Montreal, May 18, 2012 – The surgical team at the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) achieved a North American surgical milestone on May 1st with a sutureless aortic valve replacement through a thoracic incision just five centimetres long. The two patients in their seventies who underwent this innovative procedure, which was performed by cardiac surgeons Denis Bouchard and Michel Carrier, were doing well only one week after their operations.
A novel combination
The "precise, simple and fast" methodology has been validated by analysing twelve meat products (cow, pig or poultry) and nine milk powder samples. Data indicate that concentrations of veterinary drugs vary from 0.5 to 25.2 µg/kg in the former and 1.2 to 26.2 µg/kg in the latter "although with more samples, more conclusive results would be obtained".
Higher concentrations in poultry products
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- University at Buffalo researchers are making significant progress on rust-proofing steel using a graphene-based composite that could serve as a nontoxic alternative to coatings that contain hexavalent chromium, a probable carcinogen.
In the scientists' first experiments, pieces of steel coated with the high-tech varnish remained rust-free for only a few days when immersed continuously in saltwater, an environment that accelerates corrosion.
In our everyday life, we use gasoline, diesel, plastics, rubbers, and numerous chemicals that are derived from fossil oil through petrochemical refinery processes. However, this is not sustainable due to the limited nature of fossil resources. Furthermore, our world is facing problems associated with climate change and other environmental problems due to the increasing use of fossil resources. One solution to address above problems is the use of renewable non-food biomass for the production of chemicals, fuels and materials through biorefineries.
Northwestern Europe harbors one of the best known biotas, thanks to the long faunistic and floristic traditions practiced there. However, some animal groups are far better known than others. The diversity of true flies there is fascinating, and undescribed species of flies, midges and gnats are not uncommon.
Researchers from the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) have identified the mechanism by which protein Zds1 regulates a key function in mitosis, the process that occurs immediately before cell division. The result has been achieved in the online edition of the Journal of Cell Science and opens the door to developing targeted and direct therapies against cancer.
A large survey of human genetic variation, published today in Science, shows that rare genetic variants are not so rare after all and offers insights into human diseases.
"I knew there would be rare variation but had no idea there would be so much of it," said the senior author of the research, John Novembre, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and of bioinformatics at UCLA.
Pregnant women, including those who are obese or overweight, should be encouraged to minimise weight gain through diet, according to major new research from Queen Mary, University of London.
Piling on excess weight during pregnancy increases the risk of complications for pregnant women but doctors have been cautious in advising women on ways to manage weight for fear of any adverse effect on mother or baby.
May 17, 2012—Daejeon, the Republic of Korea—In our everyday life, we use gasoline, diesel, plastics, rubbers, and numerous chemicals that are derived from fossil oil through petrochemical refinery processes. Fossil resources are limited and not sustainable. Our world is facing problems associated with climate change and other environmental problems resulted from lavish consumption of fossil fuels. One solution to address these problems is to use renewable, non-food biomass for the production of chemicals, fuels, and materials through biorefineries.
Chevy Chase, MD—The Endocrine Society's new scientific statement published online today represents the first comprehensive evaluation of both the basic and clinical evidence related to the non-skeletal effects of vitamin D. The statement addresses current research regarding the associations of vitamin D with immune function, hypertension, stroke, skin conditions and maternal/fetal health.
For pregnant women, including those who are overweight and obese, following a healthy calorie controlled diet during pregnancy is safe and can reduce the risk of serious complications such as pre-eclampsia, diabetes and premature birth, finds a study published on bmj.com today.
Highlight
Washington, DC (May 17, 2012) — One type of open heart surgery is likely safer than the other for chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).
Highlights
60 million people globally have chronic kidney disease.
The strategy used by Google to decide which pages are relevant for a search query can also be used to determine which proteins in a patient's cancer are relevant for the disease progression. Researchers from Dresden University of Technology, Germany, have used a modified version of Google's PageRank algorithm to rank about 20,000 proteins by their genetic relevance to the progression of pancreatic cancer.
Researchers at the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and the EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute have confirmed the long-held conjecture that studying the genes we share with other animals is a viable means of extrapolating information about human biology. The study, published in the open access journal PLoS Computational Biology, shows how bioinformatics makes it possible to test the conjecture.