Body

Boston, MA -- Although research has shown that eating fish, which is rich in beneficial omega-3 fatty acids, is associated with lower risk of cardiovascular diseases, mixed evidence from prior studies has suggested that mercury exposure from fish consumption may be linked to higher risk of cardiovascular diseases.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, U.S.A. (March 24, 2011) — A pill taken once a day in the morning prevented type 2 diabetes in more than 70 percent of individuals whose obesity, ethnicity and other markers put them at highest risk for the disease, U.S. scientists reported today.

The drug, called carbamazepine, is commonly used to treat patients with epilepsy and other diseases such as depression and trigeminal neuralgia. Although successful in treating the majority of patients, carbamazepine can cause side-effects that range from a mild skin irritation to severe blistering of the whole body.

The more physically active you are, the less your blood pressure rises in response to a high-salt diet, researchers reported at the American Heart Association's Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism/Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention 2011 Scientific Sessions.

Overweight and obese mothers and their children think they weigh less than their actual weight, according to research reported at the American Heart Association's Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism/Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention 2011 Scientific Sessions.

In the study of women and children in an urban, predominantly Hispanic population, most normal weight women and children in the study correctly estimated their body weight, but most obese women and children underestimated theirs.

Smokers of mentholated cigarettes are no more likely to develop lung cancer than other smokers, according to a new, very large, prospective study of black and white smokers published online March 23 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. In fact, contrary to a popular hypothesis, menthol smokers in this study had a somewhat lower risk of developing and dying from lung cancer than non-menthol smokers.

LOS ANGELES (EMBARGOED UNTIL 4 PM EST, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2011) – A new study of coronary artery calcium scanning – a simple, noninvasive test that gives patients baseline information about plaque in their coronary arteries—has shown that the scan helps them make heart-healthy lifestyle changes and lower their heart disease risk factors.

Avian embryos could join the list of model organisms used to study a specific type of cell migration called epiboly, thanks to the results of a study published this month in the journal Developmental Dynamics. The new study provides insights into the mechanisms of epiboly, a developmental process involving mass movement of cells as a sheet, which is linked with medical conditions that include wound healing and cancer.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Biological systems, including cells, tissues and organs, can function properly only when their parts are working in harmony. These systems are often dauntingly complex: Inside a single cell, thousands of proteins interact with each other to determine how the cell will develop and respond to its environment.

Boston (March 23, 2011) – A paper, "Association of Episodic Physical and Sexual Activity With Triggering of Acute Cardiac Events," published in the March 23/30 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), highlights research done by Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) researchers Jessica K. Paulus, ScD, and Issa J. Dahabreh, MD. This paper was also developed into a JAMA Report video, available on the Tufts CTSI website.

HACKENSACK, N.J. (March 23, 2011) — Using new genome sequencing technologies, researchers from the John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center joined colleagues from 20 major North American research institutions to publish the first complete genomic portrait of multiple myeloma, a highly aggressive blood cancer. Findings from the study point to new directions for potential myeloma therapies, and begin to unlock the mysteries of what causes this devastating malignancy. The paper will be published in the March 24, 2011 issue of Nature.

A breakthrough discovery by the University of East Anglia (UEA) and Children's Hospital Boston promises an effective new treatment for one of the deadliest forms of cancer.

Reporting in the March 24 edition (front cover story) of the journal Nature, the researchers found that leflunomide - a drug commonly used to treat rheumatoid arthritis – also inhibits the growth of malignant melanoma.

The latest clues suggesting potential new ways to treat melanoma come from an unlikely source: fish.

Zebrafish don't get sunburns, but they can get skin cancer – at least those fish that have been engineered to model the often deadly human cancer. When Leonard Zon, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Children's Hospital Boston, developed this melanoma model five years ago, he hoped to use the tiny striped fish to discover new melanoma genes or new therapies for this aggressive cancer that consistently eludes treatment.

Scientists have unveiled the most comprehensive picture to date of the full genetic blueprint of multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. A study of the genomes from 38 cancer samples has yielded new and unexpected insights into the events that lead to this form of cancer and could influence the direction of multiple myeloma research. This work, led by scientists at the Broad Institute and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, appears in the March 24 issue of Nature.

A detailed analysis of lung tumors that became resistant to targeted therapy drugs has revealed two previously unreported resistance mechanisms. In a report in the March 23 Science Translational Medicine, investigators from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center also describe how the cellular nature of some tumors actually changes in response to treatment and find that resistance-conferring mutations can disappear after treatment is discontinued. The findings support the importance of monitoring the molecular status of tumors throughout the treatment process.