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In three studies, including the most comprehensive study of autism genetics to date, investigators funded in part by the National Institutes of Health have identified common and rare genetic factors that affect the risk of autism spectrum disorders. The results point to the importance of genes that are involved in forming and maintaining the connections between brain cells.

PHILADELPHIA – Researchers have made an important step forward in understanding the complex genetic structure of autism spectrum disorders. A researcher collaboration, including geneticists from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), have detected variations along a genetic pathway that is responsible for neurological development, learning and memory, which appears to play a significant role in the genetic risk of autism. Their findings will be published online in the journal Nature on April 28.

Numerous studies have shown that depression is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, but exactly how has never been clear.

Now, researchers at Rush University Medical Center have shown that depression is linked with the accumulation of visceral fat, the kind of fat packed between internal organs at the waistline, which has long been known to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

The study is posted online and will be published in the May issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.

Diet and nutrition counseling for virtually all overweight and obese women of childbearing age can reduce health risks associated with excess weight for mothers and children alike, according to a newly released position paper from the American Dietetic Association and the American Society of Nutrition.

The position, published in the May issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, represents the associations' official stance on obesity, reproduction and pregnancy outcomes:

OAK BROOK, Ill. – April 28, 2009 – Pregnant women with gallstone disease may require immediate endoscopic intervention because of potentially life-threatening cholangitis (infection in the bile ducts) or gallstone pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas). The radiation exposure in endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), which is used to treat these conditions, is a concern because fetal tissues are more susceptible to radiation injury.

Patients newly diagnosed with hypertension, diabetes or high cholesterol are significantly more likely to delay initiating recommended drug treatment if they face higher co-payments for medications, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

The delay was significant across all conditions, but the impact was largest among patients who had not previously used prescription drugs, according to the study published in the April 27 edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a membrane-penetrating nanoneedle for the targeted delivery of one or more molecules into the cytoplasm or the nucleus of living cells. In addition to ferrying tiny amounts of cargo, the nanoneedle can also be used as an electrochemical probe and as an optical biosensor.

"Nanoneedle-based delivery is a powerful new tool for studying biological processes and biophysical properties at the molecular level inside living cells," said

Nature is full of mutually beneficial arrangements between organisms—like the relationship between flowering plants and their bee pollinators. But sometimes these blissful relationships have a dark side, as Harvard biologist Megan Frederickson describes in an article for the May issue of The American Naturalist.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Very few athletic trainers associated with National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) programs said that they were following best practice standards for managing asthma among their athletes, according to a new study.

For athletes with asthma, the dangers of the condition can be as mild as impacting athletic performance or so severe to be incapacitating, or deadly. The lead report is published in the American College of Sports Medicine's journal, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

April 28, 2009 – (BRONX, NY) – A laboratory study by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University suggests that an anti-cancer compound studied for treating blood cancers may also help in treating cancers of the head and neck. The work is reported in the April 28th online edition of the Journal of Pathology.

Blacksburg, Va. -- Scientists at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, and the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech have taken the first steps toward constructing a systems biology map of iron metabolism. The team has put together a general network of chemicals and reactions important for the many steps and reactions that constitute iron metabolism.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - An international team of researchers has determined key structural features of the largest known virus, findings that could help scientists studying how the simplest life evolved and whether the unusual virus causes any human diseases.

The mimivirus has been called a possible "missing link" between viruses and living cells. It was discovered accidentally by French scientists in 1992 but wasn't confirmed to be a virus until 2003.

Scientists testing a cosmetic anti-ageing product sold on the high street have shown it can clinically reduce wrinkles and improve the appearance of skin damaged by everyday exposure to sunlight.

Dermatologists at The University of Manchester carried out a clinical trial on 60 volunteers with typical signs of sun-damaged skin and found that the cosmetic, No7 Protect & Perfect Intense Beauty Serum, could improve some of these clinical features.

A West Australian research team has made the world-first discovery a 'pied piper' molecule within blood cells, called Liar, that leads other molecules into the nucleus of the cell, and could offer a key in treating prostate, breast and colon cancers as well as leukemia.

Uncovered by two research groups at the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR) led by Associate Professor Evan Ingley and Director Professor Peter Klinken, they have also identified the function of a known cellular enzyme, Lyn, as a switch that 'turns on' blood cell development.

On the heels of dismaying reports that a promising antitumor drug could, in theory, shorten patients' long-term survival, comes a promising study by a Japanese team of researchers that suggests a potentially better option. The study appears in the May 11 issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine (online April 27).