Body

(Boston) – Boston University School of Medicine researchers (BUSM) have found that 50,000 International Units (IU) of vitamin D2, given weekly for eight weeks, effectively treats vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D2 is a mainstay for the prevention and treatment of vitamin D deficiency in children and adults. Continued treatment with the same dose of vitamin D2 every other week for up to six years after the initial eight-week period prevents vitamin D deficiency from recurring with no toxicity. The BUSM study appears online in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

The location of extra pounds appears to affect the risk of blood clots in middle-aged people, but affects men and women differently, researchers report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

In her most recent study of possible triggers of cancer among northern New England residents, Dartmouth epidemiologist Margaret R. Karagas, Ph.D., and her team identified an enhanced risk to the bladders of patients taking drugs that suppress the immune system.

A common weed and human cancer cells could provide some very uncommon details about DNA structure and its relationship with telomeres and how they affect cellular aging and cancer, according to a team led by scientists from Texas A&M University and the University of Cincinnati (UC).

For men coping with painful erections lasting for long periods of time, or priapism, new research published online in The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) offers hope. That's because researchers from the United States and China show that the enzyme adenosine deaminase may prevent priapism from progressing to penile fibrosis, a condition associated with the build up of scar tissue and eventual impotence. As penile fibrosis is a complication of priapism, so priapism is a complication of sickle cell disease.

Deer stew, roast of wild boar, venison ragout – come fall, all varieties of game are in season for gourmets. However, ever since the worldwide surge in genetically modified corn, critical consumers' appetites have abated somewhat. After all, it was not clear precisely how wild animals digest transgenic corn and whether or not residues actually accumulate in meat, for example. Molecular biologists from the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) have shown that there is no need for concern – also with regard to the inadvertent dispersal of genetically modified corn via wild animal feces.

Biologists for the first time have documented a second breeding season during the annual cycle of five songbird species that spend summers in temperate North America and winters in tropical Central and South America.

It was known that these species, which migrate at night when there are fewer predators and the stars can guide their journey, breed during their stay in temperate regions of the United States and Canada.

Globalisation and industrialisation are causing diseases to spread from humans to animals, a study has shown.

Researchers from The Roslin Institute of the University of Edinburgh have shown that a strain of bacteria has jumped from humans to chickens.

It is believed to be the first clear evidence of bacterial pathogens crossing over from humans to animals and then spreading since animals were first domesticated some 10,000 years ago.

Despite a 30-year lifespan that gives ample time for cells to grow cancerous, a small rodent species called a naked mole rat has never been found with tumors of any kind—and now biologists at the University of Rochester think they know why.

CINCINNATI—A recently discovered form of the protein that triggers blood clotting may play a key role in the molecular mechanisms leading to the growth of certain metastatic cancers, according to new research reported by an international team of scientists.

The protein, called "Tissue Factor," is present in various tissues, but is most prominent in vascular structures such as blood vessels. Previous studies have shown that alternatively spliced Tissue Factor (asTF) contributes to cancer growth, but the molecular events leading to this were previously unknown.

Genetically modified squash plants that are resistant to a debilitating viral disease become more vulnerable to a fatal bacterial infection, according to biologists.

"Cultivated squash is susceptible to a variety of viral diseases and that is a major problem for farmers," said Andrew Stephenson, Penn State professor of biology. "Infected plants grow more slowly and their fruit becomes misshapen."

MAYWOOD, Il. -- She was only 30 years old, but she was experiencing the classic symptoms of a stroke. Her speech suddenly became slurred, and her left hand became clumsy while eating.

What triggered her stroke, at such a young age, may have been the birth control pills she was taking. Oral contraceptives nearly double the risk of stroke, according to a review article in MedLink Neurology by three Loyola University Health System neurologists.

SEATTLE – Biological species are often defined on the basis of reproductive isolation. Ever since Darwin pointed out his difficulty in explaining why crosses between two species often yield sterile or inviable progeny (for instance, mules emerging from a cross between a horse and a donkey), biologists have struggled with this question. New research into this field by basic scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, published online Oct.

HOUSTON - Drawing on years of experience in cancer research and patient care, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center released today the most comprehensive, risk-based screening guidelines publicly available to date for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers.

The new recommendations represent the first wave of an effort by M. D. Anderson to improve the effectiveness of efforts to prevent and detect cancer at its earliest, most treatable stage by reconstructing and expanding its screening, risk reduction and diagnostic guidelines across eight disease sites.

October 23, 2009 -- What do a West African drummer and a sperm whale have in common? According to some reports, they can both spot rhythms in the chatter of an ocean crowded with the calls of marine mammals -- a feat impossible for the untrained human ear.