Body

New research in the American Journal of Hypertension suggest sodium has less pervasive influence on health than once thought.

A new study published in American Journal of Hypertension finds evidence that increased Body Mass Index, age, and non-sodium dietary factors are much more closely related to increases in systolic blood pressure than sodium intake.

(PHILADELPHIA) – There is an active controversy among oncologists about when to treat prostate cancer patients, with some suggesting that the word "cancer" be removed from the description of low grade disease, in order to prevent overtreatment. However a new study shows that these guidelines may not be appropriate for everyone, especially African American men.

Depictions of animals in ancient Egyptian artifacts have helped scientists assemble a detailed record of the large mammals that lived in the Nile Valley over the past 6,000 years. A new analysis of this record shows that species extinctions, probably caused by a drying climate and growing human population in the region, have made the ecosystem progressively less stable.

While producing a whipped jet in a viscous dielectric material – polydimethylsiloxane oil – the researchers were surprised to see the chaotic motion switch over to a steady-state helical structure.

"We were able to stabilize the structure associated with the whipping behavior and found that the stable structure is a helix with a conical shape," said Fernandez-Nieves. "You can picture it as a conical envelope, and inside the envelope you have a helix. Once the viscosity of the outer liquid is sufficient, you stabilize the structure and get this beautiful helix."

One shot of an experimental vaccine made from two Ebola virus gene segments incorporated into a chimpanzee cold virus vector (called chimp adenovirus type 3 or ChAd3) protected all four macaque monkeys exposed to high levels of Ebola virus 5 weeks after inoculation, report National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists and their collaborators. The ability of the ChAd3 Ebola virus vaccine to elicit rapid protection in monkeys is notable as the world health community battles an ongoing Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa.

Life can be so intricate and novel that even a single cell can pack a few surprises, according to a study led by Princeton University researchers.

ATHENS, Ohio (Sept. 8, 2014)—Ohio University paleontologists have identified a new species of titanosaurian, a member of the large-bodied sauropods that thrived during the final period of the dinosaur age, in Tanzania. Although many fossils of titanosaurians have been discovered around the globe, especially in South America, few have been recovered from the continent of Africa.

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- A well-known biologist once theorized that many roads led to Rome when it comes to two distantly related organisms evolving a similar trait. A new paper, published in Nature Communications, suggests that when it comes to evolving some traits – especially simple ones – there may be a shared gene, one road, that's the source.

(PHILADELPHIA) – These days, cancer researchers aim to design targeted and specific therapy – those that kill cancer but spare the surrounding tissue. Immunotoxins, which use cancer-targeted antibodies linked to deadly toxins such as ricin, are one such therapy. However, few have succeeded to date in part because cancer cells share many molecules with normal cells, and because it can be challenging to unlock the deadly chemical only after the antibody has homed to the diseased tissue.

CHICAGO --- Only one in four students with asthma and half of children with food allergies have emergency health management plans in place at school, leaving schools inadequately prepared to manage daily needs and handle medical emergencies related to often life-threatening medical conditions, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study in partnership with Chicago Public Schools (CPS).

"When we saw the recordings from the cameras, we were really excited," says Michael Bartoš of the Institute of Botany at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, noting that the twisting action happens so quickly it is almost imperceptible to a casual observer. "We did not expect that the fit between flower spur and sunbird bill could be solved in such a simple way. Our enthusiasm was even greater when we realized the adaptive consequence for pollen placement."

But Vail and his colleagues wondered whether those collaborative abilities might also be found in other, more distantly related species. They found the best candidate in a rather surprising place: among a genus of fishes known as Plectropomus. In fact, studies have shown that roving coral grouper fish will team up with moray eels, too. More recently, Vail found that coral trout also hunt collaboratively with moray eels on the Great Barrier Reef.

A new study suggests that nearly half of workers who care for animals in large industrial hog farming operations may be carrying home livestock-associated bacteria in their noses, and that this potentially harmful bacteria remains with them up to four days after exposure.

September 8, 2014 CHAPEL HILL – UNC School of Medicine researchers have discovered an unlikely relationship between CXCR7 – a protein implicated in tumor growth and metastasis – and adrenomedullin – a hormone involved in cardiovascular health. Deleting CXCR7 allows adrenomedullin to run rampant, triggering the development of an enlarged heart and the overgrowth of the lymphatic vessels that traffic immune cells and fluids throughout the body.

CHAPEL HILL, NC – Researchers from the UNC School of Medicine have discovered that the protein RBM4, a molecule crucial to the process of gene splicing, is drastically decreased in multiple forms of human cancer, including lung and breast cancers. The finding, published today in the journal Cancer Cell, offers a new route toward therapies that can thwart the altered genetic pathways that allow cancer cells to proliferate and spread.