SNM recently conducted a survey of nuclear pharmacies -- pharmacies that supply the critical radioisotope Technetium-99m, which is used in more than 16 million nuclear medicine tests each year in the United States -- to assess, anecdotally, the impact of the worldwide medical isotope shortage.

The latest data from groundbreaking human clinical trials of the effectiveness of continuous glucose monitors show that the primary determinant of improvements in achieving better diabetes control is regular use of monitors -- six days per week or more -- rather than the age of patients, and that benefits continue well past the time when people with type 1 diabetes begin using the devices -- including experiencing fewer low blood sugar emergencies.

It would be difficult to find someone who has never felt shame in their life. But how does one overcome a prolonged feeling of being trapped in shame? University of Alberta researcher Jessica Van Vliet's study, published in the British Psychological Society journal, Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, indicates that, while it may seem difficult when one is stuck in shame, there is hope for moving beyond this painful emotion.

Hairstylists may have a unique opportunity to help steer their elderly clients to needed health services, according to a small, exploratory study. More than 80 percent of 40 Columbus-area stylists surveyed said that older clients often or always shared their problems during appointments.

As manufacturers work furiously to make a vaccine to protect against 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus, a Rice University bioengineer is trying to improve the process for future flu seasons. The goal is to shorten the time it takes to identify targeted flu strains and manufacture the vaccines for them.

The Lost Orphan Mine below the Grand Canyon hasn't produced uranium since the 1960s, but radioactive residue still contaminates the area. Cleaning the region takes an expensive process that is only done in extreme cases, but Judy Wall, a biochemistry professor at the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, is researching the use of sulfate-reducing bacteria to convert toxic radioactive metal to inert substances, a much more economical solution.

Researchers have discovered a key missing link in the so-called signaling pathway for plant steroid hormones. This discovery marks the first such pathway in plants for which all the steps have been identified. Since this pathway shares many similarities with pathways in humans, the discovery not only could lead to the genetic engineering of improved crops, but also could be a key to understanding major human diseases such as cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's.

Using an animal model of binge eating, University of Missouri researchers discovered that deactivating the basolateral amygdala, a brain region involved in regulating emotion, specifically blocked consumption of a fatty diet. Surprisingly, it had no effect on the rat wanting to look for the food repeatedly.

For the first time researchers have run an electrical circuit entirely off power in trees. The findings suggest a new power source for wireless sensors -- and a way to monitor tree health.

Active, but non-invasive breast cancer is set free to roam as invasive breast cancer when an overexpressed protein converts it to a different cell type, scientists at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the Sept. 9 issue of the journal Cancer Cell.

A key statistic that consumer groups and the media often use when compiling hospital report cards and national rankings can be misleading, researchers report in a new study.

By investigating a rare and severe form of diabetes in children, University of Iowa and Washington University researchers have discovered a new molecular mechanism that regulates specialized pancreatic cells and insulin secretion. The mechanism involves a protein called ankyrin, which UI researchers previously linked to potentially fatal human heart arrhythmias.

A new framework of recommendations created by health informatics researchers may help doctors and hospitals prepare for a federal initiative to expand the use of electronic health records. The recommendations from faculty at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine appear in a commentary in the Sept. 9 edition of JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association.

A new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and other groups reveals how oil development in the Arctic is impacting some bird populations by providing "subsidized housing" to predators, which nest and den around drilling infrastructure and supplement their diets with garbage -- and nesting birds.

Students will have to use their brains to get good grades at school this year, according to new University of Toronto research that relates brain activity to undergraduate academic performance.

One in five patients with chronic kidney disease is depressed, even before beginning long-term dialysis therapy or developing end-stage renal disease, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.

University of Illinois education professor Brenda M. Trofanenko says the study of genocide and "difficult knowledge" of historical events is best left to high school students.

Nearly a dozen 7th graders with asthma were welcomed along with other classmates back to school today by a special guest who had a message for them about staying healthy -- Kathleen Sebelius, 21st Secretary of Health and Human Services. Secretary Sebelius met with students and their parents at Thurgood Marshall Elementary, one of 16 schools in Philadelphia that partners with the Merck Childhood Asthma Network, Inc. (MCAN) program partners to help students better manage their asthma.

Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have developed thin films that exhibit carrier multiplication. This development is of great interest for future solar cells. The BGU team demonstrated that for a given photon energy, carrier multiplication occurs more efficiently in bulk PbS and PbSe films than in nanocrystalline films of the same materials.

Leafy green vegetables such as lettuce, Asian greens, and spinach can accumulate high concentrations of nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N), which are potentially harmful if consumed by humans. Measuring NO3-N concentration in plant tissue requires sophisticated equipment and trained technicians and can be time-consuming, expensive, and impractical outside of a laboratory setting. Researchers undertook a study to determine if rapid, less-expensive methods can substitute for traditional procedures.