Body

Breast cancer can be divided into 4 major subtypes using molecular and genetic information from the tumors. Each subtype is associated with different prognosis and should be taken into consideration when making treatment decisions.

ANN ARBOR—When the tiny roundworm C. elegans reaches middle age—at about 2 weeks old—it can't quite move like it did in the bloom of youth. But rather than imposing an exercise regimen to rebuild the worm's body-wall muscles, researchers can bring the wriggle back by stimulating the animal's neurons. And, they say, pharmaceuticals might have a similar effect in mammals.

Several millions of people around the world suffer from insulin deficiencies. Insulin is a hormone, secreted by the beta cells in the pancreas, which plays a major role in the regulation of energy substrates such as glucose. This insufficiency, primarily caused by diabetes (types 1 and 2), has lethal consequences if it is not treated. As of now, only daily insulin injections allow patients to survive.

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- MIT researchers have shown that they can turn genes on or off inside yeast and human cells by controlling when DNA is copied into messenger RNA — an advance that could allow scientists to better understand the function of those genes.

WASHINGTON, DC -- Medicaid paid for nearly half of the 3.8 million births in the United States in 2010 -- an amount that has been rising over time, according to a report out today. The study, published in the September 2013 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Women's Health Issues, offers the most comprehensive information to date on Medicaid financing of births in each of the 50 states and nationally.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Social networking sites have become incredibly popular in recent years, with Facebook now ranking as the third most popular website in the U.S. With so many people spending so much time on Facebook, public relations professionals are using the site more and more to communicate to the public. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri School of Journalism have found that posting public relations information on Facebook during a time of crisis can improve the overall image of the organization that is experiencing the crisis.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Like naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus gaber), blind mole-rats (of the genus Spalax) live underground in low-oxygen environments, are long-lived and resistant to cancer. A new study demonstrates just how cancer-resistant Spalax are, and suggests that the adaptations that help these rodents survive in low-oxygen environments also play a role in their longevity and cancer resistance.

The findings are reported in the journal Biomed Central: Biology.

Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013, Cleveland: Patients with clogged and hardened arteries who already have their blood pressure under control may benefit from an additional blood pressure-lowering medication, according to research from the Cleveland Clinic Coordinating Center for Clinical Research (C5Research).

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- For most animals, scent is the instant messenger of choice for quickly exchanging personal profiles. Scientists, however, have long dismissed birds as odor-eschewing luddites that don't take advantage of scent-based communications.

In a first-of-its-kind study, however, a Michigan State University researcher has demonstrated that birds do indeed communicate via scents, and that odor reliably predicts their reproductive success. The study appears in the current issue of Animal Behaviour and focuses on volatile compounds in avian preen secretions.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Ground-breaking new research from a team of evolutionary biologists at Indiana University shows for the first time how asexual lineages of a species are doomed not necessarily from a long, slow accumulation of new mutations, but rather from fast-paced gene conversion processes that simply unmask pre-existing deleterious recessive mutations.

An international team of scientists, including biologists from, the University of York, has discovered five new species of bats in West Africa.

The team, which also included researchers from the Czech University of Life Sciences and the Academy of Sciences, Charles University in the Czech Republic, discovered a wealth of unexpected diversity among Vesper bats in Senegal.

Washington, DC, September 3, 2013 – 100 percent of student nurses surveyed observed lapses in infection prevention and control practices during their clinical placements, according to a British study published in the September issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

Philadelphia, Pa. (September 1, 2013) - For older adults undergoing surgery for spinal stenosis, some simple indicators of poor preoperative health predict a high risk of major medical complications, reports a study in the September 1 issue of Spine. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

Monday, Sept. 3, 2013, Cleveland: Patients with coronary artery disease and low levels of "good cholesterol – or high-density lipoprotein (HDL) – who were treated with a drug designed to increase HDL levels and reduce coronary plaque build-up, experienced no better results than those treated with placebo, according to research conducted by the Cleveland Clinic Coordinating Center for Clinical Research (C5Research).

Removing one of the tiniest organs in the body has shown to provide effective treatment for high blood pressure. The discovery, made by University of Bristol researchers and published in Nature Communications, could revolutionise treatment of the world's biggest silent killer.

The carotid body — a small nodule (no larger than a rice grain) found on the side of each carotid artery — appears to be a major culprit in the development and regulation of high blood pressure.