Body

AURORA, Colo. (June 13, 2012) – Estrogen-deficient, postmenopausal women who have had their uterus removed appear to have stiffer arteries compared to similar women who have not had a hysterectomy, according to new research from the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

The finding may help explain the greater risk of cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in women, reported in previous research.

No life without water. Catastrophes like droughts or strong rains reflect our dependence on the water cycle and climate system. Hence, it is important to understand details of the water cycle among the atmosphere, oceans, and land. A study in the Journal of Hydrometeorology now outlines significant differences of global models and measurement data sets. As the network of measurement stations worldwide is shrinking dramatically, uncertainties are increased (Doi: 10.1175/JHM-D-11-088.1).

CT scans of fossilized primate skulls or skull fragments from both the Old and New Worlds may shed light on how these extinct animals moved, especially for those species without any known remains, according to an international team of researchers.

Seeking ways to change cancer patients' perceptions and negative attitudes towards clinical trials participation, researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center conducted a study offering two different kinds of intervention to two groups of adults with cancer who had not previously been asked to participate in clinical trials. They found a multimedia psychoeducational intervention to be more effective in changing patients' perceptions and negative attitudes toward clinical trials than standard educational literature.

This enzyme is also involved in other conditions as inflammatory bowel disease or rheumatoid arthritis, as well as in neurodegenerative conditions as Huntington's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Global climate change is expected to cause sea-level rise of approximately 1-2 meters within this century and studies are beginning to project the consequences for humans and global biodiversity. While the direct consequences of sea-level rise due to flooding and inundation ('primary effects') are beginning to be assessed, no studies have yet considered the possible secondary effects from sea-level rise due to the relocation of human refugees into the hinterland.

An international team of scientists have published the first continent-wide assessment of the Antarctic's biogeography, and propose that the landmass should be divided into 15 distinct conservation regions to protect the continent from invasive alien species. The team's findings are published in Diversity and Distributions, while the authors' proposals were outlined today at a lecture to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) in Hobart, Tasmania.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — June 12, 2012 — Vismodegib, a new skin cancer drug for patients with advanced basal cell carcinoma tested by TGen, Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare and Mayo Clinic, is hailed as "the greatest advance in therapy yet seen" for advanced basal cell carcinoma in an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine.

USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center physician-researchers collaborated on more than 70 research projects presented at the 2012 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) this month.

Roughly 30,000 cancer specialists from around the world attend the annual meeting to discuss the latest techniques, drugs and research in cancer care. ASCO, founded in 1964, is an offshoot of the American Association of Cancer Research dedicated to clinical oncology.

DARIEN, IL – Two studies scheduled for presentation today at SLEEP 2012 are reporting sleep disparities among Americans based on racial and ethnic background.

Since 1990, annual maternal deaths have declined by almost one half and the deaths of young children have declined from 12 million to 7.6 million in 2010.

Some of the world's poorest countries have achieved spectacular progress in reducing child deaths. Rates of child mortality in many African countries have been dropping twice as fast in recent years as during the 1990s. In Botswana, Egypt, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda and the United Republic of Tanzania, the rate of decline was on average 5 percent or more a year between 2000 and 2010.

University of Adelaide researchers say women pregnant with twins should elect to give birth at 37 weeks to avoid serious complications.

The advice is based on the world's biggest study addressing the timing of birth for women who have an uncomplicated twin pregnancy, the results of which are published today in the British Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology.

New long-lasting weekly injections of fertility hormones are as safe and effective as standard daily injections, according to Cochrane researchers. The researchers compared weekly and daily hormone injections in a Cochrane systematic review and found no difference in pregnancies or serious side effects between the two regimens.

A rare and unusual new species of yeast has been identified at three separate locations across the world, reported in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. The findings suggest a link between the distribution of specialized microbes and human migrations.

The novel strain of yeast has been named Saccharomycopsis fodiens and was isolated from flower-associated beetles in three geographically distant locations in Eastern Australia, Costa Rica and the Galapagos islands.

Ice extended further across the UK than previously thought and played a part in sculpting the rocky landscape of Dartmoor in South West England during the last Ice Age, according to new research which challenges previously held theories.

A study of the National Park area of Dartmoor, UK, shows for the first time that an ice cap and valley glaciers were present in its centre and that the naturally castellated stone outcrops, known as tors, were survivors.