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Scientists have discovered a way of mimicking the stunningly bright and beautiful colours found on the wings of tropical butterflies. The findings could have important applications in the security printing industry, helping to make bank notes and credit cards harder to forge.

CHICAGO, IL. (May 28, 2010)––Cancer of the pancreas––a glandular organ that lies behind the stomach and secretes vital enzymes and hormones––seldom is detected in early stages, making treatment difficult and survival statistics particularly grim. However, new research from Fox Chase Cancer Center finds that patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma whose tumors respond most to preoperative chemotherapy and radiation survive four times as long, on average, as those whose tumors respond least.

Nihal Altan-Bonnet, assistant professor of cell biology, Rutgers University in Newark, and her research team have made a significant new discovery about RNA (Ribonucleic acid) viruses and how they replicate themselves.

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have discovered a method to select sperm with the highest DNA integrity in a bid to improve male fertility. The method is comparable to that of the egg's natural selection abilities, according to the study published in the June/July issue of the Journal of Andrology.

Exposure in the womb to chemicals like Bisphenol-A (BPA) and Diethylstilbestrol (DES) can increase an offspring's risk of breast cancer, researchers at Yale School of Medicine report in a study published in current issue of Hormones and Cancer, a journal of The Endocrine Society.

BPA, DES and similar compounds are known as endocrine-disrupting chemicals, which are substances in the environment that interfere with the proper functioning of hormones. This disruption results in adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological and immune effects in both humans and wildlife.

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine and their colleagues at the Society for the Investigation of Early Pregnancy have helped clarify the function of a unique protein called Preimplantation Factor, which is produced by healthy embryos to direct embryo attachment and help the mother adapt to pregnancy.

A new and non-controversial source of stem cells can form heart muscle cells and help repair heart damage, according to results of preliminary lab tests reported in Circulation Research: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Investigators in Japan used the amniotic membrane — the inner lining of the sac in which an embryo develops — to obtain stem cells called human amniotic membrane-derived mesenchymal (undifferentiated) cells (hAMCs).

Whales are remarkably diverse, with 84 living species of dramatically different sizes and more than 400 other species that have gone extinct, including some that lived partly on land. Why are there so many whale species, with so much diversity in body size?

CHICAGO, IL. (May 28, 2010)––More than half a million women in the United States undergo a hysterectomy each year and approximately half of those surgeries include removal of the ovaries. Researchers know that removing a woman's ovaries is associated with a reduction in the risk of developing breast cancer, but it has not been clear whether those cancers that do arise in these women differ from breast cancers in the general population.

CHICAGO, IL. (May 28, 2010)––Fox Chase Cancer Center investigators find that pancreatic cancer patients who have circulating tumor cells tend to have worse outcomes than patients without circulating tumor cells. Additionally, the team has uncovered evidence that not all circulating tumor cells are the same, and some may predict worse outcomes than others.

Benjamin P. Negin, M.D., a medical oncology fellow at Fox Chase, will present the study at the 46th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology on Sunday, June 6.

CHICAGO, IL. (May 28, 2010)––There's debate about the best treatment approach for patients with certain stages of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which accounts for about 80 percent of all lung cancers. Patients with early stages of NSCLC are typically treated with surgery, but those with stage IIIA present more of a challenge because they are such a diverse group.

Despite growing evidence that the earlier people are diagnosed with HIV and get access to care, the better their clinical outcomes, many HIV-infected people in the United States and Canada are not receiving the care they need early enough. A study of nearly 45,000 patients in both countries highlighting this trend appears in the June 1, 2010, issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/652650).

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A published report provides the final details on how two stroke-prevention procedures are safe and equally beneficial for men and women at risk for stroke, though their effectiveness does vary by age, say researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Public Health in collaboration with other North American stroke investigators.