Body

A study published this week in PLoS Medicine by Simon Hay and colleagues from the Malaria Atlas Project (MAP) concludes that there were an estimated 451 million clinical cases of Plasmodium falciparum malaria worldwide in 2007.

Identification of a key player in a signaling pathway involved in the development of melanoma – the deadliest form of skin cancer – may offer hope for new targeted melanoma therapies.

A hormone that helps to regulate blood sugar levels may also influence a person's sensitivity to sweet-tasting foods, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. They found that blocking the tongue's ability to respond to the hormone known as glucagon decreases the taste system's sensitivity to sweetness. That is, changing the actions of the hormone glucagon could control how foods taste, according to the study published online June 14 in the Federation for American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Journal.

Despite a greater likelihood of poorer outcomes, many patients newly-diagnosed with early-stage lung cancer do not undergo surgery. New research indicates that among the factors associated with this decision include misunderstandings of the prognosis, negative perceptions of patient-physician communication and older age, with black patients more likely to not have surgery, according to a study in the June 16 issue of JAMA.

Patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) who have Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) detected in their respiratory tract have worse survival compared to CF patients without MRSA, according to a study in the June 16 issue of JAMA.

The most common cause of death in CF is respiratory failure secondary to pulmonary infection. The prevalence of MRSA in the respiratory tract of individuals with CF has increased substantially, and is now more than 20 percent, according to background information in the article. However, the effect of MRSA on outcomes in CF is unclear.

CHAPEL HILL – A new study led by UNC researchers that looks at newly diagnosed lung cancer patients and follows them from diagnosis forward is one of the first to give reasons why patients don't go to lung surgery and why surgery happens less often in blacks.

A study of twins shows that even with genes that put them at higher risk of cardiovascular disease, eating a Mediterranean-style diet can improve heart function, according to research reported in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal.

By unlocking the genetic secrets of sorghum, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have found a way to make one of the world's most important cereal crops a better option for growers. Researchers at the ARS Natural Products Utilization Unit in Oxford, Miss. also may have opened a door to reducing pesticide use in the production of other crops.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has stopped a clinical trial evaluating a new approach to reduce the risk of recurrent stroke in children with sickle cell anemia and iron overload because of evidence that the new treatment was unlikely to prove better than the existing treatment.

Leaded gasoline was responsible for about two-thirds of toxic lead that African-American children in Cleveland ingested or inhaled during the latter two-thirds of the 20th century, according to a new study in Science of the Total Environment.

The degradation of proteins and other macromolecules in cells is vital to survival. Disruption of this process can result in serious disease. The research group of Professor Thomas Jentsch (Leibniz Institute for Molecular Pharmacology, FMP/ Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, MDC, Berlin-Buch) has now succeeded in identifying an essential cellular process necessary for the transport and degradation of macromolecules in endosomes and lysosomes, respectively.

PHILADELPHIA — Combined targeted therapy against the BRAF/MAPK pathway with immunotherapy shows promise as a new therapeutic approach for the treatment of melanoma, according to results of a preclinical study published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

PHILADELPHIA — Preclinical findings recently published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, showed RG7204 (PLX4032) inhibited proliferation of tumor cell lines that expressed V600E-BRAF, a mutation found in several human cancers, including melanoma.

The compound also showed partial or complete tumor regression and improved survival in a dose-dependent manner in preclinical efficacy models in rodents, without associated toxicity.

RESTON, Va. - SNM's 2010 Image of the Year illustrates the potential of hybrid molecular imaging to provide precise information about the location and function of a condition known as "hyperparathyroidism." Researchers selected this image from more than 1,500 studies presented over the course of four days during SNM's 57th Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City.

ARGONNE, Ill. (June 15, 2010) — A scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has created visible-light catalysis, using silver chloride nanowires decorated with gold nanoparticles, that may decompose organic molecules in polluted water.