Health care costs higher for former, current smokers in year after surgery

Health care costs in the first year after an inpatient surgical procedure are higher for former and current smokers compared with patients who never smoked, according to a study by David O. Warner, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., and colleagues. Cigarette smoking increases the risk of complications in surgical patients, according to the study background. The study involved patients who underwent surgery at Mayo Clinic hospitals between April 2008 and December 2009.

FDA approves SALMONELEX™ against Salmonella as new food processing aid

FDA & USDA have announced they have approved SALMONELEXTM as a "GRAS" (Generally Recognized as Safe) food processing aid against Salmonella. The new product consists of natural phages against Salmonella and is produced by Micreos of The Netherlands. The company confirms that industrial scale projects with US poultry processors will start in January 2014.

X-ray laser maps important drug target

Researchers have used one of the brightest X-ray sources on the planet to map the 3-D structure of an important cellular gatekeeper known as a G protein-coupled receptor, or GPCR, in a more natural state than possible before. The new technique is a major advance in exploring GPCRs, a vast, hard-to-study family of proteins that plays a key role in human health and is targeted by an estimated 40 percent of modern medicines.

Cancer-prevention strategies should improve with discovery that adult stem cells suppress cancer while dormant

Researchers at UCLA's Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research have discovered a mechanism by which certain adult stem cells suppress their ability to initiate skin cancer during their dormant phase - an understanding that could be exploited for better cancer-prevention strategies.

2-drug combo helps adolescents with ADHD, aggression

Prescribing both a stimulant and an antipsychotic drug to children with physical aggression and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), along with teaching parents to use behavior management techniques, reduces aggressive and serious behavioral problems in the children, according to a study conducted by researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.The study was conducted in conjunction with the University of Pittsburgh, Stony Brook University in New York and Case Western Reserve University in Ohio.

All in the eyes: corneal reflections in photos can help solve crimes

The eyes are not just the mirror of the soul, they also mirror the world around us. Now, a UK team has found that today's high-resolution digital images are now so detailed, they can enlarge the eyes in people's photos and retrieve images of out-of-shot bystanders reflected on their corneas.

Combine this with the fact human beings are very efficient at recognizing faces, even from poor quality images, and you have the makings of a rich forensic resource for solving crimes.

In the past it would be reasonable to assume if you were the one wielding the camera, then you would not be in the picture.

But a new study published in the journal PLOS ONE is now turning this assumption on its head.

Lead investigator Dr. Rob Jenkins, of the Department of Psychology at the University of York, says:

"The pupil of the eye is like a black mirror. To enhance the image, you have to zoom in and adjust the contrast. A face image that is recovered from a reflection in the subject's eye is about 30,000 times smaller than the subject's face."

Cholesterol levels linked to brain deposits that cause Alzheimer's

High good and low bad cholesterol are not just good for the heart but also the brain, suggests new research published in JAMA Neurology.

Study leader Bruce Reed, a professor of neurology at the University of California (UC) Davis, and associate director of its Alzheimer's Disease Center, says:

"Our study shows that both higher levels of HDL - good - and lower levels of LDL - bad - cholesterol in the bloodstream are associated with lower levels of amyloid plaque deposits in the brain."

He explains that while we already have long-standing evidence of raised cholesterol linked to a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's, their study is the first to link it to amyloid plaques in the brains of living people.

Prof. Reed says:

"Unhealthy patterns of cholesterol could be directly causing the higher levels of amyloid known to contribute to Alzheimer's, in the same way that such patterns promote heart disease."