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German scientists at the Stuttgart Natural History Museum were leading in the discovery of a new insect order from the Lower Cretaceous of South America. The spectacular fossils were named Coxoplectoptera by their discoverers and their findings were published in a special issue on Cretaceous Insects in the scientific journal Insect Systematics & Evolution.

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Teenagers are known for their angst-ridden ways, but those who remain happy and positive during the tumultuous teenage years report better general health when they are adults, according to a new Northwestern University study.

Researchers also found that teens with high positive well-being had a reduced risk of engaging in unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, binge drinking, using drugs and eating unhealthy foods as they transitioned into young adulthood.

Mathematical modeling of infectious diseases is an important tool in the understanding and prediction of epidemics. Knowledge of social interactions is used to understand how infectious diseases spread through populations and how to control epidemics. New research published in BMC Medicine shows that a model, which included dynamic information about the heterogeneity of contact length and rate of making new contacts, was as effective as a more complex model which included the order of contacts.

A nationwide study confirms that binge drinking has reached epidemic proportions in China and argues that efforts to tackle the problem must address the country's unique drinking culture.

Doctors should be allowed to object to any procedure that conflicts with their personal, moral, or religious beliefs, reveals a survey of medical students, published in the Journal of Medical Ethics.

Nearly half of respondents believed in the right of doctors to conscientiously object and refuse to treat a patient who wanted an abortion, contraceptive services, or who was drunk or high on drugs, or who wanted an intimate examination and was of the opposite sex.

This right was more frequently expressed among Muslim medical students, the survey findings showed.

Expressing breast milk by hand in the first days after birth is better for boosting breastfeeding rates among poorly feeding newborns than the use of a breast pump, indicates a small study published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

Currently, either method may be recommended for newborns who latch or suck poorly to encourage them to breastfeed, say the authors.

They base their findings on 68 mums whose newborns were latching on to the nipple or sucking poorly 12 to 36 hours after birth.

STANFORD, Calif. — Screening every new colon cancer patient for a particular familial disorder extends lives at a reasonable cost, say Stanford University School of Medicine researchers. The team hopes the results will encourage more medical centers to adopt widespread screening policies.

Oncogenes are generally thought to be genes that, when mutated, change healthy cells into cancerous tumor cells. Scientists at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) have proven that those genes also can change normal cells into stem-like cells, paving the way to a safer and more practical approach to treating diseases like multiple sclerosis and cancer with stem cell therapy.

Bacteria use various appendages to move across surfaces prior to forming multicellular bacterial biofilms. Some species display a particularly jerky form of movement known as "twitching" motility, which is made possible by hairlike structures on their surface called type IV pili, or TFP.

FINDINGS: Using a new in vivo screening system, Whitehead Institute researchers have identified a protein in a key metabolic pathway that is essential in estrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast cancer. When the expression of the gene that codes for this protein—phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase or PHGDH—is suppressed in tumors and cell lines with an overabundance of the protein, the rate of cellular growth declines markedly.

A medicine designed to improve levels of "good" cholesterol may also help control blood sugar in people with diabetes who are taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, according to a new analysis in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Researchers made the finding while analyzing data from a clinical trial on the drug torcetrapib that was halted five years ago. Torcetrapib is a cholesterol ester transfer protein (CETP) inhibitor, a type of drug that increases levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDLs, or "good" cholesterol).

Milk and soy protein supplements were associated with lower systolic blood pressure compared to refined carbohydrate dietary supplements, in a study reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

The study's results suggest that partly replacing refined carbohydrates with foods or drinks high in soy or milk protein may help prevent and treat high blood pressure, said Jiang He, M.D., Ph.D., lead researcher of the study.

LOS ANGELES – July 18, 2011 - A surgeon's behavior in the operating room affects patient outcomes, healthcare costs, medical errors and patient- and staff-satisfaction, says a commentary in the July issue of Archives of Surgery.

NEW YORK, July, 18, 2011 - NYU School of Medicine researchers report in a new study that exposure to tobacco smoke nearly doubles the risk of hearing loss among adolescents. The study is published in the July, 2011, issue of Archives of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery.