Body

Munich, 1 July 2014: A project in Denmark whose aim is to assess the reliability of preconceptional lifestyle and biological factors as predictors of fertility has found a pronounced effect of the contraceptive pill on markers used to assess "ovarian reserve", a predictor of future reproductive lifespan. Available evidence of whether the Pill has an effect on fertility has so far been reassuring - and usual advice to those stopping the Pill is that cycles will soon revert to normal, with pregnancy likely within six months or so.(1)

PHILADELPHIA —A new approach demonstrated that the recognition of unique cancer mutations appeared to be responsible for complete cancer regressions in two metastatic melanoma patients treated with a type of immunotherapy called adoptive T-cell therapy. This new approach may help develop more effective cancer immunotherapies, according to a study published in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Contrary to popular belief, the foodborne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni is not a harmless commensal in chickens but can cause disease in some breeds of poultry according to research published in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

"The main implication is that Campylobacter is not always harmless to chickens. This rather changes our view of the biology of this nasty little bug," says Paul Wigley of Institute for Infection and Global Health at the University of Liverpool, an author on the study.

Researchers from IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute) have identified a new protein, galectin-1, as a possible therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer. For the first time they have demonstrated the effects of the inhibition of this protein in mice suffering this type of cancer and the results showed an increase in survival of 20%. The work further suggests that it could be a therapeutic target with no adverse effects.

Scientists at the University of Queensland, Australia, have identified key genes that help burrowing frogs avoid muscle wastage whilst they are dormant. These genetic insights could help prevent muscle atrophy in bedridden human patients, or even astronauts.

Israeli scientists have developed a novel method for generating single-sex populations of prawns. This could be used to boost the productivity of aquaculture farms and even as a biocontrol measure against invasive species and pests.

Researchers are closer to understanding patterns of family relatedness and genetic diversity in bumblebees. The findings could help farmers, land managers and policy makers develop more effective conservation schemes for these essential pollinators.

PHILADELPHIA, July 1, 2014 -- Many women and physicians believe that a pelvic examination should be part of annual well visits, but an analysis of the current evidence by the American College of Physicians (ACP) shows that the harms outweigh any demonstrated benefits.

Severe malnutrition in childhood may increase the risk for high blood pressure in adulthood — a possible significant impact on global health, according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension.

Inadequate nutrition before birth and up to age 5 may harm the heart's development, researchers said.

PHILADELPHIA— HIV-infected people diagnosed with cancer are two to four times more likely to go untreated for their cancer compared to uninfected cancer patients, according to a new, large retrospective study from researchers in Penn Medicine's Abramson Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) published online ahead of print in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Bottom Line: In a survey of U.S. soldiers returned from deployment, 44 percent reported chronic pain and 15.1 percent reported recent use of opioid pain relievers.

Author: Robin L. Toblin, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, Md., and colleagues.

Bottom Line: Elevated blood lead levels appear to be associated with teacher-reported behavioral problems in a study of preschool children in China.

Author: Jianghong Liu, Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues.

Scientists have sketched out one of the greatest baby booms in North American history, a centuries-long "growth blip" among southwestern Native Americans between 500 and 1300 A.D.

It was a time when the early features of civilization--including farming and food storage--had matured to a level where birth rates likely "exceeded the highest in the world today," the researchers report in this week's issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Emotional and behavioral problems show up even with low exposure to lead, and as blood lead levels increase in children, so do the problems, according to research funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health. The results were published online June 30 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

DURHAM, N.C. -- While inadequate funding has hampered international efforts to conserve biodiversity in tropical forests, a new Duke University-led study finds that people in a growing number of tropical countries may be willing to shoulder more of the costs on their own.