Body

By tracking a single cell in a growing heart, scientists from Stanford University have discovered a cell type that could repair damaged arteries.

Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, but there is currently no effective method to regenerate new coronary arteries in diseased or injured hearts. The findings in the journal eLife identified a progenitor cell type that could make it possible.

UAB researchers have identified in the Besòs river estuary a bacterium of the genus Dehalogenimonas, which has the capacity to transform toxic organochlorine compounds into others that are harmless. These experts have succeeded in characterising and cultivating these bacteria for the first time in Europe, which opens the door to their production and application to contaminated aquifers.

Stanford, CA-- Like humans, plants are surrounded by and closely associated with microbes. The majority of these microbes are beneficial, but some can cause devastating disease. Maintaining the balance between them is critical. Plants feed these microbes, and it's thought that they do so just enough to allow the good ones to grow and to prevent the bad ones from gaining strength. This system of microbe feeding is mediated by proteins called sugar transporters.

Lueneburg. Most drug residues discharged to wastewater come from private households. As contributors of pollution by Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), health establishments, such as hospitals, psychiatric and nursing facilities are hardly worth mentioning. They merely discharge a small amount, and only at local level, of these significant contaminating substances to wastewater.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2015 -- Trillions of microorganisms inhabit our bodies. Scientists call this community the microbiome, and it's one of the hottest topics in research these days. Over the past decade, researchers have learned a lot about the genetics of these microorganisms and the molecules they produce, for better or worse. In this week's Speaking of Chemistry, host Matt Davenport talks with Harvard University researcher Emily Balskus, Ph.D., about the next big things our gut can tell us.

London, 19th October 2015 - A new study published in the Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry today found that, despite claims made by some manufacturers, next generation 'heated' tobacco devices produce side-stream emissions similar to secondhand cigarette smoke.

The study, conducted by Imperial Tobacco, owner of market leading e-cigarette brand blu, tested a commercially available heated tobacco product called iQOS to assess whether the product generated side stream chemical emissions when activated.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Plotting on a grid just how a chicken walks may one day give farmers more insight into how best to protect their flock from non-airborne pathogens that can also hurt their profit.

"What this mathematical model tells you at this minute is how a chicken walks, meaning its pattern, how it moves around a pen," said Dr. Arni S.R. Srinivasa Rao, a mathematical modeler in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University.

DALLAS - Oct. 19, 2015 - A joint study by UT Southwestern Medical Center and Parkland Health & Hospital System investigators found that a multicomponent outreach program increased completion of the three-dose human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination series that reduces the risk of cervical cancer caused by the virus.

TORONTO, Oct. 16, 2015 - Pregnant refugee women in Ontario have a higher prevalence of HIV than immigrants and Canadian-born women, a new study examining serious pregnancy and delivery complications has found.

Refugee women were 34 per cent more likely to experience serious complications - such as HIV, blood clots and severe bleeding after giving birth - than Canadian-born women, according to the study by Dr. Susitha Wanigaratne, a researcher at St. Michael's Hospital. They were 22 per cent more likely to have those complications than immigrants.

Due in large part to the high volume of traffic that clogs the city's streets and freeways, Los Angeles' air quality is notoriously bad. And research has shown that fumes from all of those vehicles increase L.A. residents' risk for respiratory and cardiovascular disease.

Downtown and East Los Angeles, in fact, are among the California communities with the worst environmental conditions according to an Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment report; both rank among the state's bottom 10 percent.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- If your child's preschool or child care were affected by a tornado, fire or violent situation, would you know the center's emergency plan to keep the children as safe as possible?

For some parents, the answer may be no, according to a report today from University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.

Increased consumption of fruits and non-starchy vegetables is inversely associated with weight change, according to a study published this week in PLOS Medicine. The longitudinal study, conducted by Monica Bertoia of Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham & Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues, shows differences by type of fruit or vegetable, suggesting that characteristics of these foods influence the strength of their association with weight change.

An analysis of an international, cooperative-led trial of patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has shown that those who received intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) had less severe lung toxicity and were able to better tolerate their chemotherapy, compared to patients who received 3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3-D CRT).

Stephen Chun, M.D., fellow, Radiation Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, presented the research at the American Society for Radiation Oncology's 57th Annual Meeting.

Among patients with osteoarthritis of the knee, women experienced greater sensitivity to various pain modalities--such as lower tolerance to heat, cold, and pressure--and greater widespread pain than men.

The findings may be helpful for clinicians as they decide which treatments are best for different patients. Additional studies on the mechanisms involved the sex differences observed this study may also help researchers develop new treatment strategies for patients.

Researchershave developed a novel mouse model for the vision disorder Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON), and found that they can use gene therapy to improve visual function in the mice. LHON is one of many diseases tied to gene mutations that damage the tiny energy factories that power our cells, called mitochondria.