Body

Toronto, ON, Canada, April 29, 2014 – Quality of life (QOL) is rarely reported in surgical publications, yet it can be an important metric that can be of use to physicians and patients when making treatment decisions. Prior studies of average-risk patients undergoing lobectomy suggested that low baseline QOL scores predict worse survival in patients undergoing non-small cell lung cancer surgery.

Working together, Johns Hopkins biomedical engineers and neurosurgeons report that they have created tiny, biodegradable "nanoparticles" able to carry DNA to brain cancer cells in mice.

The team says the results of their proof of principle experiment suggest that such particles loaded with "death genes" might one day be given to brain cancer patients during neurosurgery to selectively kill off any remaining tumor cells without damaging normal brain tissue.

A summary of the research results appeared online on April 26 in the journal ACS Nano.

A mother's diet before conception can permanently affect how her child's genes function, according to a study published in Nature Communications.

The first such evidence of the effect in humans opens up the possibility that a mother's diet before pregnancy could permanently affect many aspects of her children's lifelong health.

Biogeographical data is useful in screening for disease risk and drug sensitivity associated with certain ethnic groups. A team of researchers, including an investigator from Children's Hospital Los Angeles, has developed a tool to accurately identify the biogeography of worldwide individuals. Previous tools were accurate in identifying place of origin within homogeneous European populations but highly inaccurate for places with significant immigration, such as the U.S.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – About 25 percent of parents who have children aged two to five say their children get three or more hours of entertainment screen time a day, well beyond recommended limits, according to a new poll from the University of Michigan.

In the latest University of Michigan Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health, a little more than half of those parents do try to set some limits by location: banning media devices from places like the bedroom or at mealtime.

You know what you're going to say before you say it, right? Not necessarily, research suggests. A study from researchers at Lund University in Sweden shows that auditory feedback plays an important role in helping us determine what we're saying as we speak. The study is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

"Our results indicate that speakers listen to their own voices to help specify the meaning of what they are saying," says researcher Andreas Lind of Lund University, lead author of the study.

Toronto, ON, Canada, April 29, 2014 – A major new study using data from the National Cancer Data Base details the impact of annual hospital volume on 30- and 90-day mortality rates. Investigators found that major lung surgery has become progressively safer over the last few decades, although higher death rates at low-volume hospitals and an unexpected increase in mortality at 90 days compared to 30 days were observed. The study further suggests that choosing a center that performs major lung surgery regularly can have a strong impact on survival.

Policy to reduce bullying in the schoolyard needs to span all levels of society, say researchers from the University of Warwick, who warn that socioeconomic status is not a reliable indicator of whether a child is likely to become a bully.

Up to one third of children are involved in bullying, and a growing body of evidence has shown that bullying is a significant public health concern, which can cause long lasting health and social problems.

Plastic and reconstructive surgeons leading the first retrospective study of all known facial transplants worldwide conclude that the procedure is relatively safe, increasingly feasible, and a clear life-changer that can and should be offered to far more carefully selected patients.

Reporting in The Lancet online April 27, NYU Langone plastic and reconstructive surgeon and senior author Eduardo Rodriguez, MD, DDS, says results after nearly a decade of experience with what he calls the "Mount Everest" of medical-surgical treatments are "highly encouraging."

According to the results, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B journal, house mice may have landed on the island before 1036, most likely transported by a ship. The article suggests that the introduction of this species would result in an ecological disaster.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Cancer cells are on the move in the bloodstream in the very early stage of pancreatic cancer, and can be detected before cancer is diagnosed, according to research by the University of Michigan Health System.

In a study of 51 patients, researchers used a state-of-the art microfluidic device to capture circulating pancreas epithelial cells in 33 percent of patients with early pancreatic lesions and no clinical diagnosis of cancer.

SAN DIEGO (April 29, 2014) – Researchers have discovered a new class of proteins capable of blocking the HIV virus from penetrating T-cells, raising hope that the proteins could be adapted for use in gels or sexual lubricants to provide a potent barrier against HIV infection.

In an article published in The Lancet Oncology, an NCI (US National Cancer Institute), NCRI (UK National Cancer Research Institute), and EORTC (European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer) working group outline a practical risk-management approach for effective integration of biomarkers into cancer clinical trials.

Sponges are usually considered to be the oldest living animals, having evolved before all other groups. The simplicity of their body structure and tissue organization has for many years made them candidates for the ancestral group of animals, and they have long been regarded as our best illustration of what the earliest animals would have looked like. This has been supported by genetic analyses, which suggest that sponges branched from other animals a very long time ago, deep in the Precambrian.

A University of Manchester professor says scientific jargon could be making the science of the human immune system a turn-off for the general public.

Professor Daniel Davis says that scientists are using a number of innovative ways to generate public discussion on immunology and the time is right for people to get to grips with the subject.