Body

Ghent, 15 December 2009 - Scientists at VIB and Ghent University in Flanders, Belgium have found an unexpected ally for the treatment of septic shock, the major cause of death in intensive care units. By inducing the release of nitric oxide (NO) gas in mice with septic shock, researchers Anje Cauwels and Peter Brouckaert discovered that the animal's organs showed much less damage, while their chances of survival increased significantly.

The analysis of microfossils found in ocean sediment cores is illuminating the environmental conditions that prevailed at high latitudes during a critical period of Earth history.

Around 55 million years ago at the beginning of the Eocene epoch, the Earth's poles are believed to have been free of ice. But by the early Oligocene around 25 million years later, ice sheets covered Antarctica and continental ice had developed on Greenland.

Westchester, Ill. – A study in the Dec. 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine shows that being overweight or obese increases the risk for developing obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in adolescents but not in younger children.

Westchester, Ill. – A study in the Dec. 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine indicates that significant associations exist between parent-reported insomnia symptoms and medical complaints of gastrointestinal regurgitation and headaches in young school-aged children.

DALLAS – Dec. 15, 2009 – UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have provided the most extensive account to date of the unique observable characteristics seen in patients with an extremely rare premature aging syndrome.

The findings, reported online and in the December issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, suggest that patients with atypical progeroid syndrome (APS) should not be lumped together with those diagnosed with two similar but more well-defined accelerated aging disorders called progeria and mandibuloacral dysplasia (MAD).

School playgrounds fitted with granite sand surfacing significantly reduce the risk of children fracturing arms in comparison with wood fibre surfaces, according to a randomized trial published this week in the open-access journal PLoS Medicine.

The urban poor in sub-Saharan Africa are the latest victims of the obesity epidemic. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Public Health claim that overweight and obesity are on the increase among this group.

FDA researchers have found that certain cardiac pacemakers may inadequately stimulate a patient's heart while undergoing a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan due to the magnetic pulses mixing with the electronic pulses from the pacemaker. This inadequate stimulation is potentially dangerous for the patient undergoing the MRI scan, according to research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BioMedical Engineering Online.

The chance discovery of a genetic mutation that makes mice enormously fat but protects them from diabetes has given researchers at Boston University School of Medicine, USA, new insights into the cellular mechanisms that link obesity to Type 2 diabetes. Dr Gerald Denis and his colleagues report their findings in the current issue of The Biochemical Journal.

Researchers at Uppsala University, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Broad Institute have discovered a previously unknown gene ZBED6 that is unique to placental mammals. The gene originates from a so called jumping gene that integrated in the genome of a primitive mammal at least 150 million years ago and has since then evolved an essential function. The study is published in PLoS Biology today.

Domestic pigs develop more muscle and store less fat than their wild ancestor, the wild boar.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A new paper from MIT biology professor Leonard Guarente strengthens the link between longevity proteins called sirtuins and the lifespan-extending effects of calorie restriction.

For decades, it has been known that cutting normal calorie consumption by 30 to 40 percent can boost lifespan and improve overall health in animals such as worms and mice. Guarente believes that those effects are controlled by sirtuins — proteins that keep cells alive and healthy in the face of stress by coordinating a variety of hormonal networks, regulatory proteins and other genes.

Irvine, Calif. – Strictly controlling blood glucose levels in type 2 diabetics with long-term, serious coexisting health problems such as heart disease and hypertension does not lower their risk of a heart attack or stroke, according to a UC Irvine Health Policy Research Institute study.

Researchers did find, however, that firm glucose control – defined as keeping hemoglobin levels, or A1C, below 7 percent – may reduce cardiovascular issues for diabetics with fewer and less severe health problems.

Three University of Alberta paleontology graduate students blew the dust off an 85-year-old dinosaur find to discover the original researcher had it right and a 1970s revision of his work was wrong.

PHILADELPHIA –- Reproductive researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have succeeded in isolating and transplanting pure populations of the immature cells that enable male reproduction in two species—human spermatogonia and mouse gonocytes. These germline stem cells, taken from testis biopsies, demonstrated viability following transplantation to mouse testes within a controlled laboratory setting.