Body

How fast you can judge whether a person of the opposite sex is looking at you depends on how masculine or feminine they look, according to a new study. The researchers speculate that there may be an evolutionary advantage to quickly noticing when a hottie is looking at you.

TORONTO, June 28, 2010 − Protecting ourselves from backyard mosquito bites may come down to leaving the vacuuming for later, a study from York University shows.

Rather than vacuuming the grass clippings out of catch basins before adding treatments to control mosquitoes, municipalities should leave the organic waste in place, the research found.

Healing powers for one of the world's deadliest diseases may lie within sponges, sea worms and other underwater creatures.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Monday, June 28, 2010 – In the first ever published estimate of the percentage and number of cancer survivors who live with their minor children, a team led by a Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center researcher found that millions of cancer survivors are parenting young children, highlighting a group of survivors with very special needs.

Published early online today in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study's results may help address the unmet needs of this unique group of patients and their families.

Fifty three percent of food products specifically targeted to babies and toddlers in Canadian grocery stores have an excessive proportion—more than 20 per cent—of calories coming from sugar, according to a new study by University of Calgary professor Charlene Elliott.

Researchers at the University of Leicester have demonstrated that movable sequences of DNA, which give rise to genetic variability and sometimes cause specific diseases, are far more common than previously thought.

In a paper published in the leading journal Cell, Dr Richard Badge and his collaborators examined L1 (or LINE-1) retrotransposons: DNA sequences which can 'copy and paste' their genetic code around the genome. By breaking up genes, L1s can be responsible for some rare instances of genetic disease.

Rome, Italy: The first worldwide study of the societal impact of endometriosis has found a significant loss of work productivity among those women who suffer from the condition, a researcher told the 26th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology today (Monday). Dr. Kelechi Nnoaham, from the Department of Public Health, University of Oxford, UK, said that the results of this multi-centre study would help highlight the previously unrecognised plight of an estimated 176 million women around the world whose lives are affected by endometriosis.

Scientists from the University of Warwick and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, are the first to directly measure a specific region of DNA in human embryos. The length of this region could be a quality marker for embryonic development.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – A tooth-bleaching agent may improve the oral health of elderly and special-needs patients, say dentists at the Medical College of Georgia and Western University of Health Sciences.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Vietnam War-era veterans exposed to Agent Orange appear to have significantly more Graves' disease, a thyroid disorder, than veterans with no exposure, a new study by endocrinologists at the University at Buffalo has shown.

Ajay Varanasi, MD, an endocrinology fellow in the UB Department of Medicine and first author on the study, garnered first prize in the oral presentation category for this research at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists annual meeting held in Boston in April.

For people with hypertension, eating dark chocolate can significantly reduce blood pressure. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Medicine combined the results of 15 studies into the effects of flavanols, the compounds in chocolate which cause dilation of blood vessels, on blood pressure.

A new study published online today by JAMA shows that among patients age 65 years and older, rosiglitazone (a medication for treating Type 2 diabetes) is associated with an increased risk of stroke, heart failure, and all-cause mortality (death) when compared with pioglitazone (another medication for diabetes). The study was published online today in advance of an upcoming Food and Drug Administration meeting that will review the safety of rosiglitazone. The paper will appear in the July 28 print issue of JAMA.

Eleven years after the introduction of the diabetes drug rosiglitazone, data from available clinical trials demonstrate an increased risk for heart attack associated with its use and suggest an unfavorable benefit-to-risk ratio, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the July 26 print issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The study was published online in advance of an upcoming Food and Drug Administration meeting that will review the safety of rosiglitazone.

NEW YORK, June 27, 2010 – Researchers funded by JDRF have discovered that the hormone, serotonin, may be involved in the increase of insulin-producing beta cells during pregnancy. The findings reveal one of the mechanisms underlying beta cell expansion during pregnancy, and are the latest advances underscoring the potential for regeneration as a key component of a possible cure for type 1 diabetes.