Body

ROSEMONT, IL–Obese patients have a greater risk of complications following total knee replacement surgery, including post-surgical infections, according to a new literature review recently published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS). Because of complications, obese patients are more likely to require follow-up surgery (revision).

HOUSTON -- (October 24, 2012) – , said a Baylor College of Medicine physician-scientist who was part of the local team that took part in the international effort. A report appears online in the journal Nature.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Oregon Health & Science University's development of a new gene therapy method to prevent certain inherited diseases has reached a significant milestone. Researchers at the university's Oregon National Primate Research Center and the OHSU Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology have successfully demonstrated their procedure in human cells. It's believed that this research, along with other efforts, will pave the way for future clinical trials in human subjects.

Researchers at Aarhus University, Denmark, made a sensational discovery almost three years ago when they measured electric currents in the seabed. It was unclear as to what was conducting the current, but the researchers imagined the electric currents might run between different bacteria via a joint external wiring network.The researchers have now solved the mystery. It turns out that the whole process takes place inside bacteria that are one centimetre long. They make up a kind of live electric cable that no one had ever imagined existed.

Just how new species are established is still one of the most central questions in biology. In an article in the leading scientific journal Nature, researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden describe how they mapped the genomes of the European pied flycatcher and the collared flycatcher and found that it is disparate chromosome structures rather than separate adaptations in individual genes that underlies the separation of the species.

New Rochelle, NY, October 24, 2012–Shingles, a reactivation of the herpes zoster (chickenpox) virus affects nearly 1 in 3 Americans. About 1 million cases are diagnosed each year, with some patients suffering excruciating pain and itching due to post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN), a complication of the viral infection that can last for years despite treatment.

Pieces of tiny fossil skull found in Fort Worth have been identified as 100 million-year-old coelacanth bones, according to paleontologist John F. Graf, Southern Methodist University, Dallas. The coelacanth has one of the longest lineages — 400 million years — of any animal. It is the fish most closely related to vertebrates, including humans.

CHICAGO --- In an early-stage breakthrough, a team of Northwestern University scientists has developed a new family of compounds that could slow the progression of Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's, the second most common neurodegenerative disease, is caused by the death of dopamine neurons, resulting in tremors, rigidity and difficulty moving. Current treatments target the symptoms but do not slow the progression of the disease.

A gene known to be involved in cancer and cardiovascular development may be the cause of inflammation in the most common form of aortic aneurysm and may be a key to treatment, according to research from Nationwide Children's Hospital. The study, appearing online in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology on October 18, 2012, is the first to show that Notch 1 signaling is activated in abdominal aortic aneurysmal tissue in mice and humans.

MIAMI, FL – OCTOBER 24, 2012 –A strategy of up-front percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for lesions confirmed to be obstructive by fractional flow reserve (FFR) was shown to be cost-effective in terms of quality-adjusted life years when compared to medical therapy alone. Results of the Cost-Effectiveness sub study of the FAME 2 trial were presented today at the 24th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short, non-coding RNAs that block the expression of a set of target genes. In the brain, miRNAs in the miR-376 cluster undergo editing. In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Shu Wang and colleagues at the National University of Singapore demonstrated that disruption of this editing step enhanced the invasiveness of human gliomas. They found a significant correlation between accumulation of unedited miR-376 and tumor invasion, as measured by MRI in human patients.

LncRNAs (pronounced "link") are long non-coding RNAs that are emerging as important regulators of gene expression in biological processes and diseases. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, two papers connect lncRNAs to inherited conditions in humans. Sylvia Bähring and colleagues at the Experimental and Clinical Research Center in Berlin found a chromosomal translocation that disrupts the expression of a lncRNA. This disruption alters the expression of the genes PTHLH and SOX9 and results in brachydactyly, an inherited malformation of the fingers and toes.

Obesity is a chronic metabolic disorder that affects half a billion people worldwide. Managing obesity is difficult, as many patients rebound to their pre-treatment weight. There is a hypothesis that chronic weight gain causes the body to adopt a state that supports excess weight. In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers led by Malcolm Low at the University of Michigan challenged this hypothesis by developing a mouse model of obesity where the proopiomelanocortin (Pomc) gene in the hypothalamus can be turned on and off.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A protein that is necessary for lactation in mammals inhibits the critical cellular transition that is an early indicator of breast cancer and metastasis, according to research conducted at the University at Buffalo and Princeton University and highlighted as the cover paper in November issue of Nature Cell Biology.

CLEVELAND, Ohio (October 24, 2012)—Hot flashes and night sweats can return after women stop using escitalopram—an antidepressant—to treat these menopause symptoms, according to a study published online this month in Menopause, the journal of the North American Menopause Society. This is typical of stopping hormone therapy as well.