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Women who smoke in pregnancy may be more likely to have a child with high-functioning autism, such as Asperger's Disorder, according to preliminary findings from a study by researchers involved in the U.S. autism surveillance program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"It has long been known that autism is an umbrella term for a wide range of disorders that impair social and communication skills," says Amy Kalkbrenner, assistant professor in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health, lead author of the study.

For the first time, researchers have converted scar tissue that forms after a heart attack into regenerated heart muscle using microRNA, according to an animal study reported in Circulation Research, an American Heart Association journal.

After a heart attack, heart muscle doesn't easily regenerate and it accumulates scar tissue, made up of cells called fibroblasts — increasing risk for heart failure.

DURHAM, N.C. – Scientists at Duke University Medical Center have shown the ability to turn scar tissue that forms after a heart attack into heart muscle cells using a new process that eliminates the need for stem cell transplant.

The study, published online April 26 in the journal Circulation Research, used molecules called microRNAs to trigger the cardiac tissue conversion in a lab dish and, for the first time, in a living mouse, demonstrating the potential of a simpler process for tissue regeneration.

In a groundbreaking study published last year, scientists reported that effective treatment with HIV medications not only restores health and prolongs life in many HIV-infected patients, but also curtails transmission to sexual partners up to ninety-seven percent. However, a new study by UCSF scientists shows that lack of basic living needs severely undercuts these advances in impoverished men.

The inaugural issue of American Political Thought: A Journal of Ideas, Institutions, and Culture features a set of articles titled "American Exceptionalism: Is It Real, Is It Good." The five articles deconstruct the meanings and applications of a term that, somewhat surprisingly, has escaped its academic origins and found its way into modern political parlance.

A new study has shown that adding boron-nitride nanotubes to the surface of cancer cells can double the effectiveness of Irreversible Electroporation, a minimally invasive treatment for soft tissue tumors in the liver, lung, prostate, head and neck, kidney and pancreas. Although this research is in the very early stages, it could one day lead to better therapies for cancer.

LA JOLLA, CA – April 26, 2012 – Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have determined the three-dimensional atomic structure of a human protein that is centrally involved in regulating the activities of cells. Knowing the precise structure of this protein paves the way for scientists to understand a process known as RNA-silencing and to harness it to treat diseases.

Clogging of pipes leading to the heart is the planet's number one killer. Surgeons can act as medical plumbers to repair some blockages, but we don't fully understand how this living organ deteriorates or repairs itself over time.

Researchers at the University of Washington have studied vessel walls and found the cells pull more tightly together, reducing vascular leakage, in areas of fast-flowing blood. The finding could influence how doctors design drugs to treat high cholesterol, or how cardiac surgeons plan their procedures.

One of the most debated developments in human history is the transition fromhunter‑gatherer to agricultural societies. This week's edition of Sciencepresents the genetic findings of a Swedish‑Danish research team, which showthat agriculture spread to Northern Europe via migration from SouthernEurope.

This release is available in Danish and Swedish.

An analysis of 5,000-year-old DNA taken from the Stone Age remains of four humans excavated in Sweden is helping researchers understand how agriculture spread throughout Europe long ago. According to Pontus Skoglund from Uppsala University in Sweden and colleagues, the practice of farming appears to have moved with migrants from southern to northern Europe.

Collaboration between scientists at Cambridge University and the Babraham Institute have demonstrated a new technique that will significantly improve scientists' ability to perform epigenetics research and help unlock the door to understanding how cells develop and function. Epigenetics is a branch of genetics that studies modifications to the DNA which affect gene activity. The research, published today (26 April) in the journal Science, has important implications for stem cell research and the development of regenerative medicines.

Bacteria provide a well-known playground for scientists and the evolution of these earliest life forms has shed important perspective on potential therapies for some of the most common, deadly diseases. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have now discovered that, the gas nitric oxide (NO), produced in all cells of the human body for natural purposes, plays a fundamental regulatory role in controlling bacterial function, via a signaling mechanism called S-nitrosylation (SNO), which binds NO to protein molecules.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – April 23, 2012 – The Olympics are all about the "thrill of victory and the agony of defeat." But for many Summer Games athletes, there's also the agony of skin irritations and conditions that can make the journey to the medal stand more difficult.

Skin problems rank among athletes' most common complaints, but there's little information available regarding dermatoses among Olympic athletes, according to findings from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

And who would know better than an Olympic medalist turned physician?

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– Thanks to advances in polymer chemistry and a wide variety of monomer constituents to choose from, the world of multiblock polymers is wide open. These polymers can result in an astonishing array of materials, customizable to almost any specification. However, the flood of options could be overwhelming, without a theoretical framework to guide research.

BOSTON--Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have shown that advanced pancreatic cancers in mice can't survive without continued expression of a mutant oncogene that "rewires" key metabolic pathways to fuel the cancer cells.

The findings, published in the April 27 issue of the journal Cell, suggest that some of these altered metabolic pathways might be potential targets for future drugs to treat the deadly cancer.