Body

(Cleveland) – Advanced kidney disease patients have a list of foods they know to avoid because they naturally contain a high level of the mineral phosphorus, which is difficult for their compromised kidneys to expel. But researchers from MetroHealth Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland have discovered that a great deal of processed and fast food actually contains phosphorus additives which can be just as dangerous for these patients.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Years ago, dying patients in most communities often had a single option if they needed hospice care. Now they have many more; competition reigns.

This is one crucial reason why a Brown University researcher and end-of-life expert has helped develop user-friendly guides for both doctors and patients about the best hospice care options in the marketplace.

LA JOLLA, CA—Best known for its effects on fruit ripening and flower fading, the gaseous plant hormone ethylene shortens the shelf life of many fruits and plants by putting their physiology on fast-forward. In recent years, scientists learned a lot about the different components that transmit ethylene signals inside cells. But a central regulator of ethylene responses, a protein known as EIN2, resisted all their efforts.

A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has linked a mouse mutation to an increased susceptibility for developing inflammatory bowel disease -- represented in humans as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, which together are estimated to affect more than a million people in the United States. The findings may one day lead to new and better treatments for the disease.

The work was published in the February 6, 2009 Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Researchers have generated altered immune cells that are able to shrink, and in some cases eradicate, large tumors in mice. The immune cells target mesothelin, a protein that is highly expressed, or translated in large amounts from the mesothelin gene, on the surface of several types of cancer cells. The approach, developed by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), shows promise in the development of immunotherapies for certain tumors.

LIVERMORE, Calif. — An in-depth study by Sandia National Laboratories and General Motors Corp. has found that plant and forestry waste and dedicated energy crops could sustainably replace nearly a third of gasoline use by the year 2030.

The goal of the "90-Billion Gallon Biofuel Deployment Study" was to assess whether and how a large volume of cellulosic biofuel could be sustainably produced, assuming technical and scientific progress continues at expected rates. The study was conducted over a period of nine months.

LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, February 10, 2009—A team of Los Alamos researchers led by Victor Klimov has shown that carrier multiplication—when a photon creates multiple electrons—is a real phenomenon in tiny semiconductor crystals and not a false observation born of extraneous effects that mimic carrier multiplication. The research, explained in a recent issue of Accounts of Chemical Research, shows the possibility of solar cells that create more than one unit of energy per photon.

A new system proposed by Canadian and US obesity researchers may provide another weapon in the battle against obesity. University of Alberta obesity expert Dr. Arya Sharma, along with a researcher from Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, has proposed a classification system to help doctors assess and treat overweight patients.

CHICAGO — When 91-year-old Irvin Lafferty was diagnosed with severe blockage of his heart valve—hardening that is formally known as aortic valve stenosis—open-heart surgery was out of the question. He'd already survived quadruple bypass while in his 50s, and having lived almost a century, Lafferty wasn't a good candidate for heart surgery for many reasons. His local cardiologist referred him to surgical and interventional specialists at Chicago's Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute of Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – In a fight against respiratory infections, the body typically produces a little fluid to help the lungs generate a productive cough. But new research suggests that the influenza virus can tip the balance toward too much fluid in the lungs, interfering with the supply of oxygen to the rest of the body.

BOSTON--Computer-based systems that allow clinicians to prescribe drugs electronically are designed to automatically warn of potential medication errors, but a new study reveals clinicians often override the alerts and rely instead on their own judgment.

Providing a synthetic form of the immune system protein interleukin-2 (IL-2) to HIV-infected individuals already taking combination antiretroviral therapy boosts their numbers of CD4+ T cells, the key white blood cells destroyed by HIV, but fails to reduce their risk of HIV-associated opportunistic diseases or death compared with combination antiretroviral therapy alone.

These are the findings of two large international clinical trials presented today at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Montreal.

BOSTON -- Race and ethnicity appear to have an effect on whether a patient with terminal cancer uses hospice care services, according to a study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). Published in the January 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS), the findings demonstrate that blacks and Asians with terminal cancer use end-of-life services less frequently than do whites and Hispanics.

The genome of a marine bacterium living 2,500 meters below the ocean's surface is providing clues to how life adapts in extreme thermal and chemical gradients, according to an article published Feb. 6 in the journal PLoS Genetics, an open-access publication published by the Public Library of Science.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Civil engineers using a specialized laboratory at Purdue University have demonstrated the effectiveness of a simple, inexpensive method to strengthen buildings that have a flaw making them dangerously vulnerable to earthquakes.

The flaw is widespread in China, Latin America, Turkey and other countries. The buildings have too many "partial-height" walls between structural columns and could be easily strengthened by replacing some windows with ordinary masonry bricks, said Santiago Pujol, an assistant professor of civil engineering at Purdue.