Body

NARRAGANSETT, R.I. – June 22, 2009 – An international oceanographic research expedition to the middle of the South Pacific Gyre – a site that is as far from continents as it is possible to go on Earth's surface – found so few organisms beneath the seafloor that it may be the least inhabited sediment ever explored for evidence of life.

Yet since half of the world's ocean is composed of similar gyres, biomass and metabolic activity may be equally low in sediment throughout much of the world.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Scientists are focusing on a new concept in fighting airborne pathogens by manipulating what is called the "switching time," the point at which a highly regulated immune response gives way to powerful cells that specialize in fighting a specific invading bug.

"By putting mutant genes from human patients into fruit flies, we've created the first ever fly model for this kind of neuromuscular disease," says Albena Jordanova. "Now we have the opportunity to unravel the molecular mechanism behind Charcot-Marie-Tooth, as well as to start looking for substances with therapeutic value."

The breakthrough is the result of collaboration between VIB researchers working at the University of Antwerp and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, and appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Some of the substances that are helping to avert the destruction of theozone layer could increasingly contribute to climate warming, accordingto scientists from NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory and theircolleagues in a new study published today in the journal Proceedings ofthe National Academy of Sciences.

Nickel, an important trace nutrient for the single cell organisms that produce methane, may be a useful isotopic marker to pinpoint the past origins of these methanogenic microbes, according to Penn State and University of Bristol, UK, researchers.

Patients admitted to hospital with coronary artery disease are twice as likely to quit smoking after receiving intensive smoking cessation support compared to minimal support, found a new study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) http://www.cmaj.ca/press/pg1297.pdf.

Rates of death and hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease declined 30% over a 10-year period in Canada, according to a new study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) http://www.cmaj.ca/press/pgE118.pdf, pointing to successful efforts to prevent heart disease, the leading cause of death globally. However, for the first time, more women than men are dying of cardiovascular causes.

Yet a detailed picture of how tissue mechanics link to morphogenetic phenomena has been hindered by a lack of model systems in which both mechanics and remodeling can be simultaneously examined.

The Penn study highlights a complex and dynamic relationship between cellular forces, visualizes the remodeling of a matrix by living cells and demonstrates a system to study and apply this relationship within engineered 3-D microtissue.

Loss of muscle strength, speed and dexterity is a common consequence of aging, and a well-established risk factor for death, disability and dementia. Yet little is known about how and why motor decline occurs when it is not a symptom of disease.

Now, researchers at Rush University Medical Center have found that, among the elderly, less frequent participation in social activities is associated with a more rapid decline in motor function. The study is published in the June 22 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Primary care clinicians and their staff appear to fail to inform some patients, or to fail to document informing patients, about abnormal results on outpatient medical tests, according to a report in the June 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Among older adults, less frequent participation in social activity is associated with a more rapid rate of motor function decline, according to a report in the June 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Total knee replacement (arthroplasty) appears to be a cost-effective procedure for older adults with advanced osteoarthritis, according to a report in the June 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The procedure appears to be cost-effective across all patient risk groups, and appeared more costly and less effective in low-volume centers than in high-volume centers.

Increasingly severe sleep-related breathing disorders in older men appear to be associated with a greater risk of abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias), according to a report in the June 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. In addition, different types of breathing problems appear more closely associated with different categories of arrhythmia.

Blood flow and respiratory rates can synch with music, indicating that music could one day be a therapeutic tool for blood pressure control and rehabilitation, according to a study by Italian researchers published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Coronary artery bypass surgery provides long-term benefits for children whose hearts and blood vessels are damaged by Kawasaki disease, Japanese researchers report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Researchers followed 114 people for up to 25 years who had bypass surgery as children or adolescents (ages 1 to 19) to treat Kawasaki disease. The observational study found: