Body

A way to end recurrent urinary tract infections? Study with mice gives hope

(SALT LAKE CITY)—Millions of people worldwide – mostly women – suffer from recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) that seriously degrade their health and quality of life. Antibiotics treat individual infections, but preventing recurrent ones largely has been unattainable because of the way bacteria lodge in the inner layers of the bladder and quietly hide from drugs that can kill them.

Strictly limiting hours surgical residents can work has not improved patient safety

TORONTO, March 25, 2014--Strictly limiting the number of hours surgical residents can work has not improved patient outcomes but may have increased complications for some patients and led to higher failure rates on certification exams, a research paper concludes.

Unravelling nerve-cell death in rare children's disease

LA JOLLA, Calif., March 25, 2014 — A team of scientists, led by Stuart Lipton, M.D., Ph.D., professor and director of the Neuroscience and Aging Research Center at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham), recently discovered why cerebellar granule cell neurons in patients suffering from ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) were unable to repair DNA damage and thus died.

JCI online ahead of print table of contents for March 25, 2014

Epigenetic alterations disrupt intestinal T cell homeostasis

Treatment helps reduce risk of esophagus disorder progressing to cancer

Among patients with the condition known as Barrett esophagus, treatment of abnormal cells with radiofrequency ablation (use of heat applied through an endoscope to destroy cells) resulted in a reduced risk of this condition progressing to cancer, according to a study in the March 26 issue of JAMA.

Web-based alcohol screening program shows limited effect among university students

Among university students in New Zealand, a web-based alcohol screening and brief intervention program produced a modest reduction in the amount of alcohol consumed per drinking episode but not in the frequency of drinking, overall amount consumed, or in related academic problems, according to a study in the March 26 issue of JAMA.

Effect of distance from transplant center on outcomes

Among veterans meeting eligibility for liver transplantation, greater distance from a Veterans Affairs transplant center or any transplant center was associated with lower likelihood of being put on a waitlist or receiving a transplant, and a greater likelihood of death, according to a study in the March 26 issue of JAMA.

Texas researcher: Peaches inhibit breast cancer metastasis in mice

COLLEGE STATION – Lab tests at Texas A&M AgriLife Research have shown that treatments with peach extract inhibit breast cancer metastasis in mice.

AgriLife Research scientists say that the mixture of phenolic compounds present in the peach extract are responsible for the inhibition of metastasis, according to the study, which was this month published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.

In search of a few good apps

BOSTON–While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released guidelines for the regulation of mobile health (mHealth) apps that act as medical devices or as accessories to medical devices, the vast majority of mHealth apps remain unregulated and unevaluated.

Study: Salamanders shrinking due to climate change

Wild salamanders living in some of North America's best salamander habitat are getting smaller as their surroundings get warmer and drier, forcing them to burn more energy in a changing climate.

That's the key finding of a new study co-authored by a Clemson University biologist and published Tuesday in the journal Global Change Biology that examined museum specimens caught in the Appalachian Mountains from 1957 to 2007 and wild salamanders measured at the same sites in 2011-2012.

Salamanders shrinking as their mountain havens heat up

Wild salamanders living in some of North America's best salamander habitat are getting smaller as their surroundings get warmer and drier, forcing them to burn more energy in a changing climate.

SU biologists use sound to identify breeding grounds of endangered whales

Remote acoustic monitoring among endangered whales is the subject of a major article by two doctoral students in Syracuse University's College of Arts and Sciences.

Leanna Matthews and Jessica McCordic, members of the Parks Lab in the Department of Biology, have co-authored "Remote Acoustic Monitoring of North Atlantic Right Whales Reveals Seasonal and Diel Variations in Acoustic Behavior." The article appears in the current issue of PLOS ONE, an inclusive, peer-reviewed, open-access resource from the Public Library of Science in San Francisco, Calif.

Haynes is first to identify cellular patterns of contraction in human hearts

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 19, 2014) — When Premi Haynes was growing up in Pune, India, she attended Stella Maris High School, an English language convent school founded by Swiss nuns. Her second grade singing class used a book of English songs. One of the songs was "My Old Kentucky Home." At that time, Haynes had never heard of Kentucky, had no idea where it was, and had no particular ambition to go there.

New technique brings us closer to HIV and hepatitis C vaccines

Plans for a new type of DNA vaccine to protect against the deadly HIV and Hepatitis C viruses have taken an important step forward, with University of Adelaide researchers applying for a patent based on groundbreaking new research.

Validation study results show method can replace live animals in skin allergy tests

Phoenix — Guinea pigs and mice can be replaced with a non-animal skin sensitization method that uses a human-derived skin model, according to a study presented today by the PETA International Science Consortium, Ltd., at the Society of Toxicology's annual meeting.