Body

Scientists of the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ), jointly with colleagues in the United States, have found out that inflammations of the heart muscle are caused by attacks of a specific type of immune cells. These immune cells attack the body's own tissue because during their maturation they did not have the chance to develop tolerance against a protein that is only found in the heart muscle.

Mothers who were maltreated as children have increased risk for giving birth to low birth weight babies. The findings, by researchers at the University of Washington, are the first to show that maternal maltreatment can affect the health of offspring.

The study also finds that childhood poverty and substance use during adolescence and pregnancy contribute to low birth weight, which is linked to infant mortality and chronic health problems.

Insects using vibration to attract a mate are at risk of being eaten alive by killer spiders, Cardiff University scientists have discovered.

Studying spider behaviour experts from Cardiff University's School of Biosciences found that the vibrations used by leafhoppers and many other insects to attract a mate can be intercepted and used by predatory spiders to identify their prey.

CHICAGO, Ill. (March 29, 2011)—Pelvic arterial embolization or PAE, a minimally invasive, life-saving therapy, is a safe and effective treatment for postpartum hemorrhage, say researchers at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 36th Annual Scientific Meeting in Chicago, Ill.

CHICAGO, Ill. (March 29, 2011)—A unique formulation of antioxidants taken orally before imaging with ionizing radiation minimizes cell damage, noted researchers at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 36th Annual Scientific Meeting in Chicago, Ill. In what the researchers say is the first clinical trial of its kind, as much as a 50 percent reduction in DNA injury was observed after administering the formula prior to CT scans.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) March 29, 2011— If you want to increase your chances of losing weight, reduce your stress level and get adequate sleep. A new Kaiser Permanente study found that people trying to lose at least 10 pounds were more likely to reach that goal if they had lower stress levels and slept more than six hours but not more than eight hours a night.

The paper, published today in the International Journal of Obesity, was the result of a study funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

ANAHEIM, March 28, 2011 — Mimicking Mother Nature's genius as a designer is one of the most promising approaches for developing new medicines, sustainable sources of food and energy, and other products that society needs to meet the great challenges that lie ahead in the 21st century, a noted scientist said here today.

By taking a closer look at animal bones scattered across the wilderness landscape, a researcher at the University of Chicago has found a powerful tool for showing how species' populations have changed over decades or even a century.

ANAHEIM, March 28, 2011 — In what they described as the opening of a new era in the development of potentially life-saving new drugs, scientists today reported discovery of a way to tone down an overactive gene involved in colon cancer and block a key protein involved in asthma attacks. Those targets long had ranked among hundreds of thousands that many scientists considered to be "undruggable," meaning that efforts to reach them with conventional medicines were doomed to fail.

Reducing cardiovascular risk factors like high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes and being overweight could potentially reduce more than half of all cases of atrial fibrillation, according to research reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

A third of patients thought to have resistant hypertension had "white coat" hypertension during 24-hour ambulatory monitoring, in a large study reported in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.

In ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, the patient's blood pressure is checked at regular intervals under normal living and working conditions.

Calculations by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and the University of California, Berkeley estimate that the cancer risk associated with one type of airport security scanners is low based on the amount of radiation these devices emit, as long as they are operated and function correctly.

A team of scientists has discovered that descendants of "exploratory" butterflies that colonized new habitats differ genetically from their more cautious cousins.

TORONTO, ON – With birds chirping and temperatures warming, spring is finally in the air. But for University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) environmental chemist Torsten Meyer, springtime has a dark side.

"During the winter months, contaminants accumulate in the snow," says Meyer, an expert on snow-bound organic contaminants and a post-doctoral fellow at UTSC. "When the snow melts, these chemicals are released into the environment at high concentrations."

ATLANTA – Transplant and reconstructive surgeons from Emory University Hospital announced today at a news conference that they have successfully performed a rare complete hand transplant on 21-year-old Linda Lu, a college student from Orlando, Fla. This is a first for the Atlanta Hospital.

The 19-hour surgery took place on Saturday, March 12 and involved multiple teams of surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, and operating room support staff. Two teams – one dedicated to the patient – and the other to the donor arm – successfully completed the surgery at approximately midnight.