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OTTAWA, ON – MAY 2010 -- New research shows Inuit populations in the Canadian Arctic have asthma rates far below Aboriginal people in other parts of Canada, especially those in urban centres.

The study, published recently in the International Journal of Circumpolar Health, says reported cases of asthma in Inuit children was 5%, compared to 12% for all other Aboriginal groups. In Inuit adults, 5.4% of respondents had been diagnosed with asthma, compared to the national average of 11%.

An international consortium of scientists, led by researchers at Johns Hopkins University has identified two genes that when altered are closely associated with cleft lip and/or cleft palate. Cleft lip and cleft palate are among the world's most common congenital malformations and occur in one in every 700 births. The finding is the result of the largest family-based, genome-wide study of cleft lip and/or cleft palate conducted to date. The results were published online by the journal Nature Genetics.

Anaheim, Calif. (April 30, 2010) – Measures of reproductive and thyroid hormone levels remained within normal limits in healthy adult Japanese men who took either of two doses of a supplement of SE5-OH containing Natural S-equol, a novel soy germ-based ingredient under development for the management of prostate health, according to a new placebo-controlled study. In addition, measures of the men's prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels were within normal limits. These peer-reviewed safety data were presented at the Experimental Biology (EB) 2010 annual meeting.

Puberty that arrives earlier or later in adolescent boys relative to their peers can trigger chemicals that are related to antisocial behavior, according to researchers, whose findings have key implications for parents with aggressive boys.

Two Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are part of an international team that has found a way to boost the nutritional value of corn. This has the potential to reduce the number of children in developing countries who lose their eyesight, become ill or die each year because of vitamin A deficiencies.

The use of statins – drugs commonly prescribed to help lower cholesterol levels – may play an important role in decreasing complications among patients undergoing total hip replacement (THR), according to a study published in the May 2010 issue of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS).

A team of international researchers has brought the primary component of mammoth blood back to life using ancient DNA preserved in bones from Siberian specimens 25,000 to 43,000 years old.

Reston, Va.—The Journal of Nuclear Medicine (JNM)—the top-rated medical imaging journal worldwide—has published Multimodality Molecular Imaging of the Cardiovascular System, presenting the state of the art of cardiovascular molecular imaging and discussing opportunities and challenges in advancing cardiovascular molecular imaging to clinical practice.

BOSTON (May 3, 2010) — Best practices for managing medical emergencies in dental clinics have evolved over the past decade to account for advances in knowledge and the development of new medications and medical equipment. Morton Rosenberg, DMD, of Tufts University School of Dental Medicine and an expert on dental anesthesiology, integrated existing guidelines with new information to create an updated list of emergency medications and equipment for dental providers, including an emergency preparedness checklist.

Human parents often pay more attention to a few favored children among all of their offspring. It has already been known that birds do it too, and it may result in some baby birds dying in the nests. According to the recent discoveries published in Journal of Avian Biology, the top journal in the field of ornithology, one of our famous garden birds, magpies, also favor some of their nestlings, but in a fairly strange and unique manner.

A University of Alberta researcher is part of an international team that has discovered a naturally occurring micro-organism that directly targets a bacteria that causes a sometimes deadly intestinal disease in young children and the elderly.