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In a study that included high-risk patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery, the use of a cardiac-output guided intervention to improve hemodynamics (blood flow and blood pressure) during and after surgery did not reduce complications and the risk of death after 30 days, compared with usual care. However, when the current results were included in an updated meta-analysis, the intervention was associated with a clinically important reduction in complication rates, according to a study published by JAMA.

An international team led by scientists at the University of Arizona and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has discovered what happens on a molecular basis in insects that evolved resistance to genetically engineered cotton plants. Their findings, reported in the May 19 issue of the journal PLOS ONE, shed light on how the global caterpillar pest called pink bollworm overcomes biotech cotton, which was designed to make an insect-killing bacterial protein called Bt toxin. The results could have major impacts for managing pest resistance to Bt crops.

Hospitalizations and costs for treating irregular heartbeats are escalating — increasing the burden on the U.S. healthcare system, according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is an irregular heartbeat that can lead to stroke and other heart-related complications.

Researchers, analyzing data from almost 4 million hospitalizations for atrial fibrillation in 2001-10, found:

Parents in low-income families were less likely to delay asthma care for their children or avoid taking their children to see a doctor is they had lower vs. higher levels of health insurance cost-sharing.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes subsidies to reduce cost-sharing for low-income families. Limited information about the effects of cost-sharing on care for children is available to guide such efforts.

SAN ANTONIO (May 19, 2014) — Hispanics are the fastest-growing demographic group in the United States, and they suffer from major health disparities, including higher rates of cancers of the cervix, stomach and liver.

However, their enrollment levels in cancer clinical trials seeking to cure these problems is abysmally low: 3.9 percent.

Women diagnosed with diabetes before or during pregnancy are less likely to initiate and continue breastfeeding their newborns than women without diabetes, a new study suggests. Led by clinician-scientists in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital and collaborating institutions, the findings point to areas for improved prenatal and postnatal education of women with diabetes.

LA JOLLA, CA – May 19, 2014 – Chemists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have determined the correct structure of a highly promising anticancer compound approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for clinical trials in cancer patients.

The new report, published this week by the international chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie, focuses on a compound called TIC10.

An international team of scientists, including researchers from the University of California, San Diego, report that the likely causative agent of Kawasaki disease (KD) in Japan is a windborne agent originating from a source in northeast China. KD is a mysterious childhood ailment that can permanently damage coronary arteries.

The findings are published in the May 19, 2014 online early edition of issue of PNAS.

Children with progeria, a rare disorder that causes premature aging, die in their teens of ailments that are common in octogenarians: heart failure and stroke. Kan Cao, a University of Maryland assistant professor of cell biology and molecular genetics, urgently wants to help find a cure. Cao and her colleagues have taken a big step in that direction, showing that a toxic protein destroys muscle cells inside the patients' arteries. The researchers suspect the damaged arteries are thus primed for failure.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Perhaps one of the keys to good health isn't just what you eat but how you taste it.

Taste buds – yes, the same ones you may blame for that sweet tooth or French fry craving – may in fact have a powerful role in a long and healthy life – at least for fruit flies, say two new studies that appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

A diet that combines unsaturated fats with nitrite-rich vegetables, such as olive oil and lettuce, can protect you from hypertension, suggests a new study led by King's College London. The findings, published in the journal PNAS, help to explain why some previous studies have shown that a Mediterranean diet can reduce blood pressure.

The Mediterranean diet typically includes unsaturated fats found in olive oil, nuts and avocados, along with vegetables like spinach, celery and carrots that are rich in nitrites and nitrates.

Individuals are more genetically similar to their spouses than they are to randomly selected individuals from the same population, according to a new study from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Scientists already knew that people tend to marry others who have similar characteristics, including religion, age, race, income, body type and education, among others.

A series of research articles published ahead of print in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy have identified a number of existing pharmaceutical drugs and compounds under development that may offer effective therapies against Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Cabo Pulmo is a close-knit community in Baja California Sur, Mexico, and the best preserved coral reef in the Gulf of California. But now the lands adjacent to the reef are under threat from a mega-development project, "Cabo Dorado," should construction go ahead.

Birth control is used worldwide by more than 60 million women. Since its introduction, it has changed certain aspects of women's lives including family roles, gender roles and social life. New research in The Journal of Sexual Medicine found a link between birth control and women's preferences for psychophysical traits in a sexual mate.