November 17, 2009, 8:50 AM CT

Pet therapy while recovering from total joint-replacement surgery

Adults who use pet treatment while recovering from total joint-replacement surgery require 50 percent less pain medicine than those who do not. These findings were presented at the 18th Annual Conference of the International Society of Anthrozoology and the First Human Animal Interaction Conference (HAI) in Kansas City, Mo.

"Evidence suggests that animal-assisted treatment (AAT) can have a positive effect on a patient's psychosocial, emotional and physical well being," said Julia Havey, RN, study presenter and senior systems analyst, Department of Medical Center Information Systems, Loyola University Health System (LUHS). "These data further support these benefits and build the case for expanding the use of pet treatment in recovery".

Animal lover Havey, and colleague Frances Vlasses, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, began raising puppies to become assistance dogs more than a decade ago through a program called Canine Companions for Independence (CCI). The non-profit organization provides highly trained assistance dogs to people with physical and developmental disabilities free of charge.

"As nurses, we are committed to improving the quality of life for others," said Vlasses, associate professor & chair of Health Systems Management and Policy, Loyola University Chicago Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing. "This service experience has provided us with a unique way to combine our love for animals with care for people with special needs......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

November 17, 2009, 8:31 AM CT

How immune cells chase down bacteria

A team led by Yale University researchers has developed a new approach to studying how immune cells chase down bacteria in our bodies. Their findings are described in the November 15 issue of Nature Methods Advanced Online Publication.

When bacteria enter our bodies they secrete molecules, leaving behind chemical trails as they move through our system. It has been known for some time that immune cells follow these trails in order to hunt the bacteria. However, studying exactly how immune cells process these chemical signals has been challenging.

Now a team of researchers - led by Eric Dufresne, the John J. Lee Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Holger Kress, a postdoctoral associate in the Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science - has developed a way to create artificial chemical trails that can be shaped in three dimensions over time. By controlling the chemical trails, the team was able to control the movements of neutrophils - immune cells in the blood - and study how they are able to respond to these signals.

The team used sponge-like microparticles, designed by the laboratory of Tarek Fahmy, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Yale, that mimicked bacteria by slowly releasing a characteristic bacterial "scent." They then moved these microparticles using focused beams of light to control the pattern of released chemicals over space and time, stimulating the immune cells to respond. The neutrophils can be seen following the microparticles on videos produced by the researchers......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

November 17, 2009, 8:07 AM CT

Smoking is a risk factor for ALS

While prior studies have indicated a "probable" correlation between smoking and ALS, a newly released study reported in the Nov. 17, 2009 issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, states that smoking may now be considered an "established" risk factor for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

The findings come from Baystate Medical Center neurologist Dr. Carmel Armon, an ALS researcher and neuroepidemiologist, who came to this conclusion using evidence-based methods to perform a rigorous analysis of studies examining the link between smoking and developing ALS -- a fatal neurodegenerative disease affecting the motor nerves and the voluntary muscles.

"Application of evidence-based methods separates better-designed studies from studies with limitations that may not be relied on. The better-designed studies show consistently that smoking increases the risk of developing ALS, with some findings suggesting that smoking appears to be implicated directly in causing the disease," said Dr. Armon, a professor of neurology at Tufts University School of Medicine and chief of neurology at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. He is also a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology.

As per Dr. Armon, identifying smoking as an established risk factor for ALS has three implications......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

November 17, 2009, 8:02 AM CT

Pediatric onset multiple sclerosis is more aggressive

Magnetic resonance images (MRI) of patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in childhood show that pediatric onset multiple sclerosis is more aggressive, and causes more brain lesions, than MS diagnosed in adulthood, scientists at the University at Buffalo have reported.

Interestingly, however, patients with pediatric-onset MS -- which comprise up to 5 percent of total MS cases -- develop disabilities at a slower pace than patients with adult-onset MS, the data showed.

"Patients with pediatric-onset MS have three times as a number of relapses annually than patients with adult-onset disease, which suggests there is greater disease activity in this population," said Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, MD, associate professor of neurology in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and corresponding author.

"But surprisingly, the average time to reach the secondary progressive phase of the disease is longer in patients who develop MS in childhood than in adult onset MS," she continued. "Reaching the next stage of disability is almost 10 years longer in pediatric-onset patients".

Weinstock-Guttman directs the Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis Center of Excellence located at Women and Children's Hospital, and the William C. Baird MS Center in Buffalo General Hospital (BGH), both Kaleida Health affiliates and UB teaching hospitals......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

November 17, 2009, 7:52 AM CT

Antioxidant in Broccoli may be useful in treating Cystic Fibrosis

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine discovered that a dietary antioxidant found in such vegetables as broccoli and cauliflower protects cells from damage caused by chemicals generated during the body's inflammatory response to infection and injury. The finding has implications for such inflammation-based disorders as cystic fibrosis (CF), diabetes, heart disease, and neurodegeneration.

Through cell-culture studies and a synthesis of known antioxidant biochemistry, Zhe Lu, MD, PhD , Professor of Physiology, Yanping Xu , MD, PhD , Senior Research Investigator, and Szilvia Szep , PhD, postdoctoral researcher, showed that the antioxidant thiocyanate normally existing in the body protects lung cells from injuries caused by accumulations of hydrogen peroxide and hypochlorite, the active ingredient in household bleach. These potentially harmful chemicals are made by the body as a reaction to infection and injury. In addition, thiocyanate also protects cells from hypochlorite produced in reactions involving MPO, an enzyme released from germ-fighting white blood cells during inflammation. They published their finding this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Lu is also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

November 16, 2009, 8:08 AM CT

Cheerleading injuries in US due to stunts

Whether rallying the crowd at a sporting event or participating in competition, cheerleading can be both fun and physically demanding. Eventhough integral to cheerleading routines, performing stunts can lead to injury. Stunt-related injuries accounted for more than half (60 percent) of U.S. cheerleading injuries from June 2006 through June 2007, as per a newly released study conducted by scientists at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital.

Published as a series of four separate articles on cheerleading-related injuries in the recent issue of the Journal of Athletic Training, the study focused on general cheerleading-related injuries, cheerleading stunt-related injuries, cheerleading fall-related injuries and surfaces used by cheerleaders. Data from the study showed that nearly all (96 percent) of the reported concussions and closed-head injuries were preceded by the cheerleader performing a stunt.

"In our study, stunts were defined as cradles, elevators, extensions, pyramids, single-based stunts, single-leg stunts, stunt-cradle combinations, transitions and miscellaneous partner and group stunts," said author Brenda Shields, research coordinator in the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

November 13, 2009, 8:09 AM CT

How society maintains the status quo

There is a tendency to believe that only men treat women in a sexist way, but a newly released study by a University of Miami researcher and his daughter shows that both men and women participate in maintaining a gender hierarchy in our society. The study, titled "Social Dominance and Sexual Self-Schema as Moderators of Sexist Reactions to Female Subtypes," was recently published by the journal of Sex Roles

The two most significant findings of the study are that both men and women respond in a more hostile way to a woman who violates sex-role expectations, than to one who adheres to them. Secondly, that the more an individual supports social hierarchy in general (that some people should have more power and resources than others), the more hostile they responded toward a woman who violated sex-role expectations.

"We were surprised by the lack of difference in the role of social hierarchy support in hostile sexism between men and women," said Blaine Fowers, professor in the Department of Educational and Psychological Studies in the UM School of Education and co-author of the study. "We expected social hierarchy support to lead to greater hostile sexism among men than among women".

Eventhough sexism has been discussed as an issue of social hierarchy for decades, few scientists have directly tested the role that social hierarchy plays in sexism. Some of the motivation for supporting the gender hierarchy is the belief that social hierarchy is important in general, explained Alyssa Fowers, co-author of the study and a first year student at Duke University......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

November 13, 2009, 8:05 AM CT

When preschoolers ask questions

Curiosity plays a big part in preschoolers' lives. A newly released study that explored why young children ask so a number of "why" questions concludes that children are motivated by a desire for explanation.

The study, by scientists at the University of Michigan, appears in the November/December 2009 issue of the journal Child Development

The scientists carried out two studies of 2- to 5-year-olds, focusing on their "how" and "why" questions, as well as their requests for explanatory information, and looking carefully at the children's reactions to the answers they received from adults. In the first study, the scientists examined longitudinal transcripts of six children's everyday conversations with parents, siblings, and visitors at home from ages 2 to 4. In the second study, they looked at the laboratory-based conversations of 42 preschoolers, using toys, storybooks, and videos to prompt the children, ages 3 to 5, to ask questions.

By looking at how the children reacted to the answers they received to their questions, the scientists observed that children seem to be more satisfied when they receive an explanatory answer than when they do not. In both studies, when preschoolers got an explanation, they seemed satisfied (they agreed or asked a new follow-up question). But when they got answers that weren't explanations, they seemed dissatisfied and were more likely to repeat their original question or provide an alternative explanation......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

November 5, 2009, 8:35 AM CT

When should flu trigger a school shutdown?

As flu season approaches, parents around the country are starting to face school closures. But how bad should an influenza outbreak be for a school to shut down? A study led by epidemiologists John Brownstein, PhD, and Anne Gatewood Hoen, PhD of the Children's Hospital Boston Informatics Program, in collaboration Asami Sasaki of the University of Niigata Prefecture (Niigata, Japan), tapped a detailed set of Japanese data to help guide decision making by schools and government agencies. The analysis was published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the recent issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases

"Currently a number of U.S. schools don't have specific or consistent algorithms for deciding whether to shut down," says Brownstein. "They don't always use quantitative data, and it appears to be a political or fear-based decision rather than a data-based one".

Sasaki, Hoen and Brownstein analyzed flu absenteeism data from a Japanese school district with 54 elementary schools. Tracking four consecutive flu seasons (2004-2008), they asked what pattern of flu absenteeism was best for detecting a true school outbreak -- balanced against the practical need to keep schools open if possible.

"You'd want get a school closed before an epidemic peaks, to prevent transmission of the virus, but you also don't want to close a school unnecessarily," explains Brownstein. "We also wanted an algorithm that's not too complex, that could be easily implemented by schools"......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

November 2, 2009, 8:49 AM CT

Bacteria 'launch a shield' to resist attack

Scientists from the University of Copenhagen and the Technical University of Denmark along with other collaborators in Denmark and the US observed that the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa can 'switch on' production of molecules that kill white blood cells preventing the bacteria being eliminated by the body's immune system.

P. aeruginosa is responsible for a number of hospital-acquired infections and also causes chronic infections in those with pre-existing medical conditions such as cystic fibrosis (CF). The bacteria cause persistent lung infections by clumping together to form a biofilm, which spreads over the lungs like a slime. Such biofilms are generally resistant to antibiotics as well as the host immune response.

The study showed that P. aeruginosa uses a well-studied communication system called quorum sensing (QS) to detect approaching white blood cells and warn other bacteria in the biofilm. In response to this signal, the bacteria increase their production of molecules called rhamnolipids. These molecules sit on the biofilm surface to form a shield that destroys any white blood cells that encounter it. Interrupting quorum sensing to halt the "launch a shield" response could be a way of treating these bacteria that can resist antibiotics as well as the host immune system......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source