Many studies in coaching literature have found that male athletes tend to prefer a male coach. Newly released research from the University of Alberta has indicated that male athletes actually prefer a female team physician to attend to their medical issues, including those related to sexual health.

With gold nanoparticles, DNA and some smart chemistry as their tools, scientists at Northwestern University have developed a simple "litmus test" for mercury that eventually could be used for on-the-spot environmental monitoring of bodies of water, such as rivers, streams, lakes and oceans, to evaluate their safety as food and drinking water sources.

An article detailing the colorimetric screening technology and its success detecting mercury will be published online April 27 by Angewandte Chemie, the prestigious European journal of applied chemistry.

Arthritis cases on the rise, finds comparative national study, underscoring the need for cost-effective care and disability-reduction efforts

"Arthritis and other rheumatic conditions exact a large and growing economic toll on the nation as a result of the increase in numbers of persons affected, rather than an increase in mean expenditures and earnings losses," attests Charles G. Helmick, M.D., at the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He bases his conclusion on a nationwide assessment of medical expenditures and earnings losses associated with arthritis in 2003, compared with figures six years before.

A unique pattern of gene expression observed in rats may be linked to a conditioned desire for food and excessive food intake, an article published today in BMC Biology suggests.

An international has developed a prototype of the first fully integrated prosthetic arm that can be controlled naturally and provide sensory feedback, and allows for eight degrees of Freedom -- a level of control far beyond the current state of the art for prosthetic limbs.

Over time, more women are developing multiple sclerosis (MS) than men, according to research that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 59th Annual Meeting in Boston, April 28 – May 5, 2007.

In 1940, the ratio of women to men with MS in the United States was approximately two to one. By 2000, that ratio had grown to approximately four to one.