Body

As microbes grow increasingly resistant to existing antibiotics, scientists are looking in new directions for drug development. A new paper, published Oct. 19 in the online journal PLoS ONE, reports the synthesis and testing of a family of potential antimicrobial molecules and finds that their therapeutic effect is comparable to that of many currently used antimicrobial agents.

Osteoporosis is blamed for backbone fractures. The real culprit could well be our own vertebrae, which evolved to absorb the pounding of upright walking, researchers at Case Western Reserve University say.

Compared to apes, humans have larger, more porous vertebrae encased in a much thinner shell of bone.

Bed bugs, largely absent in the U.S. since the 1950s, have returned with a hungry vengeance in the last decade in all 50 states. These insects have developed resistance to pyrethroids, one of the very few classes of insecticide used for their control. A research team at Virginia Tech has discovered some of the genetic mechanisms for the bed bug's resistance to two of the most popular pyrethroids -- deltamethrin and beta-cyfluthrin.

Scientists have been unclear for some time about how most probiotics work. A new study has found a scientific 'design' for a probiotic that could be used to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), such as Crohn's disease.

The research by academics at the University of Bristol's School of Veterinary Sciences and the School of Clinical Medicine is published online in the journal PLoS ONE.

STANFORD, Calif. — We know that our environment — what we eat, the toxic compounds we are exposed to — can positively or negatively impact our life span. But could it also affect the longevity of our descendants, who may live under very different conditions? Recent research from the Stanford University School of Medicine suggests this could be the case.

The "Lance Armstrong effect" could become a powerful new weapon to fight cancer cells that develop resistance to chemotherapy, radiation and other treatments, scientists say in a report in the ACS journal Molecular Pharmaceutics.

Scientists are reporting that household washing machines seem to be a major source of so-called "microplastic" pollution — bits of polyester and acrylic smaller than the head of a pin — that they now have detected on ocean shorelines worldwide. Their report describing this potentially harmful material appears in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology.

It is well known that hard training can lead to degradation of muscle protein. A number of nutritional strategies have been developed to counter this but surprisingly there has to date been very little attention paid to the situation in sport horses. Preliminary data showing that nutritional supplements given after exercise may also help prevent muscle breakdown in horses are now provided by René van den Hoven and colleagues in the Institute of Animal Nutrition at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna.

Ecologists are a step closer to understanding one of nature's most extraordinary sights – the 'arribada' or synchronised mass nesting of female olive ridley sea turtles. The new study, published today in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Animal Ecology, is the first to combine three different approaches – genetics, demography and behaviour, and the results should help conserve these vulnerable marine creatures.

Women with high blood pressure (hypertension) in the early stages of pregnancy are more likely to have babies with birth defects, irrespective of commonly prescribed medicines for their condition, finds new research published on bmj.com today.

The finding suggests that it is the underlying hypertension, rather than the use of antihypertensive drugs in early pregnancy, that increases the risk of birth defects.

Why did the approval ratings of President George W. Bush— who was perceived as indecisive before September 11, 2001—soar over 90 percent after the terrorist attacks? Because Americans were acutely aware of their own deaths.

Seattle, 18 October 2011 — First results from a large-scale Phase III trial of RTS,S, published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), show the malaria vaccine candidate to provide young African children with significant protection against clinical and severe malaria with an acceptable safety and tolerability profile. The results were announced today at the Malaria Forum hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, Washington.

5 to 17 month-old children

Smithsonian scientists have discovered two new, closely related bee species: one from Coiba Island in Panama and another from northern Colombia. Both descended from of a group of stingless bees that originated in the Amazon and moved into Central America, the ancestors of Mayan honeybees. The presence of one of these new species on Coiba and Rancheria Islands, and its absence from the nearby mainland, is a mystery that will ultimately shed light on Panama's history and abundant biodiversity.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) leads to persistent inflammation of the airways and is typically managed with corticosteroids, a class of anti-inflammatory medication. However, corticosteroids do not improve survival nor alter the progression of COPD and may reduce lung symptoms as little as 20 percent.