Body

ATHENS, Ohio (Aug. 18, 2008) — Though skin cancer is deadly to male fish, it also has one perk: The black melanoma splotches arise from attractive natural markings that lure female mates. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week shows that the melanoma gene can be conserved in swordtail fish because of its beneficial role in sexual selection.

University Park, Pa. -- A little known fungus tucked away in the gut of Asian longhorned beetles helps the insect munch through the hardest of woods according to a team of entomologists and biochemists. Researchers say the discovery could lead to innovative methods of controlling the invasive pest, and potentially offer more efficient ways of breaking down plant biomass for generating biofuels.

Teenagers who don't sleep well or long enough may have a higher risk of elevated blood pressure that could lead to cardiovascular disease later in life, researchers report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Researchers found the odds of elevated blood pressure increased 3.5 times for those with low sleep efficiency and 2.5 times for those with sleeping periods of less than 6.5 hours, even after adjusting for gender, body mass index and socioeconomic status.

Chewing gum is associated with enhanced recovery of intestinal function following surgery to remove all or part of the colon, according to an analysis of previously published studies in the August issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Elderly trauma patients appear to be less likely than younger patients to be transported to a trauma center, possibly because of unconscious age bias among emergency medical services personnel, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Most trauma professionals and members of the general public say they would prefer palliative care following a severe injury if physicians determined aggressive critical care would not save their lives, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. However, trauma care professionals and other individuals differ in their opinions regarding patients' rights to demand care and the role of divine intervention in recovery from an injury.

Smoking appears to be associated with an increased rate of hemorrhage (bleeding) in patients who undergo uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP, a surgical procedure used to remove excess tissue from the throat) with tonsillectomy (a surgical procedure in which the tonsils are removed), but not in those who undergo tonsillectomy alone, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Otolaryngology−Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Teens report that they would pay about $275 to have never had acne, and are willing to pay considerably more to be acne-free than to have 50 percent clearance of their acne or to have clear skin with acne scars, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Teenagers are notorious for having bad sleep habits. New research suggests that having trouble staying awake the next day might not be the only consequence they face. In the first study to look at the relationship between not getting enough sleep and blood pressure in healthy adolescents, researchers found that healthy teens (ages 13 to 16 years old) who slept less than 6.5 hours a night were 2.5 times more likely to have elevated blood pressure compared to those who slept longer.

If you knew what possessed the young Jim Sacchettini to become a biochemist, you might look upon the "bar scene" more approvingly. But that story's for later.

Instead, ponder what Sacchettini calls "the diseases of the poor" – infectious diseases that not long ago were considered wiped from the face of the Earth - tuberculosis and malaria, for instance.

Sacchettini saw these maladies firsthand in the Bronx. He had gone there in 1990 from St. Louis, Mo., after earning his doctorate at Washington University.

WASHINGTON, DC—Children's National Medical Center immunologist and blood and marrow transplant physician Naynesh Kamani, MD, will serve as the study co-chair for a new national clinical trial of unrelated donor marrow and umbilical cord blood transplants for severe

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Ashok Hemal, M.D., a urologic surgeon from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, and colleagues have reported success using robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery to repair abnormal openings between the bladder and vagina known as fistulas. Reporting on their experience with seven patients, Hemal and colleagues have the world's largest known success with the procedure.

Their report appears online in the Journal of Urology and will be included in a future print issue.

Researchers trying to determine whether nature or nurture determines an ant's status in the colony have found a surprising answer.

Both.

Nature (that is, the ant's genetic makeup) and nurture (what it eats, for example) play a role in determining the fate of the Florida harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex badius, a resilient creature found in many parts of the southeastern United States.

CINCINNATI—One in three U.S. public schools are in the "air pollution danger zone," according to new research from the University of Cincinnati (UC).

UC researchers have found that more than 30 percent of American public schools are within 400 meters, or a quarter mile, of major highways that consistently serve as main truck and traffic routes.

Research has shown that proximity to major highways—and thus environmental pollutants, such as aerosolizing diesel exhaust particles—can leave school-age children more susceptible to respiratory diseases later in life.

INDIANAPOLIS – Family members are often called upon to make medical choices for patients who are unable to do so themselves. Researchers led by Alexia Torke, M.D., of the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute, Inc., studied how physicians treating these patients interacted with surrogate decision-makers.