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A single evolutionary event appears to explain the short, curved legs that characterize all of today's dachshunds, corgis, basset hounds and at least 16 other breeds of dogs, a team led by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health, reported today. In addition to what it reveals about short-legged dogs, the unexpected discovery provides new clues about how physical differences may arise within species and suggests new approaches to understanding a form of human dwarfism.

New vaccines have the potential to prevent or temper epidemics of the childhood diarrhea-causing disease rotavirus, protect the unvaccinated and raise the age at which the infection first appears in children, federal researchers reported in a study today.

The findings were based on changing patterns of rotavirus transmission in the United States, where the disease is rarely fatal, and they have implications for combating epidemics in other countries where the death toll is much higher.

PASADENA, Calif.—Stromatolites are dome- or column-like sedimentary rock structures that are formed in shallow water, layer by layer, over long periods of geologic time.

BOSTON, Mass., July 16, 2009– Data presented at the annual meeting of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) in Boston show that ATryn® (Antithrombin [Recombinant]) safely prevents peri-operative and peri-partum acute deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or other venous thromboembolic events in patients with hereditary antithrombin deficiency (HD AT). ATryn is not indicated for treatment of thromboembolic events in HD AT patients.

An upcoming G&D paper reveals how two specific matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) proteins contribute to bone metastasis in advanced breast cancer – lending important new insight into the design of clinically useful small molecule inhibitors.

How well do you know yourself? It's a question many of us struggle with, as we try to figure out how close we are to who we actually want to be. In a new report in Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, psychologist Timothy D. Wilson from the University of Virginia describes theories behind self-knowledge (that is, how people form beliefs about themselves), cites challenges psychologists encounter while studying it, and offers ways we can get to know ourselves a little better.

The use of tools by hominins - the primate group which includes humans (Homo) and chimpanzees and bonobos (Pan) - has been extensively researched by archaeologists and primatologists, both of who manifest the relevance of tool-use in understanding technology and the origins of human behaviour.

The latest rise in the indirect taxation on tobacco and alcohol took place in June. The most popular brand of cigarettes went up in price from 3.10 euros to 3.30 euros per packet. Are these taxes a form of dissuasion or a way of compensating the rest of society for the harm generated by those who smoke? A study by the Polytechnic University of Cartagena has looked into the most significant questions concerning the tobacco economy.

Cystic fibrosis medicines that help to break down mucus in the lungs may carry an unexpected long-term benefit, a study suggests.

The treatments not only help breathing in the short term - they may also make lung infections develop to be less harmful in the long run, research from the University of Edinburgh shows.

Expectant mothers who are obese are much more likely to suffer from minor complications such as heart burn and chest infections during pregnancy, a study suggests.

Research by the University of Edinburgh found that obese mothers-to-be were nearly 10 times more likely to suffer from chest infections, and more than twice as likely to suffer from headaches and heartburn, compared with pregnant women of a healthy weight.

Prognosis of pancreatic cancer is poor. Recently, it has been clarified that the grade of tumor angiogenesis is a useful prognostic marker in human cancer, including pancreatic cancer. To establish the grade of tumor angiogenesis by non-invasive imaging may be important clinically. However, there are only a few such reports on pancreatic cancer.

Based on serum bank material, BA profiling was applied in IBD patients and healthy controls which showed that most but not all BA species were decreased to a different extent in CD and UC. BA decreases were highly pronounced in CD patients with surgical interventions in the gut. On the other hand, UC patients with additional liver and gallbladder diseases showed clearly increased levels of those BAs that are synthesized directly in the liver (primary BAs), or subsequently modified by intestinal bacteria (secondary BAs).

Clarithromycin is currently one of the antibiotics used for eradication of Helicobacter pylori. However, reports of H. pylori resistance to this antibiotic are increasing worldwide. Clarithromycin resistance has been attributed to the presence of mutations in the 23S rRNA gene, a component of the ribosome that is the protein manufacturing machinery of all living cells. There is little information on the prevalence and characteristics of clarithromycin resistance in H. pylori strains isolated from Malaysian patients.

FD, a common non-organic disease in the world, greatly affects the patient's quality of life. However, treatment of FD is still controversial and no single therapy is uniformly effective, due, in part, to absence of a reliable evaluation instrument. The Nepean Dyspepsia Index (NDI), measuring both symptom scores and impairment of the dyspepsia-specific health-related quality of life in FD patients, has been designed to diagnose FD and translated into several languages. Moreover, its utility has been proved to be validated by researches in western countries.

Gene therapy has emerged as a novel approach to combat HCV infection in the last few years. However, one of the most important obstacles to overcome is "targeting": the appropriate genes must be delivered and expressed in HCV infected hepatocytes without harming normal tissues.