Body

COLD SPRING HARBOR, N.Y. (Tues., March 3, 2009) – Two new methods for analyzing the roles played by proteins in cells are featured in the March issue of Cold Spring Harbor Protocols (www.cshprotocols.org/TOCs/toc3_09.dtl). Thomas J.

PHILADELPHIA – Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the University of Connecticut have pinpointed the source of immature cells that spur misplaced bone growth. Unexpectedly, the major repository of bone-forming cells originates in blood vessels deep within skeletal muscle and other connective tissues, not from muscle stem cells themselves. The work also shows that cells important in the inflammatory response to injury trigger skeleton-stimulating proteins to transform muscle tissue into bone.

PHILADELPHIA – Consuming two or more drinks per day could increase a person's risk of pancreatic cancer by about 22 percent, according to data published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Washington, DC -- Men and women who consume two or more alcoholic drinks a day could increase their risk of developing pancreatic cancer, according to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

(BOSTON) - A new study provides insight into how a short burst in nitrite can exert lasting beneficial effects on the heart, protecting it from stress and assaults such as heart attacks. In this study, just published in Circulation Research, researchers at Boston University School of Medicine have demonstrated for the first time that short elevations in circulating levels of this simple anion are sufficient to have a lasting impact on the heart by modulating its oxidation status and its protein machinery.

Berkeley, CA - As electronic circuits shrink from finely etched lines in silicon wafers to nearly elusive proportions, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and Columbia University are studying how electrons flow through a molecular junction—a nanometer scale circuit element that contacts gold atoms with a single molecule.

In a research article published recently by the American Journal of Epidemiology, Oregon Research Institute (ORI) scientist Fuzhong Li, Ph.D., and colleagues show that a high-density of fast food outlets was associated with an increase of 3 pounds in weight and .8 inches in waist circumference among neighborhood residents who frequently ate at those restaurants.

CHILLICOTHE – Subsurface drip irrigation was able to produce up to four bales of cotton per acre with less water than conventional irrigation methods at the Texas AgriLife Research station near Chillicothe.

Dr. John Sij, AgriLife Research agronomist, said his cotton trials suffered through hail and drought, but he was able to produce more cotton with less water using subsurface drip irrigation.

A new study in mice sheds light on the insulin resistance that can come from diets loaded with high-fructose corn syrup, a sweetener found in most sodas and many other processed foods. The report in the March issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, also suggests a way to prevent those ill effects.

COLLEGE PARK, MD (March 3, 2009) -- Scientists at the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) are offering additional background information to help the public avoid misinterpreting the findings contained in a report issued today by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP), a non-profit body chartered by the U.S. Congress to make recommendations on radiation protection and measurements. The report is not without scientific controversy and requires careful interpretation

INDIANAPOLIS – New guidelines proposed in the March 2009 issue of the journal Pediatrics by researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine and Riley Hospital for Children may have a major impact on how U.S. pediatricians and family physicians treat non-active tuberculosis (TB) in children who are immigrants, internationally adopted or refugees. The researchers say the strategy should improve the health of this growing number of children and save healthcare dollars.

The growing trend to move miles away from hometowns and family for work is leaving many women feeling 'ignorant and ill-equipped' to cope with pregnancy and childbirth.

According to a University of Warwick study of motherhood, many women do not have the support and advice they need when they have a baby because they live too far from close family.

The study also suggests the modern practice of encouraging new mothers to give birth in hospital means women often have no experience of childbirth until they have their own children.

A breakthrough strategy to improve the effectiveness of the only tuberculosis vaccine approved for humans provided superior protection against the deadly disease in a pre-clinical test, report scientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in Nature Medicine's Advance Online Publication March 1. Their findings resulted from more than 6 years of research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Gases rising from deep within the Earth are fueling the world's highest-known microbial ecosystems, which have been detected near the rim of the 19,850-foot-high Socompa volcano in the Andes by a University of Colorado at Boulder research team.

BOSTON - (March 3, 2009) In an epidemiological study of men and post-menopausal women primarily over 60 years of age, regular moderate alcohol intake was associated with greater bone mineral density (BMD). Researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA) at Tufts University found associations were strongest for beer and wine and, importantly, BMD was significantly lower in men drinking more than two servings of liquor per day.