Body

The answer to treating painful arthritis could lie in an age old herbal remedy - frankincense, according to Cardiff University scientists.

Cardiff scientists have been examining the potential benefits of frankincense to help relieve and alleviate the symptoms of the condition.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A University of Florida review of research finds the polyphenol compound known as resveratrol found in red wine, grapes and other fruits may not prevent old age, but it might make it more tolerable.

News stories have long touted resveratrol as a cure for various diseases and a preventative against aging.

A new study shows that being married boosts survival odds for both men and women with colon cancer at every stage of the disease.

Married patients had a 14 percent lower risk of death according to researchers at Penn State's College of Medicine and Brigham Young University. That estimate is based on analysis of 127,753 patient records.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- More than 2,000 years after Archimedes found a way to determine the density of a king's crown by measuring its mass in two different fluids, MIT scientists have used the same principle to solve an equally vexing puzzle — how to measure the density of a single cell.

"Density is such a fundamental, basic property of everything," says William Grover, a research associate in MIT's Department of Biological Engineering. "Every cell in your body has a density, and if you can measure it accurately enough, it opens a whole new window on the biology of that cell."

Compounds in blueberries might turn out to have a powerful effect on formation of strong, healthy bones, if results from studies with laboratory rats turn out to hold true for humans.

This month in ecological science, researchers evaluate the U.S. National Fire Plan to restore western U.S. forests, fire's key role in the return of a native lizard to the Ozarks and what historical fire records and sediment cores can tell us about the Arctic Tundra's fire regime. These articles are available online or published in recent issues of the Ecological Society of America's (ESA) journals.

Taking stock of U.S. strategies to restore forests in the West

Despite significant advancements in increasing distribution and development of vaccines against childhood killer diseases – including pneumococcal disease, rotavirus, and Haemophilus influenzae Type B – global efforts to reduce the burden of infection from neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) has greatly lagged, argues Sabin Vaccine Institute (Sabin) President Dr. Peter Hotez in an article for the June edition of Health Affairs.

Waco, Texas (June 21, 2011) - Women who return to work after giving birth are more likely to stay on the job if they have greater control over their work schedules, according to a Baylor University study. Researchers also found that job security and the ability to make use of a variety of their job skills leads to greater retention of working moms, while the impact of work-related stress on their physical and mental health causes greater turnover.

The study is published online in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

Scientists from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and the University of Lund have discovered that the community composition of bumble bee species and their relative abundances have changed drastically over the last 70 years in Sweden. Over the same period, the average seed yield of red clover has declined and variation in yield has doubled, suggesting that the current dependence on few species for pollination of red clover has been detrimental especially to stability in seed yield.

Scientists at The University of Nottingham have discovered a molecular mechanism which could bring about the development of new treatments for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) — a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system.

DALLAS – June 21, 2011 – Cervical ripening that instigates preterm labor is distinct from what happens at the onset of normal term labor, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

The findings challenge the conventional premise that premature cervical ripening and remodeling is likely just an accelerated version of the term labor process, and that normal term ripening is caused primarily by activation of inflammatory responses.

Cervical remodeling is the process by which the cervix is transformed to open sufficiently during the birth process.

New research at the University of Leicester is investigating a growing fascination with 'chav' culture among middle-class gay men in Britain.

Professor Joanna Brewis, from the University of Leicester School of Management, UK, will conduct primary empirical research into gay class tourism following publication of findings reported last year in the journal Sociology.

When governments use comprehensive, well-funded tobacco control programs to reduce adult smoking, they also reduce smoking among adolescents. This bonus effect is an important factor to consider as policymakers face pressure to reduce spending on anti-smoking programs.

The most effective elements of a tobacco control program include taxes on tobacco, well-funded adult-focused tobacco control programs, well-funded anti-smoking mass media campaigns, and strong indoor smoking restrictions.

A new study of employment and divorce suggest that while social pressure discouraging women from working outside the home has weakened, pressure on husbands to be breadwinners largely remains.

The research, led by Liana Sayer of Ohio State University and forthcoming in the American Journal of Sociology, was designed to show how employment status influences both men's and women's decisions to end a marriage.

Millions of adults with peripheral artery disease are not receiving the medications needed to reduce their risk of heart attack, stroke and death, according to research in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.