Body

Blood sugar control does not help infants and children undergoing heart surgery

Tight blood sugar control in infants and children undergoing heart surgery does not lower the risk of infection or improve recovery, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Tension on gut muscles induces cell invasion in zebrafish intestine, mimicking cancer metastasis

Researchers don't even really know if invadopodia have a normal purpose in healthy tissue. Pack explains that their study was the first to show that invadopodia occur in living animals. This work in live zebrafish is the first direct evidence that invadopodia play a role in tissue cell invasion and identifies the physical signal that drives this process, which in turn, does so by inducing oxidative stress in the invasive cells.

Coping skills, marital satisfaction help pregnant moms manage stress when fetus has heart defect

Expectant mothers who learn from prenatal diagnosis that they are carrying a fetus with a congenital heart defect (CHD) commonly suffer post-traumatic stress, depression and anxiety. However, a healthy relationship with one's partner and positive coping mechanisms can reduce this intense stress, according to new research from the Cardiac Center of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

The study is published in the September 2012 issue of The Journal of Pediatrics.

Precautions for tick-borne disease extend 'beyond Lyme'

This year's mild winter and early spring were a bonanza for tick populations in the eastern United States. Reports of tick-borne disease rose fast.

While Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in the Northeast and Upper Midwest, new research results emphasize that it is not the greatest cause for concern in most Southeastern states.

The findings are published today in a paper in the journal Zoonoses and Public Health.

New research suggests bacteria are social microorganisms

New research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reveals that some unlikely subjects--bacteria--can have social structures similar to plants and animals.

The research shows that a few individuals in groups of closely related bacteria have the ability to produce chemical compounds that kill or slow the growth of other populations of bacteria in the environment, but not harm their own.

Stress prompts some to retain as much salt as eating fries

AUGUSTA, Ga. – When stressed, about 30 percent of blacks hold onto too much sodium, the equivalent of eating a small order of fast food French fries or a small bag of potato chips, researchers say.

"This response pattern puts you under a greater blood pressure load over the course of the day and probably throughout the night as well, increasing your risk of cardiovascular disease," said Dr. Gregory Harshfield, hypertension researcher at the Institute of Public and Preventive Health at Georgia Health Sciences University.

Next generation of advanced climate models needed, says new report

WASHINGTON — The nation's collection of climate models should advance substantially to deliver more detailed, smaller scale climate projections, says a new report from the National Research Council. To meet this need, the report calls for these assorted climate models to take a more integrated path and use a common software infrastructure while adding regional detail, new simulation capabilities, and new approaches for collaborating with their user community.

Experts recommend screening adults for hypertriglyceridemia every five years

Chevy Chase, MD—The Endocrine Society today issued a Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) for the diagnosis and treatment of hypertriglyceridemia. Triglycerides are a type of fat found in the blood and are associated with cardiovascular risk. The CPG, entitled "Evaluation and Treatment of Hypertriglyceridemia: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline" appears in the September 2012 issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (JCEM), a publication of The Endocrine Society.

Northwestern researchers set world record for highest surface area material

Northwestern University researchers have broken a world record by creating two new synthetic materials with the greatest amount of surface areas reported to date.

Named NU-109 and NU-110, the materials belong to a class of crystalline nanostructure known as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) that are promising vessels for natural gas storage for vehicles, catalysts, and other sustainable materials chemistry.

Novel surgery removes rare tumor, rebuilds face and jaw

DETROIT – Using a novel surgical approach, it's possible to rebuild a functional lower jaw and mouth, and preserve a patient's ability to eat and speak after removing an invasive facial tumor, according to a new report from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

This case study not only documents a successful surgical technique to create a fully functional lower jaw, but also reports the rare occurrence of a bone cancer (osteosarcoma) that spread from the patient's right femur to his jaw bone.

University of Alberta medical scientists first in the world to look at structure of vital molecule

Molybdenum is an essential metal required in all living beings from bacteria to plants to humans. But as vital as this metal is, no one understood the importance of its structure until the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry's Joel Weiner and his team jumped on the case.

Premier global health journal, The Lancet, releases series on universal health coverage

Washington D.C., September 7, 2012 – Every year 100 million people are pushed into poverty because they have to pay for health services directly.

Towards computing with water droplets -- superhydrophobic droplet logic

Researchers in Aalto University have developed a new concept for computing, using water droplets as bits of digital information. This was enabled by the discovery that upon collision with each other on a highly water-repellent surface, two water droplets rebound like billiard balls.

Standard chemotherapy provides equivalent survival rate to experimental in lung cancer patients

Treatment with pemetrexed, carboplatin and bevacizumab followed by maintenance pemetrexed and bevacizumab (Pem+Cb+B) is no better than standard therapy with paclitaxel, carboplatin and bevacizumab followed by bevacizumab (Pac+Cb+B) in patients with advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NS-NSCLC), according to research presented at the 2012 Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology.

Alzheimer's experts from Penn Summit provide strategic roadmap to tackle the disease

PHILADELPHIA –This week, a strategic roadmap to help to the nation's health care system cope with the impending public health crisis caused Alzheimer's disease and related dementia will be published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association. The plan aims to link the latest scientific findings with clinical care and bring together patients, families, scientists, pharmaceutical companies, regulatory agencies, and advocacy organizations behind a common set of prioritized goals.