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A new method for improving quality of care can reduce hospital-acquired infections and chronic respiratory distress with oxygen dependency in premature infants in neonatal ICUs, according to a new study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) http://www.cmaj.ca/press/cmaj081727.pdf.

Found in 30% of all human cancer tumors, the Ras protein literally "drives cells crazy," says Prof. Yoel Kloog, the dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences at Tel Aviv University. Prof. Kloog was the first in the world to develop an effective anti-Ras drug against pancreatic cancer, currently in clinical trials. Now, new research published in the June issue of the European Journal of Pharmacology shows that the drug might be able to slow the progression of diabetes as well.

URBANA - This year farmers in the Midwest are growing a new variety of soybeans developed by University of Illinois researchers that has resistance to soybean aphids. However, in addition to the resistant plants, U of I researchers also discovered a new soybean aphid which is not controlled by this resistance.

Soybean aphids made their first appearance in North America in the summer of 2000, resulting in tremendous crop losses for farmers. U of I researchers began immediately searching for a variety of soybean that is resistant to the new pest.

A new study of persistent asthma in inner-city adolescents and young adults finds that an extensive set of clinical tests cannot successfully predict the future risk of asthma attacks in participants who both receive care based on current guidelines and adhere to treatment recommendations. This finding differs from previous reports suggesting that certain clinical findings and laboratory tests could help predict future asthma attacks.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 10, 2009) − Researchers in the laboratory of Dr. Jayakrishna Ambati at the University of Kentucky have discovered the first naturally occurring molecule that selectively blocks lymphatic vessel growth. In an article in the Aug. 9, 2009 online edition of Nature Medicine, they report the identification of a new molecule known as soluble VEGFR-2 that blocks lymphangiogenesis – the growth of lymphatics – but not blood vessel growth.

Scientists at Stanford University have identified a gene that may play a role in the development of type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the body's insulin-producing cells. Insulin, a hormone produced by cells of the pancreas, helps the body to absorb sugars found in food and to maintain blood sugar at appropriate levels.

Use of a common antibiotic may be undercutting its utility as a first-line defense against drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). Fluoroquinolones are the most commonly prescribed class of antibiotics in the U.S. and are used to fight a number of different infections such as sinusitis and pneumonia. They are also an effective first line of defense against TB infections that show drug resistance. New research shows, however, that widespread general use of fluoroquinolones may be creating a strain of fluoroquinolone-resistant TB.

The sex hormone estrogen tempers the killing activity of a specific group of immune cells, the cytotoxic T cells (CTLs), which are known to attack tumor cells and cells infected by viruses. The key player in this process is a cytotoxic T cell molecule which has been known for a long time and which scientists have named EBAG9. Cancer researchers Dr. Constantin Rüder and Dr. Armin Rehm together with immunologist Dr. Uta Höpken of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and Charité – University Medicine Berlin, Germany, have now unraveled the function of EBAG9.

Over 160 years since potato blight wreaked havoc in Ireland and other northern European countries, scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) finally have the blight-causing pathogen in their sights and are working to accelerate breeding of more durable, disease resistant potato varieties.

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is an idiopathic chronic cholestatic inflammatory liver disease characterized by diffuse fibrosing inflammation of intra- and/or extrahepatic bile ducts, resulting in bile duct obliteration, biliary cirrhosis, and eventually hepatic failure. One of the most common symptoms at the time of presentation of PSC is mild to severe abdominal pain localized in the right upper quadrant. However, the mechanisms responsible for the abdominal pain in PSC are not fully understood.

Recently, the number of patients with GERD has increased in Japan. However, there have been few reports about the pathological findings in the esophageal squamous epithelium, and there are differing opinions among pathologists about the findings considered characteristic of chronic reflux esophagitis.　

Long-standing liver disease has long been recognized to result in fragile bones with increased risk of fractures. In various international studies, the overall incidence has varied from 11% to 48%, with a fracture rate of 3%-44%. However, the reason for this is poorly understood. With liver transplantation becoming a viable option in liver disease and offering complete cure and long-term survival, bone disease is becoming the major determinant of survival and quality of life in these patients.

Using the Vienna classification system, it has been shown in clinic-based cohorts that there can be a significant change in disease behavior over time, whereas disease location remains relatively stable. Clinical and environmental factors as well as medical therapy might be relevant in predicting disease behavior change in patients with CD. In previous studies, early age at diagnosis, disease location, perianal disease and, in some studies, smoking were associated with the presence of complicated disease and surgery.

Recreational anglers and commercial fishermen understand you need good fishery management to make sure there will be healthy populations of fish for generations to come. And making good management decisions rests in large part on understanding the mortality of fish species – how many fish die each year as a result of natural causes and recreational and commercial fishing.

A new study finds that young women with early-stage ovarian cancer can preserve future fertility by keeping at least one ovary or the uterus without increasing the risk of dying from the disease. The study is published in the September 15, 2009 issue of Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.