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It is well known that exposure to asbestos or radon drastically increases the injurious effects of smoking. In the present study, led by Uppsala University, the scientists have investigated whether high blood levels of the environmental contaminant PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) reinforces the harmful effect of smoking.

TORONTO, May 14, 2014—The most common heart valve abnormality has now been linked to an increased risk of aneurysms.

Up to 2 per cent of the population has a genetic abnormality in which their aortic valve has only two cusps or hinges ensuring that oxygenated blood from the heart is directed to the rest of the body—a condition known as bicuspid aortic valve. Most people have three such cusps.

PHILADELPHIA—While large genetic testing panels promise to uncover clues about patients' DNA, a team of researchers from Penn Medicine's Abramson Cancer Center (ACC)has found that those powerful tests tend to produce more questions than they answer. In a study of 278 women with early onset breast cancer who did not have the BRCA genes, the researchers found that only 2.5 percent of the patients had inherited mutations that were actually clinically actionable.

CLEVELAND: Researchers from University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center's Seidman Cancer Center will present findings from a study that found the presence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell, ahead of treatment may help predict response to platinum-based chemotherapy in women with triple-negative breast cancer. The data are being presented at the 50th American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago.

EAST LANSING, Mich., May 14, 2014 – A new international standard for wood packaging material used in international trade is significantly slowing the inadvertent export of stowaway invasive bark- and wood-boring insects, according to a study by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS). Lead author Robert Haack, a research entomologist with the U.S.

NEW YORK, NY, May 14, 2014 — A novel targeted drug shows promise in treating patients with advanced pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS), a rare neoplastic joint disorder, according to new phase I data from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and other institutions highlighted to media today in advance of the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), which will take place from May 30 to June 3 in Chicago.

ITHACA, N.Y. – It's an unlikely beer-drinking toast: "Here's to L-T-P-One!" Yet, the secret to optimal foam in the head of a freshly poured brew, according to Cornell food science research, is just the right amount and kind of barley lipid transfer protein No. 1, aka LTP1.

Bitter compounds found in hops, like iso-alpha acids, are important to brewers, says Cornell's Karl J. Siebert, principal investigator and author of "Recent Discoveries in Beer Foam," set for publication in next issue of the Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists.

PHILADELPHIA — Breastfeeding, tubal ligation – also known as having one's "tubes tied" – and oral contraceptives may lower the risk of ovarian cancer for some women with BRCA gene mutations, according to a comprehensive analysis from a team at the University of Pennsylvania's Basser Research Center for BRCA and the Abramson Cancer Center. The findings, a meta-analysis of 44 existing peer-reviewed studies, are published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The venom from marine cone snails, used to immobilize prey, contains numerous peptides called conotoxins, some of which can act as painkillers in mammals. A recent study in The Journal of General Physiology provides new insight into the mechanisms by which one conotoxin, Vc1.1, inhibits pain.

STANFORD, Calif. - Tinkering with a molecular pathway that governs how intestinal cells respond to stress can help mice survive a normally fatal dose of abdominal radiation, according to a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Because the technique is still partially effective up to 24 hours after exposure, the study suggests a possible treatment for people unintentionally exposed to large amounts of radiation, such as first responders at the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986.

LA JOLLA, CA—May 14, 2014—A vaccine or other therapy directed at a single site on a surface protein of HIV could in principle neutralize nearly all strains of the virus—thanks to the diversity of targets the site presents to the human immune system.

The finding, from a study led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), is likely to influence future designs for HIV vaccines and antibody-based therapies.

Philadelphia, May 14, 2014 – There is increasing public pressure to report the results of all clinical trials to eliminate publication bias and improve public access. However, investigators using the World Health Organization's International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) to build a database of clinical trials involving chronic pain have encountered several challenges. They describe the perils and pitfalls of using the ICTRP and propose alternative strategies to improve clinical trials reporting.

DETROIT, Mich., - After two decades of arduous research, a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded investigator at the Children's Hospital of Michigan (CHM) at the Detroit Medical Center (DMC) and the Wayne State University School of Medicine has published a new study showing that many children with an often fatal type of heart disease can recover "normal size and function" of damaged sections of their hearts.

Five years ago, a report on the state of forensic science by the National Academy of Sciences decried the lack of sound science in the analysis of evidence in criminal cases across the country. It spurred a flurry of outrage and promises, but no immediate action. Now, renewed efforts are underway, according to an article in Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly news magazine of the American Chemical Society.

A National Institutes of Health-sponsored study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) showed that lorazepam - a widely used but not yet Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drug for children - is no more effective than an approved benzodiazepine, diazepam, for treating pediatric status epilepticus.