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New research published in Global Heart (the journal of the World Heart Federation) shows that there are no significant differences in the incidence or severity of atherosclerotic disease (narrowing of the arteries with fatty deposits) between ancient and modern Egyptians, showing that atherosclerosis is not just a disease of modern times.

Examining the remarkably preserved mummies of five ancient cultures, the Horus mummy research team discovered atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries due to build up of fatty deposits) was present in humans long before we acquired modern lifestyles.

In the editorial introducing this month's edition of Global Heart (the journal of the World Heart Federation), the authors ask: "Why do humans develop atherosclerosis?* Is the human genome hardwired to develop atherosclerosis? Can atherosclerosis be entirely prevented? Is atherosclerosis fundamental to the aging process?

Medical education in sub-Saharan Africa is being revitalized and expanded through a U.S.-funded effort that is dramatically increasing enrollment, broadening curricula, upgrading Internet access and providing cutting-edge skills labs and other technologies.

BOSTON (July 31, 2014) – Children born with so-called "bubble boy" disease have the best chance of survival if they undergo a hematopoietic stem cell transplant as soon after birth as possible, according to a detailed analysis of 10 years of outcome data by researchers at Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. These findings, the researchers say, argue for expanding newborn screening for severe combined immune deficiency (SCID), a disorder that leaves affected infants so vulnerable to infection that most die within the first year of life if untreated.

30 July 2014 (London, UK) - Drug-resistant malaria parasites have spread to critical border regions of Southeast Asia, seriously threatening global malaria control and elimination programmes, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

WHAT:

DNA mutations—long known to fuel cancer as well as evolutionary changes in a living organism—had been thought to be rare events that occur randomly throughout the genome.

However, recent studies have shown that cancer development frequently involves the formation of multiple mutations that arise simultaneously and in close proximity to each other. These groups of clustered mutations are frequently found in regions where chromosomal rearrangements take place.

Inspired by the Red Queen in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, collaborators from the University of Illinois and National University of Singapore improved a 35-year-old ecology model to better understand how species evolve over decades to millions of years.

Adult African penguins communicate using four different vocalizations and juveniles and chicks use two begging calls to request food, according to a study published July 30, 2014 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Livio Favaro and colleagues from University of Turin, Italy.

Exposure of pregnant mice to the pesticide DDT is linked to an increased risk of obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol and related conditions in female offspring later in life, according to a study led by the University of California, Davis.

The study, published online July 30 in the journal PLOS ONE, is the first to show that developmental exposure to DDT increases the risk of females later developing metabolic syndrome -- a cluster of conditions that include increased body fat, blood glucose, and cholesterol.

Researchers have discovered new vaccine targets that could help in the battle against malaria. Taking a new, large-scale approach to this search, researchers tested a library of proteins from the Plasmodium falciparum parasite with antibodies produced by the immune systems of a group of infected children.

The tests measured which proteins the children's immune systems responded to, revealing antigens that had not previously been identified as possible vaccine targets and new insights into the ways antigens could be used in combination to increase protection.

A deep-sea octopus protected and tended her eggs until they hatched 4.5 years later, according to a study published July 30, 2014 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Bruce Robison from Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and colleagues.

Researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) have observed a deep-sea octopus brooding its eggs for four and one half years—longer than any other known animal. Throughout this time, the female kept the eggs clean and guarded them from predators. This amazing feat represents an evolutionary balancing act between the benefits to the young octopuses of having plenty of time to develop within their eggs, and their mother's ability to survive for years with little or no food.

Everybody knows the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and now Harvard researchers have evidence that sperm have been taking the familiar axiom to heart.

Though competition among individual sperm is usually thought to be intense, with each racing for the chance to fertilize the egg, Harvard scientists say in some species, sperm form cooperative groups that allow them to take a straighter path to potential fertilization.