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Acute chest syndrome (ACS) is a complication of sickle cell disease that is characterized by sudden pain and difficulty breathing. Sickle cell disease can also cause red blood cells to suddenly breakdown and release their contents, which may trigger the onset of ACS. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Solomon Fiifi Ofori-Acquah and colleagues at Emory University asked if hemin, a product released by red blood cells during lysis, triggers ACS in a mouse model of sickle cell disease.

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition that is characterized by resistance to or insufficient production of insulin, a hormone that controls sugar movement into cells. In certain tissues, insulin resistance has been associated with dysfunction of mitochondria, which supply most of the cell's chemical energy. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, C. Ronald Kahn and colleagues at Harvard Medical School evaluated mitochondrial involvement in insulin resistance.

As food security becomes an increasingly important global issue, scientists are looking for the best way to maintain the organic matter in soils using different methods of fertilization and crop rotation.

Northern Canada's permafrost and semi-permafrost environment is a huge challenge for designing and engineering underground pipelines, and a critical aspect of protecting both the pipeline and this sensitive environment involves the design of an effective corrosion protection system.

One of the most common methods to protect buried infrastructure—such as oil and gas transmission pipelines —from corrosion is the application of an external coating.

Use of existing, well-established hypertension drugs could improve the outcome of cancer chemotherapy by opening up collapsed blood vessels in solid tumors. In their report in the online journal Nature Communications, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators describe how the angiotensin inhibitor losartan improved the delivery of chemotherapy drugs and oxygen throughout tumors by increasing blood flow in mouse models of breast and pancreatic cancer. A clinical trial based on the findings of this study is now underway.

Philadelphia, Pa. (October 1, 2013) – A new study released today shows that among patients undergoing surgery for chronic wounds related to diabetes, the risk of wound-related complications is affected by how well the patient's blood sugar levels are controlled before surgery.

Controversy about the risks of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines has been rumbling in the United States for years -- and now it's Israel's turn. After finding traces of the polio virus in sewage, Israel's Ministry of Health launched a national vaccination campaign that reached more than half a million children. Surprisingly, dissenting voices flooded social media and the mainstream news, calling for a halt to the campaign. Endorsements by public figures, like Israel's president Shimon Peres, did little to calm the storm.

As they destroy bacteria very efficiently, plasmas constitute an alternative to chemical disinfectants and potentially to antibiotics, as well. How they achieve this effect has been investigated by biologists, plasma physicists and chemists at the Ruhr-Universität (RUB). Cold atmospheric-pressure plasmas attack the prokaryote's cell envelope, proteins and DNA. "This is too great a challenge for the repair mechanisms and the stress response systems of bacteria," says Junior Professor Dr Julia Bandow, Head of the Junior Research Group Microbial Antibiotic Research at the RUB.

Philadelphia, Pa. (October 1, 2013) – Body contouring surgery to remove excess skin improves long-term weight control in patients after gastric bypass surgery, reports a study in the October issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

All of the absences from work for depression, certified by doctors, were recorded as well as many questionnaires measuring depressive moods. The results, which will be published in The American Journal of Epidemiology, do not indicate any significant association between a person experiencing the symptoms of depression during their lifetime and their subsequently contracting cancer.

A new American Chemical Society (ACS) video focuses on the world's most sensitive explosive detector to date. Known as FIDO, the handheld detector has been used to detect roadside bombs in Iraq, as well as in homeland security operations and airport security. The video, the latest episode in ACS' Prized Science series, is available at http://www.acs.org/PrizedScience and on DVD.

For most women, childbirth is an intense experience, culminating in the joy of delivering a newborn, swaddled and sweet, resting in the mother's arms within hours. Yet for those who deliver their babies prematurely, the experience is bereft of such bonding, laden with anxiety, confusion, and doubt.

"Having a prematurely born baby is like a nightmare for the mother," explains Lisa Segre, assistant professor in the University of Iowa College of Nursing. "You're expecting to have a healthy baby, and suddenly you're left wondering whether he or she is going to live."

Washington, DC, October 1, 2013 – Administration of antibiotics may have caused successive outbreaks of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) in a Greek neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), according to a study in the October issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

A study conducted at the University of Strathclyde investigating the presence of Legionella in compost, has found that the bacteria exist in a significant number of commercial products.

The research, the first substantial analysis of Legionella in UK composts, suggests that the bacteria are a common part of the microflora found within the composts tested.

It is widely recognised that Legionella bacteria are commonly present in the environment and the researchers have found that compost could be a potential source of infection.

Arnhem, 30 September 2013- A balance between the activation of the inflammatory macrophages and suppression of the anti-inflammatory macrophages in the kidney may play a pivotal role in kidney stone formation. These macrophage-derived mediators may have potential as biomarkers to reflect the urinary stone risk, according to a new study from Japan, which was recently presented at the recent 2nd Meeting of the EAU Section of Urolithiasis and received Clinical Research Award.