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About 1900 deaths from lung cancer per year in Germany are due to radon within residential buildings. This was the conclusion reached in the current edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International by Klaus Schmid of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and his coauthors (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2010; 107(11): 181-6).

AMES, Iowa - People feel it, animals feel it, and yes, plants sense it too.

It's stress.

Plant researchers are taking a long look at stress in order to improve crop productivity, especially when faced with issues of climate change.

A Kansas State University researcher is exploring the use of Chinese wolfberries to improve vision deficiencies that are common for type-2 diabetics.

Dingbo "Daniel" Lin, K-State research assistant professor of human nutrition, is studying wolfberries and their potential to improve damage to the retina. His findings show that the fruit can lower the oxidative stress that the eye undergoes as a result of type-2 diabetes.

In Korea, there has been a rapid epidemiological shift in hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection as a result of rapid economic development. The adult cases of acute hepatitis A have increased rapidly during the past 10 years due to the emergence of susceptible adults in Korea.

Caudate hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has a poorer prognosis than HCC originating from other lobes, due to its proximity to the portal trunk and inferior vena cava, which facilitate intrahepatic and systemic spread early in the disease. Hepatic resection is considered, in principle, to be the first choice treatment. In order to improve surgical outcome, it is necessary to evaluate the potential risk factors affecting long-term survival and to establish guidelines for the appropriate use of hepatectomy for caudate lobectomy.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is an important public health problem which is extremely common nowadays. Symptoms of GERD arise from the exposure of increased acid gastric contents into the lower part of the esophageal mucosa. Most patients with GERD have NERD with invisible mucosal damages under endoscopy. There is not a gold standard to diagnose NERD due to the poor sensitivity, specificity, and reproducibility of many existing methods. Dilated intercellular spaces (DIS) in the esophageal epithelium have been a recent research hotspot.

Mindin has an indispensable role in both innate and adaptive immunity. A research group in China investigated regulation of mindin expression and the signaling pathway involved. mRNA expression of mindin was upregulated during dextran sulfate sodium induced mouse intestinal inflammation. Stimulation with CpG-ODN (a known TLR-9 ligand) induced upregulation of mindin expression in RAW 264.7 cells and significantly increased the NF-κB-luciferase activity in vitro.

The rise in human emissions of carbon dioxide is driving fundamental and dangerous changes in the chemistry and ecosystems of the world's oceans, international marine scientists warned today.

"Ocean conditions are already more extreme than those experienced by marine organisms and ecosystems for millions of years," the researchers say in the latest issue of the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution (TREE).

"This emphasises the urgent need to adopt policies that drastically reduce CO2 emissions."

In order for a gene to create a protein, the gene's DNA must first be converted into what's known as messenger RNA. These RNA molecules are the instruction manuals that show the ribosomes – the cell's protein factories – how to build a protein. A few years ago, scientists studying bacterial cells discovered sections in certain messenger RNAs that metabolic products (metabolites) can bind to. In doing so, they induce the RNA molecule to change its spatial structure and make it possible to switch protein production on or off.

Easter eggs and other chocolate may be good for you – at least in small quantities and preferably if it's dark chocolate – according to research that shows just one small square of chocolate a day can lower your blood pressure and reduce your risk of heart disease. The study is published online today (Wednesday 31 March) in the European Heart Journal [1].

German researchers determined that concentrations of the sex hormones, testosterone in men and estrogen in women, may have a positive effect on the regenerative potential of cartilage tissue. The study suggests hormone replacement in the joint fluid of men and women might be beneficial in treating late stages of human osteoarthritis (OA) by regenerating damaged tissue. Details of this evidence-based study appear in the April issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology.

DALLAS – March 30, 2010 – Two new tuberculosis studies by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers provide good news and bad news about the bacterium that infects nearly a third of the world's population and a disease that kills nearly 2 million people each year.

The good news: A type of blood pressure medication shows promise at overcoming some drug-resistant tuberculosis, at least in the laboratory. The bad news: The Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacterium, which causes the disease, might be resistant to treatment in more people than previously thought.

A recent WHO report on inadequate road safety opened with some stark figures: 1.2 million deaths and up to 50 million nonfatal injuries occur every year on the world's roads. In keeping with the aim of PLoS Medicine to prioritize studies that consider all factors that contribute substantially to morbidity and mortality worldwide, this month PLoS Medicine publishes research and magazine articles focusing on this topic.

"The value of animal experiments for predicting the effectiveness of treatment strategies in clinical trials has remained controversial, mainly because of a recurrent failure of interventions apparently promising in animal models to translate to the clinic," say authors in a Research in Translation piece published in PLoS Medicine this week. The PLoS Medicine magazine article by H. van der Worp (University Medicine Centre Utrecht) and colleagues discusses the controversies and possibilities of translating the results of animal experiments into human clinical trials.

ITHACA - Cornell University researchers have found a new tool to help marine biologists better grasp the processes under the sea: They have created mathematical models to unveil the bacterial community dynamics behind afflictions that bleach and kill coral. (Public Library of Science – Biology, March 30, 2010.)