Body

A heart-healthy diet is related to decreased blood pressure measurements, researchers said in a study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2014.

Using social media to deliver both emotional and concise medical content as well as the need for heart transplants and organs resulted in a higher engagement with members, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2014."

• An alcohol metabolizing gene called ADH1B is strongly linked to risk for alcohol use disorders (AUDs).
• The His allele (genetic variant) at ADHD1B-rs1229984 is considered protective against AUDs.
• Experiencing adverse events during childhood, such as physical or sexual abuse or witnessing violence, is a well-documented risk factor for alcohol problems.

EUGENE, Ore. -- Nov. 18, 2014 -- Leave it to long-dead short-tailed shrew and flying squirrels to outfox climate-modelers trying to predict future habitats.

Evidence from the fossil record shows that gluttonous insect-eating shrew didn't live where a species distribution technique drawn by biologists put it 20,000 years ago to survive the reach of glaciers, says University of Oregon geologist Edward B. Davis. The shrew is not alone.

Hamilton, ON (Nov. 18, 2014) - McMaster University researchers have found new evidence that suggests patients with a history of adverse reaction to the blood thinner heparin may be ready for urgent heart surgery sooner with a combination of appropriate blood screenings and therapeutic plasma exchange.

HOUSTON, Nov. 18, 2014 - The quest of University of Houston professor Richard Meisel to understand how and why males and females differ may one day lead to a more effective means of pest control - namely, the pesky house fly.

Meisel, an assistant professor in the UH Department of Biology and Biochemistry, collaborated with several scientists on sequencing the house fly genome. The results were recently published in the open-access journal Genome Biology.

CORVALLIS, Ore. - The bacteria that helped cause the near-ruin of two large oyster hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest have been mistakenly identified for years, researchers say in a recent report.

In addition, the study shows that the bacteria now believed to have participated in that problem are even more widespread and deadly than the previous suspect.

• Findings play important role in understanding impact of oral health on heart
• 35 extra cases of serious heart infection every month in the UK
• Prescription of antibiotic prophylaxis has fallen by 89 per cent

Scientists at the University of Sheffield have identified a significant rise in the number of people diagnosed with a serious heart infection alongside a large fall in the prescribing of antibiotic prophylaxis to dental patients.

NEW YORK, NY - November 17, 2014 - A new study has identified an FDA approved cancer drug, crizotinib, as a possible new coating for drug-eluting stents. Researchers found that crizotinib in mice helped prevent the narrowing of blood vessels after stenting without affecting the blood vessel lining. Results of this study were published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

November 18, 2014 -- A study just released by Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health found that children who were exposed to antibiotics in the second or third trimester of pregnancy had a higher risk of childhood obesity at age 7. The research also showed that for mothers who delivered their babies by a Caesarean section, whether elective or non-elective, there was a higher risk for obesity in their offspring. Study findings are published online in the International Journal of Obesity.

In an extensive, multi-institution study led by SUNY Downstate Medical Center, researchers have identified new evidence supporting the growing belief that Neanderthals were a distinct species separate from modern humans (Homo sapiens), and not a subspecies of modern humans.

Medications, such as chemotherapy, are often limited by their tendency to be detrimental to healthy cells as an unintended side effect. Now research in the November 18th issue of Cell Press's Biophysical Journal offers a new computational model that can help investigators design ways to direct drugs to their specific targets.

(BOSTON) - A major challenge faced by the pharmaceutical industry has been how to rationally design and select protein molecules to create effective biologic drug therapies while reducing unintended side effects - a challenge that has largely been addressed through costly guess-and-check experiments. Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University offer a new approach, in a study published today in Biophysical Journal.

An investigational treatment for Marfan syndrome is as effective as the standard therapy at slowing enlargement of the aorta, the large artery of the heart that delivers blood to the body, new research shows. The findings indicate a second treatment option for Marfan patients, who are at high risk of sudden death from tears in the aorta.

The results are being presented Nov. 18 at the American Heart Association's annual meeting in Chicago and will appear online the same day in the New England Journal of Medicine.

URBANA, Ill. - If an in-the-flesh Extension specialist isn't available to provide training, is a video of the specialist's presentation or a video of a new agricultural practice a good substitute? The answer, according to a University of Illinois study with farmers in rural Uganda, isn't simple, particularly when gender is factored into the equation.