatal nutrient might offer those babies a little protection, part of a growing quest for ways to reverse the damage. http://www.physorg.com/news164909483.html Medicine & Health Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:11:57 EST news164909483 Your immune system plays an important function in your health -it protects you against viruses, bacteria, and other toxins that can cause disease. In autoinflammatory diseases, however, the immune system goes awry, causing unprovoked and dangerous inflammation. Now, researchers from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), part of the National Institutes of Health, and other institutions have discovered a new autoinflammatory syndrome, a rare genetic condition that affects children around the time of birth. The findings appear in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. http://www.physorg.com/news163333960.html Medicine & Health Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:33:26 EST news163333960 A team of neuroscientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has demonstrated the mechanism by which a signaling protein found throughout the brain controls the maturation and strength of excitatory synapses, the tiny gaps across which the majority of neurons communicate. http://www.physorg.com/news163077382.html Medicine & Health Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:16:54 EST news163077382 Kim Harper started a career before starting a family. After graduating from Michigan State University in 1990, she traveled, earned a law degree and began working as an attorney. When Harper married in 2006, she and her husband, Jeff, hoped a baby would soon follow. http://www.physorg.com/news158567193.html Medicine & Health Fri, 10 Apr 2009 07:27:45 EST news158567193 In contrast to women, men are fertile throughout life, but research at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has now shown that a fertilising sperm can get help from the egg to rejuvenate. The result is an important step towards future stem cell therapy. http://www.physorg.com/news157201393.html Biology Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:03:42 EST news157201393 In 1940, a Dutch goat born without front legs learned to walk upright. So did Faith, a two-legged dog in Oklahoma. Johnny Eck, a "half-man" born without legs, grew naturally into a graceful hand-walker. http://www.physorg.com/news154876613.html Biology Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:18:09 EST news154876613 New research published in the March 3, 2009, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology finds that anger-induced electrical changes in the heart can predict future arrhythmias in patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs). http://www.physorg.com/news154632326.html Medicine & Health Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:26:07 EST news154632326 (PhysOrg.com) -- A Newcastle University study has shown that obese women who become pregnant have an increased risk of their baby being born with certain abnormalities, including spina bifida. http://www.physorg.com/news153588276.html Medicine & Health Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:25:46 EST news153588276 People with a genetic condition called Williams syndrome are famously gregarious. Scientists, looking carefully at brain function in individuals with Williams syndrome, think they may know why this is so. The researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine showed that parts of a particular brain region known as the amygdala react more powerfully in Williams syndrome patients than in developmentally normal subjects - or in subjects with delays in development not caused by Williams syndrome - when exposed to facial expressions conveying positive emotions. http://www.physorg.com/news152299739.html Medicine & Health Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:33:05 EST news152299739