Studies and Analyses

About 40 percent of Los Angeles County residents say they get no more than 10 minutes of continuous physical activity each week, according to a new report.

Women interviewed for the study were almost twice as likely as men to be physically inactive, say Antronette Yancey, M.D., M.P.H., of the UCLA School of Public Health and colleagues. Older and less educated residents, along with those born outside the United States, were also apt to be sedentary.

The findings appear in the Aug

A new study finds increasing evidence a virus may play a role in breast cancer. The study, published July 12, 2004 in the online edition of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, finds nearly three-quarters of a small sample of Tunisian breast cancer patients showed evidence of a virus similar to one known to cause breast cancer in mice, twice the rate seen in women in the United States. A free abstract of the study will be available via Wiley InterScience.

Viruses

Scientists studying mice have identified a possible strategy for slowing a rare, fatal childhood neurodegenerative disease known as Niemann-Pick type C, in which brain cells accumulate fat and die. The finding could also have implications for treating other neurodegenerative disease, they say.

In their study, published in the July issue of Nature Medicine, the team discovered that the synthesis of neurosteroid hormones in the brain — a process known as neurosteroidogenesis — is severely d

Researchers at The Wistar Institute and the University of Pennsylvania report success in monkeys of an innovative triple-vaccine strategy aimed at creating an effective anti-HIV vaccine regimen. In a test of the new approach, the scientists sought to maximize the immune response to a truncated HIV gene called Gag and succeeded in dramatically stimulating the production of CD8+ T cells responsive to Gag. Many scientists believe that CD8+ T cells will be an important key to creating an effective HIV

Frequent tanning bed users may be getting more out of the experience than darker skin. Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center say exposure to ultraviolet light may produce a “relaxing” effect that lures tanners back to the beds.

“We believe that ultraviolet light has an effect on mood that tanners value,” said Steven Feldman, M.D., Ph.D., lead researcher. “This may be creating a reinforcing effect that influences tanning behavior.”

The research – involving 14

Study performed through Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems calls for an established test procedure to evaluate the effectiveness of VOC removal

A new study conducted through the Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems (CoE) to evaluate the performance of room air cleaners has found that no single air-cleaning unit effectively removes all volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the air and underscores the need to establish standards, test proce