Body

Scientists have identified a mysterious culprit that threatens headaches, stuffy noses, skin rash and other allergy symptoms when more than 500 million people worldwide drink wine. The discovery could help winemakers in developing the first low allergenic vintages — reds and whites with less potential to trigger allergy symptoms, they say. The new study appears in ACS' monthly Journal of Proteome Research.

Scientists are reporting a key advance toward development of a way to combat the terrible plant diseases that caused the Irish potato famine and still inflict billions of dollars of damage to crops each year around the world. Their study appears in ACS' bi-weekly journal Organic Letters.

Amid ongoing concern about plastic waste accumulating in municipal landfills, and reliance on imported oil to make plastics, scientists are reporting development of a new ultra-light biodegradable foam plastic material made from two unlikely ingredients: The protein in milk and ordinary clay. The new substance could be used in furniture cushions, insulation, packaging, and other products, they report in the ACS' Biomacromolecules, a monthly journal.

DURHAM, N.C. – The ability to tell the difference between crystals that formed naturally and those formed by human activity can be important to archaeologists in the field. This can be a crucial bit of information in determining the ancient activities that took place at a site, yet archaeologists often wait for months for the results of laboratory tests.

Cardiac stem cells — even in elderly and sick patients — could generate new heart muscle and vessel tissue and be used to treat heart failure, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2010.

CINCINNATI—Researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have found a potential genetic target for heart disease, which could lead to therapies to prevent the development of the nation's No. 1 killer in its initial stages.

These findings will be presented for the first time at the American Heart Association's (AHA) Scientific Sessions in Chicago Nov. 17.

Being able to read and understand words like anemia, hormones and seizure means a patient with heart failure may be less likely to be hospitalized, according to a new study from Emory University School of Medicine. Findings will be presented Nov. 17 at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions conference in Chicago.

Tiny particles used in a range of everyday products from computers to shampoo can adversely affect the lungs in very different ways, a study has shown.

Research by the University of Edinburgh suggests that industrial manufacturers using nanoparticles should be aware of the risks that different types of nanoparticles pose to workers who handle them.

Nanoparticles – which can be 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair – are potentially hazardous to workers handling the chemicals used to make products as they may be at risk of inhaling them.

New research that provides potential for exciting new approaches to targeting diseases such as cancer has been announced by an international team of academics.

They have also announced the potential for more targeted treatments following their identification of proteins that play a vital role in the life of a human cell.

The research teams from Germany and the UK have published their work in the Advance Online Publication on Nature Cell Biology's website.

Research from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) shows that children with severe congenital heart defects have twice the risk of anxiety at 18 months of age compared to healthy children. Children with mild and moderate heart defects, on the other hand, did not show an increased risk of anxiety.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — One of biggest factors promoting the diversity of coastal ocean life is how fast the water flows, according to new research by ecologists at Brown University. Experiments and observation in Palau, Alaska, and Maine showed that the faster the flow, the greater the number of invertebrate species that live on rocks under the water.

Arlington, Va. — New research being presented at the 2010 FIP Pharmaceutical Sciences World Congress in association with the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists Annual Meeting and Exposition will highlight a targeted inhalable dry powder vaccine that may prove preferable in terms of needle avoidance and expected lower cost than the current commercial human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine used throughout the world.

PHILADELPHIA – A research team from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated Kimmel Cancer Center (KCC) at Jefferson has concluded – for the first time – that a multidisciplinary clinic approach to aggressive prostate cancer can improve survival in patients. The results from the 15-year study of the multidisciplinary clinic can be found in the November issue of Journal of Oncology Practice.

Stats and Treatment

A new study found that patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee who also have pain in other joints were more likely to experience greater knee pain. Specifically, pain in the lower back as well as foot pain and elbow pain on the same side as the affected knee were associated with more severe knee pain. Full details appear in the December issue of Arthritis Care & Research, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology.

CHICAGO - Testing for 11 specific genetic variations in hundreds of people with no history of heart disease provided information that led to revision of their estimated heart attack risk, say Mayo Clinic researchers.

In a study presented today at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions in Chicago, the researchers say that using a genetic score like the one they tested may provide added information to help cardiologists better estimate risk of heart attack in their patients and treat them accordingly.