Body

MADISON – When neurons started dying in Clive Svendsen's lab dishes, he couldn't have been more pleased.

Cancer Researchers at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and the Charité – Universitäts Medizin Berlin (Germany) have identified a gene which enables them to predict for the first time with high probability if colon cancer is going to metastasize. Assistant Professor Dr. Ulrike Stein, Professor Peter M.

BOSTON, Mass. (Dec. 21, 2008) — Modern humans left Africa over 60,000 years ago in a migration that many believe was responsible for nearly all of the human population that exist outside Africa today.

Deep inside the Frasassi cave system in Italy and more than 1,600 feet below the Earth's surface, divers found filamentous ropes of microbes growing in the cold water, according to a team of Penn State researchers.

"Sulfur caves are a microbiology paradise. Many different types of organisms live in the caves and use the sulfur," says Jennifer L. Macalady, assistant professor of geosciences. "We are trying to map which organisms live where in the caves and how they correspond to the geochemical environment."

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Aren't you ashamed of yourself? All these years, you've been trying to build up your child's self-esteem, and now a growing body of research suggests you may be making a big mistake.A study published in the December issue of Child Development finds that early adolescents with high self-esteem are more likely to react aggressively when they feel ashamed than their peers with lower levels of self-esteem.

Source:

Source:

Archaeological Discovery: Earliest evidence of our cave-dwelling human ancestors

A research team led by Professor Michael Chazan, director of the University of Toronto's Archaeology Centre, has discovered the earliest evidence of our cave-dwelling human ancestors at the Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa.

Dec. 18, 2008 -- In small towns in the Midwestern United States, people who eat out often at buffets and cafeterias and who perceive their community to be unpleasant for physical activity are more likely to be obese.

DALLAS – Dec. 19, 2008 – Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have determined that a mutation in a gene known for its role in defending the lungs against invading pathogens is responsible for some inherited cases of a lethal lung disease affecting older adults. The same mutation may also be associated with lung cancer, the researchers said.

This is the third gene that UT Southwestern scientists have linked with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, or IPF. The study appears online this week and in the January issue of American Journal of Human Genetics.

December 18, 2008 -- Adolescent health risk behaviors often occur together, suggesting that youth involvement with one risk behavior may inform understanding of other risk behaviors, but in a study to examine the association between involvement in non-sexual risk behaviors and trends among sexual behaviors, Mailman School of Public Health researchers found that sexual behaviors vary considerably between those youth engaged in no risk health behaviors and those engaged in multiple health risk behaviors.

CLEVELAND – Can an algebraic equation hold the secret to eradicating malaria or schistosomiasis? A Case Western Reserve University mathematics professor is utilizing the combination of algorithms and models in an effort to assist his medical colleagues in the fight against infectious diseases.

Postoperative pain can be reduced. This has been shown by four of the six hospitals which took part in the project for quality improvement in postoperative pain management (QUIPS). The data from this project from the different hospitals can be compared using a benchmark server, allowing hospitals to identify deficiencies in the care they provide and to learn from other centers. Winfried Meissner and his colleagues present QUIPS in the current edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2008; 105 [50]: 865-70).

Sexual abuse in childhood increases the risk of suicide in men by up to ten times, say researchers from the University of Bath. A recent study of Australian men has found that those who were sexually abused as children are more likely than women to contemplate taking their own lives.

Whilst gender and mental health problems are the most important risk factors for contemplating suicide, it is increasingly acknowledged that traumatic experiences such as childhood sexual abuse may be a significant risk factor.

A study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on 16 December 2008 has found that those with type 2 diabetes who had a diet high in low-glycemic foods such as nuts, beans and lentils had greater improvement in glycemic control and risk factors for coronary heart disease than those on a diet with an emphasis on high-cereal fibre.