Body

Schistosomiasis or bilharzia, is a common parasitic disease which can cause bladder dysfunction and hematuria, and even correlate with bladder cancer and increase HIV susceptibility with urogenital lesions. Globally, it is estimated that more than 240 million people infected. Within endemic areas, children carry the heaviest burden of infection. Its treatment intensively depends on PZQ, which has replaced other antischistosomal drugs and become a regular first-line therapy.

At least 5% of children and adolescents in Germany are in need of psychiatric treatment. Diagnostic investigation for behavioral problems is indicated in another 10% to 18%. Two articles in Deutsches Ärzteblatt International go into the questions of what interventions help children who are avoiding school, and whether providing support for social and emotional skills can improve prosocial behavior in preschool children.

Scientific Reports, a Nature group journal, has recently published results that challenge the findings of studies to date on the initial aggregates formed by amyloid beta, a protein closely associated with the onset and development of Alzheimer's disease.

AURORA, Colo. (Oct. 8, 2015) - A mysterious kidney disease that has killed over 20,000 people in Central America, most of them sugar cane workers, may be caused by chronic, severe dehydration linked to global climate change, according to a new study by Richard J. Johnson, MD, of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

Drowsy mice make poor stem cell donors, according to a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

A sleep deficit of just four hours affects by as much as 50 percent the ability of stem cells of the blood and immune system to migrate to the proper spots in the bone marrow of recipient mice and churn out the cell types necessary to reconstitute a damaged immune system, the researchers found.

An international study led by researchers from IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute) published in the journal Nature Communications has revealed that the intensity or efficiency of the activation of a protein called Notch, which is involved in the different phases of embryonic development, determines the fate of cells, i.e. if cells will form the aorta artery or blood (hematopoietic) stem cells. For artery cells, many Notch molecules need to be activated, whereas for hematopoietic cells many fewer are needed.

Scientists have projected that the onset of spring plant growth will shift by a median of three weeks earlier over the next century, as a result of rising global temperatures.

The results, published today (Wednesday 14th October), in the journal Environmental Research Letters, have long term implications for the growing season of plants and the relationship between plants and the animals that depend upon them.

Dolphins and whales may attract a lot of attention when they leap dramatically out of the water. But aquatic animals thousands of times smaller are accomplished jumpers, too.

Their acrobatics often go unnoticed, but understanding them could help improve engineering processes, like oil refining and wastewater treatment, that rely on controlling the interaction of small particles with air-water interfaces.

Use of the urgent referral pathway (often called the two week wait system) by general practices for patients with suspected cancer is saving lives, according to a study in The BMJ this week.

The results suggest that use of the urgent referral pathway is effective, say the researchers, and general practices that consistently have a low propensity to use urgent referrals could consider increasing its use to improve the survival of their patients with cancer.

DEATHS are higher in cancer patients whose GPs do not regularly send patients through the two-week urgent referral route for suspected cancer, according to a Cancer Research UK and National Institute for Health Research-funded study*.

The research - published today (Wednesday) in the British Medical Journal - examined data** from 215,284 English cancer patients. Researchers from King's College London found a clear link between the chance a patient would die, and the likelihood of their GP practice to refer cancer patients to a specialist using the two-week urgent referral route.

The average life span of smokers is more than 10 years shorter than that of non-smoker, and it is said that smoking is a factor which accelerates aging. However, the details of the mechanism which accelerates aging due to smoking was not yet clear.

WASHINGTON, DC - October 13, 2015 - Caramel apples punctured with dipping sticks and left unrefrigerated over the course of a couple of weeks may harbor a bacterium called Listeria monocytogenes, according to a study published this week in mBio®, an online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

Genetic ablation of P2RX7 can improve muscle function and partially correct cognitive impairment and bone loss in a mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), according to a study published this week in PLOS Medicine. The study, conducted by Dariusz Gorecki of the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Portsmouth, UK and colleagues, additionally suggests that P2RX7 antagonists can reduce certain DMD phenotypes in these mice.

While most cancer survivors in the United States are motivated to seek information about food choices and dietary changes to improve their health, a new study comparing their dietary patterns to federal guidelines indicates that they often fall short. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the findings point to the need for dietary interventions in this vulnerable population.

(WASHINGTON, October, 13, 2015) -The bacterium that causes Q fever, an infectious disease that humans contract from animals, is associated with an increased risk of lymphoma, according to a study published online today in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH).