Body

Scientists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P) in Germany have created a new synthetic hybrid material with a mineral content of almost 90 percent, yet extremely flexible. They imitated the structural elements found in most sea sponges and recreated the sponge spicules using the natural mineral calcium carbonate and a protein of the sponge. Natural minerals are usually very hard and prickly, as fragile as porcelain.

SAN DIEGO - Telestroke programs substantially improve access to life-saving stroke care, extending coverage to less populated areas in an effort to reduce disparities in stroke care access. A new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, being presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 65th Annual Meeting in San Diego March 16-23, 2013, found that telemedicine programs in Oregon pushed stroke coverage into previously uncovered, less populated areas and expanded coverage by approximately 40 percent.

SAN DIEGO – Injecting synthetic tau fibrils into animal models induces Alzheimer's-like tau tangles and imitates the spread of tau pathology, according to research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania being presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 65th Annual Meeting in San Diego March 16-23, 2013.

Humans aren't the only species with a sweet tooth. Research from North Carolina State University shows that the invasive spotted-wing vinegar fly (Drosophila suzukii) also prefers sweet, soft fruit – giving us new insight into a species that has spread across the United States over the past four years and threatens to cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to U.S. fruit crops.

Highlights

Arnhem, 11 March 2013 - A new study by British scientists reveals that motile Escherichia coli isolates demonstrated significant activation of NF-κB signaling suggesting that flagellin plays a key role in up-regulating the host innate defences against urinary tract infections (UTIs).

Arnhem, 11 March 2013- A recent study conducted by a group of German scientists revealed the presence of a previously unknown cell in the urethra of mice. These chemosensory cholinergic brush cells are in close contact to sensory neurons that express cholinergic receptors.

The authors suggest that in analogy to brush cells of the respiratory tract, the urethral brush cells may also serve as sentinels being able to detecting hazardous substances and preventing their further retrograde ingression.

Arnhem, 11 March 2013 - Surgery offers better survival benefit for men with localised prostate cancer, according to a large observational study, conducted by a group of researchers in Sweden and the Netherlands.

The study won the second prize for best abstract in oncology at the 28th Annual EAU Congress which will open in Milan this Friday, 15 March.

Arnhem, 11 March 2013 - A new study by British scientists reveals that motile Escherichia coli isolates demonstrated significant activation of NF-κB signaling suggesting that flagellin plays a key role in up-regulating the host innate defences against urinary tract infections (UTIs).

Arnhem, 14 March 2013 - As part of an EU-supported IMI-PREDECT consortium (http://www.predect.eu), a Dutch study showed that anti-androgenic properties of the drug abiraterone may provide an additional mechanism of action in blocking tumour growth of castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

The value of medical treatment can be far greater than the cost of the treatment finds a study in BioMed Central's open access journal Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation. Improved physical function leads to measurable gains in employment, improved household income, and fewer days missed from work. This improvement in employment is matched by a reduction in the necessity of disability benefits.

Working night shifts might increase the risk of developing ovarian cancer, indicates research published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

The risk may be lower for night types ("owls") than for morning types ("larks"), the findings suggest (see accompanying commentary).

The authors base their findings on 1101 women with the most common type (epithelial) of advanced ovarian cancer; 389 with borderline disease; and a comparison group of 1832 women without ovarian cancer.

There is no clear evidence that the decline in the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is linked to a reported fall in the numbers of new cases of breast cancer, as has been claimed, suggests a study in the Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care.

The stats and time trends neither back up nor refute the claim, so no firm conclusions can be drawn, say the authors in the last of a series of five critiques of the published data in three major studies on HRT.

Highlights

At the end of the last ice age, a population of polar bears was stranded by the receding ice on a few islands in southeastern Alaska. Male brown bears swam across to the islands from the Alaskan mainland and mated with female polar bears, eventually transforming the polar bear population into brown bears.