Body

Salsalate, a prodrug form of salicylate, may be an effective treatment for patients with type 2 diabetes but its efficacy and safety have not been tested using currently accepted regulatory practices.

Researchers randomly assigned 286 adult patients with established type 2 diabetes and inadequate glycemic control to take either placebo (n=140) or salsalate, 3.5 g/d (n=146) along with current therapies for 48 weeks. Of those patients, 283 were analyzed for changes in hemoglobin A1C level, anti-inflammatory effects, and adverse events.

While public health officials around the world are on alert about the pandemic potential of new disease threats, a team that includes Penn State University biologist Marcel Salathé is developing innovative new systems and techniques to track the spread of infectious diseases, with the help of news websites, blogs, and social media.

Simultaneously controlling your high blood pressure and high cholesterol may cut your risk for heart disease by half or more, according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Circulation. Yet fewer than one in three people achieve this goal.

Researchers also found:

Exercise-induced improvements in glycemic control are dependent on the pre-training glycemic level, and although moderate-intensity aerobic exercise can improve glycemic control, individuals with ambient hyperglycemia (high blood glucose) are more likely to be nonresponders, according to a research letter by Thomas P. J. Solomon, Ph.D. of the Centre of Inflammation and Metabolism, Copenhagen, Denmark, and colleagues.

A new technique that involves removing the nerves connecting the kidney to the brain has shown to significantly reduce blood pressure and help lower the risk of stroke, heart and renal disease in patients. The procedure, which has very few side effects, has already shown promising results in hard-to-treat cases of high blood pressure.

Baltimore, MD – June 28, 2013. Acupuncture, when used as a complementary or adjuvant therapy forin vitro fertilization (IVF), may be beneficial depending on the baseline pregnancy rates of a fertility clinic, according to research from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The analysis from the University of Maryland Center for Integrative Medicine is published in the June 27 online edition of the journal Human Reproduction Update.

Nearly 25 years after an international ban was placed on ivory, African elephants are being slaughtered at a rate that could bring about their extinction this century. By allowing the trade of ivory acquired before 1989 to continue, the ban put the burden on law enforcement to distinguish between legal ivory and poached. Now, a new method for dating elephant tusks, described in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), could make it easier to enforce the ivory ban and save the African elephant from extermination say researchers.

PHILADELPHIA (July 01, 2013) – Scientists from the Monell Center report the surprising finding that two proteins involved in oral taste detection also play a crucial role in sperm development.

"This paper highlights a connection between the taste system and male reproduction," said lead author Bedrich Mosinger, MD, PhD, a molecular biologist at Monell. "It is one more demonstration that components of the taste system also play important roles in other organ systems."

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Farmers in the United States witnessed record-breaking extremes in temperature and drought during the last two summers, causing worldwide increases in the costs of food, feed and fiber. Indeed, many climate scientists caution that extreme weather events resulting from climate change is the new normal for farmers in North America and elsewhere, requiring novel agricultural strategies to prevent crop losses.

PITTSBURGH, July 1, 2013 – Cells of the placenta may have a unique ability to prevent viruses from crossing from an expectant mother to her growing baby and can transfer that trait to other kinds of cells, according to researchers at Magee-Womens Research Institute (MWRI) and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Their findings, published in the early online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shed new light on the workings of the placenta and could point to new approaches to combat viral infections during pregnancy.

Athens, Ga. – A new University of Georgia study has identified the worst and best countries in the world in terms of funding for biodiversity conservation. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also suggests how funding should change to help achieve the United Nations 2020 goals on reducing extinction.

ANN ARBOR—A University of Michigan researcher and colleagues at the University of Georgia and elsewhere have identified the most underfunded countries in the world for biodiversity conservation. They found that 40 of the most poorly funded countries harbor 32 percent of all threatened mammalian biodiversity.

Most—though not all—of the countries in greatest need of more funding are developing nations, so important gains could be made at relatively low cost, the researchers concluded.

HOUSTON – (July 1, 2013) – The idea that worms can be seen as waveforms allowed scientists at Rice University to find new links in gene networks that control movement.

The work led by Rice biochemist Weiwei Zhong, which will appear online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition, involved analyzing video records of the movement of thousands of mutant worms of the species Caenorhabditis elegans to identify the neuronal pathways that drive locomotion.

Vitamin C affects whether genes are switched on or off inside mouse stem cells, and may thereby play a previously unknown and fundamental role in helping to guide normal development in mice, humans and other animals, a scientific team led by UC San Francisco researchers has discovered.

The researchers found that vitamin C assists enzymes that play a crucial role in releasing the brakes that keep certain genes from becoming activated in the embryo soon after fertilization, when egg and sperm fuse.

The agriculture industry is researching new technologies to help feed the growing population. But feeding the world without harming air quality is a challenge.

According to a new article in Animal Frontiers, biotechnologies increase food production and reduce harmful gas output from cattle.

"We are increasing the amount of product with same input," said Clayton Neumeier, PhD student at University of California, Davis, in an interview.