Body

Irish kids now weigh 24 kilos more than they did in 1948, reveals research published ahead of print in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

A rapid increase in prosperity has gone hand in hand with the surge in obesity in Ireland, dubbed the "Celtic Tiger" on account of its rapid economic growth, say the authors. But the current economic downturn is unlikely to reverse these trends, they suggest.

Two Brigham Young University researchers who just returned from Antarctica are reporting a hardy worm that withstands its cold climate by cranking out antifreeze. And when its notoriously dry home runs out of water, it just dries itself out and goes into suspended animation until liquid water brings it back to life.

Identifying the genes the worm uses to kick in its antifreeze system can be useful information – similar genes found in other Antarctic organisms are currently being used to engineer frost-resistant crops.

An estimated 15% of cancer cases can be linked to a viral infection, however the biological changes that cause some asymptomatic carriers of a virus to develop full-blown tumors are not well understood.

Ariela Benigni and colleagues, at the "Mario Negri" Institute for Pharmacological Research, Italy, have found that mice lacking the protein AT1A live substantially longer than normal mice. As drugs that antagonize AT1A are currently used to treat high blood pressure and heart failure, the authors suggest that future studies should investigate whether such drugs prolong life in humans.

DALLAS – Feb. 9, 2009 – Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified a protein that may help give Lyme disease its bite.

The findings suggest that the bacterial protein, which aids in transporting the metal manganese, is essential for the bacterium that causes Lyme disease to become virulent.

In a collaborative study published Feb. 9, 2009, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), scientists performed a genome-wide expression analysis comparing highly enriched normal blood stem cells and leukemic stem cells, and identified several new pathways that have a key role in cancer development.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- A new University of Florida study based on DNA analysis from living flowering plants shows that the ancestors of most modern trees diversified extremely rapidly 90 million years ago, ultimately leading to the formation of forests that supported similar evolutionary bursts in animals and other plants.

The leaves of soybeans grown at the elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) levels predicted for the year 2050 respire more than those grown under current atmospheric conditions, researchers report, a finding that will help fine-tune climate models and could point to increased crop yields as CO2 levels rise.

The study, from researchers at the University of Illinois and the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, appears this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

CINCINNATI—Although the immune system is designed to protect the body from harm, it may actually worsen one of the most difficult-to-treat respiratory diseases: chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), according to new University of Cincinnati (UC) research.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (February 9, 2009) – Even the most drug-resistant fungi can be eradicated in multiple in vitro and in vivo models using a lethal combination of an antifungal agent and inhibition of the heat shock protein Hsp90, according to a new study by Whitehead Institute and University of Toronto researchers. The findings could enable development of novel antifungal therapies for patients with compromised immune systems.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Doctors may be able to use certain cognitive tests to help determine whether a person with Alzheimer's disease can safely get behind the wheel. The research is published in the February 10, 2009, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

"The number of people with dementia is increasing as our population ages, and we will face a growing public health problem of elderly drivers with memory loss," says study author Jeffrey Dawson, ScD, with the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Newly published research out of Wake Forest University School of Medicine finds that a popular class of anti-inflammatory inhalers significantly increases the risk of pneumonia in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

The study appears in this month's issue of Archives of Internal Medicine and focuses on the incidence of pneumonia in patients with COPD who were exposed to inhaled corticosteroid drugs, either alone or in combination with other drugs.

CHAPEL HILL – The proportion of people suffering from long term, impairing low back pain has more than doubled in North Carolina since the early 1990s, according to a new study.

What's more, researchers believe the increase may be indicative of a similar trend across the country.

Awareness, treatment and control of high blood pressure have increased significantly in England, according to a nationally representative health survey reported in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Researchers evaluated blood pressure management in 2006 compared to 2003, focusing on heart disease and its prevention. The key findings showed that among those treated, 53 percent of women and 52 percent of men achieved control of high blood pressure in 2006 compared to 44 percent of women and 48 percent of men in 2003.

SEATTLE – The largest study of its kind concludes that long-term multivitamin use has no impact on the risk of common cancers, cardiovascular disease or overall mortality in postmenopausal women. The results of the Women's Health Initiative study, led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, were published in the Feb. 9 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.