Body

Smokers who refrain from using tobacco during the six-week period following emergency surgery for an acute fracture heal more quickly and experience fewer complications than patients who continue to smoke during the healing process, according to a study published in the June 2010 issue of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS).

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Experts are now recommending that low-dose aspirin therapy to prevent heart attacks be used somewhat more conservatively – that men younger than 50 and women younger than 60, who have diabetes but no other major risk factors, probably not use aspirin.

The new recommendations are based on an analysis of nine studies, which found that the risks of some side effects such as stomach bleeding, and to a much less extent bleeding strokes, have to be better balanced against the potential benefits of using aspirin.

Reston, Va.—A study published in the June issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine shows that positron emission tomography (PET)—a molecular imaging technique—combined with computer tomography (CT) colonography may provide a suitable alternative for detecting polyps and cancer in the colon. This particular imaging method may be especially desirable for patients because it does not require sedation or bowel preparation.

PITTSBURGH, June 1 – Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) and the School of Medicine have discovered that inhibiting a key molecule in a DNA repair pathway could provide the means to make cancer cells more sensitive to radiation therapy while protecting healthy cells.

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have solved a longstanding mystery as to why a pathogen that threatens the world's wheat supply can be so adaptable, diverse and virulent. It is because the fungus that causes the wheat disease called stripe rust may use sexual recombination to adapt to resistant varieties of wheat.

PHILADELPHIA — Among Chinese men, calcium consumption — even at relatively low levels and from non-dairy food sources such as soy, grains and green vegetables — may increase prostate cancer risk, according to results published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Those neighbourhood squirrels you often see fighting over food may not seem altruistic, but new University of Guelph research has found that the critters will actually take in orphaned relatives.

The study by Guelph Prof. Andrew McAdam, along with researchers from the University of Alberta and McGill University, revealed that red squirrels will adopt pups that have lost their mother.

PHILADELPHIA (June 1, 2010)—Lung cancer rates are increasing substantially in women, particularly in non-smoking women, with no known reason for the increase. Now researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center may have uncovered a critical piece in the puzzle.

HOUSTON - (June 1, 2010) – Understanding how the tumor suppressor protein C/EBP alpha is eliminated in aging livers gives important clues to the mechanism by which cancer occurs in that organ and could point the way to new therapies and prevention, said Baylor College of Medicine (www.bcm.edu) researchers in a report that appears online today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Scientists have learned how a gene widely known for precisely positioning and sculpting various organs also controls the speed of cell division, a finding that could be useful for understanding the explosive growth of cancer cells or why increasing numbers of children are being born with genital and urinary tract malformations.

CHICAGO – Cancer patients who've been told to rest and avoid exercise can – and should – find ways to be physically active both during and after treatment, according to new national guidelines.

Chicago — Aromatase inhibitor-associated arthralgia (AIAA) is a major side effect in breast cancer survivors, producing joint pain so severe that as many as ten percent of women discontinue their therapy prematurely while undergoing treatment with these lifesaving drugs. New research presented by investigators from the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center at the 2010 meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology reveals a possible genetic basis for why these side effects occur and shows promise for treating these symptoms without interfering with the drugs' efficacy.

COLD SPRING HARBOR, N.Y. (Tues., June 1, 2010) -- Gel electrophoresis is one of the most important and frequently used techniques in RNA analysis. Electrophoresis is used for RNA detection, quantification, purification by size and quality assessment. Gels are involved in a wide variety of methods including northern blotting, primer extension, footprinting and analyzing processing reactions. The two most common types of gels are polyacrylamide and agarose.

Each year The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University names the Top 10 new species described in the previous calendar year. The list for 2009 was published to coincide with the 303rd anniversary on May 23rd of the birth of Carl Linnaeus. It contains only two new plant species, one of which was first published in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.

New treatments for malaria are possible after Walter and Eliza Hall Institute scientists found that molecules similar to the blood-thinning drug heparin can stop malaria from infecting red blood cells.