Futurity.org » Yale University

Limit off-label psych drugs to save, study says

Matthew Solovey-Penn State — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:15:13 +0000

PENN STATE / YALE (US) — Reducing the non-FDA-approved use of antipsychotic drugs may be a way to save money while having little effect on patient care, according to a new study.

Researchers say that 57.6 percent of patients prescribed antipsychotic medications in data from 2003 did not have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, the conditions for which the drugs were approved for use. Use of medication for treatments that is not FDA-approved is called off-label use.

“Given healthcare reform and widespread crisis in state revenues, state Medicaid programs will be under pressure to serve larger patient populations, increasing their fiscal stress,” says Douglass L. Leslie, professor of public health sciences at Penn State.

‘Map of Life’ tracks animals around the globe

Jim Scott CU-Boulder — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:04:45 +0000

U. COLORADO/YALE (US) — The “Map of Life” online database aims to show the distribution of all living plants and animals on the planet, and is now available to the public.

The demonstration version allows users to map the known global distribution of almost 25,000 species of terrestrial vertebrate animals, including mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and North American freshwater fish.

Lonely hearts suffer effects of aging

Karene Booker-Cornell — Fri, 04 May 2012 20:46:57 +0000

CORNELL (US) — The social pain of loneliness produces changes in the body that mimic the aging process and increase the risk of heart disease, according to a new study.

Published in Psychology and Aging, the study shows that although changes in cardiovascular functioning are part of normal aging, loneliness appears to accelerate the process, say the researchers.

To investigate the effects of age and loneliness on cardiovascular health, the researchers measured cardiovascular reactivity and recovery in 91 young adults (18-30 years old) and 91 older adults (65-80 years old) who presented a speech and did mental arithmetic in a lab setting.

Blocked protein acts as ‘handbrake’ for MS

Emily Walker-Monash — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:29:38 +0000

MONASH (AUS) — Blocking a protein that contributes to nerve damage could potentially slow—or even halt—the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS).

Research published in the journal Brain demonstrates the key role played by the collapsin response mediator protein 2 (CRMP-2) in the development of MS.

Hay fever may be immunity in overdrive

Helen Dodson-Yale — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:11:27 +0000

YALE (US) — Seasonal allergies may be a sign that the immune system is doing what nature intended it to do—offering protection against environmental toxins that are far more harmful than pollen.

The body’s defense arsenal consists of different types of immune responses to deal with various classes of pathogens. Type 1 immunity—which battles viruses, bacteria, fungi, and protozoa—relies primarily on directly killing pathogens or infected host cells.

Plant hormones plot for growth or defense

Tom Oswald-Michigan State — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:39:14 +0000

MICHIGAN STATE (US) — Plants can go into defense mode against harsh weather or disease, but at a cost—the plant turns off its growth mechanism.

Now, researchers at Michigan State University have figured out how plants can make the “decision” between growth and defense, a finding that could help them strike a balance—keep safe from harm while continuing to grow.

As reported in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Sheng Yang He, professor of plant biology, and his team find that the two hormones that control growth—called gibberellins—and defense—known as jasmonates—literally come together in a crisis and figure out what to do.

Permafrost thaw warmed prehistoric Earth

Paul Mannion-Sheffield — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 18:36:41 +0000

U. SHEFFIELD (UK) — Carbon trapped in frozen Polar Region soil likely caused prehistoric global warming, not methane gas in ocean-floor sediments, as previously thought.

As reported in Nature, scientists analyzing prehistoric global warming say thawing permafrost released massive amounts of carbon stored in frozen soil of Polar Regions, exacerbating climate change through increasing global temperatures and ocean acidification.

Although the amounts of carbon involved in the ancient soil-thaw scenarios was likely much greater than today, the implications of this ground-breaking study are that the long-term future of carbon deposits locked into frozen permafrost of Polar Regions are vulnerable to climate warming caused as humans emit the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels for energy generation.

More women want to reset biological clock

Karen Peart-Yale — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:40:08 +0000

YALE (US) — Many women don’t fully appreciate the consequences of delaying motherhood and believe that their aging ovaries can be revived by assisted reproductive technologies, new research shows.

“There is an alarming misconception about fertility among women,” says Pasquale Patrizio, professor of obstetrics & gynecology at Yale University and director of the Yale Fertility Center. “We also found a lack of knowledge about steps women can take early in their reproductive years to preserve the possibility of conception later in life.”

Millions of germs fly when you enter the room

Eric Gershon-Yale — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:20:00 +0000

YALE (US) — A person’s mere presence in a room can add 37 million bacteria to the air every hour, a new study finds.

The bacterial material is largely left behind by previous occupants and stirred up from the floor when someone enters.

Birds trail climate in north-bound shift

Hugh Powell-Cornell — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:26:13 +0000

CORNELL / YALE (US) — New research shows that birds are moving their habitats north in response to climate warming, but not quickly enough.

As warmer winter temperatures become more common, one way for some animals to adjust is to shift their ranges northward. But a new study of 59 North American bird species indicates that doing so is not easy or quick—it took about 35 years for many birds to move far enough north for winter temperatures to match where they historically lived.

“This is a problem, because birds are among the most mobile of animals, and yet they take decades to respond to warming,” says Frank La Sorte, a postdoctoral researcher at the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology and lead author of the study, which is published online by the Journal of Animal Ecology this month.