Body

Sexual practice of polygyny skews genetic variability

Women have been more successful on average in passing their genes on to the nextgeneration. "This is because a few males have fathered children with multiple females, which occurs at the expense of other less successful males", says Dr. Michael Hammer, ARL Division of Biotechnology at the University of Arizona.

Animals farmed for meat are the No. 1 source of food poisoning bug, study shows

A study by researchers from Lancashire, England, and Chicago, IL, found that 97 percent of campylobacteriosis cases sampled in Lancashire were caused by bacteria typically found in chicken and livestock. The work, which appears September 26 in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics, is based on DNA-sequence comparison of thousands of bacteria collected from human patients and animal carriers.

Continuous glucose monitoring in diabetic pregnant women lowers risk of complications

Continuous glucose monitoring as part of antenatal care for women with diabetes improves maternal blood glucose control and lowers birth weight and risk of macrosomia* (excessive birth weight in babies), according to a study published on bmj.com today.

English health care system failing to encourage breastfeeding

The English healthcare system is failing to encourage breast feeding and a national strategy to promote breast feeding is urgently needed, say experts on bmj.com today.

In the UK, the women most likely to use formula milk are young, white and from low socioeconomic backgrounds, and this has created a major public health and inequalities challenge, write Professor Mary Renfrew from the University of York and Professor David Hall from the University of Sheffield.

Social class dictates cancer risk

Cervical and lung cancer are more common in poor people while rates of breast cancer and melanoma are higher in the wealthy. A detailed analysis of the incidence of these four different kinds of cancer, carried out on more than 300,000 English cancer patients and published today in the open access journal BMC Cancer, describes the effects of socioeconomic group, region and age.

Discovery offers new understanding of diabetes drug target

Scientists at the University of Leicester have published findings about a new advance in the study of major diabetes drug target.

The advance - described by the researchers as 'very significant' - could lead to new drugs being developed to target a protein that plays a critical role in controlling the way the body breaks down sugar.

Community-based behavior change management cuts neonatal mortality in half

A community-based program that reinforces basic childbirth and newborn care practices can reduce a baby's risk of death within the first month of life by as much as 54 percent, according to a study in rural India led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in collaboration with CSM Medical University in Lucknow, India. The study is published in the September 27 issue of The Lancet.

MIT solves 100-year-old engineering problem

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--As a car accelerates up and down a hill then slows to follow a hairpin turn, the airflow around it cannot keep up and detaches from the vehicle. This aerodynamic separation creates additional drag that slows the car and forces the engine to work harder. The same phenomenon affects airplanes, boats, submarines, and even your golf ball.

Advance offers revolution in food safety testing

CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Microbiologists at Oregon State University have developed a new technology to detect illness-causing bacteria – an advance that could revolutionize the food industry, improving the actual protection to consumers while avoiding the costly waste and massive recalls of products that are suspected of bacterial contamination but are perfectly safe.

Reducing work commutes not easy in some cities, study suggests

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Shorter work commutes are one way to reduce gasoline consumption, but a new study finds that not all cities are equal in how easy it would be to achieve that goal.

Research suggests that Atlanta and Minneapolis may be the U.S. metropolitan areas that would find it most difficult to reduce the miles that workers commute each day.

Meanwhile, Las Vegas and Miami may be the metro areas where it would be easiest to reduce commuting miles.

New UNC laboratory to help track and control tropical diseases

CHAPEL HILL – The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health has established a new Gillings Innovation Lab to track and map tropical infectious diseases such as malaria, using state-of-the-art molecular and demographic methods.

Better information about the prevalence and location of diseases will help national and international health organizations around the world treat and control these diseases.

Gene variant boosts risk of fatty liver disease, UT Southwestern scientists discover

DALLAS – Sept. 25, 2008 – Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found that individuals who carry a specific form of the gene PNPLA3 have more fat in their livers and a greater risk of developing liver inflammation.

They also found that Hispanics are more likely to carry the gene variant responsible for higher liver-fat content than African-Americans and Caucasians.

Stevens strengthens Dominican Republic's Early Warning System for Inundations

HOBOKEN, N.J. — Stevens Institute of Technology's Center for Maritime Systems began a project to strengthen the Early Warning System (EWS) for Inundations in the Dominican Republic. The project is focused on developing the technology of DR's EWS and providing the most up-to-date equipment to improve accuracy in detection of hurricanes and prevent flooding on the island.

Women recover muscle strength more slowly than men

Women's muscles may require longer, more intensive rehabilitation after bed rest and cast immobilization, as reported today by the Institute for Neuromusculoskeletal Research at the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine (OU-COM).

According to Brian C. Clark, Ph.D., assistant professor of neuromuscular biology, the discrepancy may relate to how sex-specific hormones regulate the growth of muscle mass. The study is the first to report sex differences in muscle strength restoration following immobilization of a limb.

Army can boost mission success by better managing

By better managing environmental issues during deployments, U.S. Army units can gain tactical and strategic advantages that will help in combat and post-conflict operations, and boost overall mission success, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today.

The study finds that commanders have not usually given environmental concerns high priority during planning, despite the effect environmental conditions can have on troop health, safety and security, and the importance they have for the local population.