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(MedPage Today) -- Rats fed a sugary diet forgot how to run a maze they had previously mastered, but the effect was countered by omega-3 fatty acid supplements. Also this week: new hope for Fanconi anemia.

(MedPage Today) -- Two new studies have implicated smoking in the development of psoriatic arthritis and inflammatory back pain.

(MedPage Today) -- The U.S. Department of Justice has closed its probe of Medtronic's marketing of its Infuse bone growth product for spinal fusion surgery without filing charges, the company said.

LGL leukemia is a relatively rare, malignant blood disease of the mature T-cells and, in many cases, it is related to autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. The pathogenetic mechanism of the disease has been unknown and it has previously been unclear if the disease is an overreaction of the normal defense system or a malignant hematological disease...

More than 27 million adults currently suffer from osteoarthritis, which is the most common form of arthritis. In the past, doctors have been unable to diagnose patients with arthritis until they begin to show symptoms, which include joint pain and stiffness. By the time these symptoms are present, it is often too late for preventive and minimally invasive treatment options to be effective...

A DNA-covered submicroscopic bead used to deliver genes or drugs directly into cells to treat disease appears to have therapeutic value just by showing up, researchers report. Within a few hours of injecting empty-handed DNA nanoparticles, Georgia Health Sciences University researchers were surprised to see increased expression of an enzyme that calms the immune response...