Body

Is binge eating a tell-tale sign of suicidal thoughts? According to a new study of African American girls, by Dr. Rashelle Musci and colleagues from the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University in the US, those who experience depressive and anxious symptoms are often dissatisfied with their bodies and more likely to display binge eating behaviors. These behaviors put them at higher risk for turning their emotions inward, in other words, displaying internalizing symptoms such as suicide. The study is published online in Springer's journal, Prevention Science.

PITTSBURGH—The age of 3D printing, when every object so created can be personalized, will increase the need for tags to keep track of everything. Happily, the same 3D printing process used to produce an object can simultaneously generate an internal, invisible tag, say scientists at Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft Research.

NEW YORK - Wear your lucky Yankees jersey. Hold your breath. Expect nothing less than a World Series win. Certain routines are routine for millions of baseball playoff fans desperate to meet victory. In fact, a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research says fans are so deep in their traditions, they will drop brand loyalty-if it means a win.

Putnam Valley, NY. -- The use of central nervous system fetal tissues derived from routine elective abortions to provide stem cells for transplantation procedures aimed at restoring damage done by neurodegenerative diseases is an established therapy. However, fetal tissue microbial contaminants have been known to cause brain infections in cell transplantation recipients. Now, a research team from Germany has developed a "washing" technique that decontaminates the fetal tissues from which stem cells are derived.

Rochester, MN -- While there is an expectation that newer medical practices improve the standard of care, the history of medicine reveals many instances in which this has not been the case. Reversal of established medical practice occurs when new studies contradict current practice. Reporters may remember hormone replacement therapy as an example of medical reversal. A new analysis published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings documents 146 contemporary medical practices that have subsequently been reversed.

WOODS HOLE, Mass.—How a group of animals can abandon sex, yet produce more than 460 species over evolutionary time, became a little less mysterious this week with the publication of the complete genome of a bdelloid rotifer (Adineta vaga) in the journal Nature.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Young harp seals off the eastern coast of Canada are at much higher risk of getting stranded than adult seals because of shrinking sea ice cover caused by recent warming in the North Atlantic, according to a Duke University study.

"Stranding rates for the region's adult seals have generally not gone up as sea ice cover has declined; it's the young-of-the-year animals who are stranding (those less than one year old)," said David Johnston, a research scientist at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment.

High levels of arsenic in rice have been shown to be associated with elevated genetic damage in humans, a new study has found.

Over the last few years, researchers have reported high concentrations of arsenic in several rice-growing regions around the world.

Now, University of Manchester scientists, working in collaboration with scientists at CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology in Kolkata, have proven a link between rice containing high levels of arsenic and chromosomal damage, as measured by micronuclei* in urothelial cells, in humans consuming rice as a staple.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A new poll shows 82 percent of adults support banning smoking in cars when children under 13 are riding in the vehicle.

According to the latest University of Michigan Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health, support is strong for prohibiting drivers and passengers from smoking when kids are in the car. However, only seven states nationwide have laws banning the practice.

This news release is available in French.

PITTSBURGH—A family of molecules developed at Carnegie Mellon University to break down pollutants in water is one step closer to commercial use. Study results published online in the journal Green Chemistry show that the molecules, which are aimed at removing hazardous endocrine disruptors from water sources, aren't endocrine disruptors themselves as they proved to be non-toxic to developing zebrafish embryos.

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital in China have discovered a gene expression signature that may lead to new immune therapies for lung cancer patients. They found that NF-κB, a protein complex known to promote tumor growth, may also have the ability to boost the immune system to eliminate cancerous cells before they harm, as well as promote antitumor responses.

The study appeared in the June 3 issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

A new finding provides fresh hope for the millions of women worldwide with oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer. Australian scientists have shown that a specific change, which occurs when tumours become resistant to anti-oestrogen therapy, might make the cancers susceptible to treatment with chemotherapy drugs.

Seventy percent of breast cancer patients have oestrogen receptor positive cancer, and most patients respond well to anti-oestrogen therapies, for a few years at least. Within 15 years, however, 50% will relapse and eventually die from the disease.

ANN ARBOR—Mass extinctions, like lotteries, result in a multitude of losers and a few lucky winners. This is the story of one of the winners, a small, shell-crushing predatory fish called Fouldenia, which first appears in the fossil record a mere 11 million years after an extinction that wiped out more than 90 percent of the planet's vertebrate species.

This news release is available in German.