Body

In the January 8, 2009 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), schistosomiasis expert Charles H. King M.D., Professor of International Health at the Center for Global Health and Diseases at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine concludes global eradication of schistosomiasis is feasible if the current infection control strategy shifts to a proactive, comprehensive elimination strategy. Dr. King supports the community-based trial by Wang et al.

ITHACA, N.Y. – That pesky buzz of a nearby mosquito is the sound of love, scientists have known for some time. But a new Cornell study reports that males and females flap their wings and change their tune to create a harmonic duet just before mating.

Cornell entomologists have discovered that male and female mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti), which can spread such diseases as yellow and dengue fevers, "interact acoustically with each other when the two are within earshot -- a few centimeters of each other," said Ron Hoy, professor of neurobiology and behavior.

Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have demonstrated a more effective treatment for bacterial pneumonia following influenza. They found that the antibiotics clindamycin and azithromycin, which kill bacteria by inhibiting their protein synthesis, are more effective than a standard first-line treatment with the "beta-lactam" antibiotic ampicillin, which causes the bacteria to lyse, or burst.

As a chemical for industrial processes, butanol is used in everything from brake fluid, to paint thinners, to plastics. According to a University of Illinois researcher, butanol made from plant material could displace butanol made from petroleum, just not at the fuel pump.

"Yes you can drive your car around with 100 percent butanol, but butanol is much more valuable – about three times more valuable -- as a chemical than as a liquid fuel," said Hans Blaschek, microbiologist in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at Illinois.

Researchers have uncovered why some dietary fats, specifically long-chain fats, such as oleic acid (found in olive oil), are more prone to induce inflammation. Long-chain fats, it turns out, promote increased intestinal absorption of pro-inflammatory bacterial molecules called lipopolysaccharides (LPS). This study appears in the January issue of JLR.

Scientists have identified the structure of a key component of the bacteria behind such diseases as whooping cough, peptic stomach ulcers and Legionnaires' disease. The research, funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), sheds light on how antibiotic resistance genes spread from one bacterium to another. The research may help scientists develop novel treatments for these diseases and novel ways to curtail the spread of antibiotic resistance.

Researchers at McGill University, the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI MUHC) and the McGill University and Génome Québec Innovation Centre, along with colleagues at other Canadian and Belgian institutions, have discovered DNA variations in a gene that increases susceptibility to developing Crohn's disease. Their study was published in the January issue of the journal Nature Genetics.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University's School of Dentistry (www.ohsu.edu/sod) have discovered a novel function of the peptide known as Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) in the development of the trigeminal nerve. The trigeminal nerve provides the signaling pathway for periodontal pain, dental surgical pain, and pain associated with temporomandibular disorder, trigeminal neuralgia, migraine, and other neuropathic and inflammatory conditions.

The first people to arrive in America traveled as at least two separate groups to arrive in their new home at about the same time, according to new genetic evidence published online on January 8th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication.

STANFORD, Calif. — Two previously identified pathways associated with aging in mice are connected, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The finding reinforces what researchers have recently begun to suspect: that the age-related degeneration of tissues, organs and, yes, even facial skin with which we all struggle is an active, deliberate process rather than a gradual failure of tired cells.

Masses of immune cells that form as a hallmark of tuberculosis (TB) have long been thought to be the body's way of trying to protect itself by literally walling off the bacteria. But a new study in the January 9th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, offers evidence that the TB bacteria actually sends signals that encourage the growth of those organized granuloma structures, and for good reason: each granuloma serves as a kind of hub for the infectious bugs in the early stages of infection, allowing them to expand further and spread throughout the body.

Montreal, January 8, 2009 – An international consortium of researchers, including major contribution from a team led by Dr. John D. Rioux, a professor of medicine at the Université de Montréal and the Montreal Heart Institute, has identified genetic markers associated with risk for ulcerative colitis. The findings, published in the advance online journal Nature Genetics, bring researchers closer to understanding the biological pathways involved in the disease and may lead to the development of new treatments that specifically target them.

CINCINNATI—Chronic illness can lead to poorer quality of life—particularly for adolescents. New research shows that spirituality may help teens cope with their conditions.

Two recent studies, led by Michael Yi, MD, associate professor of medicine, and Sian Cotton, PhD, research assistant professor in the department of family medicine, investigated how adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)—a condition characterized by chronic inflammation in the intestines—may use spirituality to cope with their illness.

Bladder cancer is much more likely to be deadly for women and African-Americans, but the reasons long believed to explain the phenomenon account for only part of the differences for such patients compared to their white and male counterparts, according to results published in the Jan. 1 issue of the journal Cancer.

The results present a stark question for doctors and patients: If age, tumor type, and stage of the disease upon diagnosis don't account for all the increased lethality of the disease in women and African-Americans, then what does?

The nuclei of ordinary hydrogen atoms contain only a single proton. If a neutron is added, the hydrogen becomes deuterium. In principle, molecules that contain deuterium in place of hydrogen atoms are chemically identical. However, there can be significant differences. Thus "heavy water", water with molecules that contain deuterium in place of hydrogen, is toxic because it disrupts highly sensitive biochemical processes in the body and leads to metabolic failure.