Depression, anxiety spur poor health habits, damaging heart and blood vessels

Anyone will tell you that stress is bad for the heart. Many people also know about the toxic effects of anxiety and depression. But how exactly do these negative emotions cripple the cardiovascular system—and what can be done about it? more  

Hopkins-led team solves failed vaccine mystery

Research led by Johns Hopkins Children's Center scientists has figured out why a respiratory syncytial virus vaccine used in 1966 to inoculate children against the infection instead caused severe respiratory disease and effectively stopped efforts to make a better one. The findings, published online on Dec. 14 in Nature Medicine, could restart work on effective killed-virus vaccines not only for RSV but other respiratory viruses, researchers say. The new findings also debunk a popular theory that the 1966 vaccine was ineffective because the formalin used to inactivate the virus disrupted critical antigens, the substances that stimulate the production of protective antibodies. more

Allergies alone not associated with increased risk of nighttime breathing problems

Allergic rhinitis does not appear to be associated with snoring or daytime sleepiness, but individuals with obstructed nasal passages are likely to experience both regardless of whether they have allergies, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. more  

New genetic cause of Boy in the bubble syndrome

Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) is an inherited disease sometimes known as 'Boy in the bubble syndrome', baecause the patient lacks one or more type of immune cell, making them very susceptible to infections. Dik van Gent and colleagues, at Erasmus Medical Center, The Netherlands, have now identified a new genetic cause of SCID characterized by a lack of T cells and B cells (T–B– SCID). Specifically, they identified a patient with T–B– SCID who has a mutation in the gene DNA-PKcs. more

Your genetic make-up influences the levels of fats in your blood  

A team of researchers, led by Helen Hobbs and Jonathan Cohen, at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, has provided new insight into how genetic variation can cause different individuals to have distinct levels of a fat known as triglyceride in their blood. more

Later school start times may improve sleep in adolescents and decrease risk of auto accidents 

A study in the Dec. 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine shows that after a one-hour delay of school start times, teens increased their average nightly hours of sleep and decreased their "catch-up sleep" on the weekends, and they were involved in fewer auto accidents. more

Colonoscopy significantly reduces death from left-sided colon cancer but not from right-sided

A new study finds that colonoscopy is strongly associated with fewer deaths from colorectal cancer. However, the risk reduction appears to be entirely due to a reduction in deaths from left-sided cancers. According to the study, colonoscopy shows almost no mortality prevention benefit for cancer that develops in the right side of the colon. Colorectal cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death in North America. more

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