Body

PHILADELPHIA – The use of postmenopausal hormone therapy has decreased over time in the United States, which researchers suggest may play a key role in the declining rate of atypical ductal hyperplasia, a known risk factor for breast cancer.

A new study finds that women treated for breast cancer are at higher risk of cancer recurrence if they have dense breasts. Published in the December 15, 2009 issue of Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study's results indicate that breast cancer patients with dense breasts may benefit from additional therapies following surgery, such as radiation.

An Indiana University study involving 2,453 women ages 18 to 68 found that lubricant use during sexual activity alone or with a partner contributed to higher ratings of pleasurable and satisfying sex.

Personal lubricants have long been recommended to women to improve the comfort of sexual intercourse and to reduce the risk of vaginal tearing, yet strikingly little available data is available on women's use of lubricants or associated vaginal symptoms.

Using imaging mass spectrometry, researchers at the University of California, San Diego have developed tools that will enable scientists to visualize how different cell populations of cells communicate. Their study shows how bacteria talk to one another – an understanding that may lead to new therapeutic discoveries for diseases ranging from cancer to diabetes and allergies.

HOUSTON - (Nov. 8, 2009) – The loss of a gene through deletion of genetic material on chromosome 15 is associated with significant abnormalities in learning and behavior, said a consortium of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine (www.bcm.edu) in a report that appears online today in the journal Nature Genetics.

To celebrate the 150th anniversary this month of the publication of On the Origin of Species, the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) is publishing open access two peer-reviewed articles about Charles Darwin and his historic insights into evolution.

Tree-dwelling ants generally live in harmony with their arboreal hosts. But new research suggests that when they run out of space in their trees of choice, the ants can get destructive to neighboring trees.

The research, published in the November issue of the American Naturalist, is the first to document that ants bore into live trees, and it reopens a centuries-old debate on the relationship between ants and plants.

(PHILADELPHIA) A rapid decline in metabolic activity on a PET scan after radiation therapy for non-small cell lung cancer is correlated with good local tumor control, according to a study presented by researchers at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital at the 51st ASTRO Annual Meeting.

In addition, the researchers also found that the higher the metabolic activity and tumor size on a PET scan before treatment, the more likely a patient is to die from lung cancer.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have discovered that some elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in men may be caused by a hormone normally occurring in the body, and are not necessarily a predictor of the need for a prostate biopsy.

A compound already used to treat pneumonia could become a new therapy for an inherited muscular wasting disease, according to researchers at the University of Oregon and the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York.

The five-member team reports that pentamidine, when tested in genetically altered mice, counters genetic splicing defects in RNA that lead to type 1 myotonic dystrophy -- one of nine types of muscular dystrophy -- also known as DM1 and Steinart's disease.

TORONTO, On – November 6, 2009 – Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital working in conjunction with EMS services, paramedics and fire services across Ontario found that a bystander who attempts cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can quadruple the survival rate to over 50 per cent. But Dr. Laurie Morrison and the research team at Rescu (www.rescu.ca) have found only 30 per cent of bystanders in Toronto are willing to help, one of the lowest rates of bystanders helping others in the developed world.

Enrollment has ended early in a large, multicenter clinical trial comparing two distinct resuscitation strategies delivered by emergency medical service (EMS) providers to increase blood flow during cardiac arrest. The study's independent monitoring board and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the lead sponsor of the study, stopped enrollment based on preliminary data suggesting that neither strategy significantly improved survival.

The scientific ability to quickly and accurately identify species through DNA "barcoding" is being embraced and applied by a growing legion of global authorities – from medical and agricultural researchers to police and customs authorities to palaeontologists and others.

Some 350 experts from 50 nations gathering in Mexico for their 3rd global meeting will outline the latest creative applications of DNA barcoding, including projects to sequence ancient plant and animal remains extracted from northern permafrost cores.

Blacksburg, Va. -- Researchers at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech and Montana State University have discovered a fungal protein that plays a key role in causing disease in plants and animals and which also shields the pathogen from oxidative stress. The researchers have found that the fungal protein TmpL is critical for the infection of host tissue and helps these pathogens regulate oxidative stress responses that are caused by the presence of destructive reactive oxygen species, a natural feature of the adaptive response to infection.

PITTSBURGH—The current health care debate in the United States is complicated. Trade-offs between heath care expenditures, lifestyle choices and life expectancy have been suggested but seldom clearly demonstrated. The U.S. spends on average more than $45,000 per year on health care for every 80 year old, while the Europeans spend $12,000 for the same age group. U.S. octogenarians have a 20 percent less chance of dying than Europeans in the next year. But, more than 30 percent of the U.S. population is obese, compared to less than 10 percent of Europe's population.