A new model -- and possible treatment -- for staph bone infections

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Osteomyelitis – a debilitating bone infection most frequently caused by Staphylococcus aureus ("staph") bacteria – is particularly challenging to treat.

Now, Vanderbilt microbiologist Eric Skaar, Ph.D., MPH, and colleagues have identified a staph-killing compound that may be an effective treatment for osteomyelitis, and they have developed a new mouse model that will be useful for testing this compound and for generating additional therapeutic strategies.

A shot in the arm for old antibiotics

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Slipping bacteria some silver could give old antibiotics new life, scientists at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University reported June 19 in Science Translational Medicine.

Expressly unfit for the laboratory

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A new study challenges the orthodoxy of microbiology that in response to environmental changes, bacterial genes will boost production of needed proteins and decrease production of those that aren't. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) found that for bacteria in the laboratory there was little evidence of adaptive genetic response. In fact, most bacterial genes appear to be regulated by signals unrelated to their function.

U of M researchers identify risk and protective factors for youth involved in bullying

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(MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL) June 19, 2013 – New research out of the University of Minnesota identifies significant risk factors for suicidal behavior in youth being bullied, but also identifies protective factors for the same group of children.

The article, "Suicidal Thinking and Behavior Among Youth Involved in Verbal and Social Bullying: Risk and Protective Factors" is being published in a special supplemental issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health. The supplement identifies bullying as a clear public health issue, calling for more preventative research and action.

Dietary fructose causes liver damage in animal model, study finds

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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – June 19, 2013 – The role of dietary fructose in the development of obesity and fatty liver diseases remains controversial, with previous studies indicating that the problems resulted from fructose and a diet too high in calories.

New technology reduces, controls CT radiation exposure in children

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Patients at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center are being exposed to significantly less radiation during CT scans because of new technology that allows doctors to more tightly control radiation doses. The first-of-its-kind imaging software reduced overall radiation exposure from CT scans by 37 percent, according to two new studies published online today in the journal Radiology.

Fate of the heart: Researchers track cellular events leading to cardiac regeneration

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In a study published in the June 19 online edition of the journal Nature, a scientific team led by researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine visually monitored the dynamic cellular events that take place when cardiac regeneration occurs in zebrafish after cardiac ventricular injury. Their findings provide evidence that various cell lines in the heart are more plastic, or capable of transformation into new cell types, than previously thought.

Artificial Neural Networks Predict Brain Cancer Prognosis

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Continuous "machine learning" using artificial neural networks (ANNs) may improve the ability to predict survival in patients with advanced brain cancers.

Dr. Matthew Ewend of University of North Carolina and colleagues evaluated the use of ANNs to predict the chances of survival for patients with brain cancer. Based on the biological functioning of brain cells, ANNs are computer programs designed "to learn patterns within a data set and then apply that learning for recognition and prediction."

Nearly 7 in 10 Americans are on prescription drugs, Mayo Clinic study finds

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ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug, and more than half take two, Mayo Clinic researchers say. Antibiotics, antidepressants and painkilling opioids are most commonly prescribed, their study found. Twenty percent of patients are on five or more prescription medications, according to the findings, published online in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

Sequentially expressed genes in neural progenitors create neural diversity, NYU biologists find

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A team of New York University biologists has found that a series of genes sequentially expressed in brain stem cells control the generation of neural diversity in visual system of fruit flies. Their results are reported in the latest issue of the journal Nature.