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Toronto, ON, Canada, April 30, 2014 – A new study presenting data from 17 cardiac surgical centers in Virginia, representing 100 surgeons and 99% of cardiac operations performed in the state, demonstrates that, even today, significant variations – among surgeons and hospitals - still exist in the performance of mitral valve repair vs replacement for moderate to severe mitral regurgitation.

Electricity is normally transmitted by means of alternating current, but it is not the only way and not always the best one.In some cases, high voltage direct current (HVDC) is used. In Spain, for example, there is only one direct current line, the one that connects mainland Spain with the Balearic Islands; all the remaining ones transmit electricity by means of alternating current.

To solve a puzzle, you need to recognize shapes, patterns and a particular kind of order. In much the same way, researchers at McGill University have discovered that the 3D shape of a leukemia cell's genome holds a key to solving the puzzle of human diseases. The researchers report their findings in the open access journal Genome Biology.

It's official (in the horned beetle world at least), females prefer courtship over competitiveness – and it doesn't matter about the size of your mandibles either.

An international study by scientists at the University of Exeter and the Universities of Okayama and Tsukuba in Japan investigated the complicated sexual conflict over mating in Gnatocerus cornutus, the horned flour-beetle.

Female mate choice and male-male competition are the typical mechanisms of sexual selection. However, these two mechanisms do not always favour the same males.

Bumblebees can distinguish between safe and dangerous environments, and are attracted to land on flowers popular with other bees when exposed to perilous situations, according to new research from Queen Mary University of London.

The study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, shows that past experience of predation causes bumblebees to join other bees already safely feeding on flowers.

Researchers at the University of Exeter have found that the probability of a burying beetle winning fights, for the small animal carcasses it needs, depends on a combination of early life experiences and the competition it faces as an adult.

These beetles use small dead animals, such as mice and songbirds, to provide food for their young and competition for a carcass can be fierce.

People who survive heart attacks have a greater chance of living longer if they increase their dietary intake of fibre – and eating lots of cereal fibre is especially beneficial, finds research published today on bmj.com.

Those who ate most fibre had a 25% lower chance of dying in the nine years after their heart attack compared with those who ate least fibre, the researchers found. Every 10g per day increase in fibre intake was associated with a 15% lower risk of dying over the nine-year follow-up period.

Low levels of physical capability (in particular weak grip strength, slow chair rise speed and poor standing balance performance) in midlife can indicate poorer chances of survival over the next 13 years, while greater time spent in light intensity physical activity each day is linked to a reduced risk of developing disability in adults with or at risk of developing knee osteoarthritis, suggest two papers published on bmj.com today.

The risks of birth defects in children exposed to antiretroviral drugs in utero are small when considering the clear benefit of preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV but where there are safe and effective alternatives, it might be appropriate to avoid use by pregnant women of drugs that may be associated with elevated risks of birth defects, such as zidovudine and efavirenz, according to a study published by French researchers published in this week's PLOS Medicine.

Toronto, ON, Canada, April 29, 2014 – Researchers at the University of Louisville School of Medicine are using breath analysis to detect the presence of lung cancer. Preliminary data indicate that this promising noninvasive tool offers the sensitivity of PET scanning, and has almost twice the specificity of PET for distinguishing patients with benign lung disease from those with early stage cancer. Michael Bousamra II, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, is presenting the results of the study at the AATS 2014 Conference on April 29, 2014.

In a new study, published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, J. Roux, et al. tried to uncover which genes could be involved in ant-specific adaptations, notably in relation to the evolution of complex social systems and division of labor.

Take a muscle cell, modify it over millions of years, and you end up with an exciting and literally shocking evolutionary result: the electric fish. Electric fish have evolved several times in varying levels of complexity. Two groups of electric fish, one in Africa (Mormyroids) and one in South America (Gymnotiforms), have independently evolved sophisticated communication systems using these cells. By emitting and sensing weak electrical signals, the fish have bypassed the usual means of communication, such as with sounds and visual signals, and go directly to electrical signals.

A new study conducted by researchers at Marcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory University School of Medicine indicates that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are more than four times more likely to experience general gastrointestinal (GI) complaints compared with peers, are more than three times as prone to experience constipation and diarrhea than peers, and complain twice as much about abdominal pain compared to peers.

The results were reported in the April 28, 2014, online early edition of the journal Pediatrics.

A violent tornado touched down in Arkansas on April 27, 2014, killing as many as 15 people. The top image, acquired on April 28 by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite, shows what appears to be a tornado track north of Little Rock, Arkansas. The lower image, from April 25, shows the same area before the storm. The tracks are pale brown trails where trees and plants have been uprooted, leaving disturbed ground.

SAN DIEGO (April 29, 2014) – Imagine filling a hole in your heart by regrowing the tissue. While that possibility is still being explored in people, it is a reality in salamanders. A recent discovery that newt hearts can regenerate may pave the way to new therapies in people who need to have damaged tissue replaced with healthy tissue.