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A new study has shown that an investigational drug (R207910, currently in clinical trials against multi-drug resistant tuberculosis strains) is quite effective at killing latent bacteria. This revelation suggests that R207910 may lead to improved and shortened treatments for this globally prevalent disease.

Researchers have uncovered a gene in corals that responds to day/night cycles, which provides some tantalizing clues into how symbiotic corals work together with their plankton partners.

Researchers have developed a clever method to purify parasitic organisms from their host cells, which will allow for more detailed proteomic studies and a deeper insight into the biology of organisms that cause millions of cases of disease each year.

DALLAS – Sept. 12, 2008 – Dialysis patients diagnosed with depression are nearly twice as likely to be hospitalized or die within a year than those who are not depressed, a UT Southwestern Medical Center researcher has found.

In the study, available online and in the Sept. 15 issue of Kidney International, researchers monitored 98 dialysis patients for up to 14 months. More than a quarter of dialysis patients received a psychiatric diagnosis of some form of depression based on a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th edition (DSM IV).

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TRANSPORTATION -- New data available . . .

Rheumatoid arthritis is often a more painful experience for women than it is for men, even though the visible symptoms are the same. Scientists are now saying that doctors should take more account of these subjective differences when assessing the need for medication. This and other findings are being presented at a congress currently in progress on gender medicine arranged by Karolinska Institutet.

ALEXANDRIA, VA, Sept 11, 2008 — A new study questioning the usefulness of arthroscopic surgery for osteoarthritis of the knee should encourage patients to consider physical therapy as an effective non-surgical option, according to the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). The study was published in the September 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

New theory work at the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility has shown that more than half of the spin of the proton is the result of the movement of its building blocks: quarks. The result, published in the Sept. 5 issue of Physical Review Letters, agrees with recent experiments and supercomputer calculations.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, September 12, 2008 - The chairman of EUS2008 today announced that investigational research on a therapeutic technique that will allow physicians to directly inject malignant tumors with cancer fighting agents from inside the body will be presented at the 16th International Symposium of Endoscopic Ultrasonography (EUS2008) in San Francisco on September 12-13.

For the first time, researchers have demonstrated a close correlation between the decline in a key component of the lung's antioxidant defense system and the progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in humans. COPD is a degenerative condition that decreases the flow of air through the lungs as the lung's air sacs are damaged.

You know it's good for you in other ways, but could eating your broccoli also help patients with chronic lung disease? It just might.

According to recent research from Johns Hopkins Medical School, a decrease in lung concentrations of NRF2-dependent antioxidants, key components of the lung's defense system against inflammatory injury, is linked to the severity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in smokers. Broccoli is known to contain a compound that prevents the degradation of NFRP.

For sufferers of sleep apnea, erectile dysfunction (ED) is often part of the package. New research indicates that ED in cases of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) may be linked to the chronic intermittent hypoxia—oxygen deprivation— (CIH) that patients with OSAS experience during episodes of obstructed breathing.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. –Even as many of us yearn to wear the sheer, body-hugging fashions available today, we are stopped by our rear reflection and the sight of dreaded back fat rolls and lumps. A study published in the October issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), reveals a new back lift procedure that removes these unsightly bumps and bulges while hiding the scar under the bra line.