Body

RICHMOND, Va. (Dec. 16, 2008) – Researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University have identified a new anti-tumor gene called SARI that can interact with and suppress a key protein that is overexpressed in 90 percent of human cancers. The discovery could one day lead to an effective gene therapy for cancer.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Pregnant women who experience intimate partner violence (IPV) before, during or after pregnancy often suffer adverse health effects, including depression, post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and chronic mental illness. Now, University of Missouri researchers have found that women who experience intimate partner violence are more likely to seek health care for their infants than non-abused women. Awareness of mothers with frequent infant health concerns can help health care providers identify and provide aid to women in abusive relationships.

COLUMBIA, Mo. –Evolving HIV viral strains and the adverse side effects associated with long-term exposure to current treatments propel scientists to continue exploring alternative HIV treatments. In a new study, a University of Missouri researcher has identified broad-spectrum aptamers. Aptamers are synthetic molecules that prevent the HIV virus from reproducing. In lab tests, aptamers known as RT5, RT6, RT47 and some variants of those were recently identified to be broad-spectrum, which would allow them to treat many subtypes of HIV-1.

University of Rochester Medical Center scientists discovered a gene mutation that impairs the placenta and also is influential in cancer development, according to a study published online December 16, 2008, in the journal PLoS (Public Library of Science) Biology.

The investigation is the first to link the key placental gene, SENP2, to the well-known p53 protein, which is defective in 50 percent of all cancers.

While harnessing more energy from the wind could help satisfy growing demands for electricity and reduce emissions of global-warming gases, turbulence from proposed wind farms could adversely affect the growth of crops in the surrounding countryside.

Solutions to this, and other problems presented by wind farms – containing huge wind turbines, each standing taller than a 60-story building and having blades more than 300 feet long – can be found blowin' in the wind, a University of Illinois researcher says.

Like firemen fighting fire with fire, researchers at the University of Illinois and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst have found a way to fool a bacteria's evolutionary machinery into programming its own death.

"The basic idea is for an antimicrobial to target something in a bacteria that, in order to gain immunity, would require the bacteria to kill itself through a suicide mutation," said Gerard Wong, a professor of materials science and engineering, of physics, and of bioengineering at the U. of I.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Spinal muscular atrophy, a neurodegenerative disorder that causes the weakening of muscles, is the leading cause of infant death and occurs in 1 in 6,000 live births. While trans-splicing (a form of molecular therapy) has had impressive results as a treatment for spinal muscular atrophy in cell-based models of disease, scientists have been unable to translate the therapy to the human body. A University of Missouri researcher has developed a strategy that will enhance trans-splicing activity and bring it closer to being used in the clinical setting.

New knowledge: Girls have a better sense of taste than boys. Every third child of school age prefers soft drinks which are not sweet. Children and young people love fish and do not think of themselves as being fussy eaters. Boys have a sweeter tooth than girls. And teenagers taste differently. The findings of the world's largest study so far on the ability of children and young people to taste and what they like have now been published.

London, UK, 16 December 2008 - The effectiveness of voriconazole in combating fungal infections has been confirmed by a new study to be featured in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents (www.elsevier.com/locate/ijaa), published by Elsevier. Fungal infections can kill people with weakened immune systems, which can be caused by AIDS, cancer treatment or organ replacement, and the research reinforces earlier findings that this drug is a potent treatment for a wide range of these infections.

Human and veterinary medicine could receive a big boost through use of larger animals, especially pigs and dogs, in research, with Europe at the forefront. There is the prospect of bringing drugs to the market more quickly at less cost, as well as accelerating progress in other forms of therapy, notably the use of stem cells in regenerative medicine.

University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers Igor Semiletov and Donald "Skip" Walker will be among four panelists at a press briefing, The Arctic in Flux: New Insights from the International Polar Year, Tuesday, Dec. 16 at 9 a.m. Pacific Standard Time at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

The briefing will present early results from a range of studies conducted during the International Polar Year, an international event focusing research efforts and public attention on the Earth's polar regions.

A new study by researchers at The George Institute for International Health has found that back pain is a reoccurring problem for five million Australians.

According to lead author, Professor Chris Maher, Director of Musculoskeletal Research at The George Institute, "After an episode of back pain resolves, one in four people will experience a recurrence within one year. This explains why around 25% of the Australian population suffers from back pain at any one time."

A new study has revealed the most commonly prescribed medication for Australian women is antidepressants.

The study, by researchers from Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH).

Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and Medicare data were linked to survey data to examine claims and costs of medications and other health care resources.

Park Ridge, Ill. (December 16, 2008) – A study recently published online in the journal Risk Analysis(1) estimates that eating one egg per day is responsible for less than 1 percent of the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in healthy adults. Alternatively, lifestyle factors including poor diet, smoking, obesity and physical inactivity contribute 30 to 40 percent of heart disease risk, depending on gender. This study adds to more than thirty years of research showing that healthy adults can eat eggs without significantly affecting their risk of heart disease.

New York, NY, December 16, 2008 – Coincident with the widespread adoption of PSA screening, the proportion of American men diagnosed with organ-confined, low risk prostate cancer has increased significantly during the last two decades. In a study scheduled for publication in the February 2009 issue of The Journal of Urology, researchers report that for low-income men, the opposite is true, with more men undiagnosed until their cancers had reached more advanced stages.