Body

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– Coastal marine ecosystems are at risk worldwide as a result of human activities, according to scientists at UC Santa Barbara who have recently published a study in the Journal of Conservation Letters. The authors have performed the first integrated analysis of all coastal areas of the world.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Using a nicotine patch before quitting smoking can double success rates, according to Duke University Medical Center researchers. They say their latest data suggest changes should be made to nicotine patch labeling.

"Right now, the nicotine patch is only recommended for use after the quit date," explains Jed Rose, director of the Duke Center for Nicotine and Smoking Research and lead author of the paper that is published online in the current issue of the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is arguably the world's most successful infectious agent because it knows how to avoid elimination by slowing its own growth to a crawl. Now, a report in the July 10 issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, offers new insight into the bugs' talent for meager living.

Surgeons from Hospital for Special Surgery in New York have identified a drilling technique that improves the outcome of surgery to reconstruct the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). The news will be presented during the annual meeting of the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine, June 9-12, in Keystone. Colo.

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine identified a novel link between ITCH, a gene known to regulate inflammation in the body and NOD2, a gene which causes the majority of genetic Crohn's Disease diagnoses. ITCH, when malfunctioning, causes widespread inflammatory diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, gastritis, uncontrolled skin inflammation, and pulmonary pneumonitis. Derek Abbott, M.D., Ph.D., and his team of researchers found that ITCH also influences NOD2-induced inflammation.

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. – Researchers in human genetics have long known that expansions of GAA repeats – resulting in this nucleotide triplet repeating hundreds or thousands of times – cause the most common hereditary neurological disorder known as Friedreich's ataxia. There is no cure for this condition, which damages the nervous system and can result in heart disease.

Chemists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Scripps Research Institute have developed an innovative technique to create cheap but highly stable chemicals that have the potential to take the place of the antibodies used in many standard medical diagnostic tests.

BALTIMORE (July 9, 2009) – Approximately ninety-one percent of dentists say patients complaining about dry mouth are taking multiple medications, according to a nationwide member survey conducted by the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD). Dry mouth, or xerostomia, is caused by a decrease in salivary function. It affects approximately one in four Americans, placing more than 25 percent of people at risk for tooth decay.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Managers who dole out discipline by taking away privileges – without considering the implications of restoring them – are missing a key in their bid to improve performance and behavior, a new University of Illinois study says.

Denying privileges is a widely used disciplinary tool, from workplaces to churches and other member-based organizations, but the consequences of giving them back have been largely ignored, according to research by Matthew McCarter and Arran Caza, of the U. of I. College of Business.

Montreal, July 9th 2009 – Twenty-five per cent of Crohn's disease patients have a mutation in what is called the NOD2 gene, but it is not precisely known how this mutation influences the disease. The latest study by Dr. Marcel Behr, of the Research Institute of the MUHC and McGill University, has provided new insight into how this might occur. The study will be published on July 9th in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

New York, 9 July 2009 –As soccer continues to grow in popularity, injuries to soccer players are likely to increase as well. Certain injuries fall into gender-based patterns and new research at Hospital for Special Surgery suggests some underlying causes that could help lead to better treatment, or even prevention for present and future soccer stars.

ROCKVILLE, Maryland – July 9, 2009 – Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: HGSI) today announced publication by the New England Journal of Medicine of the results of two pivotal animal efficacy studies, which showed the life-saving potential of the Company's human monoclonal antibody drug raxibacumab (ABthrax™), as well as the results of human safety studies, which supported the use of raxibacumab in the event of life-threatening inhalation anthrax disease.

Attractive males release fewer sperm per mating to maximise their chances of producing offspring across a range of females, according to a new paper on the evolution of ejaculation strategies. The findings by researchers at UCL (University College London) and the University of Oxford suggest that, paradoxically, matings with attractive males may be less fertile than those with unattractive ones.

A clinical report from Dresden supports the impression that "Spice Gold" is strongly addictive. In the current edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arzteblatt Int 2009: 106[27]: 464-7), Ulrich S. Zimmermann, from Dresden Technical University, and his colleagues describe a young man who developed physical withdrawal symptoms after regular consumption of this designer drug, accompanied by a dependence syndrome.

SEATTLE – The relationship between migraine headaches in women and a significant reduction in breast cancer risk has been confirmed in a follow-on study to landmark research published last year and conducted by scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The new study found a 26 percent reduced risk of breast cancer among both premenopausal and postmenopausal women with a clinical diagnosis of migraines.