Cell 'anchors' required to prevent muscular dystrophy

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DURHAM, N.C. – A protein that was first identified for playing a key role in regulating normal heart rhythms also appears to be significant in helping muscle cells survive the forces of muscle contraction. The clue was a laboratory mouse that seemed to have a form of muscular dystrophy.

Small changes can lead to big rewards, says ASN president

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Small changes can lead to big rewards, such as maintaining a healthy weight, American Society for Nutrition (ASN) President James O. Hill, PhD, describes in a recent report. The article, to be published in the February issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, is written by Hill on behalf of a joint task force of ASN, the Institute of Food Technologists, and the International Food Information Council.

Human beta cells can be easily induced to replicate, according to study in Diabetes

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PITTSBURGH, Jan 13 – Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have successfully induced human insulin-producing cells, known as beta cells, to replicate robustly in a living animal, as well as in the lab. The discovery not only could improve models and methods for studying diabetes, but also opens up new possibilities for treating the condition.

Study shows workplace benefits of influenza vaccination in 50-64 year olds

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Workers age 50-64 who received influenza vaccine lost substantially fewer days of work and worked fewer days while ill, according to a new study in the Feb. 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online. Given the concerns about antiviral drug resistance among this year's flu strains, the study highlights the importance of vaccination to prevent influenza.

Athletes not spared from health risks of metabolic syndrome

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – College-age football players who gain weight to add power to their blocks and tackles might also be setting themselves up for diabetes and heart disease later in life, a new study suggests.

Nearly half of a sample of collegiate offensive and defensive linemen who underwent a battery of tests for the study had metabolic syndrome. This means the players had at least three of five risk factors that indicate a person has higher chances of developing heart disease and diabetes than those without the risk factors.

Study: Most young violent offenders in two NYC neighborhoods have seen someone killed

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – More than three-quarters of young violent offenders interviewed in two poverty-stricken New York City neighborhoods had seen someone die in a violent incident, a new study reveals.

About half of them (51 percent) had been shot themselves and 78 percent said they had a close friend who died in a violent attack.

Delusions associated with consistent pattern of brain injury

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Rural N.C. county, N.Y. borough kick off largest ever long-term U.S. child health study

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CHAPEL HILL – In many ways, Duplin County, N.C., and Queens, N.Y., are worlds apart. Duplin is rural, proudly southern and home to about 50,000 people. Queens is urban, counts immigrants from more than 100 nations among its residents and the number of babies born in the borough each year equals more than half of Duplin's entire population.

But from Tuesday (Jan. 13) onward, the two areas share common ground – as the first two locations to begin enrolling participants in the largest ever long-term study of children's health and development undertaken in the United States.

Voracious sponges save reef

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Tropical oceans are known as the deserts of the sea. And yet this unlikely environment is the very place where the rich and fertile coral reef grows. Dutch researcher Jasper de Goeij investigated how caves in the coral reef ensure the reef's continued existence. Although sponges in these coral caves take up a lot of dissolved organic material, they scarcely grow. However, they do discard a lot of cells that in turn provide food for the organisms on the reef.

Study links swings in North Atlantic oscillation variability to climate warming

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Using a 218-year-long temperature record from a Bermuda brain coral, researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have created the first marine-based reconstruction showing the long-term behavior of one of the most important drivers of climate fluctuations in the North Atlantic.