Body

Ethnicity and number of previous births are factors that can predict the length of time a woman will breastfeed her child. A new study published in the open access journal BMC Pediatrics has examined the effects of maternal factors and hospital infant-feeding practices on breastfeeding.

People profoundly deficient in human growth hormone (HGH) due to a genetic mutation appear to live just as long as people who make normal amounts of the hormone, a new study shows. The findings suggest that HGH may not be the "fountain of youth" that some researchers have suggested.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released its final report on the May 2, 2009, collapse during a severe thunderstorm of the fabric-covered, steel frame practice facility owned by the National Football League's Dallas Cowboys. The final report is strengthened by clarifications and supplemental text based on comments provided by organizations and individuals in response to the draft report on the collapse, released for public comment on Oct. 6, 2009.

January 26, 2010 – (BRONX, NY) – A new study shows that a protein found in blood alleviates anemia, a condition in which the body's tissues don't get enough oxygen from the blood. In this animal study, injections of the protein, known as transferrin, also protected against potentially fatal iron overload in mice with thalassemia, a type of inherited anemia that affects millions of people worldwide.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Israel's Weizman Institute of Science have found that two antibiotics working together might be more effective in fighting pathogenic bacteria than either drug on its own.

Individually, lankacidin and lankamycin, two antibiotics produced naturally by the microbe streptomyces, are marginally effective in warding off pathogens, says Alexander Mankin, professor and associate director of the UIC Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and lead investigator of the portion of the study conducted at UIC.

Montreal, January 26, 2010 – A Université de Montréal research team is developing a pill composed of leptin, the protein that tells our brain to stop eating. "Mice deprived of leptin will not stop eating. They become so big they have trouble moving around," says Moïse Bendayan, a pathology professor at the Université de Montréal Faculty of Medicine who has studied the leptin protein extensively.

(Garrison, NY) The latest issue of the Hastings Center Report features articles on "medicalized" weapons that temporarily incapacitate targets, sharing the benefits of newly found biological resources, and applications of GINA (the Genetic Information Nondisclosure Act).

Highlights:

"Medicalized" weapons.

January 26, 2010 -- (PHILADELPHIA, PA) Retinoblastoma is a pediatric eye cancer initiated by the loss or mutation of both copies of the retinoblastoma gene. Current evidence suggests that additional genetic alterations are required for retinoblastoma to become fully malignant.

MAYWOOD, ILL. -- Treating a common heart rhythm disorder by burning heart tissue with a catheter works dramatically better than drug treatments, according to a landmark study published in the Jan. 27 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

This release is available in http://chinese..org/zh/emb_releases/2010-01/jaaj-aft012210.php">Chinese.

This release is available in http://chinese..org/zh/emb_releases/2010-01/jaaj-iit012210.php">Chinese.

New technology that allows doctors to see three-dimensional images of heart arteries in the catheterization lab passed its first major testing hurdle — moving doctors closer to understanding its impact on clinical practice, researchers report in Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions, an American Heart Association journal.

Still in the early stages of testing, the 3-D images may allow cardiologists to more accurately and quickly assess the length, branching pattern, and angles of heart arteries and any blockages.

Not every object is food to a Venus flytrap. Like the carnivorous plant, a new material developed at Northwestern University permanently traps only its desired prey, the radioactive ion cesium, and not other harmless ions like sodium.

Mankind may finally have a weapon to fight two of the world's deadliest diseases.

A University of Central Florida biomedical researcher has developed what promises to be the first low-cost dual vaccine against malaria and cholera.

North Grafton, Mass., January 26, 2010 – Dog and cat owners buying weight-control diets for their overweight pets are faced with a confusing two-fold variation in calorie density, recommended intake, and wide range cost of low-calorie pet foods, according to a study by the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University.