Pediatricians now have a practical tool to help determine whether children with chronic diseases like Crohn’s, juvenile arthritis and anorexia nervosa – or those undergoing cancer treatment – are at increased risk for bone mass deficiencies, fracture or osteoporosis as they get older, according to a new study.

“There is a huge demand for this information among clinicians because in almost any chronic condition in children affecting growth, inflammation, or involving cancer survivors, they have problem bones,’’ said Heidi Kalkwarf, Ph.D., associate professor of Community and General Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s, and lead author of the research report.

You have 60 days to make a difference. That's the amount of time the USDA is going to allow for comments on its amendments to add 38 inorganic ingredients to organic food.

Sound like it doesn't make sense?

Here's why it does, according to the USDA.

The 38 minor ingredients contained in the interim final rule are non-organic, agricultural ingredients that may be considered for use in an “organic” processed product. A minor ingredient cannot comprise more than 5 percent of an “organic” product.

Before an organic handling operation can consider using a non-organic, agricultural minor ingredient, the organic form of the ingredient must be first sourced and confirmed unavailable.

CTS-21166, an experimental drug to treat Alzheimer's disease, began the first phase of human clinical trials this week.

"Millions of people suffer from this devastating disease and treatment options are very limited," said Arun Ghosh, a Purdue professor who led the creation of the treatment molecule. "Current drugs manage the symptoms, but this could be the first disease-modifying therapy. It may be able to prevent and reverse the disease."

Ghosh and Jordan Tang founded biopharmaceutical company Zapaq, which merged with Athenagen in 2006 to form CoMentis. CoMentis is handling the clinical trials.

University of Nottingham researchers want to eliminate animals in laboratory research and they're rebuilding their lab to do it.

By improving the use of cell and tissue cultures, computer modelling, cell and molecular biology, epidemiology and other methods, they intend to show they can completely remove animals from medical research — while still working to defeat diseases that affect millions of people.

The laboratory is called FRAME – Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments - and they've been quietly advocating reduced animal testing for 25 years.

Researchers at UCSD have patented a strategy for developing a human vaccine to prevent against Human Cytomegalovirus (hCMV) infection and disease.

CMV, a type of herpes virus, is the leading viral cause of birth defects and a serious problem in patients with compromised immune systems. The body’s natural immunity doesn’t protect against infection by the virus, estimated to be present in 50 to 75 percent of all adults.

“Until now, scientists haven’t been able to develop a vaccine to protect against CMV,” said Deborah H. Spector, Ph.D., UCSD Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and faculty member of the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Misstatements and ignorance claiming that families "cause" eating disorders is like blaming parents for diabetes or asthma or cancer says an international group of eating disorders researchers.

Recent damaging statements by fashion model Gisele Bundchen stating that unsupportive families cause anorexia nervosa only perpetuate misconceptions and further stigmatize eating disorders.