IU sends innovative technology to Antarctica to speed polar research

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Environmental scientists studying the world's shrinking polar ice sheets will soon get a substantial boost in computing power thanks to IU's Polar Grid Project.

Study examines cost-effectiveness of HIV monitoring strategy in countries with limited resources

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In a computer-based model evaluating the benefits and costs of three types of HIV disease monitoring strategies, early initiation of antiretroviral therapy and monitoring using the CD4 count, a measure of immune system function, instead of based on symptoms appear to provide health benefits in low- and middle-income countries, according to a report in the September 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Calorie restriction does not appear to induce bone loss in overweight adults

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Young adults who follow a diet that is low in calories but nutritionally sound for six months appear to lose weight and fat without significant bone loss, according to a report in the September 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Secondhand smoke linked to peripheral artery disease in women

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Secondhand smoke significantly increased the risk of women developing peripheral artery disease (PAD) in a Chinese study, researchers reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

In a population-based study of 1,209 women in Beijing, China, researchers found a 67 percent increased risk of PAD in those exposed to secondhand smoke compared to those who were not exposed. The women were 60 years and older and had never smoked. Of these women, 39.5 percent were exposed to secondhand smoke at home or in the workplace.

Hidden infections crucial to understanding, controlling disease outbreaks

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ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Scientists and news organizations typically focus on the number of dead and gravely ill during epidemics, but research at the University of Michigan suggests that less dramatic, mild infections lurking in large numbers of people are the key to understanding cycles of at least one potentially fatal infectious disease: cholera.

Using a model developed with new statistical methods, U-M researchers and their collaborators came up with results that challenge longstanding assumptions about the disease and strategies for preventing it.

Aspirin and atherosclerosis

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Aspirin has become one of the most widely used medications in the world, owing to its ability to reduce pain, fevers, inflammation, and blood clotting. In animal studies, aspirin has also been shown to prevent atherosclerosis, though none of its known mechanisms of action would seem to account for this. In a new study, though, researchers have uncovered the mechanism that may explain aspirin's ability to prevent arterial plaque buildup.

Pitt research indicates new virus is culprit, not bystander, in deadly skin cancer

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PITTSBURGH, Sept. 22 – University of Pittsburgh scientists are uncovering more evidence that a virus they recently discovered is the cause of Merkel cell carcinoma, an aggressive and deadly form of skin cancer.

The findings, published in this week's early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, put to rest the possibility that MCV infects tumors that already have formed. If that were the case, the virus would be a passenger rather than the driver of the disease.

Nanotech and synbio: Americans don't know what's coming

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Iron-moving malfunction may underlie neurodegenerative diseases, aging

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ANN ARBOR, Mich.---A glitch in the ability to move iron around in cells may underlie a disease known as Type IV mucolipidosis (ML4) and the suite of symptoms---mental retardation, poor vision and diminished motor abilities---that accompany it, new research at the University of Michigan shows.

The same deficit also may be involved in aging and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, says lead author Haoxing Xu, an assistant professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology.

Radiation before surgery reduces quality of life and risk of recurrence for rectal cancer patients

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Boston – The use of a short one week course of radiation before surgery for rectal cancer leads to a reduced risk of recurrence but with some impairment in quality of life for sexual and bowel function, according to an international study presented September 22, 2008, at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's 50th Annual Meeting in Boston.