Body

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Clumps of proteins that accumulate in brain cells are a hallmark of neurological diseases such as dementia, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. Over the past several years, there has been much controversy over the structure of one of those proteins, known as alpha synuclein.

Research by a University of Tennessee, Knoxville professor has found that about a thousand bird species became extinct following human colonization.

Research by Alison Boyer, a research assistant professor in ecology and evolutionary biology, and an international team studied the extinction rates of nonperching land birds in the Pacific Islands from 700 to 3,500 years ago. Some of the birds studied included birds of prey and ducks. The team uncovered the magnitude of the extinctions and insight into how and why human impacts varied across the region.

Researchers at UC Davis have shown how the innate immune system distinguishes between dangerous pathogens and friendly microbes. Like burglars entering a house, hostile bacteria give themselves away by breaking into cells. However, sensing proteins instantly detect the invasion, triggering an alarm that mobilizes the innate immune response. This new understanding of immunity could ultimately help researchers find new targets to treat inflammatory disorders. The paper was published in Nature on March 31.

Although sildenafil is best known for promoting erections, it may also serve as a weight loss aid by coaxing our bodies to store more healthy "brown fat" relative to unhealthy "white fat" than it would otherwise do on its own.

If you're pulling and all-nighter to finish a term paper, a new parent up all night with a fussy baby, or simply can't sleep like you once could, then you may be snoozing on good health. That's because new research published in The FASEB Journal used mice to show that proper sleep patterns are critical for healthy metabolic function, and even mild impairment in our circadian rhythms can lead to serious health consequences, including diabetes and obesity.

BETHESDA, MD – April 1, 2013 -- A surprising research discovery in mosquitoes could affect future prospects for malaria control. A team of scientists from West Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom found that the mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, which was thought to be splitting into two completely new species, may actually have a more complex range of forms due to frequent inter-mating. The resulting hybrids may have implications for insecticide resistance and malaria parasite infectivity.

April Genetics Society of America's Genetics highlights:

Methods, Technology and Resources

1. Marker density and read depth for genotyping populations using genotyping-by-sequencing, pp. 1073-1081Timothy M. Beissinger, Candice N. Hirsch, Rajandeep S. Sekhon, Jillian M. Foerster, James M. Johnson, German Muttoni, Brieanne Vaillancourt, C. Robin Buell, Shawn M. Kaeppler, and Natalia de Leon

U.S. adolescents' high levels of poor health behaviors and unfavorable cardiovascular risk factors may increase their chances of heart disease as adults, according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.

OAKLAND, Calif., April 1, 2013 – Chicken pox, the childhood affliction of earlier generations, has been largely neutralized by the varicella vaccine, according to a new study by the Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center, which appears in the current online issue of Pediatrics.

Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have discovered a new biological pathway of innate immunity that ramps up inflammation and then identified agents that can block it, leading to increased survival and improved lung function in animal models of pneumonia. They reported their findings today in Nature Immunology.

Despite their safety and efficacy in adults, only 3 percent of adolescents who use contraceptives have an IUD, and far fewer use implantable contraception.

Through in-depth interviews with 28 New York City-based family physicians, pediatricians and obstetrician-gynecologists, researchers identify multiple factors affecting their likelihood of prescribing long-acting reversible contraception to adolescents, and they find numerous barriers, including financial concerns, the clinical environment, and physicians' knowledge, attitudes and beliefs.

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With low back pain responsible for more than 20 million office visits and $100 billion dollars in health care costs annually in the United States, researchers examine the efficacy of osteopathic manual treatment and ultrasound therapy in the largest such trial ever conducted.

Estrogen plus progestin use is linked with increased breast cancer incidence. In addition, prognosis is similar for both users and nonusers of combined hormone therapy, suggesting that mortality from breast cancer may be higher for hormone therapy users as well, according to a study published March 29 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Rowan Chlebowski, MD, PhD, Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute lead researcher and author of a study released March 29 by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, issued the following statement regarding the latest findings from the Women's Health Initiative, the largest-ever study of hormonal therapy in post-menopausal women.

A strategy widely used to prevent pests from quickly adapting to crop-protecting toxins may fail in some cases unless better preventive actions are taken, suggests new research by University of Arizona entomologists published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.