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DURHAM, N.C. –Tree growth and fecundity – the ability to produce viable seeds – are more sensitive to climate change than previously thought, according to an 18-year study of 27,000 individual trees by Duke University researchers.

The study, published April 5 in Global Climate Biology, identifies earlier spring warming as one of several overlooked factors that affect tree reproduction and growth, and can help scientists and policymakers better predict which species are vulnerable to climate change, and why.

Orlando, Fla. -- Most breast cancers are fueled by estrogen, and anti-estrogenic agents often work for a time to control the cancers. But many of these cancers become resistant to the drugs for reasons that are not understood, leaving patients with limited treatment options.

Microscopic remains of dead Phantom midge larvae (Chaoborus spp.) may explain a few hundred years of history of the living conditions of fish, acidification and fish death in Swedish lakes. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have developed a method of using lake-bottom sediments to show when and how fish life disappeared from acidified lakes – invaluable knowledge for lake restorations in acidified regions.

Researchers from Northwestern University and Argonne National Laboratory have an enhanced understanding of a common freshwater alga and its remarkable ability to remove strontium from water. Insight into this mechanism ultimately could help scientists design methods to remove radioactive strontium from existing nuclear waste.

Strontium 90, a major waste component, is one of the more dangerous radioactive fission materials created within a nuclear reactor. It is present in the approximately 80 million gallons of radioactive waste sludge stored in the United States alone.

A specially customised pulse oximeter attached to the finger can be used to detect changes in heart and vessel function while you sleep, and this simple technique can even identify patients at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, reveals research from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

A pilot study of 148 people showed that more than 80% of high-risk patients were picked up by this simple and risk-free measurement technique. The results were published recently in the journal Chest.

New Orleans, LA (April 4, 2011): Surgical infections associated with pacemakers and defibrillators led to 3-fold increases in hospital stay, 55-118% higher hospitalization costs, 8 to 11 fold increase in mortality rates, and double the mortality after 1 year compared to pacemaker and defibrillator implantations where no infection occurred. Surprisingly, more than one-third of the excess mortality occurred after hospital discharge.

Less than one-third of painful procedures performed on children in hospital were associated with documentation of a specific strategy to help manage pain, according to an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

The cancer cells that reign during relapses of an aggressive human leukemia are different from those that dominated the original disease, according to a paper published online on April 4 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (www.jem.org).

It's generally known that African Americans have the highest risk for glaucoma (about 12 percent) among racial groups in the United States. They are more than twice as likely as non-Hispanic white Americans (5.6 percent) to develop this potentially blinding disease. But little was known about risks for Asian Americans until a National Eye Institute funded study published recently in Ophthalmology journal (online). By reviewing insurance records of more than 44,000 Asian Americans older than 40, the researchers found their glaucoma risk to be 6.5 percent, which is about the same as U.S.

Hamilton, ON (April 4, 2011) - In the future you may hear the doctor say: "Give me your arm and I'll do some heart surgery."

A landmark international study coordinated by the Population Health Research Institute of McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences has found accessing blocked arteries through the forearm compared to groin led to fewer vascular complications and similar success rates for angioplasty.

URBANA – Although the apple genome has already been sequenced, it can still take years for an apple breeder to see the first actual piece of fruit on a tree. That's why University of Illinois plant molecular geneticist Schuyler Korban jumped at the chance to help sequence the genome of the woodland strawberry – a close relative of the apple that blooms in a mere 15 weeks, making his work much more efficient.

CHICAGO (April 4, 2011) – A new risk calculator can predict the risk of postoperative complications occurring for individual bariatric surgery patients, according to a study published in the March issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. The risk calculator will help in surgical decision-making and will help patients better understand what they can expect during recovery in order to prepare for a bariatric operation.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a genetic anomaly that may drive the aggressive spread of a rare subset of prostate cancers.

They found mutations of a gene called KRAS, which is known to play a role in numerous cancers but is rarely associated with prostate cancer. The mutation – in which two pieces of the chromosome change places and fuse together – was seen only in metastatic prostate cancer, an advanced form in which the disease has spread to distant parts of the body.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Scientists from Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine are working on a series of genetic analyses that suggest the underlying differences among racial groups are present not just in tumors, but in normal tissue as well. Lisa Baumbach, Ph.D., associate research professor, and colleagues will present the full study results at the AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011, held here April 2-6.

Vanderbilt University researchers have identified a new gene that can influence a person's risk for developing epilepsy. The findings, reported in the March 29 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could improve molecular diagnostic tools and point to novel therapeutic targets for epilepsy.