Body

Healthy, middle-aged smokers who take the most popular smoking cessation drug on the market have a 72 percent increased risk of being hospitalized with a heart attack or other serious heart problems compared to those taking a placebo, a Johns Hopkins-led study suggests.

A new discovery reveals that the shrimp-like creature at the heart of the Antarctic food chain could play a key role in fertilising the Southern Ocean with iron – stimulating the growth of phytoplankton (microscopic plant-like organisms). This process enhances the ocean's capacity for natural storage of carbon dioxide.

Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Phoenix, AZ, USA – July 4, 2011 – VisionGate, Inc., a company developing a revolutionary non-invasive test for the early detection of lung cancer, today announced that it will present data showing how adjunctive use of its LuCED™ test can improve the utility of low dose x-ray computed tomography (CT) screening for the early detection of lung cancer in high risk individuals. LuCED uses VisionGate's revolutionary automated 3D cell imaging platform, the Cell-CT™, which generates high-resolution 3D biosignatures from intact cells using a sputum sample.

A new artificial surface inspired by floating seeds, which could provide an alternative to the toxic paints currently used to prevent fouling on ship hulls, has been developed by German scientists.

Neurofibromatosis (NF1) is a genetic condition which affects one in every 3,000 people. The severity of symptoms can range from benign 'café au lait' patches on the skin, through small tumors under the skin and deep plexiform neurofibromas, to malignant tumors of the nerve sheath. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine shows that a simple blood test for the protein melanoma-inhibitory activity (MIA) could be used to indicate the presence of neurofibromas even if they cannot be seen.

In the early 2000s, the international aid community started to fund health programs through Global Health Initiatives (GHIs) which provide aid and support for tackling infectious diseases, and for implementing immunization programs against childhood diseases. However priorities set by GHIs and by governments are not always the same. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Globalization and Health uses 'agency theory' to examine the conflicts between donor and recipient countries.

Stockholm, Sweden: Ovarian stimulation undertaken by women of advanced maternal age (over 35 years) receiving fertility treatment may be disrupting the normal pattern of meiosis – a critical process of chromosome duplication followed by two specialised cell divisions in the production of oocytes and sperm – and leading to abnormalities of chromosome copy numbers (aneuploidy) that result in IVF failure, pregnancy loss or, more rarely, the birth of affected children with conditions such as Down's syndrome, which is caused by the inheritance of three copies of chromosome 21 (trisomy 21).

INDIANAPOLIS – Scientists have deciphered the structure of an essential part of Mediator, a complex molecular machine that plays a vital role in regulating the transcription of DNA.

UBC researchers have developed a DNA measurement platform that sets dramatic new performance standards in the sensitivity and accuracy of sample screening.

The advance could improve a range of genetic diagnostics and screenings where precise measurement is crucial--including the early detection of cancer, prenatal diagnostics, the detection of pathogens in food products, and the analysis of single cell gene expression.

A genome-wide study by researchers at the RIKEN Center for Genomic Medicine, Hiroshima University Hospital and Sapporo-Kosei General Hospital has identified a genetic variant associated with the development of liver cancer in chronic hepatitis C virus carriers. The findings are based on a study of 3,312 Japanese individuals and appear in the journal Nature Genetics.

Scientists from Queen Mary, University of London have discovered a new way of detecting zinc in zebra fish, that could pave the way for furthering our understanding of diseases like type 2 diabetes, prostate cancer and Alzheimer's.

The results will be announced today (3 July) at the Sixth International Symposium on Macrocyclic and Supramolecular Chemistry, in Brighton.

Young house spiders weave webs with perfect angles and regular patterns, but as they reach old age their webs deteriorate, showing gaping holes and erratic weaving.

By using spiders as a simple model this research may provide insight into how age affects behaviour in other organisms, including humans.

Poor maternal diet before conception can result in offspring with reduced birth weights and increased risk of developing type II diabetes and obesity.

This work, which is being presented at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Conference in Glasgow on Saturday the 2nd of July, used an animal model to illustrate the importance of maternal diet even before pregnancy begins.

The question of why there are so many species in the sea and how new species form remains a central question in marine biology. Below the waterline, about 30% of Hawai'i's marine species are endemic – being found only in Hawai'i and nowhere else on Earth – one of the highest rates of endemism found worldwide. But where did this diversity of species come from? Hawai'i is famous for its adaptive radiations (the formation of many species with specialized lifestyles from a single colonist) above the water line.

Introducing increasing amounts of foods that contain baked milk into the diets of children who have milk allergies helped a majority of them outgrow their allergies, according to a study conducted at Mount Sinai School of Medicine's Jaffe Food Allergy Institute. The data are reported in the May 23 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.