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The fact that taller people also tend to be slightly smarter is due in roughly equal parts to two phenomena—the same genes affect both traits and taller people are more likely than average to mate with smarter people and vice versa—according to a study led by the University of Colorado Boulder.

The study did not find that environmental factors contributed to the connection between being taller and being smarter, both traits that people tend to find attractive.

Sound waves are filtered through the outer ear to the cochlea, where hair cells convert the sound into the electric impulses that travel through the auditory nerve to the brain. Cochlear hair cells are extremely sensitive to stress and loss of these cells is a common cause of deafness. The formation of tight junctions between cells allows epithelia to form barriers to prevent fluid and other molecules from moving freely throughout the body.

Patients that receive kidney transplants have an increased risk of an invasive form of skin cancer. It is unclear if donor tissue contributes to cancer formation. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Philippe Ratajczak and colleagues at INSERM demonstrate that donor tissue can lead to caner formation in transplant recipients. They examined tumor cells and transplant tissues from a small sample of kidney transplant patients that had subsequently developed skin squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).

Many cancer therapies function by activating proteins like Caspase-3 (CASP3) that promote cell death. Several forms of cancer develop resistance to these drugs by down regulating CASP3 through an unknown mechanism. In the absence of CASP3, tumor cells produce another cell death promoting protein CASP7, but it is rendered inactive by the X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP). In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Po-Huang Liang and colleagues at Academia Sinica identify a compound (I-Lys) that disrupts the interaction between CASP7 and XIAP.

HIV-1 protease inhibitors are very effective antiviral drugs. These drugs target HIV-1 proteases, which are required for viral replication. Despite the success of protease inhibitors for suppressing HIV-1, some patients do not respond to protease inhibitor therapy. For most patients, the lack of response is not due to mutation of the HIV-1 protease. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Robert Silcano and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University identify the effects of protease inhibitors on different stages of viral replication.

A severe hereditary bleeding disorder was described in a large family from east Texas in 2001. The affected family members routinely had bruising, nosebleeds, massive blood loss following injury or surgery, and often required blood transfusions. Routine tests for functional components of the blood coagulation pathway did not reveal any obvious defects. Genomic sequencing revealed a mutation in the gene encoding coagulation factor 5 (FV), but it was not considered to contribute to disease, since clotting assays were normal.

CINCINNATI – New research in the Journal of Clinical Investigation provides evidence that gene-environment interactions are a major contributor to preterm birth and that using a combinatory treatment strategy can prevent preterm delivery in a mouse model.

CINCINNATI – New research in the Journal of Clinical Investigation suggests that blocking a protein normally credited with suppressing leukemia may be a promising therapeutic strategy for an aggressive form of the disease called acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Researchers from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center report their results in a study posted online Aug. 27 by the journal.

CINCINNATI – Researchers identify an underlying molecular process that causes a genetic form of non-syndromic deafness in a new study that also suggests affected families may be at risk of damage to other organs.

BOWLING GREEN, O. -- Interval training is a well-known way to get the maximum benefits of exercise in the shortest amount of time. New research shows that when it comes to running, women may get more out of high intensity interval training (HIIT) than their male counterparts.

Washington, DC—Researchers from Children's National Medical Center have found that an alternate, "escape" replication process triggered by apoptosis—the process of cell death or "cell suicide"—appears to be common in human herpesviruses (HHV). The findings have implications for better understanding of viruses and of disease conditions and treatments, like chemotherapy, that stimulate apoptosis. The study was published online, ahead of print, in the Journal of Virology.

Hamilton, ON (August 27, 2013) – Although up to 500,000 people world-wide die of severe influenza each year, there has been no clear evidence about who is susceptible for influenza complications and it may not be who people think, says a study from McMaster University.

This is important because issues during past influenza seasons and pandemics have included vaccine shortage; the time needed to develop vaccines for specific influenza strains and which groups are first in line for vaccination.

August 27, 2013, Shenzhen, China - A consortium of researchers from The University of Queensland, the Queensland Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF Qld) and BGI has discovered that sorghum, a drought-tolerant African crop, holds vastly more genetic variation than previously reported. This study published in Nature Communications today provides an invaluable resource for the genetic improvement of sorghum and other grass species.

European hunter-gatherers acquired domesticated pigs from nearby farmers as early as 4600BC, according to new evidence.

The international team of scientists, including researchers at Durham and Aberdeen universities, showed there was interaction between the hunter-gatherer and farming communities and a 'sharing' of animals and knowledge. The interaction between the two groups eventually led to the hunter-gatherers incorporating farming and breeding of livestock into their culture, say the scientists.

PITTSBURGH, Aug, 27, 2013 – Even with access to health care, African-American women are less likely to receive the vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV), which reduces the risk for cervical cancer, according to a study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The findings, published today in the Journal of Adolescent Health, suggest a need for health care providers to both bolster HPV vaccination recommendations and address negative attitudes toward the vaccine among this vulnerable patient population.