Body

In an article to be published on 21 June 2010 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers from Inserm (Inserm unit 625 – Research Group on Human and Mammalian Reproduction, University of Rennes 1), the CHU (University Hospital Centre) in Pointe à Pitre (urology department, University of the French West Indies and Guiana) and from the Center for Analytical Research and Technology (University of Liège, Belgique), show that exposure to chlordecone (also named Kepone), an organochlorine chemical with well defined estrogenic properties used in the French West Indies until 1993, is as

The results of the sequencing and analysis of the human body louse genome, which were published on June 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), offer new insights into the intriguing biology of this disease-vector insect. The project involved more than 70 international scientists led by Professor Evgeny Zdobnov at the University of Geneva Medical School and the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, with Professor Barry Pittendrigh at the University of Illinois and Professor Ewen Kirkness at the J. Craig Venter Institute.

The UK's National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is involved in a collaborative project that is helping to further the understanding of HIV viral protein structure which could lead to new molecular medicines.

In May 2010 the project team, comprising biotechnology experts from NPL, the University of Edinburgh and IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, published some of their research in Journal of Physical Chemistry B.

Many primary school teachers admit they 'could do better'. Lack of resources or insufficient training has led to teaching that is often inadequate and lacking in confidence, claim researchers.

"Some of the reasons for the lack of positive promotion of disability in primary schools are; uncertainty about how to fit disability equality into the curriculum or a reluctance to talk about disability for fear of highlighting 'difference' " says the study.

The Endocrine Society presented its Scientific Statement on menopausal hormone therapy Monday in San Diego, Calif. at ENDO 2010: The 92nd Annual Meeting & Expo. The Scientific Statement, located at http://www.endo-society.org/journals/ScientificStatements/upload/jc-2009-2509v1.pdf, provides a comprehensive, objective evaluation of the benefits and risks associated with menopausal hormone therapy (MHT).

College Park, MD (June 22, 2010) -- The Human Genome Project, along with numerous parallel efforts to solve the DNA sequences of hundreds of animal, plant, fungal, and microbe genomes in the last few decades, has produced enormous amounts of genetic data with which researchers are struggling to keep pace. Knowing gene sequences, after all, may not directly reveal what roles that genes play in the actual manifestation of physical traits (or phenotypes) of an organism -- including their roles in human diseases.

BOSTON, Mass. (June 20, 2010) – By emulating nature's design principles, a team at Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has created nanodevices made of DNA that self-assemble and can be programmed to move and change shape on demand. In contrast to existing nanotechnologies, these programmable nanodevices are highly suitable for medical applications because DNA is both biocompatible and biodegradable.

The work appears in the June 20 advance online Nature Nanotechnology.

Los Angeles, CA (June 21 2010) In the wake of extensive television news reporting in Haiti by physicians such as Dr. Sanjay Gupta on CNN, guidelines for physician-journalists in covering disasters are proposed in the current issue of Electronic News, published by SAGE.

CHAPEL HILL – The human body contains more bacteria than it does cells. These bacterial communities can have a positive effect on our health, by training our immune systems and helping to metabolize the foods we eat. But they can also set us up to develop digestive disorders, skin diseases, and obesity.

Contrary to marketing claims, paying a premium price for free-range eggs is not making you healthier, say scientists who have found that free-range eggs in Taiwan contain at least five times higher levels of certain pollutants than regular eggs. Their findings appear in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Sampling of pigeons captured on the streets of Madrid has revealed the bacterial pathogens they carry. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica found two bugs that were highly prevalent in the bird population, Chlamydophila psittaci and Campylobacter jejuni, both of which cause illness in humans.

Sub-Saharan Africa has only 11% of the world's population, yet more than half of the world's maternal, newborn and child deaths, and two-thirds of the world's AIDS deaths. New data reveal that the pace of mortality reduction is accelerating. With only 5 years remaining before the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) should be met, urgent action in countries is needed — not global statistics and competitions over estimates.

A surprising discovery about the complex make-up of our cells could lead to the development of new types of medicines, a study suggests.

Scientists studying interactions between cell proteins – which enable the cells in our bodies to function – have shown that proteins communicate not by a series of simple one-to-one communications, but by a complex network of chemical messages.

Scientists have completed the most comprehensive comparative analysis to date of bacterial communities inhabiting the human nose and throat, which could provide new insights into why some individuals become colonized with pathogens while others do not. They release their findings today in mBio™ the online open-access journal published by the American Society for Microbiology.

Postmenopausal women who experience bothersome hot flashes or night sweats may have an alternative treatment to estrogen. According to a new study, oral micronized progesterone relieves those symptoms. The results will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 92nd Annual Meeting in San Diego.

"This is the first evidence that oral micronized progesterone, which is molecularly identical to the natural hormone, is effective for women with symptomatic hot flashes," said the presenting author, Jerilynn Prior, MD, professor, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.