Body

INDIANAPOLIS -- Trampoline accidents sent an estimated 288,876 people, most of them children, to hospital emergency departments with broken bones from 2002 to 2011, at a cost of more than $400 million, according to an analysis by researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Including all injuries, not just fractures, hospital emergency rooms received more than 1 million visits from people injured in trampoline accidents during those 10 years, boosting the emergency room bills to just over $1 billion, according to the study.

An international team of researchers has found that a subset of common butterfly species are emerging later than usual in urban areas located in warmer regions, raising questions about how the insects respond to significant increases in temperature.

If a sibling commits a violent criminal act, the risk that a younger sibling may follow in their footsteps is more likely than the transmission of that behavior to an older sibling, according to a new study conducted by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University and Lund University in Sweden.

The findings provide insight into the social transmission of violent behaviors and suggest that environmental factors within families can be important when it comes to delinquent behavior. Down the road, the results may be used to inform strategies for prevention and treatment programs.

Researchers at the Rey Juan Carlos University and the Alcorcón Hospital (Madrid) have compared the volatile substances exhaled by eleven people with cancer of larynx, with those of another twenty healthy people. The results show that the concentrations of certain molecules, mainly ethanol and 2-butanone, are higher in individuals with carcinoma, therefore they act as potential markers of the disease.

April 28, 2014 AUGUSTA, Ga. - Patients with highest levels of the most powerful version of the immune molecule HLA-G appear to have the lowest risk of rejecting their transplanted kidney, researchers report.

A study of 67 transplant patients – 50 with no evidence of rejection and 17 with chronic rejection – showed those most tolerant of their kidney had naturally high levels of HLA-G dimer, where two of the immune molecules bind together, said Dr. Anatolij Horuzsko, immunologist at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University.

The quest for new cancer treatments could be revolutionised by advances in technology that can visualise living cells and tissues, scientists claim.

Leading edge imaging techniques will make it easier to identify which are the most promising new drugs to take forward for patient testing, a review of the technology suggests.

Applying such techniques early in the drug discovery process could improve the success rate of new medicines by helping to rule out drugs that are unlikely to work.

Bombarding pests with smells from many different plants temporarily confuses them and hinders their ability to feed, new research has shown.

Biologists at Newcastle University, UK, have been exploring the potential of harmless plant volatiles as an alternative to pesticides in greenhouses.

Testing a phenomenon known as the 'confusion effect' – whereby animals and humans become inefficient at a task when they are bombarded with lots of distracting information – the team pumped a mixture of plant smells into a greenhouse growing tomato plants.

The quality of kidney and liver donations is fundamentally important for the longevity of transplants and the health of recipients. That's why it's critical to know which organs are suitable for transplantation, as well as to use techniques that preserve an organ's function after donation. Several studies published in the BJS (British Journal of Surgery) address these issues and offer ways to maximize the use of donated organs.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Rhode Island's geography is famously small, but new measurements of the nitrogen cycle in its waterways suggest that even over a small distance, differences can be huge. Scientists report that the nitrogen-converting process anammox is almost completely absent in Narragansett Bay, even though it is going strong in Rhode Island Sound only 15 miles off the coast.

TORONTO, April 28, 2014—Gene expression profiling tests play a critical role when women with early-stage breast cancer decide whether to have chemotherapy, but many of them do not fully understand what some of the test results mean, new research suggests.

Current guidelines for treating early-stage breast cancer—cancer that has not spread to nearby lymph nodes or other parts of the body—result in thousands of women receiving chemotherapy without benefitting from it.

DURANT, OK – Growers who produce squash for market are increasingly interested in using more natural herbicides that are also effective in providing season-long weed control, but the options for controlling annual broadleaf weeds in summer squash are currently limited. The authors of a new study say that both organic and conventional producers will benefit from the identification of natural herbicides that effectively provide postemergent weed control.

This news release is available in German.

People who take statin drugs to lower their cholesterol appear to have developed a false sense of security that could lead to heart disease and other obesity-related illnesses.

A new UCLA-led study suggests that people who took statins in the 2009–10 year were consuming more calories and fat than those who used statins 10 years earlier. There was no similar increase in caloric and fat intake among non–stain users during that decade, researchers said.

25.04.2014: Costs of natural hazards are at historically high levels, and show an increasing trend. Cost assessments of natural hazards often only cover direct costs and even these are assumed to be at least 50% higher than international assessments report. However, besides direct damage, also indirect damage is relevant. For example, the Thailand flood in 2011 shut down scores of factories and damaged global car manufacturing and electronics industries. But, an improved precaution requires better understanding of the total costs, which comprise besides damage also risk mitigation costs.

PHILADEPHIA- A trio of studies from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania demonstrate new approaches to understanding, treating and potentially staving off Parkinson's disease (PD). Studies show that factors such as estrogen exposure and statin use have an impact on the onset of Parkinson's disease. And a new look at telemedicine demonstrates feasibility in providing care for Parkinson's patients using remote video visits to expand access and center care around the needs of Parkinson's patients.