Body

Low to moderate alcohol consumption among women is associated with a statistically significant increase in cancer risk and may account for nearly 13 percent of the cancers of the breast, liver, rectum, and upper aero-digestive tract combined, according to a report in the February 24 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

With the exception of breast cancer, little has been known about the impact of low to moderate alcohol consumption on cancer risk in women.

Europeans with the least education have a higher incidence of lung cancer compared with those with the highest education. However, smoking history accounts for approximately half of this risk, according to a study in the February 24 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Previous studies showed that individuals with a lower socioeconomic status have a higher risk for developing lung cancer. Some studies have also suggested that some of the excess risk of lung cancer is due to smoking.

Goserelin, a lutenizing hormone-releasing hormone agonist, reduces the long-term risk of disease recurrence and deaths in premenopausal women with early breast cancer who did not take tamoxifen, according to trial data reported in the February 24 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

An examination of clinical practice guidelines for treating cardiovascular disease finds that current recommendations are largely based on lower levels of evidence or expert opinion, according to a study in the February 25 issue of JAMA.

Clinical practice guidelines are developed to assist practitioners with decisions about appropriate health care for specific patients' circumstances, and are often assumed to be the standard of evidence-based medicine, according to background information in the article.

Approximately 80 percent of HIV-infected Texas prison inmates did not fill an initial prescription for antiretroviral therapy within 30 days of their release from prison, potentially increasing their risk for harmful health consequences because of an interruption of treatment, according to a study in the February 25 issue of JAMA.

GALVESTON, Texas – The vast majority of HIV-infected Texas prison inmates who receive antiretroviral therapy while incarcerated experience significant interruptions in HIV treatment after their release into the community. This disturbing finding is the result of a 4-year study of more than 2,000 inmates with HIV infection released from Texas Department of Criminal Justice prisons between January 2004 and December 2007. The study, led by University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston epidemiologist and associate professor Jacques Baillargeon, will appear in the Feb.

BOSTON, Mass. (Feb 23, 2009) — Postpartum depression is a serious—and often undiagnosed—condition affecting about 10 to 12 percent of new mothers. Some of the causes might include personal history of depression, stressful life events, and lack of social, financial or emotional support. Left untreated, it can have lasting negative effects not only on the mother but on her child's development.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Scientists have determined that a specific gene plays a role in the weight-gain response to a high-fat diet.

The finding in an animal study suggests that blocking this gene could one day be a therapeutic strategy to reduce diet-related obesity and associated disorders, such as diabetes and liver damage, in humans.

The researchers found that a diet rich in fat induced production of this gene, called protein kinase C beta (PKC beta), in the fat cells of mice. These mice rapidly gained weight while eating a high-fat diet for 12 weeks.

"Psychedelica" seems the perfect name for a species of fish that is a wild swirl of tan and peach zebra stripes and behaves in ways contrary to its brethren. So says University of Washington's Ted Pietsch, who is the first to describe the new species in the scientific literature and thus the one to select the name.

Psychedelica is perhaps even more apt given the cockamamie way the fish swim, some with so little control they look intoxicated and should be cited for DUI.

Blacksburg, Va. -- A single cell – whether a yeast cell or one of your cells – is exquisitely sensitive to its surroundings. It receives input signals, processes the information, makes decisions, and issues commands for making the proper response. As with any control system, noise – errors, slip-ups, mis-reads – can get in the way of correct decision making. Virginia Tech biologists and engineers have created a mathematical model to explore the roles of noise in controlling the basic events of the cell cycle – DNA replication and cell division.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Plant stem-cells are master cells located at the tip of the stem and are part of a structure called the shoot apical meristem (SAM). Here, the stem cells—all clumped together—divide throughout the life of the plant to give rise to other cells, resulting in the formation of above-ground organs such as leaves, flowers, branches and stem.

But despite the important role the stem cells play in plant development, their molecular composition has eluded researchers for long.

McGill University chemistry professor Chao-Jun (C.J.) Li is known as one of the world leading pioneers in green chemistry, an entirely new approach to the science which eschews the use of toxic, petrochemical-based solvents in favour of basic substances like water and new ways of making molecules.

PHILADELPHIA – PSA levels appear to be more predictive of three year prostate cancer risk in African-American men compared with Caucasian men with a family history of prostate cancer, according to a paper published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Nearly half a million elders living alone in California cannot make ends meet, lacking sufficient income to pay for a minimum level of housing, food, health care, transportation and other basic expenses, according to a new policy brief by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the Insight Center for Community Economic Development.

Los Angeles, Calif. – February 24, 2009 – In a new study, researchers were able to generate functionally mature motor neurons from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which are engineered from adult somatic cells and can differentiate into most other cell types. A potential new source of motor neurons that does not require human eggs or embryos could be an enormous boon to research into conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and spinal cord injury and could open the door to eventual treatments. The study is published in Stem Cells.