Body

Researchers seeking ways to defeat malaria have found a way to get help from the parasite that causes the disease.

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis stepped aside and let Plasmodium falciparum, one of the deadliest strains of malaria, do a significant portion of the genetic engineering work in their new study. With that help, they could unambiguously show that the parasite relies heavily on a one-of-a-kind protein that it only makes in small quantities, two qualities that make the protein an attractive drug development target.

BERKELEY, CA – The logic and memory functions of future electronic devices could shrink dramatically – to one or two nanometers (billionths of a meter) instead of the many tens of nanometers that characterize today's most advanced elements - if a way can be found to control domain walls, the ultrathin transition zones that separate regions of a material having different magnetic, electric, or other properties.

WASHINGTON, DC — In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM) annual meeting, researchers will unveil findings that show that premature babies born before 34 weeks have a 31 percent reduction in serious complications when given a "rescue course" of Antenatal Corticosteroids (ACS) steroids with no adverse side effects noted.

(Boston) – Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC), in collaboration with other medical centers, have found that children born more than three months premature, are at three times the risk for screening positive on the modified checklist for autism in toddlers (M-CHAT). Children who screen positive on M-CHAT may be at greater risk for developing autism. These findings appear in the January issue of Journal of Pediatrics.

Researchers have found the first evidence that perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) – chemicals that are widely used in everyday items such as food packaging, pesticides, clothing, upholstery, carpets and personal care products – may be associated with infertility in women.

The study published online in Europe's leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction [1] today (Thursday 29 January) found that women who had higher levels of perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in their blood took longer to become pregnant than women with lower levels.

Anxiety and depression before and during fertility treatment does not affect the likelihood of a woman becoming pregnant or of her cancelling her treatment, according to a study published in Europe's leading reproductive medicine journal, Human Reproduction [1] on Thursday 29 January.

A variant of the gene for the inflammatory modulator interleukin (IL)-18 has been found to be associated with a prolonged ICU stay after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) surgery. Research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Critical Care links the TT genotype of the IL-18 9545 T/G polymorphism with a larger pro-inflammatory response.

Behavioral weight-loss programs can be an effective way to reduce urinary incontinence in women who are overweight or obese, according to a study led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.

Volunteer participants in the Program to Reduce Incontinence by Diet and Exercise (PRIDE) experienced both significant weight loss and a significant reduction in the frequency of their incontinence episodes, according to the study. Findings appear in the January 29, 2009 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Measuring a small protein in the blood and urine can predict which patients with non-advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) will progress to a more serious form of the disease, according to a study appearing in the February 2009 issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The findings could be used to devise a new screening method for identifying which patients should receive aggressive therapies to prevent the progression of their disease.

Measuring glomerular filtration rates from routine blood work may not be not a cost-effective way to identify people with chronic kidney disease (CKD), according to a study appearing in the February 2009 issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The findings indicate that the potential benefit that this commonly used procedure provides for identifying individuals with previously unrecognized CKD can be easily reversed by the consequences of false positive diagnoses of CKD.

Pulse pressure, an inexpensive and noninvasive measurement derived from blood pressure readings, can effectively indicate which patients with kidney disease are at increased risk of developing potentially fatal heart complications, according to a study appearing in the February 2009 issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN).

Reducing urinary incontinence can now be added to the extensive list of health benefits of weight loss, according to a clinical trial funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) and the Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH), both part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The paper reporting the results of the trial will be published in the January 29 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Starting a weight-loss regimen significantly reduces urinary incontinence for women, according to researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the University of California, San Francisco.

A six-month program of diet, exercise and behavior modification resulted in a loss of 17 pounds and nearly one-half (47 percent) fewer incontinence episodes per week on average, the study authors said.

People are dying from "super bugs" because our antibiotic arsenal has run dry, leaving the world without sufficient weapons to fight ever-changing bacteria, warn infectious disease researchers at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston.

In a Jan. 29 perspective in The New England Journal of Medicine, Barbara E. Murray, M.D., and Cesar Arias, M.D., Ph.D., evaluate the past, present and future response to preventing and treating "super bugs."

A "super bug" is an organism that is resistant to antibiotics. It can evade antibiotics by:

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Modifying the environment by using everything from shovels and plows to plant-derived pesticides may be as important as mosquito nets and vaccinations in the fight against malaria, according to a computerized analysis by MIT researchers.