A type of positron emission tomography scanning may be useful in a noninvasive assessment of the formation of Alzheimer's disease-related plaques in the brain, according to small study posted online today that will appear in the October 2008 print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Physical frailty, which is common in older persons, may be related to Alzheimer's disease pathology, according to a study published in the Aug. 12, 2008, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Patients who use proton pump inhibitors for seven or more years to treat reflux, peptic ulcers and other conditions are at greater risk of osteoporosis-related fractures, according to this large observational study published in CMAJ.

About half of US adults age 20 and older have refractive errors, or eye problems that result in less than 20/20 vision, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

In the July issue of the American Journal of Public Health, Oregon Research Institutesenior scientist Fuzhong Li, Ph.D., describes how senior community centers in Oregon successfully adopted an evidence-based Tai Chi program to prevent falls among older adults. Based on this success, the Oregon Department of Human Services has now adopted the Tai Chi program for wider dissemination.

In a study on fetal alcohol syndrome, researchers were able to prevent the damage that alcohol causes to cells in a key area of the fetal brain by blocking acid sensitive potassium channels and preventing the acidic environment that alcohol produces. The cerebellum, the portion of the brain that is responsible for balance and muscle coordination, is particularly vulnerable to injury from alcohol...

Prions, the pathogens that cause scrapie in sheep, can survive in the ground for several years, as researchers have discovered. Animals can become infected via contaminated pastures. It is not yet known whether the pathogens that cause BSE and CWD are equally resistant.

Prions, the pathogens that cause scrapie in sheep, can survive in the ground for several years, as researchers have discovered. Animals can become infected via contaminated pastures. It is not yet known whether the pathogens that cause BSE and CWD are equally resistant.

Regular running slows the effects of aging, according to a new study from Stanford University School of Medicine that has tracked 500 older runners for more than 20 years. Elderly runners have fewer disabilities, a longer span of active life and are half as likely as aging nonrunners to die early deaths, the research found.

As the grouse shooting season gets under way, two scientists involved in high-profile studies of hen harriers and red grouse at Langholm Moor in Scotland have called for field trials of a "ceiling" on harrier numbers in an attempt to end the long running conflict between conservationists and grouse managers.

A recent study by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Zoological Society of London suggests that old female elephants and perhaps their memories of distant, life-sustaining sources of food and watermay be the key to survival during the worst of times.

The nature, activity and metabolism of microbes that inhabit the deep subsurface environment are a matter of ongoing debate. Primarily limited by temperature , little is known about secondary factors that restrict or enhance microbial activity or about the extent of a habitable environment deep below the surface. In particular, the degraders of chemically inert organic substrates remain...

Results showed significant associations among built-environment factors and the prevalence of overweight/obesity and various forms of physical activity in middle-aged and older adults. These findings suggest the need for public health and city planning officials to consider how modifiable neighborhood-level, built-environment characteristics can create more livable residential communities and...

Scientists from the University of South Florida and the University of Kentucky report that people who develop Alzheimer's disease may show signs of this illness many decades earlier in life, including compromised educational achievement.

Some obese individuals do not appear to have an increased risk for heart disease, while some normal-weight individuals experience a cluster of heart risks, according to two reports in the August 11/25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

The traditional view of individual brain areas involved in perception of different sensory stimuli -- i.e., one brain region involved in hearing and another involved in seeing -- has been thrown into doubt in recent years. A new study published in the online open access journal BMC Neuroscience, shows that, in monkeys, the region involved in hearing can directly improve perception in the visual...

Elephant seals are helping scientists overcome a critical blind-spot in their ability to detect change in Southern Ocean circulation and sea ice production and its influence on global climate.

Americans with vision problems who have health insurance appear equally or more likely to access eye care services than Canadians with vision problems, whereas Americans without health insurance visit eye care professionals at lower rates, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

In one of the first examinations of PSA screening in younger men, a study published by researchers at Duke Medicine's Prostate Center finds that one-fifth of men under age 50 reported undergoing a prostate specific antigen test to detect prostate cancer in the previous year, yet only one in three young black men reported ever having a PSA test in the previous year.

After working in regions up to 82° N, RV Polarstern of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association enters port in Reykjavik on August 10. "We had to cope with heavy ice coverage," says chief scientist Gerhard Kattner. The sea ice covered the Arctic almost down to latitude 72°. Perpetual winds from the northwest have moved the ice into the Fram Strait...

Inwood Hill Park survived the drastic modifications of Revolutionary War patriots, but preserving this last bastion of large-growth, mature trees in New York City is difficult with the proliferation of invasive species and hard human use, according to biologists. They suggest the situation warrants a plan in collaboration with those studying the park.

The victory stance of a gold medalist and the slumped shoulders of a nonfinalist are innate and biological rather than learned responses to success and failure, according to a University of British Columbia study using cross-cultural data gathered at the 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Allison Hansen, a doctoral student in entomology at the University of California, Riverside, has discovered and named a new bacterial pathogen that could be responsible for "psyllid yellows," a disease that infects and kills tomato and potato plants. The disease is spread from plant to plant by the psyllid, a sap-sucking insect.

A new report on severe sporting injuries among high school and college athletes shows cheerleading appears to account for a larger proportion of all such injuries than previously thought.