Body

Adolescents in southern Europe are less fit in terms of cardiorespiratory capacity, strength and speed-agility than their central-northern European peers. Moreover, southern adolescents are more obese and present higher levels of total and abdominal fat than those from the centre-north of Europe.

The occurrence of allergic diseases has risen dramatically in Western societies. One frequently cited reason is that children are less exposed to microorganisms and have fewer infections than previous generations, thereby delaying maturation of the immune system.

Molecular microbiologists from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) have discovered that mice lacking a specific component of the immune system are completely resistant to sepsis, a potentially fatal complication of infection. The discovery suggests that blocking this immune system component may help reduce inflammation in human autoimmune and hyper-inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and Type 2 diabetes.

When a cell divides, it must first make a copy of its DNA, a fundamental step in the life cycle of cells that occurs billions of times a day in the human body. While scientists have had an idea of the molecular tools that cells use to replicate DNA—the enzymes that unzip the double-stranded DNA and create "daughter" copies—they did not have a clear picture of how the process works.

Older kidney donors enjoy similar longevity and cardiovascular health as other healthy mature individuals, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Transplantation. The findings may provide some reassurance to older individuals considering donation and the transplant professionals caring for them.

COLUMBUS, Ohio—The future health of the world's coral reefs and the animals that depend on them relies in part on the ability of one tiny symbiotic sea creature to get fat—and to be flexible about the type of algae it cooperates with.

In the first study of its kind, scientists at The Ohio State University discovered that corals—tiny reef-forming animals that live symbiotically with algae—are better able to recover from yearly bouts of heat stress, called "bleaching," when they keep large energy reserves—mostly as fat—socked away in their cells.

There is an increased risk of severe perineal tearing during childbirth in women who had such a tear in a previous delivery, suggests a new study published today (9 July) in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (BJOG).

This study, investigates among women who have had a third or fourth degree perineal tear, the mode of delivery in subsequent pregnancies and the recurrence of severe perineal tears.

SALT LAKE CITY, July 9, 2014 – Collectors found the first two specimens of the prickly plant in 1974 and 1990 in west Texas. Then, for two decades, the 14-inch-tall plant was identified wrongly as one species, then another and then a third.

Now – after a long search turned up a "pathetic, wilted" third specimen – a University of Utah botanist and her colleagues identified the spiny plant as a new, possibly endangered species and named it "from the heart" in Latin because it was found in Valentine, Texas, population 134 in 2010.

The migration of tropical fish as a result of ocean warming poses a serious threat to the temperate areas they invade, because they overgraze on kelp forests and seagrass meadows, a new study concludes.

The harmful impact of tropical fish is most evident in southern Japanese waters and the eastern Mediterranean, where there have been dramatic declines in kelps.

There is also emerging evidence in Australia and the US that the spread of tropical fish towards the poles is causing damage in the areas they enter.

A study published on the bmj.com today finds wide variation in the use of minimally invasive surgery at hospitals across the United States, despite better outcomes with minimally invasive surgery compared with traditional open surgery for many common procedures.

This disparity in surgical care has important implications for quality improvement, say the authors.

New estimates indicate that over 650 000 children develop tuberculosis (TB) every year in the 22 countries with a high burden of the disease (HBCs)*—almost 25% higher than the total number of new cases worldwide estimated by WHO in 2012 (530 000)**. The research, published in The Lancet Global Health, also suggests that about 15 million children are exposed to TB every year, and roughly 53 million are living with latent TB infection, which can progress to infectious active TB at any time.

Hospitals across the country vary substantially in their use of minimally invasive surgery, even when evidence shows that for most patients, minimally invasive surgery is superior to open surgery, a new study shows. The finding represents a major disparity in the surgical care delivered at various hospitals, the study's authors say, and identifies an area of medicine ripe for improvement.

Crohn's and other inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) can be painful and debilitating. There are no known cures for these diseases, but the symptoms can be managed. It is widely thought that IBDs develop as a result of an individual's genetic make-up, their gut microbiota, and environmental cues, though it is not fully understood how these factors promote IBDs.

Millions of people throughout the world are infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). Left untreated, infection results in serious complications such as cirrhosis of the liver and cancer. Many HCV-infected patients respond well to anti-viral therapy and remain virus free. However, trace amounts of HCV RNA are sporadically detected in patients thought to have successfully responded to HCV treatment.

Combining the smoking cessation medication varenicline with nicotine replacement therapy was more effective than varenicline alone at achieving tobacco abstinence at 6 months, according to a study in the July 9 issue of JAMA.

The combination of behavioral approaches and pharmacotherapy are of proven benefit in assisting smokers to quit. Combining nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) with varenicline has been a suggested treatment to improve smoking abstinence, but its effectiveness is uncertain, according to background information in the article.