Body

Conventional wisdom says that exercise is a key to weight loss — a no-brainer. But now, Tel Aviv University researchers are revealing that life as a couch potato, stretched out in front of the TV, can actually be "active inactivity" — and cause you to pack on the pounds.

DURHAM, N.C. – Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) is an incurable disease in which the delicate gas exchange region of the lung fills with scar tissue, which interferes with breathing. Now researchers at Duke University Medical Center have discovered that commonly held ideas about the origins of the scar-forming (fibrotic) cells were incorrect.

They found that small cells called pericytes move from blood vessels into fibrotic regions, and were in the lungs of both humans and mice.

Two studies available in the December issue of Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, have uncovered limitations in screening for primary liver cancer, also known as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The first study found that, if given the choice during a clinical trial, most patients with cirrhosis prefer surveillance over the possibility of non-screening, therefore making a randomized study of HCC screening not feasible.

COLUMBIA, Mo. –Traditional media, such as newspapers and television news, require readers and viewers to intentionally seek out news by picking up a newspaper or turning on the television. The Internet and new technologies now are changing the way readers consume online news. New research from the University of Missouri shows that Internet users often do not make the conscious decision to read news online, but they come across news when they are searching for other information or doing non-news related activities online, such as shopping or visiting social networking sites.

Washington, DC, December 1, 2011 -- Only 21 percent of surveyed medical students could identify five true and two false indications of when and when not to wash their hands in the clinical setting, according to a study published in the December issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of APIC - the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.

Published online in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, the study confirms that placid male pollinator fig wasps work together to chew an escape tunnel for their females, before crawling back into the fig to die – the non-pollinating variety are too busy fighting each other to help.

"Male insects can cooperate to attract the attention of females or to ensure that they are successful in mating, but I don't know of any other male insects which exhibit post-mating teamwork like this," says Dr Steve Compton from the Faculty of Biological Sciences.

In the media, burnout is a topic covered with repetitive regularity. In spite of this, no agreed definition exists, and neither does a valid instrument to diagnose burnout syndrome. Psychiatrist Wolfgang P Kaschka and coauthors are very clear about that fact in the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2011; 108[46]: 781-7).

Researchers at the University of Seville (Spain) have developed a technique based on chemical patterns for identifying the country of origin of beer. The content of iron, potassium, phosphates and polyphenols is found to be determining components. German, Spanish and Portuguese beers have been detected with 99% accuracy thanks to the model.

A mutation on the surface of human red blood cells provides protection against malaria caused by the parasite Plasmodium vivax, research led by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine shows.

The minute change, at a single position of red blood cell surface protein called the Duffy blood-group antigen, has been known for years. But the researchers found this difference makes it harder for the parasite to lock onto the cell and gain entry.

No entry, no infection.

[Geneva/New York, 1 December 2011] – Less than one-quarter (23%) of children with HIV/AIDS who need treatment are getting it, according to a report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the occasion of World AIDS Day (1 December 2011).

An archaeological research team from North Carolina State University, the University of Washington and University of Florida has found one of the most diverse collections of prehistoric non-native animal remains in the Caribbean, on the tiny island of Carriacou. The find contributes to our understanding of culture in the region before the arrival of Columbus, and suggests Carriacou may have been more important than previously thought.

CINCINNATI – Shortening end caps on chromosomes in human cervical cancer cells disrupts DNA repair signaling, increases the cells' sensitivity to radiation treatment and kills them more quickly, according to a study in Cancer Prevention Research.

Researchers would to like see their laboratory findings – published in the journal's Dec. 5 print edition – lead to safer, more effective combination therapies for hard-to-treat pediatric brain cancers like medulloblastoma and high-grade gliomas. To this end, they are starting laboratory tests on brain cancer cells.

CARLSBAD, Calif., DALLAS, PHOENIX, and THE WOODLANDS, Texas – December 1, 2011 – Triple negative breast tumors, which make up nearly 20 percent of breast cancers, do not respond to treatment with targeted therapies such as Herceptin® (trastuzumab).

To investigate new options for these patients, the first clinical trial of whole-genome sequencing for women with triple negative breast cancer was initiated in March 2010, and the first results will be presented during the 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Dec. 6-10, 2011.

PHILADELPHIA -- Researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson have identified cancer cell mitochondria as the unsuspecting powerhouse and "Achilles' heel" of tumor growth, opening up the door for new therapeutic targets in breast cancer and other tumor types.

The Saint Louis Zoo's Ron Goellner Center for Hellbender Conservation and the Missouri Department of Conservation announced on Nov. 30, 2011, that Ozark hellbenders have been bred in captivity—a first for either of the two subspecies of hellbender. This decade-long collaboration has yielded 63 baby hellbenders.