Health 

New Heart Muscle Cells Grow From Patients' Skin - In a world first, scientists have grown new, healthy heart muscle cells using skin cells from heart failure patients. Writing about their work in a paper published online this week in the European Heart Journal, the Israel-based team explain how the new heart muscle cells are capable of integrating with exisiting heart tissue, opening up the prospect of repairing heart damage in heart failure patients using their own stem cells... Wed, 23 May 2012 02:00:00 PDT

Fake, Poor Quality Malaria Drugs Threaten Progress - Up to 42% of anti-malaria drugs available across Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are poor quality or fake, resulting in drug resistance and inadequate treatment that threatens vulnerable populations and to undermine the huge progress made in recent years, according to a new study published online in The Lancet Infectious Diseases this week. The study was funded by the Fogarty International Center at the US National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, where co-author Dr Joel Breman is Senior Scientist Emeritus... Wed, 23 May 2012 02:00:00 PDT

News From The Journals Of The American Society For Microbiology - Genes Culled From Desert Soils Suggest Potential Medical Resource Despite their ecologic similarity, soils from three geographically distinct areas of the American southwest harbor vastly different collections of small, biosynthetic genes, a finding that suggests the existence of a far greater diversity of potentially useful products than was previously supposed. The research is published in the May issue of Applied and Environmental Microbiology... Wed, 23 May 2012 01:00:00 PDT

Nanotechnology In Brain Treatment Research - Researchers at Purdue University are working with the U.S. Army and neurosurgeons at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to create a new type of "bioactive" coating for stents used to treat brain aneurisms including those caused by head trauma from bomb blasts. "Stents coated with a bioactive coating might be inserted at the site of an aneurism to help heal the inside lining of the blood vessel," said Jean Paul Allain, an associate professor of nuclear engineering. "Aneurisms are saclike bulges in blood vessels caused by weakening of artery walls... Wed, 23 May 2012 01:00:00 PDT

Underrated Danger In Rheumatoid Arthritis From Standard Heart Disease Risk Tools - Heart disease risk assessment tools commonly used by physicians often underestimate the cardiovascular disease danger faced by rheumatoid arthritis patients, a Mayo Clinic study has found. Inflammation plays a key role in putting those with rheumatoid arthritis in greater jeopardy for heart disease, yet many cardiovascular disease risk assessment methods do not factor it in, the researchers note. More work is needed to figure out what drives heart disease in rheumatoid arthritis patients, and more accurate tools to assess that risk should be developed, the authors say... Wed, 23 May 2012 01:00:00 PDT

Better Pill Bottle For The Blind And Visually Impaired - Two students from UC's top-ranked design programs have applied for a provisional patent on their design and prototype of a prescription-medicine pill bottle for the blind and visually impaired - an innovation that could benefit millions of users. It's easy to see that University of Cincinnati design students Alex Broerman and Ashley Ma are on to something with their new design and prototype for a prescription-medicine pill bottle that better serves the needs of the blind and visually impaired by means of a simple and inexpensive innovation... Wed, 23 May 2012 01:00:00 PDT