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Governments and other organizations must intensify efforts to improve the health of women and children, particularly in the developing world where the lion's share of deaths occur, says Dr. Philip Baker, an internationally renowned medical researcher in obstetrics & gynecology. Baker is the lead author on a G8 positioning paper that included consultations with 20 of the world's leading medical experts on women and children's health.

Pediatric researchers report that a recently introduced surgical procedure offers infants with severely underdeveloped hearts a better chance at surviving during their first year of life, in comparison to the standard surgery.

Heart surgeons from 15 centers in the federally sponsored Pediatric Heart Network studied the outcomes in 549 newborns who received a complex series of surgeries for hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS).

PHILADELPHIA –- Genetic researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have combined data from existing archaeological and linguistic studies of Africa with human genetic data to shed light on the demographic history of the continent from which all human activity emerged.

You might call it comparing apples and oranges, but lining up different species' genomes is common practice in evolutionary research. Scientists can see how species have evolved, pinpoint which sections of DNA are similar between species, meaning they probably are crucial to the animals' survival, or sketch out evolutionary trees in places where the fossil record is spotty.

But the tools used to align genomes from different species have serious quality-control issues, according to a study published online this week in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

In a major cancer-research breakthrough, researchers at the McGill University, Department of Biochemistry have discovered that a small segment of a protein that interacts with RNA can control the normal expression of genes – including those that are active in cancer.

While genome-wide association (GWA) studies have identified several genetic risk factors for common cancers, their predictive power is limited by their small effect sizes, according to a new study published online May 26 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

In the past few years, several GWA studies have reported a large number of gene-disease associations with diverse cancers. But there is ongoing debate on the robustness of these studies and the expensive technology used to uncover the genetic associations.

The anti-cancer drug AE-941, a shark cartilage derivative, did not improve overall survival in patients with inoperable stage III non-small cell lung cancer, according to a study published online May 26 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

HOUSTON - In the first scientific study of its kind, shark cartilage extract, AE-941 or Neovastat, has shown no benefit as a therapeutic agent when combined with chemotherapy and radiation for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, according to researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

The study was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute; the findings were first presented at the 43rd annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

OAK BROOK, Ill. (May 26, 2010) – Researchers analyzing 2.5 million screening mammograms performed on nearly one million women found discrimination of cancerous from non-cancerous lesions improved over a nine-year period. Results of the study are published in the online edition of the journal Radiology.

HAMILTON, CANADA – Women who drink two large glasses of milk a day after their weight-lifting routine gained more muscle and lost more fat compared to women who drank sugar-based energy drinks, a McMaster study has found.

The study appears in the June issue of Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise.

Every cell contains machinery for self-destruction, used to induce death when damaged or sick. But according to a new research study, a receptor thought to mediate cell suicide in normal cells may actually be responsible for the unrestrained growth of cancerous tumors.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Shark attacks are most likely to occur on Sunday, in less than 6 feet of water, during a new moon and involve surfers wearing black and white bathing suits, a first of its kind study from the University of Florida suggests.

Researchers analyzed statistics from shark attacks that occurred in Florida's Volusia County, dubbed the "Shark Attack Capital of the World," between 1956 and 2008. They also spent a year observing people between Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach, said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File at UF.

CHICAGO -- New research illustrates that some patients with transformed lymphoma showed "remarkable" response to lenalidomide, an oral drug with few side effects.

The international study, involving 24 medical centers in the United States and Europe, will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (http://www.asco.org/) annual meeting June 4-8, 2010, in Chicago.

KINGSTON, ON – A discovery that may pave the way to helping reduce health hazards such as E. coli in water could also make chemicals and drugs such as insulin cheaper to produce and their production more environmentally friendly.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – May 26, 2010 – Complete Genomics Inc., a third-generation human genome sequencing company, today announced that Genentech Inc., a wholly owned member of the Roche Group (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY), used the company's sequencing, bioinformatics and analytics services to sequence and compare a patient's primary lung tumor and adjacent normal tissue. Tumor-normal pairs like this allow researchers to compare the patient's genome before and after it was altered by the cancer; the patient's normal genome serves as the ideal control.