UT Knoxville professor finds unexpected key to flowering plants' diversity

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KNOXVILLE -- What began with an off-the-cuff curiosity eventually led Joe Williams to hang from the limbs of a tree 80 feet above the soil of northeastern Australia.

The things Williams, a University of Tennessee, Knoxville, researcher found there may help explain the amazing diversity in the world's flowering plants, a question that has puzzled scientists from the time of Charles Darwin to today.

A new biomarker for early cancer detection? Research reveals that 'microRNA' may fit the bill

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SEATTLE – Scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have discovered that microRNAs – molecular workhorses that regulate gene expression – are released by cancer cells and circulate in the blood, which gives them the potential to become a new class of biomarkers to detect cancer at its earliest stages. Muneesh Tewari, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues describe their findings in the July 28 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Japanese diet rich in fish may hold secret to healthy heart

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If you're fishing for ways to reduce the risk of heart disease, you might start with the seafood-rich diet typically served up in Japan. According to new research, a lifetime of eating tuna, sardines, salmon and other fish appears to protect Japanese men against clogged arteries, despite other cardiovascular risk factors.

Being a control freak aids dividing cells

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Boston, Mass. (July 28, 2008) — Micromanagers may generate resentment in an office setting, but they get results in your body. New data indicate that a dividing cell takes micromanagement to the extreme, tagging more than 14,000 different sites on its proteins with phosphate, a molecule that typically serves as a signal for a variety of biological processes.

Symbiotic microbes induce profound genetic changes in their hosts

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MADISON — Though bacteria are everywhere — from the air we breathe and the food we eat to our guts and skin — the vast majority are innocuous or even beneficial, and only a handful pose any threat to us. What distinguishes a welcome microbial guest from an unwanted intruder?

Research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggests the answer lies not with the bacteria, but with the host.

Eating fish may explain very low levels of heart disease in Japan

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UCSF study shows sharp national rise in skin infections, MRSA suspected

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A national analysis of physician office and emergency department records shows that the types of skin infections caused by community-acquired MRSA doubled in the eight-year study period, with the highest rates seen among children and in urban emergency rooms.

The study, conducted at the University of California, San Francisco, examined annual data from the National Center for Health Statistics of patient visits for skin and soft-tissue infections from 1997 to 2005. The results appear in the July 28, 2008 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Women with gestational diabetes at risk of type 2 diabetes

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Women with gestational diabetes are at greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes, with almost 20% of women developing the condition within 9 years of pregnancy, found a large, population-based study of 659,000 women published in CMAJ.

NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia leads research into robotic surgery for kidney cancer

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NEW YORK (July 28, 2008) -- Clinical research at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center is helping bring the advantages of robotic surgery, including reduced pain and quicker recovery, to kidney cancer patients.

Local officials move toward monitoring nanotechnologies

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Washington, DC — State and local officials have taken steps to begin monitoring the manufacture and storage of nanomaterials, a major step for a cutting-edge technology that has yet to be regulated by the federal government.