Body

A new gene therapy method developed by University of Florida researchers has the potential to treat a common form of blindness that strikes both youngsters and adults. The technique works by replacing a malfunctioning gene in the eye with a normal working copy that supplies a protein necessary for light-sensitive cells in the eye to function. The findings are published today (Monday, Jan. 23) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences online.

An excavation at a site in South Africa has unearthed the 190-million-year-old dinosaur nesting site of the prosauropod dinosaur Massospondylus—revealing significant clues about the evolution of complex reproductive behaviour in early dinosaurs. The newly unearthed dinosaur nesting ground predates previously known nesting sites by 100 million years, according to study authors.

PHILADELPHIA -- Members of a University of Pennsylvania research team have shown that they can prevent, or even reverse, a blinding retinal disease, X-linked Retinitis Pigmentosa, or XLRP, in dogs.

The disease in humans and dogs is caused by defects in the RPGR gene and results in early, severe and progressive vision loss. It is one of the most common inherited forms of retinal degeneration in man.

An excavation at a site in South Africa has unearthed the 190-million-year-old dinosaur nesting site of the prosauropod dinosaur Massospondylus – revealing significant clues about the evolution of complex reproductive behaviour in early dinosaurs.

If you think a Chihuahua doesn't have much in common with a Rottweiler, you might be on to something.

An ancient dog skull, preserved in a cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia for 33,000 years, presents some of the oldest known evidence of dog domestication and, together with equally ancient dog remains from a cave in Belgium, indicates that domestication of dogs may have occurred repeatedly in different geographic locations rather than with a single domestication event.

Montreal -- Elderly patients who have visited an emergency department (ED) are three times more likely to develop respiratory or gastrointestinal infections in the week following their return to a long-term care facility, such as a Centre d'Hébergement de Soins de Longue Durée (CHLSD). These are the findings of a new Canadian study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal today.

Los Angeles, CA (January 20th, 2012) - Managers encouraging employees to be more proactive and flexible do make gains in performance and productivity. But this is at the expense of employee job satisfaction, according to the latest research in the journal Human Relations, owned by The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations and published by SAGE. Increased expectations from their employers may lead employees to perceive a less secure and more demanding work environment.

WASHINGTON, DC – A Georgetown University Medical Center professor says the voluntary action taken by two research teams to temporarily halt work involving the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 is "laudable."

Metastasizing cancer cells often express integrins that provide better traction. A new study in The Journal of Cell Biology (www.jcb.org) reveals how a lipid-converting enzyme helps the cells mobilize these integrins.

A visit to the emergency department during nonsummer months was associated with a three-fold risk of acute respiratory or gastrointestinal infection in elderly residents of long-term care facilities, according to a study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Although significant progress has been made in treating chronic myeloid leukemia, the disease cannot yet be eliminated in all patients, and that challenge must be addressed, states a commentary in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Crippling a protein that allows cancer cells to grow when oxygen is scarce causes tumors to regress, according to a study published online on January 23 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (http://www.jem.org).

Targeting a single protein can help fight both breast cancers and leukemias, according to two reports published online on January 23 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (http://www.jem.org).

The single protein is HSP90, which acts as a chaperone to protect other proteins in the cell.

CHICAGO (January 23, 2012) – A new study published online today in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons finds hospitals participating in a regional collaborative of the American College of Surgeon's National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®), achieved substantial improvements in surgical outcomes, such as reducing the rates of acute renal failure and surgical site infections. The collaborative also saved $2,197,543 per 10,000 general and vascular surgery cases when comparing results from 2010 with results from 2009.