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Visionaries in the field of cardiac therapeutics have long looked to the future when a damaged heart could be rebuilt or repaired by using one's own heart cells. A study published in the February issue of Circulation, a scientific journal of the American Heart Association, shows that heart stem cells from children with congenital heart disease were able to rebuild the damaged heart in an animal model.

For the first time, scientists have mapped the genome--the genetic code--of orangutans. This new tool may be used to support efforts to maintain the genetic diversity of captive and wild orangutans. The new map of the orangutan genome may also be used to help improve our understanding of the evolution of primates, including humans.

Partially funded by the National Science Foundation, the orangutan study appears in the Jan. 27 issue of Nature. It was conducted by an international team of scientists led by Devin P. Locke of the Genome Center at Washington University.

A study by experts at the University of Exeter has revealed that couples with similar personalities make much better parents than those with different dispositions – at least in the world of zebra finches.

Researchers found birds expressing strong personality traits, such as aggressive behaviour or a willingness to explore, did a much better job of raising young if they had a like-minded partner. Where couples were markedly different in personality, chicks didn't fare as well – being less well-fed and in poorer condition.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A new study questions the controversial U.S. Preventative Service Task Force recommendations for breast cancer screening, with data that shows starting at a younger age and screening more frequently will result in more lives saved.

The study analyzed the same data looked at by the task force, which issued its guidelines on mammography screening in November 2009. The study authors compared the task force's recommendations for screening every other year in women 50-74 to American Cancer Society guidelines of screening every year in women 40-84.

(WASHINGTON, January 27, 2011) –Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) occurs in just one out of every 50,000 to 100,000 births in the United States, yet it is the most serious primary immunodeficiency disorder.[1] A

URBANA – A new University of Illinois study provides convincing evidence that the way you prepare and consume your broccoli matters, and also suggests that teaming broccoli with broccoli sprouts may make the vegetable's anti-cancer effect almost twice as powerful.

Who eats organic food when they are pregnant? Is it just certain groups? What kind of organic foods are most popular? A recent study from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health provides some answers. The study includes nearly 65,000 women in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study.

"We know little about the consumption of organic food during pregnancy, and the goal of this study was to find out what is consumed and the characteristics of women who choose organic food," said PhD student Hanne Torjusen.

In a previous study, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients who failed to respond to methotrexate were shown to experience positive results with fostamatinib disodium (R788), an oral spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) inhibitor that is thought to block immune cell signaling involved with bone and cartilage destruction. In the current study, RA patients who failed to respond to biologic agents were studied. In contrast to the prior study, however, fostamatinib was not effective in this group of patients, although the drug did appear to be safe.

Researchers have proved that a single "master switch" enzyme, known as aldose reductase, is key in producing excess mucous that clogs the airways of people with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The enzyme's action can be blocked by drugs whose safety has been shown in clinical trials for other diseases – a discovery that could improve therapies for the 510 million people worldwide suffering from asthma and COPD.

The findings are from a University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston study published in the online journal PLoS One.

Washington, DC, January 27, 2011 – Screening patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) produces cost savings for the whole hospital, according to a study that used a statistical simulation model published in the February issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of APIC - the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.

BEER SHEVA, ISRAEL – January 27, 2011 -- A new study by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers indicates that physicians who give second opinions may be influenced by the first opinion and other external factors.

Researchers in China have demonstrated interferon-alpha (IFN-a) is associated with increased risk of atherosclerosis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). For the first time, IFN-a priming was shown to promote lipid uptake and foam cell formation—a crucial step in plaque build-up. This activation of the IFN signaling pathway may be linked to the premature atherosclerosis risk in SLE.

A paper published the January issue of the journal Nanomedicine could provide the foundation for a new ovarian cancer treatment option – one that would use an outside-the-body filtration device to remove a large portion of the free-floating cancer cells that often create secondary tumors.

BATON ROUGE – The word "orangutan" is derived from a Malay phrase meaning "man of the forest," which is a perfectly apt description of these tree-dwelling primates. Genetically the most distant great ape from humans, these critically endangered creatures inhabit the jungles of Borneo and Sumatra. As an arboreal species, they are incredibly sensitive to deforestation, which has decimated census populations in recent years. Mark Batzer, LSU System Boyd Professor and Dr.