Body

NEW YORK, 7 March 2013 – Between 2011 and 2020, more than 140 million girls will become child brides, according to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

If current levels of child marriages hold, 14.2 million girls annually or 39,000 daily will marry too young.

Furthermore, of the 140 million girls who will marry before the age of 18, 50 million will be under the age of 15.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck is a potentially curable disease in nearly every patient at the time of diagnosis, yet despite the most aggressive efforts, up to 30-50 percent of patients may ultimately succumb to the disease. For diseases where outcomes are so uncertain, medical science frequently addresses the need by intensifying therapy.

Cold Spring Harbor, NY – In collaboration with colleagues at Cornell University, a team of cancer researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has discovered cells with stem-cell properties in the ovary that can mutate to form tumors.

The team demonstrated that when two important tumor suppressor genes are inactivated, a previously unknown subset of ovarian stem-like epithelial cells undergoes cancerous transformation. The findings, published today in the journal Nature, have important implications for our knowledge about ovarian cancer.

SAN FRANCISCO (March 7, 2013) — Modest financial incentives offered over an extended period of time were significantly more likely to encourage sustained participation in a weight-loss program and long-term maintenance of weight loss than an identical program that did not offer financial rewards, according to a study being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session.

SAN FRANCISCO (March 7, 2013) — Being overweight, especially from a young age, appears to lead to a bigger heart later in life, a condition that has been linked to serious heart problems and even death, according to research being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session.

SAN FRANCISCO (March 7, 2013) — Suppressing a hunger-stimulating hormone with a minimally invasive procedure was safe in humans and led to significant weight loss for at least six months in a small preliminary study being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session.

More than two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese, conditions that total more than $147 billion in medical costs each year. Excess weight also increases the risk for other conditions, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes.

A study from the University of Utah sheds new light on the health risks faced not only by military veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but by their partners as well. Results of the study will be presented later this month at the annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society.

Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. – Some cellular proteins have multiple, and occasionally opposing, functions. Professor Adrian Krainer [link: Faculty profile] and colleagues at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory demonstrate in a paper published online today in Molecular Cell [link: to paper via doi #] that the oncogenic protein SRSF1 can also trigger a stop in cell growth and prevent cancerous proliferation by stabilizing p53, the powerful tumor-suppressor protein.

In ten years time, routine preventive health care for adults may include genetic testing alongside the now familiar tests for cholesterol levels, mammography and colonoscopy. As genomic testing prepares to enter the realm of general medical care, an interdisciplinary team of researchers is suggesting in a commentary in the May 2013 issue of Genetics in Medicine, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG), that now is the time to explore genetic testing to identify people at high risk for carefully selected, preventable disease.

The liver is one of the few organs in our body that can regenerate itself, but how it occurs is a biological mystery. New research from BRIC, University of Copenhagen and the Finsen Laboratory, Rigshospitalet, has identified a protein complex that acts as a molecular switch turning on a self-regeneration program in the liver. The protein complex furthermore fine tunes liver metabolism, allowing this to run efficiently in parallel with the tissue damage repair.

Does good behavior lead to more good behavior? Or do we try to balance our good and bad deeds? The answer depends on our ethical mindset, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A pair of studies tells the tale of how a neuroscientist at Mayo Clinic in Florida helped to discover the first African-American family to have inherited the rare movement disorder dystonia, which causes repetitive muscle contractions and twisting, resulting in abnormal posture.

Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have discovered that a particular protein prevents normal cells from being reprogrammed into cells that resemble stem cells, providing new insight into how they may lose their plasticity during normal development. This finding has broad-reaching implications for how cells change during both normal and disease development. The data are published this week in Nature Communications.

Cold Spring Harbor, NY -- The normal development of an animal or plant can be compared in at least two ways with the successful performance of a great symphony. The whole is the product of a great number of events involving contributions by many different "players"; and these contributions must occur in a precise and almost perfectly coordinated temporal and spatial sequence.

SAN FRANCISCO (March 7, 2013) – Using a telemedicine system to engage people in underserved, urban communities to measure and report their blood pressure remotely—outside of the doctor's office—appears to help them achieve blood pressure goals and improve adherence to lifestyle changes and medication recommendations, according to research being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session.