Body

The discovery of insulin nearly a century ago changed diabetes from a death sentence to a chronic disease.

Today a team that includes researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine announced a discovery that could lead to dramatic improvements in the lives of people managing diabetes.

HOUSTON -- (Jan. 9, 2013) -- Rice University scientists have found that mutations of small effect can turn out to be game changers in the bacterial fight against antibiotic drugs.

The discovery came during an exhaustive, three-year effort to create a mathematical model that could accurately predict how specific mutations allow bacteria like E. coli to adapt to antibiotics like minocycline. The findings are detailed in a Dec. 10 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

WASHINGTON — On average, Americans die sooner and experience higher rates of disease and injury than people in other high-income countries, says a new report from the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. The report finds that this health disadvantage exists at all ages from birth to age 75 and that even advantaged Americans -- those who have health insurance, college educations, higher incomes, and healthy behaviors -- appear to be sicker than their peers in other rich nations.

Pemphigus vulgaris is a life-threatening autoimmune skin disease that is occurs when the body's immune system generates antibodies that target proteins in the skin known as desomogleins. Desmogleins help to form the adhesive bonds that hold skin cells together and keep the skin intact. Currently, pemphigus vulgaris is treated by long-term immune suppression; however, this can leave the patient susceptible to infection.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients frequently suffer from mineral bone disorder, which causes vascular calcification and, eventually, chronic heart failure. Similar to patients with CKD, mice with low levels of the protein klotho (klotho hypomorphic mice) also develop vascular calcification and have shorter life spans compared to normal mice.

Fusion genes are common chromosomal aberrations in many cancers, and can be used as prognostic markers and drug targets in clinical practice. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers led by Matti Annala at Tampere University of Technology in Finland identified a fusion between the FGFR3 and TACC3 genes in human glioblastoma samples. The protein produced by this fusion gene promoted tumor growth and progression in a mouse model of glioblastoma, while increased expression of either of the normal genes did not alter tumor progression.

Extremely loud noise can cause irreversible hearing loss by damaging sound sensing cells in the inner ear that are not replaced. But researchers reporting in the January 9 issue of the Cell Press journal Neuron have successfully regenerated these cells in mice with noise-induced deafness, partially reversing their hearing loss. The investigators hope the technique may lead to development of treatments to help individuals who suffer from acute hearing loss.

PASADENA, Calif., January 9, 2013 – The presence of microscopic hematuria – blood found in urine that can't be seen by the naked eye – does not necessarily indicate the presence of cancer, according to a Kaiser Permanente Southern California study published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The study suggests that tests routinely done on patients with this condition could be avoided and has led to the creation of a screening tool to better diagnose certain types of cancers.

Boston (Jan. 9, 2013) — Hearing loss is a significant public health problem affecting close to 50 million people in the United States alone. Sensorineural hearing loss is the most common form and is caused by the loss of sensory hair cells in the cochlea. Hair cell loss results from a variety of factors including noise exposure, aging, toxins, infections, and certain antibiotics and anti-cancer drugs.

PITTSBURGH—Self-moving gels can give synthetic materials the ability to "act alive" and mimic primitive biological communication, University of Pittsburgh researchers have found.

In a paper published in the Jan. 8 print edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Pitt research team demonstrates that a synthetic system can reconfigure itself through a combination of chemical communication and interaction with light.

When researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues conducted a random telephone survey among blacks, whites and Hispanics in New York, Baltimore and San Juan, Puerto Rico, they found that Hispanics are nearly twice as likely to report that fear of being used as a "guinea pig" and lack of trust in medical professionals contribute in being unwilling to participate in cancer screenings.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Negative media coverage may prompt firms to engage in greater levels of strategic change than previously thought, according to research by a University of Illinois business professor.

While businesses have typically viewed the news media as a megaphone for publicity, businesses have not viewed the media as an influential stakeholder capable of shaping the strategic decisions of key executives, says Michael K. Bednar, a professor of business administration at Illinois.

New Rochelle, NY, January 9, 2013—More than 85,000 synthetic chemicals are registered for commercial use with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and only about half of those produced in large quantities are tested for their potential toxic effects on humans. Children are particularly vulnerable to environmental toxins and a detailed look at how and why, and what can be done to protect children's health, is presented in a two-part article published in Alternative and Complementary Therapies from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

WASHINGTON—Video games have been blamed for contributing to the epidemic of childhood obesity in the United States. But a new study by researchers at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) suggests that certain blood-pumping video games can actually boost energy expenditures among inner city children, a group that is at high risk for unhealthy weight gain.

In collaboration with the National University of Mexico, a team of Spanish researchers has analysed for the first time remains of cosmetics in the graves of prehispanic civilisations on the American continent. In the case of the Teotihuacans, these cosmetics were used as part of the after-death ritual to honour their city's most important people.

A research team from the Polytechnic University of Valencia and the University of Valencia has studied various funerary samples found in urns in the Teotihuacan archaeological site (Mexico) that date from between 200 and 500 AD.