Body

Montreal, March 6, 2009 – We know that lifespan can be extended in animals by restricting calories such as sugar intake. Now, according to a study published in the journal PLoS Genetics, Université de Montréal scientists have discovered that it's not sugar itself that is important in this process but the ability of cells to sense its presence.

STANFORD, Calif. — In a collaborative study with the World Health Organization and seven other laboratories, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have compiled a list of 93 common mutations of the AIDS virus associated with drug resistance that will be used to track future resistance trends throughout the world.

The researchers analyzed data from about 15,220 patients across the globe to develop an updated and accurate list of the most common, resistance-related mutations of the virus. The list will be published March 6 in the online journal PLoS-One.

Mobile phone handsets belonging to hospital workers are covered in bacteria including the 'superbug', MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). Research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials describes how mobile phones used by healthcare workers may be a source of hospital-acquired infections.

Unemployment benefits help reduce the negative health-related behaviours often associated with being unemployed. A study published in the open access journal BMC Public Health has found that unemployment benefits recipients are less likely to increase drinking or have changes in weight whilst out of work.

CHICAGO – (March 5, 2009) – With origins dating back over 4,000 years, green tea has long been a popular beverage in Asian culture, and is increasingly gaining popularity in the United States. And while ancient Chinese and Japanese medicine believed green tea consumption could cure disease and heal wounds, recent scientific studies are beginning to establish the potential health benefits of drinking green tea, especially in weight loss, heart health, and cancer prevention.

We usually think of fish as a "heart-healthy" food. Now fish are helping researchers better understand how heart disease develops in studies that could lead to new drugs to slow disease and prevent heart attacks.

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have done to laboratory zebrafish exactly what many people still do to themselves – added excess cholesterol to their diet. Because young zebrafish are transparent, researchers were able to see – literally – the development of plaques in the zebrafish blood vessels.

MADISON — Although ecologists expect many species will be harmed by climate change, some species could be buffered by their potential to evolve or by changes in their surrounding ecosystems.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Arizona are using a common agricultural insect pest to understand how ecological and evolutionary factors drive population shifts in the face of a changing environment.

An international team of archaeologists has uncovered the earliest known evidence of horses being domesticated by humans. The discovery suggests that horses were both ridden and milked. The findings could point to the very beginnings of horse domestication and the origins of the horse breeds we know today. Led by the Universities of Exeter and Bristol (UK), the research is published on Friday 6 March 2009 in leading academic journal Science.

A group including leading academic and industry scientists has issued a challenge to researchers in the field of HIV/AIDS: find a way to effectively purge latent HIV infection and eliminate the need for chronic, suppressive therapy to control this disease. "The Challenge of a Cure for HIV Infection," to be published in the March 6 issue of Science, calls for a coordinated initiative involving academia, industry, patient advocates and government to accelerate the search for a cure.

DALLAS – March 5, 2009 – By bringing cases of potential plagiarism out into the open, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have shed light on the peer-review process and scientific publication.

In the past two years, UT Southwestern researchers have used a computer-based text-searching tool they developed, called eTBLAST, to analyze millions of abstracts randomly selected from Medline, one of the largest databases of biomedical research articles. They turned up nearly 70,000 highly similar citations.

Scientists from Cambridge University have discovered four rare mutations of a gene associated with type 1 diabetes (T1D) that reduce the risk of developing the disease. Their findings, published today in the journal Science Express, suggest a link between T1D and the enterovirus (a common virus that enters via the gastrointestinal tract but is often non-symptomatic).

Scientists at the Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have used "personalized genome" sequencing on an individual with a hereditary form of pancreatic cancer to locate a mutation in a gene called PALB2 that is responsible for initiating the disease. The discovery marks their first use of a genome scanning system to uncover suspect mutations in normal inherited genes.

A team of researchers from the Peninsula Medical School in the South West of England, the University of Brighton and the Department of Pathology at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, has found that a common family of viruses (enteroviruses) may play an important role in triggering the development of diabetes, particularly in children. These viruses usually cause symptoms similar to the common cold, or vomiting and diarrhoea. However, the team has now provided clear evidence that they are also found frequently in the pancreas of people who develop diabetes.

The means by which most deadly malaria parasites are detected and killed by the mosquitoes that carry them is revealed for the first time in research published today (5 March) in Science Express. The discovery could help researchers find a way to block transmission of the disease from mosquitoes to humans.

BERKELEY, CA – Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory can now control how cells connect with one another in vitro and assemble themselves into three-dimensional, multicellular microtissues. The researchers demonstrated their method by constructing a tailor-made artificial cell-signaling system, analogous to natural cell systems that communicate via growth factors.