Body

Philadelphia, PA, July 6, 2010 – Few medical investigations have had the impact of the Framingham Heart Study. This study, started in 1948, was designed as a cohort, observational study of cardiovascular disease, then recognized as a growing health threat but now has emerged as much more. The Framingham Heart study came to revolutionize thinking about cardiovascular disease, change the study of epidemiology, and even force the biostatistics community to develop multivariate analysis.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Scientists have designed a nanoparticle that appears to effectively deliver genetic material into cells with minimal toxic effects.

In lab experiments, the researchers have found that this device, a vector, is able to deliver DNA deeply enough into a cell to allow genetic material to be activated – a critical step in gene therapy. This vector is between 2 ½ and 10 times more effective than other experimental materials, according to the research.

A treatment plan used to prevent potentially dangerous blood clots in recovering surgical patients can also benefit some patients immobilized by acute medical illness, doctors have found in a multi-institutional study.

In women, patients age 75 or older, and patients strictly confined to 24-hour bed rest, a month of extended treatment with a blood thinner significantly reduced the chances of blood clots while only slightly increasing the risk of bleeding.

Don't put down the red wine and vitamins just yet, but if you're taking antioxidants because you hope to live longer, consider this: a new study published in the June 2010 issue of the journal GENETICS (http://www.genetics.org) casts doubt on the theory that oxidative stress to our tissues shortens lifespan.

Deworming lambs can be minimized with rotational grazing and checking the animals' eye color, according to an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) study.

Animal scientist Joan Burke at the ARS Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Center in Booneville, Ark., and colleagues made this finding as part of a continuing collaboration with scientists, veterinarians, and extension agents from the Southern Consortium for Small Ruminant Parasite Control.

Name a drink that can make you more alert for late-night studying, prevent you from fainting after giving blood, and even promote a teensy bit of weight loss.

Chances are you didn't say water. But that's the right answer.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have shown that ordinary water – without any additives – does more than just quench thirst. It has some other unexpected, physiological effects. It increases the activity of the sympathetic – fight or flight – nervous system, which raises alertness, blood pressure and energy expenditure.

The tunable fluorescent nanoparticles known as quantum dots make ideal tools for distinguishing and identifying rare cancer cells in tissue biopsies, Emory and Georgia Tech scientists have demonstrated.

An article to be featured on the cover of the July 15 issue of Analytical Chemistry describes how multicolor quantum dots linked to antibodies can distinguish the Reed-Sternberg cells that are characteristic of Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Montreal, July 6, 2010 - A team of researchers from the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) of the University of Montreal have made significant progress in the understanding of blood-producing (hematopoietic) stem cells. The study led by IRIC Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director, Dr. Guy Sauvageau, identifies factors that control the production of hematopoietic stem cells. Published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, the research offers interesting insight critical to the development of novel regenerative therapies and treatments for leukemia.

Researchers at National Jewish Health have discovered a trigger that induces B cells to produce effective and long-lived antibodies early in the immune response. They found that a molecule that binds toll-like receptors (TLR) doubles the early antibody response to an antigen, and shifts it to a more effective, IgG form.

In the development of future molecular devices, new display technologies, and "artificial muscles" in nanoelectromechanical devices, functional molecules are likely to play a primary role.

Rotaxanes, one family of such molecules, are tiny, mechanically interlocked structures that consist of a dumbell-shaped molecule whose rod section is encircled by a ring. These structures behave as molecular "machines," with the ring moving along the rod from one station to another when stimulated by a chemical reaction, light or acidity.

PHOENIX, Ariz. — July 6, 2010 — A new computer data compression technique called Genomic SQueeZ (G-SQZ), developed by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), will allow genetic researchers and others to store, analyze and share massive volumes of data in less space and at lower cost.

Created specifically for genomic sequencing data, the encoding method underlying G-SQZ and its software use are described in a paper published today in the journal Bioinformatics.

Scientists have obtained the first visualization of the inherent arrangement of lipid molecules in different tissues of a whole, living vertebrate organism. The research, published by Cell Press in Biophysical Journal on July 6th, validates earlier studies done with primary cells and may lead to a new understanding of the physiological significance of plasma membrane organization.

CINCINNATI—Cellular changes in fat tissue—not the immune system—lead to the "hyperinflammation" characteristic of obesity-related glucose intolerance and type 2 diabetes, according to new research from the University of Cincinnati (UC).

Cancer and cell biology experts say this new discovery about the cellular mechanisms behind glucose intolerance may provide a different target for drugs to treat type 2 diabetes as well as insights into how aggressive cancers form.

Ear infections caused by more than one species of bacteria could be more persistent and antibiotic-resistant because one pathogen may be communicating with the other, encouraging it to bolster its defenses. Interrupting or removing that communication could be key to curing these infections. Researchers from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center publish their findings today in mBio™, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

TORONTO, Ont., July 6, 2010 — Nearly 60 per cent of Ontarians with rheumatoid arthritis — an autoimmune disease that causes chronic inflammation of the joints — were not seen by a specialist within a one year period to treat the debilitating disease, according to a new study. Even more concerning is that women of child-bearing age are less likely to see a specialist than women 45 or older, say researchers from St. Michael's Hospital, the Institute for Clinical and Evaluative Sciences (ICES), and Women's College Hospital.