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Queen's researchers have found that the main source of food for many fish - including cod - in the North Atlantic appears to adapt in order to survive climate change.

Billions of Calanus finmarchicus, a plankton species, which are just a few millimetres in size, live in the waters of the North Atlantic where the research was carried out.

The burden of trachoma in Ayod county, one of the most severe ever documented, is a threat to public health in Southern Sudan, according to a recent survey conducted in Jonglei state. These results, published September 24th in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, were uncovered by experts at The Carter Center and University of Cambridge, and health officials from the government of Southern Sudan. The research determines the extent of the problem and resources needed to eliminate blinding trachoma from the county.

A dietary supplement containing isoflavone – a chemical found in soybeans, chickpeas, legumes and clovers – can improve artery function in stroke patients according to new research published online in Europe's leading cardiology journal, the European Heart Journal [1] today (Wednesday 24 September).

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 23 – Resveratrol, the natural antioxidant commonly found in red wine and many plants, may offer protection against radiation exposure, according to a study by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. When altered with acetyl, resveratrol administered before radiation exposure proved to protect cells from radiation in mouse models. The results of the research will be presented during the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's (ASTRO) 50th Annual Meeting in Boston.

Researchers have developed and validated a model that predicts relapse in women with stage 2 or 3 breast cancer who have been treated with endocrine therapy prior to surgical removal of the tumor, according to a study published online September 23 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The preoperative endocrine prognostic index (PEPI) may help identify women who can safely avoid chemotherapy and those women at high risk of relapse who should be considered for aggressive therapy.

The use of hormone therapy was associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women who carry BRCA mutations, according to a case-control study published online September 23 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – New research out of Wake Forest University School of Medicine shows that use of the most commonly prescribed once-a-day treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for longer than one month increases the risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack or stroke by more than 50 percent.

An analysis of emergency medical services–treated cardiac arrest outcomes in 10 areas in North America finds a five-fold difference in survival rates, according to a study in the September 24 issue of JAMA.

Researchers have validated criteria that are used to identify patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest who have little or no chance of survival after resuscitation, according to a study in the September 24 issue of JAMA.

The use of inhaled anticholinergic agents (medications that help reduce bronchospasm) by patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with a significantly increased risk of heart attack, stroke of cardiovascular death, according to a meta-analysis of randomized trials published in the September 24 issue of JAMA.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — When someone's heart suddenly stops beating – a condition called cardiac arrest -- there's a lot that bystanders and ambulance crews can do to get it started again. But if the victim doesn't respond, when should such efforts stop?

And when should emergency crews rapidly transport a patient to a hospital with lights and sirens on, potentially endangering the lives of paramedics and other motorists and pedestrians — even though the care provided by the emergency crew is the same as what can be provided in the emergency department?

When cardiac arrest patients cannot successfully be resuscitated by emergency medical services in the field, lifesaving attempts to race them to a nearby hospital via ambulance often prove to be futile. In additions, the effort potentially increases danger to other drivers, pedestrians and the EMS professionals themselves, according to findings reported in the Sept. 24, 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

A new predictive measurement, called a PEPI score, could bring good news to many women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer — a low PEPI (preoperative endocrine prognostic index) score could show that they have little risk of relapse and can safely avoid chemotherapy after surgery.

For others, a high PEPI score could warn that the risk of relapse after breast surgery is large and indicates that careful follow-up and aggressive therapy may be needed, say researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and collaborating institutions in Europe.

HOUSTON - Counting the copies of a specific gene in cells gathered from a urine sample may provide a simple, noninvasive way to detect bladder cancer, a team led by researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

When the telltale gene, Aurora kinase A, is numerous and overexpressed in urothelial cells, errors during cell division follow, the team also found. The new cells have too few or too many chromosomes, instead of the normal pairs of 23 chromosomes.

Madison, Wisc. - September 23, 2008 – A new study finds that environmental restoration research using large experimental tests has been limited. The study, published in Restoration Ecology, maintains that for restoration to progress as a science and a practice, more research should be done on whole ecosystems with large experiments.