Body

After receiving abnormal results on a flexible sigmoidoscopy screening test, more than 25 percent of participants in a large national trial did not go to a doctor for the recommended follow-up test, a diagnostic colonoscopy. Blacks in the study were less likely than whites to have the follow-up colonoscopy, according to a study published online April 6 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

An analysis of dietary data from more than 400,000 men and women found only a weak association between high fruit and vegetable intake and reduced overall cancer risk, according to a study published online April 6, 2010 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

DALLAS, April 6, 2010 — People at lower socioeconomic levels die more often within five to 10 years after heart surgery than those at higher socioeconomic levels, regardless of race and gender, according to research reported in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal.

In the study, researchers tracked the survival of 23,330 people (15,156 white men, 6,932 white women, 678 black men and 564 black women) who underwent heart bypass or valve surgery between 1995 and 2005.

In the first survey of sand flies in Panama to use genetic barcoding, scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Gorgas Memorial Laboratories identified 20 sand fly species from Barro Colorado Island. Two species carried Leishmania naiffi, a parasite that causes cutaneous leishmaniasis: persistent, itchy skin lesions. Three species carried Wolbachia, a bacterial parasite of insects that could contribute to a strategy to control the flies and limit disease transmission.

As many as 20 percent of adults with known risk factors are currently undiagnosed but suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), states a research article (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj091784.pdf in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) www.cmaj.ca.

COPD is a common and costly respiratory condition that is estimated to affect 10% of people 40 years of age and older.

The likelihood of three genetic variants being associated with a risk of Crohn disease is lower than many previous studies indicated, states a research article (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj090684.pdf in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) www.cmaj.ca.

Last year, researchers made a game-changing realization: brown fat, the energy-burning stuff that keeps babies warm, isn't just for the youngest among us. Adults have it, too (if they are lucky, anyway), and it is beginning to look like the heat-generating tissue might hold considerable metabolic importance for familiar and irritating trends, like our tendency to put on extra weight as we age.

DURHAM, N.C. – A new study reconstructing thousands of years of fire history in the southern Appalachians supports the use of prescribed fire, or controlled burns, as a tool to reduce the risk of wildfires, restore and maintain forest health and protect rare ecological communities in the region's forests.

CHICAGO (April 6, 2010) – For some, the phrase "spring is in the air" is quite literal. When the winter snow melts and flowers bloom, pollen and other materials can wreak havoc on those suffering from seasonal allergies, usually causing a habit called "mouth breathing." The physical, medical and social problems associated with mouth breathing are not recognized by most health care professionals, according to a study published in the January/February 2010 issue of General Dentistry, the peer-reviewed clinical journal of the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD).

DURHAM, N.C. – The number of sea turtles inadvertently snared by commercial fishing gear over the past 20 years may reach into the millions, according to the first peer-reviewed study to compile sea turtle bycatch data from gillnet, trawl and longline fisheries worldwide.

Using CT scans to measure blood flow in the lungs of people who smoke may offer a way to identify which smokers are most at risk of emphysema before the disease damages and eventually destroys areas of the lungs, according to a University of Iowa study.

The study found that smokers who have very subtle signs of emphysema, but still have normal lung function, have very different blood flow patterns in their lungs compared to non-smokers and smokers without signs of emphysema.

Luminescent markers are an indispensable tool for researchers working with DNA. But the markers are troublesome. Some tend to destroy the function and structure of DNA when inserted. Others emit so little light, that they can barely be detected in the hereditary material. So researchers have been asking for alternative markers.

Now a PhD student at the University of Copenhagen has developed a tool in collaboration with researchers at Chalmers Technical University, which might save both problems: A tool that you might call a molecular gauge.

Jerusalem, April 6, 2010 -- Spectacularly increased yields and improved taste have been achieved with hybrid tomato plants by researchers at the Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the Hebrew University and the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), New York.

An international team led by researchers from the University of Cordoba (UCO) has analysed seroprevalence (antibodies to a disease) of Toxoplasma Gondii, the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis in many species, including humans. This latest study reveals that the parasite is widespread in areas where the wild Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) lives, and also in captive breeding centres. Scientists are now undertaking further research into the disease itself.

Philadelphia, PA, April 5, 2010 – The presence of metallic foreign bodies in the eye is an uncommon injury in children, so much so that two children with autism presenting with this injury led to detective work by two physicians that found the common cause.