Body

Genetic differences can explain why some patients undergoing heart surgery later experience shock and kidney complications, according to a study by researchers at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch in Germany and the Austin Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. The results indicate that performing a genetic test on patients before they have surgery can help guide treatment after they leave the operating room (Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, JASN, doi 10.1681/ASN.2008080915)*.

April 29, 2009 — (BRONX, NY) — Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have combined their revolutionary new drug-delivery system with a powerful antimicrobial agent to treat potentially deadly drug-resistant staph infections in mice. The study is published this month in the online version of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA – The use of drugs to encourage red blood cell formation (erythropoiesis-stimulating agents) in cancer patients with anemia increases the risk of death and serious adverse events such as blood clots, found a new study in CMAJ.

While the relative increased risk of death was only 15-16%, because of the high mortality rates in cancer patients this increase might translate into significant numbers of people.

Infection with anal human papillomavirus (HPV), a virus that can cause anal and cervical cancers, is associated with a higher risk of new HIV infection in previously HIV-negative men who have sex with men (MSM), according to new UCSF research.

Reported online ahead of print in the journal AIDS, the findings are available now. They are scheduled for publication in an upcoming print issue.

In previous studies, other sexually transmitted infections have been associated with higher risk of HIV infection and HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection.

A drug widely used to treat Type 2 diabetes may have unintended effects on the pancreas that could lead to a form of low-grade pancreatitis in some patients and a greater risk of pancreatic cancer in long-term users, UCLA researchers have found.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — A new link between body fat and cancer identified by a Michigan State University researcher underscores obesity's health risk and could lead to new cancer treatment and prevention strategies.

Jenifer Fenton, an MSU food science and human nutrition researcher with the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, identified the connection between obesity and colon cancer, the third-leading killer of Americans, in part by examining tissue hormones.

Spondylarthritis (SpA) represents a group of arthritidies that share clinical features such as inflammatory back pain and inflammation at sites where tendons attach to bone. It includes ankylosing spondylitis (AS), psoriatic arthritis, inflammatory bowel-disease-related arthritis, reactive arthritis (ReA) and undifferentiated spondylarthritides (uSpA). Since Chlamydia trachomatis or Chlamydia pneumoniae (which are often asymptomatic) frequently cause ReA, a new study examined whether there was a connection between these two infections and uSpA.

Arthritis can have significant physical and psychological repercussions that impact quality of life and for those of working age, it can affect their ability to remain employed. Compared to individuals with other types of chronic diseases or disabilities, arthritis appears to have a more profound effect on a person's ability to work. Previous studies have found that about half of those with severe forms of arthritis were not working, leading to a loss of skilled workers and increasing the personal and socioeconomic burden of the disease.

A North Carolina State University paleontologist has more evidence that soft tissues and original proteins can be preserved over time – even in fossilized remains – in the form of new protein sequence data from an 80 million-year-old hadrosaur, or duck-billed dinosaur.

PHILADELPHIA – African, American, and European researchers working in collaboration over a 10-year period have released the largest-ever study of African genetic data—more than four million genotypes—providing a library of new information on the continent which is thought to be the source of the oldest settlements of modern humans.

The study demonstrates startling diversity on the continent, shared ancestry among geographically diverse groups and traces the origins of Africans and African Americans. It is published in the April 30 issue of the journal Science Express.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Crops and other plants are constantly confronted with adverse environmental conditions, lowering yield and costing farmers billions of dollars annually. Plants use specialized signals, called stress hormones, to sense difficult times and adapt to stressful conditions to enhance survival.

When grasslands are fertilized their productivity is increased but their plant diversity is diminished. In the last 50 years levels of plant-available nitrogen and phosphorous have doubled worldwide. This additional supply of plant nutrients is predicted to be one of the three most important causes of biodiversity loss this century. The research, under the leadership of Professor Andy Hector from the University of Zurich, shows for the first time the exact mechanisms that lead to the loss of biodiversity from grasslands following fertilization.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Wildlife imports into the United States are fragmented and insufficiently coordinated, failing to accurately list more than four in five species entering the country, a team of scientists has found. The effect, the scientists write in a paper in this week's issue of Science, is that a range of diseases is introduced into the United States, potentially decimating species, devastating ecosystems and threatening food supply chains and human health.

In a global influenza pandemic, small stockpiles of a secondary flu medication – if used early in local outbreaks – could extend the effectiveness of primary drug stockpiles, according to research made available today ahead of publication in PLoS Medicine.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A study led by cancer researchers at The Ohio State University has validated a method for reliably measuring variations in certain proteins that may make good biomarkers in chronic leukemia patients.

The study shows that liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) can measure variations in histones, which are spool-like proteins that help support and store DNA. The technology accurately detected differences in the composition of histones in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells compared with their healthy counterparts, immune cells called B lymphocytes.