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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Scientists here have determined that combining bed bugs' own chemical signals with a common insect control agent makes that treatment more effective at killing the bugs.

The researchers found that stirring up the bed bugs by spraying their environment with synthetic versions of their alarm pheromones makes them more likely to walk through agents called desiccant dusts, which kill the bugs by making them highly susceptible to dehydration.

A blend of two pheromones applied in concert with a silica gel desiccant dust proved to be the most lethal combination.

NEW YORK (May 29, 2009) -- Three patients at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center were among the first in the United States to be implanted with a next-generation artificial heart pump called the DuraHeart™ Left-Ventricular Assist System. The surgeries took place earlier this year. NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia is one of only three centers in the U.S. currently enrolling patients in a clinical trial studying the device.

People with lower back pain are better off exercising more, not less.

A University of Alberta study of 240 men and women with chronic lower-back pain showed that those who exercised four days a week had a better quality of life, 28 per cent less pain and 36 per cent less disability, while those who hit the gym only two or three days a week did not show the same level of change.

By inserting a molecular shunt into the livers of mice, researchers have shown they can make the animals burn more fat. That so-called glycoxylate shunt consists of two metabolic enzymes normally found in bacteria and plants, but not in mammals, according to the report in the June issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication.

"It's an additional channel for burning fat to control obesity," said James Liao of the University of California, Los Angeles.

What's the secret to surviving during times of environmental change? Evolve…quickly.

A new article in The American Naturalist finds that guppy populations introduced into new habitats developed new and advantageous traits in just a few years. This is one of only a few studies to look at adaptation and survival in a wild population.

Ancestors of tapirs and ancient cousins of rhinos living above the Arctic Circle 53 million years ago endured six months of darkness each year in a far milder climate than today that featured lush, swampy forests, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder.

CHICAGO – (June 1, 2009) – Cardiovascular disease (CVD), the leading killer in the United States, is a major public health issue contributing to 2,400 deaths each day. Periodontal disease, a chronic inflammatory disease that destroys the bone and tissues that support the teeth affects nearly 75 percent of Americans and is the major cause of adult tooth loss. While the prevalence rates of these disease states seem grim, research suggests that managing one disease may reduce the risk for the other.

External beam partial breast irradiation (EB-PBI) is the most cost-effective method for treating postmenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer based on utilities, recurrence risks and costs when compared to whole breast radiotherapy (WBRT) and brachytherapy partial breast irradiation (brachy-PBI), according to a study in the June 1 issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

Researchers at Penn State College of Medicine, working with biochemists, geneticists and clinicians at the University of Bern, Switzerland and in the United Kingdom, have discovered an enzyme that has a key role in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

CHICAGO, IL (June 2, 2009) – Researchers unveiled data during Digestive Disease Week® (DDW®) 2009 examining the potential risks associated with two commonly-used treatments, particularly among the elderly: acid suppressors and antithrombotics. DDW is the largest international gathering of physicians and researchers in the field of gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy and gastrointestinal surgery.

Infants born extremely preterm are surviving at a high rate, with about 70 percent of infants born alive between 22 and 26 weeks of gestation in Sweden surviving at least one year, with high rates of interventions being used to improve survival, according to a study in the June 3 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on child and adolescent health.

Karel Maršál, M.D., Ph.D., of Lund University Hospital, Lund, Sweden, presented the findings of the study at a JAMA media briefing in New York.

CHICAGO, IL (June 2, 2009) – Researchers are making great strides in the development of new treatments for hepatitis and in confirming the effectiveness of current treatments, according to several studies being presented at Digestive Disease Week® 2009 (DDW®).

A collaboration research carried out by the teams of Jordi Surrallés, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB); Juan Carlos Izpisúa-Belmonte and Ángel Raya, Centre for Regenerative Medicine of Barcelona (CMRB); and Juan Antonio Bueren, Centre for Energetic, Environmental and Technological Research (CIEMAT), has resulted in the generation of blood cells from skin cells of patients with a genetic disease known as Fanconi anemia.

Low antioxidant intake is associated with low reproductive capacity in semen. This is the finding of a new study carried out in two infertility centres in Alicante and Murcia, and which has been published online in the journal Fertility and Sterility.

Researchers from the Institut Català de Paleontologia (ICP), from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, directed by professor Salvador Moyà-Solà, publish this week in the prestigious scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA (PNAS) the results of their research regarding the find of a new genus of hominoid primate at els Hostalets de Pierola, l'Anoia. This fossil remains displays very interesting particularities, such as an extraordinarily flat face, and further combines primitive with derived traits, characteristic of great apes.