Body

Though they have excessive caloric intake, many obese women are still deficient in vitamins vital to a healthy pregnancy, show news statistics about obesity and pregnancy. Together, they present a unique set of challenges that women and their doctors must tackle in order to achieve the best possible outcome for mom and baby.

HAMILTON, ON (Aug. 26, 2012) Healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables, proteins and total fats are consumed more often by the wealthy while poorer people consume more carbohydrates, says a new study involving people from 17 countries.

The Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study involving 154,000 individuals from 628 communities reported on the patterns of diet, physical activity and smoking, was presented at the European Society of Cardiology 2012 Congress on Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012.

Vienna, Austria: People who drive commercial vehicles, such as buses, taxis, trucks and aeroplanes, could be incorrectly reporting their symptoms of sleep apnoea due to their fears of endangering their employment, according to a new study.

The research will be presented on 1 September 2012 at the European Respiratory Society's (ERS) Annual Congress in Vienna. All the abstracts from the ERS Congress will be publicly available online today (26 August 2012).

At high levels of exposure, lead is known to have many negative effects on the human body. Blood lead levels of less than 1.21 µmol/L are considered acceptable, but recent research indicates that even at those levels patients may be at increased risk for chronic kidney disease progression and cardiovascular mortality.

Researchers studied survey results for 6,153 patients aged 40 and older with no known kidney disease to determine whether blood lead levels within the range currently considered acceptable are associated with gout.

Published research suggests that colonoscopy saves lives through detection and removal of adenomas, or benign tumors. Patients who have adenomas removed during colonoscopy are at higher risk for recurring adenomas and colorectal cancer than those who have had a negative colonoscopy.

Studies to determine patient risk factors for recurring adenomas and colorectal cancer have focused on characteristics of the adenoma, but characteristics of the colonoscopy had not been considered.

Prostate cancer is the leading cause of cancer morbidity and the third greatest cause of cancer death among men in developed countries. A major question in cancer research has been whether virus infection plays a role in cancers of the genitourinary tract. Now a team of Swiss investigators has new evidence suggesting human polyomavirus BK is involved in maintaining and enhancing an environment suitable for prostate cancer growth. The research, published in the August Journal of Virology, could lead to preventive and/or therapeutic prostate cancer vaccines.

PASADENA, Calif., (Aug. 24, 2012) – Children who are overweight or obese face an increased risk for gallstones, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition.

Researchers found that children and adolescents who were overweight were twice as likely to have gallstone disease, compared to children and adolescents who had a normal body mass index. Those who were moderately obese were four times as likely to have gallstones and those who were extremely obese were six times as likely to have gallstones.

University of East Anglia research shows children at risk from rural water supplies

Children drinking from around half the UK's private water supplies are almost five times more likely to pick up stomach infections – according to research from the University of East Anglia (UEA).

Research published today in the journal PLOS ONE shows children under 10 who drink from contaminated supplies are suffering around five bouts of sickness or diarrhoea a year.

This figure is similar to the rates of infection among children in the developing world.

HOUSTON - (Aug. 23, 2012) – Mexican-Americans with an ancestral link to Amerindian tribes were found to have higher insulin resistance levels, which is an indication of several chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, according to research by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).

Yards with plants that mimic native vegetation offer birds "mini-refuges" and help to offset losses of biodiversity in cities, according to results of a study published today in the journal PLOS ONE.

"Native" yards support birds better than those with traditional grass lawns and non-native plantings.

Researchers conducted the study through the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site, one of 26 such sites around the globe in ecosystems from coral reefs to deserts, from forests to grasslands.

Humans inherit more than three times as many mutations from their fathers as from their mothers, and mutation rates increase with the father's age but not the mother's, researchers have found in the largest study of human genetic mutations to date.

There are many reasons why it is important to be able to identify farm animals, horses and small companion animals. Unique identification marks are essential for ensuring the correctness of breeding programmes, for preventing the spread of disease and for eliminating the possibility of deceit in competitions or when animals are sold. The traditional method of marking larger farm animals relies on branding with hot irons or on ear-tagging but this is deemed inappropriate for use on dogs and cats, which are identified by the implant of a microchip transponder.

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (August 23, 2012) – University of Minnesota Medical School and Masonic Cancer Center researchers have partnered with geneticists from Genentech, Inc., to discover how some proteins may cause the development of some forms of colon cancers.

For biology researchers, the complex world of molecular proteins – where tens of thousands of atoms can comprise a single protein – may be getting clearer with the help of a new soft, transparent, and squishy silicone model they can hold in their hands. Its advantage over traditional computer and solid models is that it is mostly transparent and easy to manipulate, which will help researchers more intuitively understand protein structures, positions, and interactions.

DURHAM, N.C. -- A long-standing mystery in biology about the longer lifespans of bigger creatures may be explained by the application of a physical law called the Constructal Law (www.constructal.org).