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The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial was a landmark clinical study in people with type 1 diabetes, formerly called juvenile-onset diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, it compared the effects of standard control of blood glucose with intensive control on the development of common diabetes complications. The study found that keeping blood glucose levels as close to normal as possible slows the onset and progression of the eye, nerve, and kidney damage of diabetes. Updated information shows improved long-term outlook.
A recent study has found that a delay in diagnosing a menopause-like condition in women and young girls is linked to low bone density which may increase risk for osteoporosis and fractures later in life. The African-American and Asian patients in the study were more likely to have low bone density than were their white counterparts.
A range of factors led to the wide acclaim of a 2003 study suggesting a possible gene-environment interaction contributing to depression risk. This study had far-reaching influence on the field, including proposals by some researchers to market a gene test to the public, claiming to be able to predict a person’s risk for depression. However, despite considerable resources being invested in research building upon the 2003 study, attempts to replicate its findings—a key step in the scientific process—had inconsistent results.
Private well water needs to be tested yearly, and in some cases more often, according to new guidance offered by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), took a lead role in working with the AAP to develop these recommendations and draft a new AAP policy statement about the things parents should do if their children drink well water.
As scientists learn more about the genetic mutations that can lead to cancer, they are able to tailor patient therapy. They can also target people who are at high risk for cancer, so they can benefit from preventative treatments and lifestyles. Breast cancer has been a major focus of cancer genetics and prevention efforts.
The Army of Women includes women from around the United States who participate in studies about breast cancer. The joint initiative between the Avon Research Foundation and the Susan Love Research Foundation started in October of 2008. The Army has already enrolled 300,000 women of all ages and ethnicities, healthy women, and women with all stages of breast cancer. Dr. Love spoke at the National Cancer Institute last week.
A team led by researchers discovered genetic variants related to blood pressure in African-Americans, findings that may provide new clues to treating and preventing hypertension. The effort marks the first time that a relatively new research approach, called a genome-wide association study, has focused on blood pressure and hypertension in an African-American population.
The National Institutes of Health and the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that operates the Wikipedia® online encyclopedia, are joining forces to make health and science information more accessible and reliable. This collaboration is the first of its kind for both organizations.
A trio of genome-wide studies—collectively the largest to date—have pinpointed a vast array of genetic variation that together may account for at least one third of the genetic risk for schizophrenia, a brain disorder that’s symptoms can include hallucinations, delusions and disordered thinking. One of the studies traced schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (an illness that causes shifts in a person's mood, energy and ability to function) in part, to the same neighborhood of genes.
A new alliance between the United States National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Chile, aims to accelerate progress against cancer in Hispanic populations in the United States and Latin America by strengthening and expanding cooperation in a broad range of mutual interests, emphasizing basic and clinical cancer research, bioinformatics, data systems and informatics, and transfer of technology.
People with type 2 diabetes are faced with a serious disease that can lead to problems such as heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney failure, and lower limb amputations. However, the sooner that people with type 2 diabetes are able to manage their disease, the better their chances are of avoiding or delaying these serious problems.
Specific variations or mutations in a particular can gene raise a man’s risk of familial, or inherited, testicular germ-cell cancer, the most common form of this disease. This is only the second gene to be identified that affects the risk of familial testicular cancer, and the first gene in a key biochemical pathway.
Researchers developed a program called "Strong African American Families" to help rural African American 11-year-olds avoid such risky behaviors as drinking, smoking marijuana, and sexual activity. DNA test results showed some youths carried a gene found to increase the risk of substance use. Teens who had the gene but didn’t participate in the program were almost twice as likely to have engaged in the risky behaviors as teens who had the gene and took part in the SAAF program.
Your immune system plays an important function in your health—it protects you against viruses, bacteria, and other toxins that can cause disease. In autoinflammatory diseases, however, the immune system goes awry, causing unprovoked and dangerous inflammation. Now, researchers have discovered a new autoinflammatory syndrome, a rare genetic condition that affects children around the time of birth.
Sarcoidosis is a multi-systemic inflammatory disorder of unknown cause, and has no cure. Sarcoidosis affects people of all ages and races; however, it's more common among women than men, and among African Americans and those of Asian, German, Irish, Puerto Rican and Scandinavian origin. In the U.S., the disease affects African Americans somewhat more often and more severely than whites. Currently, there are several NIH-funded studies recruiting volunteers for studies on sarcoidosis.
This study reveals that low-key and attention-grabbing anti-smoking PSAs stimulate different patterns of activity in smokers’ brains; and that smokers are more likely to remember seeing the low-key PSAs than the attention-grabbing ones.
The National Institutes of Health is launching its first drug development pipeline to produce new treatments for rare and neglected diseases. With a new program specifically intended to stimulate research collaborations, NIH is hoping to take the risk out of making drugs that are often less profitable.
The health of our skin—one of the body’s first lines of defense against illness and injury—depends upon the delicate balance between our own cells and the millions of bacteria and other one-celled microbes that live on its surface. To better understand this balance, National Institutes of Health researchers have set out to explore the skin’s microbiome, which is all of the DNA, or genomes, of all of the microbes that inhabit human skin. Their initial analysis, published recently in the journal Science, reveals that our skin is home to a much wider array of bacteria than previously thought.
A recent study has found that citalopram, a medication commonly prescribed to children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), was no more effective than placebo treatment for these children. 
 FREE MP3 audio reports from the National Institutes of Health, your reliable health information source. Questions? Contact: This page was last reviewed on
August 19, 2009
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