Many American doctors may not support genetic testing in patients without a major family history of certain illnesses, suggests a new survey of physicians. The report appears in the Nov. 13 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Statins should be taken by almost all people with pre-dialysis kidney disease as suggested in current guidelines, reports a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).

The authors claimed that the study illustrates the importance of diabetic retinopathy screenings. The authors stated that "The rate of self-reported dilated eye care use in the past year was low for the overall sample (32.2 per cent), suggesting that DR [diabetic retinopathy] screening in these settings could fulfil a critical role for patients with diabetes not routinely accessing annual dilated eye examination care."

The grant will allow the two universities to combine their research into the reductions of cancer health disparities in minorities. The four-year project will be led by UAB's Upender Manne and ASU's Manoj Mishra.

Dr Richard Waguespack, clinical professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham's division of otolaryngology, said a wet spring often results in a robust summer allergy season.

UAB officials said in a release that the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has awarded the school a $250,000, five-year grant to help fund the UAB Neuroscience Roadmap Scholars Program.

Susan Hendricks gives us a look at volunteers using animal therapy for adults and children with cancer.

The grant will be used by ASU and the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) to develop a pool of scientists to conduct community-based research in ways to reduce those disparities.

The potential application to diabetes arises from the discovery by Dr. Anath Shalev of the University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB) that verapamil lowers the level of the protein TXNIP in pancreatic beta cells.

"Though the decision to screen or not to screen needs to be individualized for each patient, the potential to detect the disease early offers the best chance of cure. There have been significant concerns about the impact screening will have on our health system and without question its introduction will be complex and require a multidisciplinary approach," said Mark Dransfield, M.D., associate professor, division of pulmonary, allergy and critical care medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is also the medical director of the UAB Lung Health Center.