Body

A new online database combining symptoms, family history and genetic sequencing information is speeding the search for diseases caused by a single rogue gene. As described in an article in the May issue of Human Mutation, the database, known as PhenoDB, enables any clinician to document cases of unusual genetic diseases for analysis by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine or the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Daejeon, Republic of Korea, March 18, 2013 -- Nonvolatile memory that can store data even when not powered is currently used for portable electronics such as smart phones, tablets, and laptop computers. Flash memory is a dominant technology in this field, but its slow writing and erasing speed has led to extensive research into a next-generation nonvolatile memory called Phase-Change Random Access Memory (PRAM), as PRAM's operating speed is 1,000 times faster than that of flash memory.

Drs Lewis and Carré in the University's Department of Mechanical Engineering have been measuring the dynamic friction between the material of the ball and the skin on the fingertips and palm, and the mitts that some players choose to wear under different weather conditions. They're looking to answer one question: what's the best way to ensure that players don't fumble the ball?

CORAL GABLES, FL (March 18, 2012) -- University of Miami (UM) doctoral student in Environmental Science and Policy, David Shiffman was invited to tweet updates in real-time, at the International Congress of Conservation Biology, New Zealand, 2011. As a result, more than 100,000 twitter users worldwide saw at least one tweet from the conference, and nearly 200 people from more than 40 countries, on six continents shared at least one tweet from the conference -- greatly exceeding the number of conference attendees.

Marine biologists have, for the first time, found a whale skeleton on the ocean floor near Antarctica, giving new insights into life in the sea depths. The discovery was made almost a mile below the surface in an undersea crater and includes the find of at least nine new species of deep-sea organisms thriving on the bones.

The research, involving the University of Southampton, Natural History Museum, British Antarctic Survey, National Oceanography Centre (NOC) and Oxford University, is published today in Deep-Sea Research II: Topical Studies in Oceanography.

Milan, 15 March 2013 – A genetic score based on PCa risk-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is an independent predictor of prostate biopsy outcomes, suggest the results of a new study conducted by a group from the Department of Urology Huashan Hospital, Fudan University in Shanghai, China.

The authors, who relate their findings to the male population in China, also suggest that this score can improve predictive performance of existing clinical variables, especially for patients with a total PSA levels < 20 ng/ml

Milan, 15 March 2013 - Men who participate in biennial PSA based screening have a lower risk of being diagnosed as well as dying from prostate cancer up to 9 years after their last PSA test, according to the results of a new study to be presented at the 28th Annual EAU Congress in Milan

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – March 18, 2013 – New research from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center shows that a diabetes prevention program led by community health workers is effective at reducing blood glucose and potentially reducing diabetes over the long term.

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- A rising percentage of parents say they won't have their teen daughters vaccinated to protect against the human papilloma virus, even though physicians are increasingly recommending adolescent vaccinations, a study by Mayo Clinic and others shows. More than 2 in 5 parents surveyed believe the HPV vaccine is unnecessary, and a growing number worry about potential side effects, researchers found. The findings are published in the new issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Around half of Cambodia's tropical flooded grasslands have been lost in just 10 years according to new research from the University of East Anglia.

The seasonally flooded grasslands around the Tonle Sap, Southeast Asia's largest freshwater lake, are of great importance for biodiversity and a refuge for 11 globally-threatened bird species. They are also a vital fishing, grazing, and traditional rice farming resource for around 1.1 million people.

An international research team announces the first scientific results from one of the most inaccessible places on Earth: the bottom of the Mariana Trench located nearly 11 kilometers below sea level in the western Pacific, which makes it the deepest site on Earth.

Their analyses document that a highly active bacteria community exists in the sediment of the trench - even though the environment is under extreme pressure almost 1,100 times higher than at sea level.

March 17, 2013 — (Bronx, NY) — Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have found that macrophages – white blood cells that play a key role in the immune response – also help to both produce and eliminate the body's red blood cells (RBCs). The findings could lead to novel therapies for diseases or conditions in which the red blood cell production is thrown out of balance.

As success rates in treating childhood cancers have improved, greater emphasis is being placed on quality of life issues following successful treatment.

Many cancer treatments can lead to infertility, but there are few methods to preserve the fertility of children who have not entered puberty. Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs), which produce sperm cells, are present prior to the start of puberty.

The drug-resistant bacteria known as MRSA, once confined to hospitals but now widespread in communities, will likely continue to exist in both settings as separate strains, according to a new study.

The prediction that both strains will coexist is reassuring because previous projections indicated that the more invasive and fast-growing community strains would overtake and eliminate hospital strains, possibly posing a threat to public health.

Teens who were depressed as children are far more likely than their peers to be obese, smoke cigarettes and lead sedentary lives, even if they no longer suffer from depression.

The research, by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Pittsburgh, suggests that depression, even in children, can increase the risk of heart problems later in life.

The researchers report their findings March 15 at the annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society in Miami, Fla.