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Chemotherapeutic agents, used in cancer treatment, destroy not only cancer cells but also healthy cells, thus affecting germ cells as well. Consequently, after surviving cancer many female patients are confronted with the diagnosis: infertility. For a long time a relationship between infertility and chemotherapeutic agents has been assumed, but until now, the exact mechanism was not known.

The bacterium, called Pseudomonas aeruginosa, is the most common cause of persistent and fatal lung infections in cystic fibrosis patients. Scientists at Liverpool identified a particularly virulent strain of the bacteria that is transmissible between patients. The Liverpool Epidemic Strain (LES), referred to as a cystic fibrosis 'superbug', can cause aggressive infection and results in progressive lung decline.

February 22, 2011 — (BRONX, NY) — Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have developed an experimental vaccine that appears to protect against an increasingly common and particularly deadly form of pneumococcal pneumonia. Details of the new vaccine, which was tested in an animal model, are reported in a paper published today in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Middle-age men and women who have cardiovascular issues, such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure, may not only be at risk for heart disease, but for an increased risk of developing early cognitive and memory problems as well. That's according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 63rd Annual Meeting in Honolulu April 9 to April 16, 2011.

Gastric bypass surgery appears to lead to better long-term results including greater weight loss, resolution of diabetes and improved quality of life compared with sleeve gastrectomy and "lap-band" surgery, according to two reports in the February issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

For children with a perforated appendix, early appendectomy appears to reduce the time away from normal activities and has fewer adverse events as compared to another common option, the interval appendectomy, which is performed several weeks after diagnosis, according to a report published online first in the Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The paper will appear in the June 2011 print issue of the journal.

The microscopic phytoplankton Aureococcus anophagefferens, which causes devastating brown tides, may be tiny but it's proven to be a fierce competitor.

In the first genome sequencing of a harmful algal bloom species, researchers found that Aureococcus' unique gene complement allows it to outcompete other marine phytoplankton and thrive in human-modified ecosystems, which could help explain the global increases in harmful algal blooms (HABs).

Algae play key roles in the global carbon cycle, helping sequester significant amounts of carbon. Some algal species can bloom, or become so numerous, that they discolor coastal waters and reduce the amount of light and oxygen available in the ecosystem. Previously known as "red tide," the term "harmful algal blooms" (HABs) was introduced two decades ago to note accumulation of algal biomass can sometimes also turn the ocean waters brown or green and disrupt an ecosystem, or that red-colored waters can sometimes be harmless.

One of the most common congenital defects in humans — it is detected in approximately 0.5% of fetuses analyzed by routine antenatal sonography — is a kidney abnormality known as hydronephrosis. Hydronephrosis arises because the flow of urine from the kidney to the bladder is impeded. By studying kidney development in mice, Norman Rosenblum and colleagues, at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, have identified a new cellular mechanism underlying hydronephrosis, something that they hope might lead to better therapeutics for the condition and improved diagnosis of its severity.

Separate studies published online on February 21 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (www.jem.org) identify a protein that drives tumor-promoting inflammation in pancreatic and breast tumors.

BOSTON – Congenital heart diseases affect approximately one in 100 patients, making them the most common type of birth defect and the number-one cause of pediatric deaths.

Now a new study showing that the mTOR inhibitor drug rapamycin can reverse cardiac muscle damage in a mouse model of the congenital disease LEOPARD syndrome not only identifies the first possible medical treatment for this rare condition, but also demonstrates the importance of targeted therapies in managing congenital diseases.

Cross-disciplinary teams of scientists studying genetic pathways that are mutated in many forms of cancer, but which also cause certain forms of congenital heart disease – including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a thickening of the heart muscle that is the leading cause of sudden death in children and young adults –, have introduced these mutations into mice and successfully treated HCM in the lab.

"Over the last couple of generations, there has been a huge amount of groundwater pollution worldwide, and this has had a negative impact on our drinking water supply," says Barbara Sherwood Lollar, Canada Research Chair in Isotope Geochemistry of the Earth and the Environment at the University of Toronto.

WASHINGTON, D.C. --- The choices an individual makes about environmental issues are affected by family, friends and others in a person's social network. Michigan State University scientists are studying how to harness the power of social networks to better communicate sustainability science.