Body

It's no coincidence that the expression "to leave a bitter taste in one's mouth" has a double meaning; people often have strong negative reactions to bitter substances, which, though found in healthful foods like vegetables, can also signify toxicity. For this reason, the ability to sense bitterness likely played an important role in human evolution.

Obesity and a bigger waist size in older women are associated with a higher risk of death, major chronic disease and mobility disability before the age of 85, according to a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.

Being overweight or obese are risk factors for myocardial infarction (heart attack) and ischemic heart disease (IHD) regardless of whether individuals also have the cluster of cardiovascular risk factors known as metabolic syndrome, which includes high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high blood sugar, according to a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.

Being overweight or obese likely causes MI and IHD but whether co-existing metabolic syndrome is necessary for the conditions to develop is unknown, according to the study authors.

A cognitive-behavioral intervention known as problem-solving education (PSE) may help reduce parental stress and depressive symptoms immediately after their child is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to a study by Emily Feinberg, CPNP, Sc.D., of Boston University School of Public Health, and colleagues.

MOSS LANDING, CA — Animals living on the abyssal plain, miles below the ocean surface, don't usually get much to eat. Their main source of food is "marine snow"—a slow drift of mucus, fecal pellets, and body parts—that sinks down from the surface waters. However, researchers have long been puzzled by the fact that, over the long term, the steady fall of marine snow cannot account for all the food consumed by animals and microbes living in the sediment.

LIVERMORE, Calif. -- The rain in Spain may lie mainly on the plain, but the location and intensity of that rain is changing not only in Spain but around the globe.

A new study by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists shows that observed changes in global (ocean and land) precipitation are directly affected by human activities and cannot be explained by natural variability alone. The research appears in the Nov. 11 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Hamilton, Nov. 11, 2013 – Researchers at McMaster University have discovered a protein that is only detectable after muscle damage, and it may serve as a way to measure injury.

"Our results highlight the protein called Xin as a muscle damage biomarker," said Thomas Hawke, principal investigator and an associate professor for the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at McMaster.

"Regardless of the way in which muscle was damaged, either through trauma or disease, Xin was strongly correlated to the degree of damage."

Engineering has always taken cues from biology. Natural organisms and systems have done well at evolving to perform tasks and achieve objectives within the limits set by nature and physics.

Scientists at Rutgers and Emory universities have discovered that an organic compound, often emitted by fungi, causes symptoms of Parkinson's disease in fruit flies and may be linked to Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases in humans.

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 11, 2013 -- When an E. coli cell divides, it must replicate its circular chromosome and pull the resulting circles apart to take up residence in two new cells. It sounds easy enough -- like a magician's trick with rings -- but actually involves a complicated process of unknotting and unlinking of tangled DNA.

In order to react effectively to changes in the surroundings, bacteria must be able to quickly turn specific genes on or off. Although the overall mechanisms behind gene regulation have long been known, the fine details have eluded scientists for decades. Researchers at Uppsala University can now provide a picture of how proteins regulate genetic expression at the atomic level.

Boston – Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in both men and women, and most adverse cardiovascular events tend to happen in the morning. In new findings published in the November issue of Blood, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Oregon Health & Science University have discovered that the internal body clock may contribute to the morning peak in heart attacks and ischemic strokes.

CHICAGO --- Northwestern Medicine® scientists have successfully tested a nontoxic therapy that suppresses Lupus in blood samples of people with the autoimmune disease.

This is a positive step toward one day developing a vaccine-like therapy that could keep Lupus in remission in the human body without the use of toxic drugs.

The study was published online in Clinical Immunology, the journal of the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies.

PHILADELPHIA - Two specific genetic variations in people of African descent are responsible for persistent atopic dermatitis (AD), an itchy, inflammatory form of the skin disorder eczema. A new report by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that loss-of-function mutations to Filaggrin-2 (FLG2), a gene that creates a protein responsible for retaining moisture and protecting the skin from environmental irritants, were associated with atopic dermatitis in African American children.

OAKLAND, Calif. — Pre-pregnancy obesity and older maternal age are among the risk factors for delayed lactation for women with gestational diabetes mellitus, according to a Kaiser Permanente study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.