According to a report released earlier this week, five years of consecutive flat or below-inflation funding of the budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is discouraging promising young researchers and endangering the future of America’s health [1]. The study warns that many of the brightest young minds are leaking out of the academic research pipeline because they no longer see a promising career in academic science. Indeed, America could lose a generation of promising researchers to other careers and other countries.
Tryptophan, Trust and the Thanksgiving Turkey
November 22, 2007 | by
After feasting on your Thanksgiving dinner today, a specific word may come to mind: tryptophan. Tryptophan is an amino acid found in high levels in turkey. The main reason for the association between tryptophan and drowsiness is that tryptophan is a chemical precursor to melatonin, a neurotransmitter that plays a role in regulating the circadian cycle, the regular changes in mental and physical characteristics that occur over the course of 24 hours. Indeed, purified tryptophan is a mild sleep-inducing agent [1].
QuitWinLive – The Great American Smokeout
November 15, 2007 | by
Today, the American Cancer Society (ACS) celebrates the Great American Smokeout, an annual event in the U.S. to encourage Americans to quit smoking. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2006 one in five U.S. adults smoked [1]. The Great American Smokeout challenges those people to smoke less or quit smoking for the day. The event also raises awareness of the many effective ways to quit for good.
The ACS has just wrapped up their first ever video contest on YouTube, where they asked people to create videos – one minute or less – to discourage smoking. You can check out the contest winners at the American Cancer Society.
You can also read more about the harmful effects of smoking and tobacco smoke in these articles here at Highlight HEALTH:
- Smoking Duration vs. Intensity and the Impact on Lung Cancer Risk
- Irreversible Gene Expression Changes From Smoking
- Smoking Cessation Timeline: What Happens When You Quit
- Second-hand Smoke Exposure Linked to Psychological Problems in Children
Accept the Great American Smokeout Challenge.
Quit for one day, or quit for good.
References
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Cigarette smoking among adults–United States, 2006. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2007 Nov 9;56(44):1157-61.
View abstract
Merck HIV Vaccine Increases Risk of HIV Infection
November 10, 2007 | by
Merck has been testing a candidate HIV vaccine in two large phase II clinical trials; the STEP study in North and South America, the Caribbean and Australia, and a parallel study called Phambili in South Africa.
STEP was a multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase II test-of-concept clinical trial. Started in December 2004, enrollment in the study was completed by March 2007 and more than 2,500 participants had received all three doses of vaccine or placebo. STEP was evaluating two primary efficacy endpoints:
- Whether the vaccine prevented HIV infection in subjects who were HIV negative at the beginning of the study.
- Whether the vaccine lowered the amount of virus in subjects who became HIV infected during the course of the study.
However, last month the drug trial was halted because the vaccine appeared to be increasing the risk of HIV infection among study participants. The South African study Phambili, which began in 2007 using the same vaccine has been halted [1].
Of Mice, Men and the Nobel Prize for Medicine
October 8, 2007 | by
The 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was announced this morning. The prize was awarded to three men for a series of discoveries regarding embryonic stem cells and DNA recombination in mammals that led to the creation of a technique for manipulating mouse genes called gene targeting. Today, the technology is being applied to virtually all areas of biomedicine.
The three men, Mario R. Capecchi, age 70, at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Sir Martin J. Evans, age 66, at Cardiff University in Wales and Oliver Smithies, age 82, at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, will share the 1.54 million prize.
