IV Post

Atlanta, Georgia - In the last decade, more than 60,000 patients in the United States were asked to get tested for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) because health care personnel in settings outside hospitals failed to follow basic infection control practices, according to a new study by the CDC.

Washington, DC - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today reaffirmed its position that elevated amounts of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or “bad cholesterol,” are a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack, stroke and sudden death and that lowering LDL cholesterol reduces the risk of these diseases.

Atlanta, Georgia - Fortification of corn masa flour products could increase folic acid intake by nearly 20 percent for Mexican-Americans, who are at a 30-40 percent higher risk for a number of severe brain and spinal birth defects, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The study is published in the January issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 

Washington, DC - A consortium of research programs funded by NIMH to conduct post-disaster mental health research mobilized this year following hurricane Ike to study the factors that influence resilience after disasters.

Washington, DC - A team of scientists has discovered a new syndrome associated with severe congenital neutropenia (SCN), a rare disorder in which children lack sufficient infection-fighting white cells, and identified the genetic cause of the syndrome: mutations in the gene Glucose-6-phosphatase, catalytic subunit 3 (G6PC3).

Washington, DC - New research in mice and five independent collections of human breast tumors has enabled National Cancer Institute (NCI) scientists to confirm that genes for factors contributing to susceptibility for breast cancer metastasis can be inherited. The new findings support earlier results from the same laboratory and appear in the Jan. 1, 2009, issue of Cancer Research.