Body

A 'cheater' mutation (chtB) in Dictyostelium discoideum, a free living slime mould able to co-operate as social organism when food is scarce, allows the cheater strain to exploit its social partner, finds a new study published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology. The mutation ensures that when mixed with 'normal' Dictyostelium more than the fair share of cheaters become spores, dispersing to a new environment, and avoiding dying as stalk cells.

A synthetic "poop" developed at the University of Guelph can cure nasty gastrointestinal infections caused by Clostridium difficile, a toxin-producing bacterium.

A study on the artificial stool was published today in the inaugural issue of Microbiome, a new peer-reviewed science journal.

The stool – a "super-probiotic" called RePOOPulate – was created by Guelph microbiologist Emma Allen-Vercoe to replace human fecal matter used in stool transplants, a known treatment for C. difficile.

Breast and colorectal cancer screening should be targeted towards patients with a life expectancy greater than 10 years: for any shorter life expectancy the harms are likely to outweigh the benefits, concludes a study published on bmj.com today.

The authors stress that their results "should not be used to deny screening for patients with limited life expectancy" but "should inform decision making which aims to account for patient preferences and values while maximising benefits and minimising risks."

A special report published by the BMJ today finds that thousands of melanoma patients around the world are undergoing an expensive and invasive procedure called sentinel node biopsy, despite a lack of clear evidence and concerns that it may do more harm than good.

Although not recommended for routine use in England, it has become the standard care for melanoma patients in several countries including the United States, where it was estimated to cost over $686m in 2012.

Male deaths from all-causes, but particularly cardiovascular and respiratory disease, could be significantly reduced with a decrease in biomass smoke (smoke produced by domestic cooking and heating and woodland fires), a paper published today on bmj.com suggests.

The researchers say this could have significant impact on further interventions to reduce pollution from this source.

CHICAGO – In an examination of the effectiveness of cefixime, the only oral cephalosporin antimicrobial recommended for treatment of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (gonorrhea) infections, researchers found a clinical treatment failure rate of nearly 7 percent for patients treated at a clinic in Toronto, according to a preliminary study published in the January 9 issue of JAMA.

CHICAGO – Among infants undergoing major surgery, postoperative use of intermittent intravenous paracetamol (acetaminophen) for the management of pain resulted in a lower cumulative morphine dose over 48 hours, according to a study appearing in the January 9 issue of JAMA.

Opioid therapy for the treatment of pain is associated with adverse effects. Researchers are seeking alternative analgesic regimens in neonates and infants, according to background information in the article. Paracetamol has been proposed as an alternative, with one study showing promise.

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- A combination of the drugs pazopanib and paclitaxel shows promise in slowing anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC), according to a Mayo Clinic-led study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The two drugs together resulted in greater anti-cancer activity in ATC than either drug alone, says lead researcher Keith Bible, M.D., Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic oncologist.

New York children participating in a federal nutrition program had healthier eating behaviors and lower rates of obesity two years after improvements to the program were undertaken, according to a study published online today in Obesity, the official journal of the Obesity Society.

Testing medicines to prevent lung cancer requires treating many thousands of high-risk individuals and then waiting 5, 10 or 15 years to discover which of them develop cancer and which, if any, experience survival benefit from the treatment. A University of Colorado Cancer Center study recently published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research proposes a possible waypoint on the way to benefit, which if validated, could dramatically reduce the number of patients needed and time required to test drugs for lung cancer prevention.

LA JOLLA, CA – January 8, 2013 - Chemists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found an easier way to perform one of the most fundamental tasks in molecular biology. Their new method allows scientists to add a marker to certain cells, so that these cells may be easily located and/or selected out from a larger cell population.

Moms, especially those who are obese, are more likely to use TV to entertain and soothe infants who are more fussy and active, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The finding adds to the growing body of knowledge that may help explain the escalating rate of obesity and inactivity in U.S. children, and has led to behavioral and educational strategies that may help mothers combat these effects.

URBANA – Speculation about how animals will respond to climate change due to global warming led University of Illinois researcher Patrick Weatherhead and his students to conduct a study of ratsnakes at three different latitudes—Ontario, Illinois, and Texas. His findings suggest that ratsnakes will be able to adapt to the higher temperatures by becoming more active at night.

New Rochelle, NY, January 8, 2013—The world's leading zebrafish researchers contribute to the community's active global efforts to promote science education.

Maintaining the right sodium levels in the body is crucial for controlling blood pressure and ensuring proper muscle function. Conventional wisdom has suggested that constant sodium levels are achieved through the balance of sodium intake and urinary excretion, but a new study in humans published by Cell Press on January 9th in the journal Cell Metabolism reveals that sodium levels actually fluctuate rhythmically over the course of weeks, independent of salt intake.