Body

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Recently, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, a research organization focused on biology and its relation to health, published a study in the journal Cell on the results of a substance that increased exercise endurance without daily exertion when tested in mice. Media reports have described this substance as an "exercise pill," potentially eliminating the need for exercise.

(Boston) An international research team in Antarctica led by David Marchant, an associate professor of earth sciences at Boston University, has reported the discovery of exceptionally well-preserved freshwater fossils including mosses, microscopic one-celled algae, known as diatoms, small fresh water crustaceans, and insects that represent the last traces of tundra in the southernmost region of the continent before a dramatic and enduring cooling occurred some 14 million years ago.

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FAIRFAX, Va.—Endovascular repair—fixing an injury in a blood vessel from inside that vessel—is a better option for individuals who receive highly lethal injuries from high-speed collisions or falls (together referred to as blunt trauma) and is shown to save more lives and nearly eliminate paraplegia (the loss of the ability to move and/or feel both legs), a complication of surgical repair for thoracic aortic aneurysms.

Researchers have developed a ground-breaking procedure that could avoid the need for transplant patients to spend the rest of their lives taking a cocktail of drugs to stop their system from rejecting their new organ, according to a series of papers in the August issue of Transplant International.

The team, led by Professor Fred Fandrich from the University of Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel, Germany, has developed a technique based on tailor-made regulatory cells.

Endometriosis is a condition whereby patches of the inner lining of the womb appear in parts of the body other than the womb cavity. It can cause severe pain and affects approximately 15% of women of reproductive age. Endometriosis is also associated with infertility, with 50% of infertile women affected by the condition.

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — UC Davis Cancer Center physicians today released results of research showing that Vietnam War veterans exposed to Agent Orange have greatly increased risks of prostate cancer and even greater risks of getting the most aggressive form of the disease as compared to those who were not exposed.

Multidetector CT (MDCT) is just as accurate as MRI in assessing myocardial infarct size--an important predictor of clinical outcome-- in an emergency setting according to a recent study conducted by researchers in collaboration between the VA Medical Center in San Francisco, CA and the University Claude Bernard in Lyon, France.

Park Ridge, Ill. (August 5, 2008) – A study published online today in the International Journal of Obesity shows that eating two eggs for breakfast, as part of a reduced-calorie diet, helps overweight adults lose more weight and feel more energetic than those who eat a bagel breakfast of equal calories. [1] This study supports previous research, published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, which showed that people who ate eggs for breakfast felt more satisfied and ate fewer calories at the following meal. [2]

The HIV drug tenofovir may prevent AIDS transmission when applied rectally as a gel, according to results from a macaque study published in PLoS Medicine.

Rectal exposure to HIV carries a particularly high risk of transmission in both homosexuals and heterosexuals. Although condoms are generally recommended for AIDS prevention, little research has focused on the use of topical products for preventing HIV transmission via the rectum.

An analysis by the humanitarian medical aid organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors without Borders) has found that between 1996 and 2004 MSF was responsible for about a quarter of all clinical studies of malaria medicine efficacy in 18 countries of Africa and Asia. In an article published in PLoS Medicine, Jean-Paul Guthmann (Epicentre, Paris, France) and colleagues report that MSF enrolled over 12,000 patients in 43 studies in these 18 countries during this time period.

In order to effectively prevent disease, the immune system must be able to distinguish between self and non-self, and to selectively target the latter. The process that removes immune cells that would otherwise react to the body – engage in friendly fire – is called negative selection. A new paper published in this week's PLoS Biology, the online open access journal, investigates the inner mechanics of the thymus, the organ that creates the foot soldiers of the immune system.

Edinburgh, Scotland – Mankind's closest relatives – the world's monkeys, apes and other primates – are disappearing from the face of the Earth, with some literally being eaten into extinction.

The first comprehensive review in five years of the world's 634 kinds of primates found that almost 50 percent are in danger of going extinct, according to the criteria of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

With heart disease maintaining top billing as the leading cause of death in the United States, a team of University of California, San Diego School of Medicine physician-researchers is proposing that aggressive intervention to lower cholesterol levels as early as childhood is the best approach available today to reducing the incidence of coronary heart disease.

PHILADELPHIA, August 5, 2008 – The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), updating its 2002 report, now recommends against routine prostate cancer screening for men over the age of 75. More evidence is needed to determine if men under 75 could benefit from screening.