Body

The most frequent turning point in father-daughter relationships is shared activity — especially sports — ahead of such pivotal events as when a daughter marries or leaves home, according to a study by Baylor University researchers.

An expansion of collaborative projects involving Fundación Santa Fe de Bogotá (FSFB), one of Colombia's premier health care institutions, and Johns Hopkins Medicine International (JHI) will continue for another 10 years under an agreement signed Feb. 18, 2013, in Baltimore, USA. The collaboration agreement detailing joint efforts in research and nursing, among other areas, was signed by Steven J. Thompson, chief executive officer of JHI, and Juan Pablo Uribe, chief executive officer of FSFB.

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Though scientists have long believed that complex organic molecules couldn't survive fossilization, some 350-million-year-old remains of aquatic sea creatures uncovered in Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa have challenged that assumption.

Montreal, February 18, 2013 – In a large city like Montreal, public transit provides us with options for getting to work or school and back home again. In deciding to choose traffic jams over metro delays, or to pay for parking rather than buy a monthly pass, you weigh the pros, cons and costs of your options, and your mental calculations are more complicated than they may appear at first glance.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Feb. 19, 2013 – A new study from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center shows that an increase in fat throughout the thigh is predictive of mobility loss in otherwise healthy older adults.

Lead author Kristen Beavers, Ph.D., and colleagues at Wake Forest Baptist said the findings suggest that prevention of age-related declines in walking speed isn't just about preserving muscle mass, it's also about preventing fat gain.

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Therapy to ease stress, fatigue and other quality of life issues significantly improves patients' sense of well-being during cancer treatment, new Mayo Clinic research shows. Patients who kept to their standard routines showed a decline in quality-of-life measures, the study found. The findings are published this month in Cancer.

Animal scientists say a raw meat diet is a good source of protein for cats, but pet owners may need to supplement with other nutrients.

In a new paper in the Journal of Animal Science, researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium analyzed the value of raw meat diets for cats and exotic felids. The researchers used several tests to evaluate the nutrients in meat from bison, cattle, horses and elk.

COLLEGE STATION, Feb. 18, 2013 — Imagine two steel springs identical in look and composition but that perform differently because each was tempered at a different rate.

Scientists say amending an EU directive on GMOs could help stimulate innovation in making vaccines, cheaper pharmaceuticals and organic plastics using plants.

In a paper to be published in Current Pharmaceutical Design, six scientists from the US and Europe compare risk assessment and regulation between the two continents. They will run a web chat on the subject with Sense About Science from 12-1 on Wednesday 20th February.

The poor growth seen in children born with complex heart defects may result from factors beyond deficient nutrition. A new study by pediatric researchers suggests that abnormalities in overall growth regulation play a role.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Current national guidelines provide benchmarks regarding the number of polyps" physicians should detect, on average, during a colonoscopy. Recent studies at Mayo Clinic's campus in Florida suggest these benchmarks may be too low.

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- The more you sit, the higher your risk of chronic diseases.

Kansas State University researcher Richard Rosenkranz, assistant professor of human nutrition, examined the associations of sitting time and chronic diseases in middle-aged Australian males in a study that is published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. Collaborators include University of Western Sydney researchers Emma George and Gregory Kolt.

Charlottesville, VA, February 19, 2013. Neurosurgeons from UC San Francisco describe the use of 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) fluorescence in guiding resection of recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Ingestion of 5-ALA by a patient before surgery leads to fluorescence of tumor cells intraoperatively in response to certain wavelengths of light. This can provide information not necessarily available through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the standard mode of imaging used to detect primary and recurrent GBMs.

The number of women aware that heart disease is the leading cause of death has nearly doubled in the last 15 years, but that knowledge still lags in minorities and younger women, according to a new study in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.

Researchers comparing women's views about heart disease in 1997 and today, found:

Researchers at the Moffitt Cancer Center have found a potential mechanism by which immune suppressive myeloid-derived suppressor cells can prevent immune response from developing in cancer. This mechanism includes silencing the tumor suppressor gene retinoblastoma 1 or Rb1. Their data explains a new regulatory mechanism by which myeloid-derived suppressor cells are expanded in cancer.

Their study appeared in a recent issue of Nature Immunology.