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In patients with a suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS; such as heart attack or unstable angina), use of a more sensitive test to detect the protein troponin in blood was associated with increased diagnosis of a heart attack and improved identification of patients at high risk of another heart attack and death in the following year, according to a study in the March 23/30 issue of JAMA.

An analysis of previous studies that examined whether episodic physical activity and sexual activity can act as a trigger for cardiac events found an association between these activities and a short-term increased risk of heart attack and sudden cardiac death, although the absolute risk was small and lessened among persons with high levels of regular physical activity, according to an article in the March 23/30 issue of JAMA.

Patients taking imatinib (Gleevec) for CML, or chronic myelogenous leukemia, and in remission after two years of treatment, have a mortality rate similar to that of the general population according to a study published online [date] in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The article offers the first evidence that a disseminated cancer, not amenable to surgery, can be controlled to the point of giving patients a normal life expectancy.

A highly sensitive blood test could help identify heart attacks in thousands of patients who would otherwise have gone undiagnosed, a study suggests.

The test, which identifies heart muscle damage, detected heart attacks in a third more patients who were admitted to hospital with chest pain than previous tests.

The University of Edinburgh study found that after this test was introduced into clinical practice the risk of being readmitted to hospital with – or dying from – another heart attack within the following year was halved.

Ann Arbor, Mich. — In 1998, a study linking the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism in children appeared in a respected medical journal. For a decade, the study grabbed headlines worldwide. Worried parents rejected the life-saving vaccine for their children and those with autistic children agonized that they allowed an injection that caused the condition.

But the vaccine-autism research was a fraud. The paper was retracted 12 years later, denounced as an elaborate deception.

RENO, Nev. – In a lakewide study, a team of scientists lead by University of Nevada, Reno limnologist Sudeep Chandra has found a considerable decline in native fish species density at Lake Tahoe since 1951. In their final report, they are recommending establishing and implementing a management plan to protect the nearshore zone habitat, which is critical to native fish.

Victims of severe traumatic elder abuse are more likely to be female, suffer from a neurological or mental disorder, and to abuse drugs or alcohol, according to research published in the March issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society have developed a "stress test" for coral reefs as a means of identifying and prioritizing areas that are most likely to survive bleaching events and other climate change factors. The researchers say that these "reefs of hope" are priorities for national and international management and conservation action.

GALVESTON, Texas — Five years ago, large numbers of farmers in central China began falling victim to an mysterious disease marked by high fever, gastrointestinal disorder and an appalling mortality rate — as high as 30 percent in initial reports. Investigators from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention hurried to the scene of the outbreak. On the basis of DNA evidence, they quickly concluded that it had been caused by human granulocytic anaplasmosis, a bacteria transmitted by tick bites.

LOS ANGELES (March 22, 2011) When physical therapy and drugs fail to relieve back or neck pain, patients often turn to spinal fusion surgery as a last resort, but two new studies show that in certain situations, especially when several discs are involved, artificial disc replacement may give better long-term results at lower cost.

There are many different kinds of crustaceans, ranging from the shellfish Swedish people eat at traditional crayfish parties every August to tiny relatives found in their millions in both freshwater and saltwater. One of the latter, Daphnia pulex, is the first crustacean to have its genome sequenced. A researcher from the University of Gothenburg has made a surprising discovery.

The Pacific oyster was discovered in large numbers along the west coast of Sweden in 2007. The mortality rate in some places during the past two winters has been 100%, but researchers at the University of Gothenburg who have studied the Pacific oyster can now say that the species copes with cold winters and is here to stay.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — In recent years, researchers have worked to develop more flexible, functional prosthetics for soldiers returning home from battlefields in Afghanistan or Iraq with missing arms or legs. But even new prosthetics have trouble keeping bacteria from entering the body through the space where the device has been implanted.

"You need to close (the area) where the bacteria would enter the body, and that's where the skin is," said Thomas Webster, associate professor of engineering and orthopaedics at Brown University.

Do common stereotypes about female characteristics keep the number of women in management roles low? This is the question posed by Janka Stoker and her colleagues from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands in their study (1) looking at the factors which relate to managerial stereotypes. Their findings, published online in Springer's Journal of Business and Psychology, suggest that increasing the proportion of female managers is an effective way to overcome managerial stereotyping.

and Spanish.

According to a study conducted at the University of Granada, combined exposure to organochlorides significantly alters semen quality in young people from South East Spain. Having a low number of spermatozoa taking the levels established by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a reference can delay fertilization.