Body

CAMBRIDGE, Mass-- Their effect on the surface of the ocean is negligible, producing a rise of just inches that is virtually imperceptible on a turbulent sea. But internal waves, which are hidden entirely within the ocean, can tower hundreds of feet, with profound effects on the Earth's climate and on ocean ecosystems.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Seniors want greater access to home- and community-based long-term care services. Medicaid policymakers have been happy to oblige with new programs to help people move out of expensive nursing homes and into cheaper community or home care. It seems like a "win-win" to fulfill seniors' wishes while also saving Medicaid programs money, but a new study of such transitions in seven states finds that the practice resulted in a 40 percent greater risk of "potentially preventable" hospitalizations among seniors dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare.

A new method for analysing biological samples based on their chemical makeup is set to transform the way medical scientists examine diseased tissue.When tests are carried out on a patient's tissue today, such as to look for cancer, the test has to be interpreted by a histology specialist, and can take weeks to obtain a full result.

Researchers have developed a new way to study bone disorders and bone growth, using stem cells from patients afflicted with a rare, genetic bone disease. The approach, based on Nobel-Prize winning techniques, could illuminate the illness, in which muscles and tendons progressively turn into bone, and addresses the similar destructive process that afflicts a growing number of veterans who have suffered blast injuries — including traumatic amputations or injuries to the brain and nervous system.

LOS ANGELES (Jan. 8, 2014) – While daily antibiotic use is the most effective method for preventing recurrent urinary tract infections in women, daily cranberry pills, daily estrogen therapy and monthly acupuncture treatments also have benefits that may be preferable for some patients, according to a new study by researchers at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed).

Researchers at the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University have discovered a more effective drug delivery system using nanotechnology that could one day significantly affect cancer prevention.

The study, published today in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, involved the use of microscopic amounts of the naturally occurring antioxidant, luteolin, that were encapsulated in a water-soluble polymer. When injected into mice the nano-luteolin inhibited growth of lung cancer and head and neck cancer cells.

Hard wired into the survival mechanisms of all animals is the perception of pain. Different stimuli, such as heat or cold, foul odors, chemicals or a blunt blow can trigger pain receptors in the body that, in the blink of an eye, jolt the body into classic fight or flight responses.

Researchers in Sweden have found an association between a person's fitness as a teenager and their risk of heart attack in later life. In a study of nearly 750,000 men, they found that the more aerobically fit men were in late adolescence, the less likely they were to have a heart attack 30 or 40 years later.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new study compares the relative rate of molecular evolution between humans and chimps with that of their lice. The researchers wanted to know whether evolution marches on at a steady pace in all creatures or if subtle changes in genes – substitutions of individual letters of the genetic code – occur more rapidly in some groups than in others.

A report of the study appears in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researchers have discovered a promising strategy for treating cancers that are caused by one of the most common cancer-causing changes in cells.

The discovery offers hope for treating many types of cancer that are driven to grow and spread through the actions of a cancer-causing protein called MYC.

Up to 70 per cent of human cancers, including many leukaemias and lymphomas, have unusually high levels of MYC, which causes cancerous changes in cells by forcing them into abnormally rapid growth.

A special issue on sepsis has been released by the publisher Landes Bioscience (Austin, TX USA). The articles contained in this special issue of the journal Virulence have been authored by world-class investigators and provide new insights into both the pathogen-related factors and the host defense mechanisms that lead to septic shock and contribute to its resolution or fatal outcome.

Philadelphia, PA, January 7, 2014 – The development of new, more effective vasodilators to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) has been hampered because of their systemic toxicity and adverse side effects. An international team of investigators seeking to surmount these problems and increase drug efficacy have determined that a vascular homing peptide can selectively target hypertensive pulmonary arteries to boost the pulmonary but not systemic effects of vasodilators. Importantly for potential clinical use, this peptide retains its activity when given sublingually.

A Yale study estimates that 8 million lives have been saved in the United States as a result of anti-smoking measures that began 50 years ago this month with the groundbreaking report from the Surgeon General outlining the deadly consequences of tobacco use. The Yale School of Public Health-led analysis is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

WASHINGTON — The Surgeon General's report of 1964 which outlined, for the first time, the effects of smoking on health, along with the tobacco control efforts that followed, are responsible for adding nearly 20 years of life to eight million people, according to a study in the Jan. 8 issue of JAMA.

SEATTLE — Globally, smoking prevalence — the percentage of the population that smokes every day — has decreased, but the number of cigarette smokers worldwide has increased due to population growth, according to new research from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.

The study, “Smoking Prevalence and Cigarette Consumption in 187 countries, 1980-2012,” was published January 8 in the Journal of the American Medical Association in a special issue devoted to tobacco.