Body

New Rochelle, NY, June 25, 2009—Excess medical expenses and reduced productivity due to diabetes costs the U.S. economy more than $174 billion annually, a figure that could be reduced by lifestyle modifications and preventive care and by pay-for-performance incentives that reward improved disease management, as supported by three articles in the recent issue of Population Health Management, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (www.liebertpub.com).

Frequent binge drinking may dramatically increase the risk of hemorrhagic stroke, according to a South Korean study published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

In this study, binge drinkers were men who drank six or more glasses (60 grams or 2.1 ounces) and women who drank four or more glasses (40 grams) of alcohol on one occasion at least once a week. Most of the alcohol was soju, a native Korean distilled liquor similar to vodka. It is 25 percent alcohol by volume. Vodka in the United States is about 35 percent to 50 percent alcohol by volume.

Even when patients recover most functional ability in the first months after a blood-clot related stroke, they gradually become more dependent over the next five years – especially those with Medicaid or no private insurance – according to a large study reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

DURHAM, N.C. – How did piranhas — the legendary freshwater fish with the razor bite — get their telltale teeth? Researchers from Argentina, the United States and Venezuela have uncovered the jawbone of a striking transitional fossil that sheds light on this question. Named Megapiranha paranensis, this previously unknown fossil fish bridges the evolutionary gap between flesh-eating piranhas and their plant-eating cousins.

WASHINGTON, DC—Research published today in Science Express from the journal Science demonstrates the first definitive link between mutations in the gene DICER1 and cancer. By studying the patterns of DNA from 11 families with an unusual predisposition to the rare childhood lung cancer pleuropulmonary blastoma (PPB) investigators found that children with the cancer carried a mutation in one of their two DICER1 gene copies.

BOSTON--Higher selenium levels in the blood may worsen prostate cancer in some men who already have the disease, according to a study by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute the University of California, San Francisco.

For centuries it has been known for its violent combustion upon contact with air – but this week a Cambridge-led team of researchers reveals that it has tamed one of the most hazardous chemical substances.

Their work could also result in an array of hazardous chemicals being handled and transported more safely in future.

The substance in question is white phosphorous, a feedstock for the preparation of many useful chemicals such as weed killers, insecticides and fertiliser.

Contrary to predictions, males of high genetic quality are not very successful when it comes to fertilizing eggs. A new study on seed beetles by Swedish and Danish scientists Göran Arnqvist and Trine Bilde shows that when a female mates with several males, the males of low genetic quality are the most successful in fertilizing eggs. The study is published in this week's issue of Science.

New York, June 25, 2009 -- A protein called STAT3 has been found to play a fundamental role in converting normal cells to cancerous cells, according to a new study led by David E. Levy, Ph.D., professor of pathology and microbiology at NYU Langone Medical Center. The study, published in the June 26th issue of the journal Science, found that STAT3, in addition to its role in the cell nucleus regulating gene expression, is also present in mitochondria and regulates the activity of the electron transport chain in tumors cells.

In a landmark technical achievement, investigators in the Vanderbilt Center for Structural Biology have used nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods to determine the structure of the largest membrane-spanning protein to date.

Although NMR methods are routinely used to "take molecular pictures" of small proteins, large proteins – and particularly those that reside within the cell membrane – have been reluctant to smile for the camera.

North Carolina State University researchers have discovered a link between copper and the normal functioning of prion proteins, which are associated with transmissible spongiform encephalopathy diseases such as Cruetzfeldt-Jakob in humans or "mad cow" disease in cattle. Their work could have implications for patients suffering from these diseases, as well as from other prion-related diseases such as Alzheimers or Parkinson's.

As a woman gets older, physical problems are less likely to influence whether she is sexually active than her partner's health or interest in sex, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and Kaiser Permanente.

The study also showed significant differences in the frequency of sexual activity, as well as sexual desire and satisfaction, among racial groups of middle-aged and elderly women. Study results appear in the June 24, 2009 online version of the "Journal of the American Geriatrics Society."

It is now possible to engineer tiny containers the size of a virus to deliver drugs and other materials with almost 100 percent efficiency to targeted cells in the bloodstream.

According to a new Cornell study, the technique could one day be used to deliver vaccines, drugs or genetic material to treat cancer and blood and immunological disorders. The research is published today (June 25, 2009) online at the Web site of the journal Gene Therapy.

The American Thoracic Society and the European Respiratory Society have released official standards for clinical trials and practice with respect to the assessment of asthma. The statement appears in the July 1 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - There are hundreds of choices when picking a crabapple tree from the nursery, but a Purdue University expert says only a handful are resistant to a widespread fungus or other serious diseases.

After reviewing 33 years of data, Janna Beckerman, a Purdue assistant professor of botany and plant pathology, found that only five of 287 crabapple varieties had durable resistance to a serious disease of crabapple trees. The results of her study were published in the June issue of the journal HortScience.