Body

New Rochelle, NY, July 10, 2012—Improving access to health care for minority women of childbearing age could improve pregnancy outcomes and reduce racial differences in infant mortality, according to an article in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal of Women's Health website at http://www.liebertpub.com/jwh.

Some of the planet's tiniest inhabitants may help address two of society's biggest environmental challenges: how to deal with the vast quantities of organic waste produced and where to find clean, renewable energy.

According to César Torres and Sudeep Popat, researchers at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute, certain kinds of bacteria are adept at converting waste into useful energy. These microorganisms are presently being applied to the task, through an innovative technology known as a microbial fuel cell or MFC.

New Rochelle, NY, July 9, 2012—Genetic tests exist to identify risk for the rare inherited form of early-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) and to predict susceptibility to the more common, late-onset form of AD, but do people want to know, and how do they react? The answers can be found in the article published in Genetic Testing and Molecular Biomarkers, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

AMHERST, Mass. – A group of diseases that kill millions of people each year can't be touched by antibiotics, and some treatment is so harsh the patient can't survive it. They're caused by parasites, and for decades researchers have searched for a "magic bullet" to kill them without harming the patient. Now, a team of microbiologists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has made an advance that could one day lead to a new weapon for fighting parasitic diseases such as African sleeping sickness, chagas disease and leishmaniasis.

Ann Arbor, Mich. — A new single-gene cause of chronic kidney disease has been discovered that implicates a disease mechanism not previously believed to be related to the disease, according to new research from the University of Michigan.

The research was published July 8 in the journal Nature Genetics.

Contraceptive use likely prevents more than 272,000 maternal deaths from childbirth each year, according to a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Researchers further estimate that satisfying the global unmet need for contraception could reduce maternal deaths an additional 30 percent. Their findings were published July 10 by The Lancet as part of a series of articles on family planning.

Researchers who studied a large sample of middle- and high-school students in Washington state found that mixed-race adolescents are more similar to their white counterparts than previously believed.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The daily psychological stresses that police officers experience in their work put them at significantly higher risk than the general population for a host of long-term physical and mental health effects. That's the overall finding of a major scientific study of the Buffalo Police Department called Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress (BCOPS) conducted over five years by a University at Buffalo researcher.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- In 2001, the Human Genome Project and Celera Genomics announced that after 10 years of work at a cost of some $400 million, they had completed a draft sequence of the human genome. Today, sequencing a human genome is something that a single researcher can do in a couple of weeks for less than $10,000.

How does a tumor cell set up a signaling pathway in order to metastasize? Scientists at Technische Universität München's (TUM) Klinikum rechts der Isar and Helmholtz Zentrum München have made a significant discovery in this area by studying colon cancer. They have learned that the tumor cells release certain proteins known as chemokines. In the case of metastatic colon cancer cells, the chemokine concerned is CCL2. The CCL2 chemokine docks on to the cells of the inner blood vessel walls (endothelial cells) and activates the corresponding receptor (CCR2 receptor).

Chevy Chase, MD – The Endocrine Society commissioned Lake Research Partners to conduct a national survey of 424 internal medicine, family practice and OB/GYN physicians about their attitudes and experiences related to treating menopausal symptoms. According to the survey, physicians say the primary barrier to women receiving hormone therapy is patients' fears about the risks and their unwillingness to discuss the option. This new survey follows a study conducted in April 2012 among 810 women ages 45 to 60 on the same topic.

BOSTON, MA—Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) are the first to report a new approach that integrates rational drug design with supramolecular nanochemistry in cancer treatment.

Supramolecular chemistry is the development of complex chemical systems using molecular building blocks. The researchers utilized such methods to create nanoparticles that significantly enhanced antitumor activity with decreased toxicity in breast and ovarian cancer models.

A new species of monkey flower, created by the union of two foreign plant species, has been discovered on the bank of a stream in Scotland. Genetic changes in this attractive yellow-flowered hybrid have allowed it to overcome infertility and made it a rare example of a brand new species that has originated in the wild in the last 150 years.

Scientists at the University Medical Center of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany identified a novel strategy to target the oncologically relevant protein-cleaving enzyme Taspase1. Taspase1 levels are not only elevated in cancer cells of patients with head and neck tumors and other solid malignancies but the enzyme is also critical for the development of leukemias. Central to this concept is the approach to inhibit the enzyme's activity by 'gluing together' individual Taspase1 molecules. The results of a study undertaken by Professor Dr.

From the air, the twists and turns of rivers can easily be seen. In the body, however, tracing the twists and turns of blood vessels is difficult, but important. Vessel "bendiness" can indicate the presence and progression of cancer.