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BOSTON – Drug overdose was the leading cause of death among homeless adults in Boston from 2003 to 2008 and accounted for one-third of deaths among those ages 25 to 44. A study by investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP) compared rates and causes of death among those served by BHCHP with data from a similar 1997 study and found that, while drug overdose had replaced HIV as the leading cause of death, overall mortality rates had not changed.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Eating diets high in sugar and fat may not affect the health outcomes of older adults ages 75 and up, suggesting that placing people of such advanced age on overly restrictive diets to treat their excess weight or other conditions may have little benefit, according to researchers at Penn State and Geisinger Healthcare System.

WOODS HOLE, MASS.—In another blow to the "Everything is Everywhere" tenet of bacterial distribution in the ocean, scientists at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) have found "bipolar" species of bacteria that occur in the Arctic and Antarctic, but nowhere else.

WHAT: Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) have found that an experimental vaccine elicits antibodies that can protect nonhuman primates from Ebola virus infection. Ebola virus causes severe hemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman primates, meaning that infection may lead to shock, bleeding and multi-organ failure. According to the World Health Organization, Ebola hemorrhagic fever has a fatality rate of up to 90 percent. There is no licensed treatment or vaccine for Ebola virus infection.

RICHMOND, Va. (Jan. 14, 2013) – Patients who undergo knee replacement surgery may be at risk of gaining more weight than their peers who have not had the surgery, according to a five-year study led by a Virginia Commonwealth University professor.

PHILADELPHIA, PA (January 14, 2013)—Shutting down a specific pathway in cancer cells appears to improve the ability of common drugs to wipe those cells out, according to new research from scientists at Fox Chase Cancer Center, published in the January issue of Cancer Discovery.

"Ideally, this research will eventually enable scientists to find drugs that disrupt this pathway and boost the impact of current therapies," says Igor Astsaturov, MD, PhD, Attending Physician in the Department of Medical Oncology at Fox Chase. "That's the long-term plan."

The effects of acute acupuncture applied during exercise on performance factors such as power and blood pressure and on the body's ability to recover post-exercise were evaluated in a review article published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.

A review of the literature focused on four papers designed to test whether a person receiving acupuncture while exercising would have enhanced exercise performance and/or recover more quickly from an exercise session.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers have shown that transplanting stem cells derived from normal mouse blood vessels into the hearts of mice that model the pathology associated with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) prevents the decrease in heart function associated with DMD.

Their findings appear in the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine.

PHILADELPHIA, PA (January 14, 2013)—Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women in the United States. Many of these deaths occur when there is an initial diagnosis of invasive or metastatic disease. A protein called NEDD9—which regulates cell migration, division and survival—has been linked to tumor invasion and metastasis in a variety of cancers. Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center have now shown that NEDD9 plays a surprising role in the early stages of breast tumor development by controlling the growth of progenitor cells that give rise to tumors.

The use of serial compression ultrasonographic testing together with Doppler imaging appears to be a reliable method of ruling out blood clots in the legs of pregnant women, according to a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Physicians can likely safely withhold anticoagulation therapy based on the results.

NEW YORK (Jan. 14, 2013) -- Scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College have discovered the molecular switch that allows aggressive triple negative breast cancer cells to grow the amoeba-like protrusions they need to crawl away from a primary tumor and metastasize throughout the body. Their findings, published in Cancer Cell, suggest a novel approach for developing agents to treat cancer once it has spread.

Scientists from the University of Iowa and Brigham Young University (BYU) have identified a gene that may be a target for overcoming drug resistance in cancer. The finding could not only improve prognostic and diagnostic tools for evaluating cancer and monitoring patients' response to treatment but also could lead to new therapies directed at eradicating drug-resistant cancer cells.

Drug resistance is a common problem in many metastatic cancers. It leads to failure of chemotherapy treatments and is associated with poor patient outcomes, including rapid relapse and death.

PHILADELPHIA, January 14, 2013 -- The American College of Physicians (ACP) has approved a policy recommendation that all health care providers (HCPs) be immunized against influenza; diphtheria; hepatitis B; measles, mumps, and rubella; pertussis (whooping cough); and varicella (chickenpox) according to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) Adult Immunization Schedule. ACP's policy exempts HCPs for medical reasons or a religious objection to immunization.

URBANA – Distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) are a good source of energy and protein in swine diets. However, they can be damaged by excessive heat during processing, compromising their nutritional value. University of Illinois researchers have found that it is possible to assess heat damage by predicting the digestibility of lysine in DDGS.

New and more effective strains of the fungus used to produce penicillin could be developed after a team of international scientists unearthed the secret sex life of Sir Alexander Fleming's fungus Penicillium chrysogenum (P. chrysogenum).