Body

Boston 14th May 2009: A call to action for more research to be undertaken into catheter ablation in the field of ventricular arrhythmia (VA) has been issued in a joint consensus document from the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) a registered branch of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the US Heart Rhythm Society (HRS).

Exercise physiologist Lynne Kammer, from The University of Texas at Austin, led a group of researchers who investigated the post-exercise physiological effects of the foods. Kammer and her team studied 12 trained cyclists, 8 male and 4 female. In contrast to many sports nutrition studies, however, the exercise protocol was designed to reflect a typical exercise session. After a warm-up period, the subjects cycled for two hours at a comfortable work rate, rather than the more frequently seen test-to-exhaustion.

Laboratory experiments have demonstrated the immunological effects of ginseng. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access Journal of Translational Medicine have shown that the herb, much used in traditional Chinese and other Asian medicine, does have anti-inflammatory effects.

Researchers at UCLA have developed a new method for producing a hybrid graphene–carbon nanotube, or G-CNT, for potential use as a transparent conductor in solar cells and consumer electronic devices. These G-CNTs could provide a cheaper and much more flexible alternative to materials currently used in these and similar applications.

The average age of a woman diagnosed with breast cancer is 63, so it is critical to have effective proven, therapies for an older patient population. But older women with breast cancer are underrepresented in clinic trials, so there is little data on the effects of chemotherapy used in addition to other therapies such as surgery.

A new study, published in the May 14 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, shows that chemotherapy in addition to the surgery or surgery and radiation improves survival among older women.

A main reason why viruses such as HIV or hepatitis C persist despite a vigorous initial immune response is exhaustion. The T cells, or white blood cells, fighting a chronic infection eventually wear out.

Researchers at Emory Vaccine Center have demonstrated that exhaustion is driven by how the immune system detects infecting viruses.

To recognize the presence of a viral infection, T cells must be presented with bits of viral protein in a molecular frame supplied by other cells in the body -- called MHC (major histocompatibility complex) class I molecules.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--Surgical removal of a tissue sample is now the standard for diagnosing cancer. Such procedures, known as biopsies, are accurate but only offer a snapshot of the tumor at a single moment in time.

Monitoring a tumor for weeks or months after the biopsy, tracking its growth and how it responds to treatment, would be much more valuable, says Michael Cima, MIT professor of materials science and engineering, who has developed the first implantable device that can do just that.

PORTLAND, Ore. – The American Pain Society (APS) has issued a new clinical practice guideline for low back pain that emphasizes the use of noninvasive treatments over interventional procedures, as well as shared decision making between provider and patient. The findings are published in the current (May 1, 2009) issue of the journal Spine.

New research supports the findings of a landmark drug comparison study published in 2002 in which a diuretic drug or "water pill" outperformed other medications for high blood pressure. A scientific team including investigators from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston reports the findings in the May 11 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Biologists have long wondered why the embryonic heart begins beating so early, before the tissues actually need to be infused with blood. Two groups of researchers from Children's Hospital Boston, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) -– presenting multiple lines of evidence from zebrafish, mice and mouse embryonic stem cells -– provide an intriguing answer: A beating heart and blood flow are necessary for development of the blood system, which relies on mechanical stresses to cue its formation.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--An ingenious new method of obtaining marine microbe samples while preserving the microbes' natural gene expression has yielded an unexpected boon: the presence of many varieties of small RNAs — snippets of RNA that act as switches to regulate gene expression in these single-celled creatures.

Coral reefs could disappear entirely from the Coral Triangle region of the Pacific Ocean by the end of the century, threatening the food supply and livelihoods for about 100 million people, according to a new study from World Wildlife Fund.

Blood stem cells literally go with the flow, according to a new report published as an immediate early publication in the journal Cell, a Cell Press journal, on May 13th. Researchers have found that a heart beat and blood circulation are critical signals for the production of blood-forming, or hematopoietic, stem cells in the developing embryo.

La Jolla, CA, May 11, 2009 –Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have elucidated the action of a protein, harmonin, which is involved in the mechanics of hearing. This finding sheds new light on the workings of mechanotransduction, the process by which cells convert mechanical stimuli into electrical activity. Defects in mechanotransduction genes can cause devastating diseases, such as Usher's syndrome, which is characterized by deafness, gradual vision loss, and kidney disease, which can lead to kidney failure.

Researchers at the University of Rochester have developed a mathematical model to predict immune responses to infection with influenza A viruses, including novel viruses such as the emergent 2009 influenza A (H1N1). This model examines the contributions of specific sets of immune cells in fighting influenza A virus. The model also helps predict when during the immune response to viral infection antiviral therapy would be most effective.