Body

WASHINGTON — A molecule that helps cells stick together is significantly over-produced in two very different diseases — rheumatoid arthritis and a variety of cancers, including breast and brain tumors, concludes a new study. The scientists who made the discovery also found candidate drugs to inhibit the molecule, cadherin-11, one of which is already in a clinical trial.

[EMBARGOED FOR NOV. 14, 2013, ARLINGTON, Va.] – The HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has updated its HIV care guidelines to reflect the fact that people with HIV are now living normal life spans, and their physicians need to focus on preventive care, including screening for high cholesterol, diabetes and osteoporosis.

Sophia Antipolis, 14 November 2013. The risk of cardiovascular complications in people with type 2 diabetes is directly related to the frequency and duration of physical exercise, according to results of a large follow-up study reported today on World Diabetes Day.(1) Notably, those with low levels of physical activity had a 70% greater risk of cardiovascular death than those with higher levels.

Are Northerners really more likely to get flu? Does regular exercise help you to recover faster? And what impact will the new childhood flu vaccinations have on the spread of the virus in schools? These are just some of the questions scientists from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine want to explore as they launch the annual nationwide Flusurvey, collecting data from men, women and children of all ages around the country.

To coincide with the launch, new findings released today from the 2012-13 Flusurvey reveal:

Women with asthma could take longer to conceive, according to new research.

The study, published online today (14 November 2013), in the European Respiratory Journal, adds new evidence to suggest that asthma has a negative effect on fertility.

Researchers from Bispebjerg University Hospital in Denmark analysed data from questionnaires completed by a cohort of over 15,000 twins living in Denmark aged up to 41 years.

The call handling service NHS 111 increased the use of ambulance and urgent and emergency care services during its first year of operation, shows a detailed evaluation, published in the online journal BMJ Open.

This is despite the fact that NHS 111 was set up with the intention of relieving pressure on these services by ensuring that patients are directed to care that is appropriate for their level of need, say the researchers.

The resting pulse rate of UK pre-teens may have risen by up to two beats a minute during the past 30 years. But the rise does not seem to be linked to the overall weight gain seen in this age group during this period, reveals research published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

While this rise may seem modest, resting pulse rate is a proxy for general physical fitness and cardiovascular health, say the authors. And it could translate into higher risks of diabetes and heart disease in later life, they warn.

MINNEAPOLIS – People in middle age who have a high blood pressure measure called pulse pressure are more likely to have biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease in their spinal fluid than those with lower pulse pressure, according to research published in the November 13, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Pulse pressure is the systolic pressure, or the top number in a blood pressure reading, minus the diastolic, or the bottom number. Pulse pressure increases with age and is an index of the aging of the vascular system.

Adult patients with a type of cancer known as Burkitt lymphoma had excellent long-term survival rates—upwards of 90 percent—following treatment with low-intensity chemotherapy regimens, according to a new clinical trial finding. Standard treatment for Burkitt lymphoma involves high-dose chemotherapy, which has a high rate of toxicity, including death, and cures only 60 percent of adult patients. This trial was conducted by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and appeared Nov.

Queen bees convey honest signals to worker bees about their reproductive status and quality, according to an international team of researchers, who say their findings may help to explain why honey bee populations are declining.

New insights into the origins and development of folk tales such as Little Red Riding Hood are being provided by the application of scientific analysis more commonly used by biologists to produce an evolutionary tree of life diagram.

Chili peppers may have been used to make spicy beverages thousands of years ago in Mexico, according to new research published November 13 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Terry Powis at Kennesaw State University and colleagues from other institutions.

Scorpions tend to use their strongest defense mechanisms, according to new research published November 13 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Arie van der Meijden and colleagues at Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos (CIBIO) in Vairão, Portugal.

Evolutionary analysis can be used to study similarities among folktales, according to new research published November 13 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Jamshid Tehrani at Durham University in the UK.

Friendly microbes in the intestinal tracts (guts) of healthy American children have numerous antibiotic resistance genes, according to results of a pilot study by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The genes are cause for concern because they can be shared with harmful microbes, interfering with the effectiveness of antibiotics in ways that can contribute to serious illness and, in some cases, death.