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Spanish researchers have developed a new mathematical model that permits to predict sport injuries from a series of equations. Their work has proved that sport injuries that affect the lower limbs in high-impact sport, such as football, athletics or basketball, can be predicted through the use of equations of logistic regression.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- For winter sports athletes, including Olympians competing in Vancouver this week, the altitude of the sports venue can have a significant impact on performance, requiring athletes in skill sports, such as figure skating, ski jumping and snowboarding, to retool highly technical moves to accommodate more or less air resistance.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – New research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) suggests that the ability of right side of the heart to pump blood may be an indication of the risk of death to heart-failure patients whose condition is caused by low function by the left side of their heart.

The ability of the two chambers of the heart, the left and right ventricles, to pump blood is described as ejection fraction. Healthy individuals typically have ejection fractions between 50 and 65 percent in both chambers.

By unraveling the mysteries that exist within the molecular composition of mosquitoes, a team of Kansas State University researchers is trying to discover how the insects survive a parasite that causes malaria in humans.

A University of Melbourne study has revealed that certain breast cancer genetic variants increase mammographic density, confirming the link between mammographic breast density and breast cancer.

Professor John Hopper of the University's School of Population Health says women vary greatly in their underlying risk of breast cancer. "These findings provide an insight into possible new pathways into the development of breast cancer."

A team of Catalan researchers has studied the changes in the make-up of animal populations following forest fires, and have concluded that malacological fauna are a good indicator of forest recovery. The conclusions of this study will help to ensure that post-fire forestry operations that do not harm these species of molluscs, which are sensitive to microclimatic conditions of the soil and vegetation structure.

How safe is circumcision? A systematic review, published in the open access journal BMC Urology has found that neonatal and infant circumcision by trained staff rarely results in problems. Risks can be higher among older boys, especially when undertaken by untrained providers with inappropriate equipment.

A team led by PhD researcher Dr Colleen Lau from the School of Population Health http://www.sph.uq.edu.au/ , has discovered the disease, known medically as leptospirosis, was traditionally a concern for males working in the agricultural and livestock industries, as it is contracted from contact with the urine of host animals.

Ms Lau said recreational exposure and international travel have emerged as increasingly important sources of infection over the past decade.

New analyses from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) confirm that combination hormone therapy increases the risk of heart disease in healthy postmenopausal women. Researchers report a trend toward an increased risk of heart disease during the first two years of hormone therapy among women who began therapy within 10 years of menopause, and a more marked elevation of risk among women who began hormone therapy more than 10 years after menopause. Analyses indicate that overall a woman's risk of heart disease more than doubles within the first two years of taking combination HT.

DALLAS – Feb. 15, 2010 – Simple urine tests for four proteins might be able to detect early kidney disease in people with lupus, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found in an animal study.

Although it might take years before such tests could be used clinically, the findings suggest they could pinpoint kidney disease better than tests currently in use, the researchers said.

In the wake of Johns Hopkins' success in virtually eliminating intensive-care unit bloodstream infections via a simple five-step checklist, the safety scientist who developed and popularized the tool warns medical colleagues that they are no panacea.

One-third of people over the age of 65 wait longer than necessary for lifesaving, new kidneys because their doctors fail to put them in a queue for organs unsuitable to transplant in younger patients but well-suited to seniors, research from Johns Hopkins suggests.

Results of a study reported online in the American Journal of Transplantation show that older patients could be receiving kidneys from older donors (called extended-criteria donors, or ECDs), but instead are unnecessarily waiting longer for kidneys from younger donors.

UCSF researchers have discovered that a protein called B1N1 is necessary for the heart to contract. The findings, published in the Feb. 16 issue of the open access journal PLoS Biology, shed light not only on what makes a heart beat but also on heart failure, a disease where cardiac cells are no longer able to contract and pump blood through the body.

'Free-stall', untied cattle in small herds produce less milk than cows tied to their stalls but have a higher reproductive performance and suffer less teat injuries and metabolic diseases. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica compared performance and health within the two stall types in response to a ban on the construction of new tie-stalls.

How safe is circumcision? A systematic review, published in the open access journal BMC Urology has found that neonatal and infant circumcision by trained staff rarely results in problems. Risks can be higher among older boys, especially when undertaken by untrained providers with inappropriate equipment.