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Age and body mass index (BMI)are important risk factors for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) particularly amongst South Asian and Black African women finds new research published today (02 November) in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

The study looked at the link between maternal age, BMI and racial origin with the development of GDM and how they interact with each other.

MADISON – Cutting out short auto trips and replacing them with mass transit and active transport would yield major health benefits, according to a study just published in the scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives. The biggest health benefit was due to replacing half of the short trips with bicycle trips during the warmest six months of the year, saving about $3.8 billion per year from avoided mortality and reduced health care costs for conditions like obesity and heart disease.

Neurofibrillary tangles – odd, twisted clumps of protein found within nerve cells – are a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. The tangles, which were first identified in the early 1900s by German psychiatrist and neuropathologist Aloysius Alzheimer, are formed when changes in a protein called tau cause it to aggregate in an insoluble mass in the cytoplasm of cells.

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- A University of Michigan Health System laboratory study reveals a key trigger for producing normal red blood cells that could lead to a new treatment for those with sickle cell disease.

The study, conducted in mice, appears in this week's early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and holds promise for preventing the painful episodes and organ damage that are common complications of sickle cell disease.

A study published today in The Lancet shows how a do-it-yourself screen for cervical cancer could help prevent the disease in thousands of women who, for a number of reasons, cannot have a smear test.

The test, which detects the virus responsible for cervical cancer, was widely accepted by women in the trial and was more effective than the traditional smear test at picking up the earliest signs of the disease.

A new study by the University of Leeds is the first to prove that major roads significantly reduce bat numbers, activity and diversity – raising serious issues for how road construction projects mitigate their impact on these protected species.

The findings - published today in the Journal of Applied Ecology – show that the negative impact of a major road stretches a considerable distance, with bat activity three times lower at the roadside than 1.6km away. As bats are protected under UK and EU legislation, the research could have legal consequences for road builders.

Researchers have identified a potential drug therapy for a premature ageing disease that affects children causing them to age up to eight times as fast as the usual rate.

The study is the first to outline how to limit and repair DNA damage defects in cells and could provide a model for understanding processes that cause us to age.

The genetic predisposition to obesity due to the 'fat mass and obesity associated' (FTO) gene can be substantially reduced by living a physically active lifestyle according to new research by a large international collaboration, led by Ruth Loos from the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit, in Cambridge, UK, and published in this week's PLoS Medicine. The researchers found that the effect of the FTO gene on obesity risk is nearly 30% weaker among physically active than in physically inactive adults.

CHICAGO – Consumption of 3 to 6 alcoholic drinks per week is associated with a small increase in the risk of breast cancer, and consumption in both earlier and later adult life is also associated with an increased risk, according to a study in the November 2 issue of JAMA.

CHICAGO – Patients who have received a solid organ transplant, such as kidney, liver, heart or lung, have an overall cancer risk that is double that of the general population, with an increased risk for many different types of malignancies, according to a study in the November 2 issue of JAMA.

While obesity is a well-known cause of cardiovascular disease, research from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has now revealed that the body's obesity hormones – adiponectin - are also linked to osteoporosis and an increased risk of fractures.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A common pest in the mainland United States known for its tropical smell now has a tropical habitat to go along with it.

Odorous house ants - so called because they tend to invade houses and smell like coconut when smashed - have found their way to Hawaii. And, according to Purdue University entomologist Grzegorz Buczkowski, it doesn't seem as though they have plans to end their vacations.

The population of the EU is becoming older, and an ever smaller number of people have to provide for the ageing population. In Sweden, an already critical employment situation is exacerbated by the fact that 25% of managers of small and medium-sized businesses plan to retire in the next five years, and this is estimated to lead to a company closure in one in ten cases. Research from the University of Gothenburg now shows what can be done to keep elderly people in the labour market.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A common pest in the mainland United States known for its tropical smell now has a tropical habitat to go along with it.

Odorous house ants - so called because they tend to invade houses and smell like coconut when smashed - have found their way to Hawaii. And, according to Purdue University entomologist Grzegorz Buczkowski, it doesn't seem as though they have plans to end their vacations.

Within many hormone-receptor positive breast cancers lives a subpopulation of receptor-negative cells – knock down the hormone-receptor positive cells with anti-estrogen drugs and you may inadvertently promote tumor takeover by more dangerous, receptor-negative cells. A study recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes how to switch these receptor-negative cells back to a state that can be targeted by existing hormone therapies.