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A University of Oregon research team has found that evolution can never go backwards, because the paths to the genes once present in our ancestors are forever blocked. The findings -- the result of the first rigorous study of reverse evolution at the molecular level -- appear in the Sept. 24 issue of Nature.

In a study published in the September 24th issue of Nature, an international team describes how they harnessed modern genomic technology to explore the ancient history of India, the world's second most populous nation.

MIAMI -- El Niño, the periodic eastern Pacific phenomenon credited with shielding the United States and Caribbean from severe hurricane seasons, may be overshadowed by its brother in the central Pacific due to global warming, according to an article in the September 24 issue of the journal Nature.

(PHILADELPHIA) – A recent United States Army study found that excessive bone growth, also known as heterotopic ossificiation (HO), affects up to 70 percent of soldiers who are severely wounded during combat. A much smaller percentage of the civilian population also suffers from HO following trauma or invasive surgery. The excessive bone forms within muscles and other tissues causing severe pain, reduced mobility and even local paralysis if untreated.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — When it comes to understanding a critical junction in animal evolution, some short, simple flatworms have been a real thorn in scientists' sides. Specialists have jousted over the proper taxonomic placement of a group of worms called Acoelomorpha. This collection of worms, which comprises roughly 350 species, is part of a much larger group called bilateral animals, organisms that have symmetrical body forms, including humans, insects and worms. The question about acoelomorpha, was: Where do they fit in?

Sept. 22, 2009 -- Sometimes to see something properly, you have to stand farther back. This is true of Chuck Close portraits where a patchwork of many small faces changes into one giant face as you back away.

It may also be true of the frogs of Central America, where the pattern of extinctions emerges clearly only at a certain spatial scale.

Everyone knows that frogs are in trouble and that some species have disappeared, but a recent analysis of Central American frog surveys shows the situation is worse than had been thought.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – SEPTEMBER 21, 2009 – Two subset analyses from the landmark HORIZONS-AMI trial show that the anticoagulant bivalirudin lowers major bleeding and cardiac death versus the combination of heparin and a GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor in patients with ST-segment myocardial infarction (STEMI) who have disease of the left anterior descending artery (LAD), while in STEMI patients at highest risk for death, bivalirudin also confers the greatest mortality benefit.

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researchers are part of an international team that has discovered a genetic variation that could identify those people infected with hepatitis C who are most likely to benefit from current treatments.

Dr Melanie Bahlo and Dr Max Moldovan from the institute's Bioinformatics division worked with researchers from the University of Sydney and elsewhere to analyse the genomes of more than 800 people, including more than 300 Australians, who were receiving treatment for chronic hepatitis C infection.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Immune therapies have been explored as a way to treat cancer after it develops. But a new study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center suggests that genetic risk of prostate cancer can be reduced by rescuing critical immune system cells.

The study was done in mice and would need further validation and extensive testing in the lab before being available for humans. But the results are promising for people with a strong family history of cancer or known cancer genes.

In the largest study of its kind, the international team of pathologists studied an initial 4,000 prostate cancer patients over a period of 15 years to further understanding into the natural progression of the disease and how it should be managed. The research, published in the British Journal of Cancer, could be used to develop a blood test to distinguish between aggressive and non-aggressive forms of prostate cancer.

Berlin, Germany: A group of scientists from Hamburg may have taken a big step towards more effective cancer drug development, Europe's largest cancer congress, ECCO 15 – ESMO 34 [1], heard today (Wednesday 23 September). Dr Ilona Schonn, Director of Cell Culture Research at Indivumed GmbH, told the conference that they had developed a preclinical drug test platform that would enable researchers to analyse tumour tissue for individual patient drug responses on the molecular level.

Berlin, Germany: One of the first of a series of trials to investigate the use of sorafenib – a targeted anti-cancer drug – for the treatment of advanced breast cancer has found that if it is combined with the chemotherapy drug, capecitabine, it makes a significant difference to the time women live without their disease worsening.

Berlin, Germany: Researchers have made significant advances in the treatment of metastatic malignant melanoma – one of the most difficult cancers to treat successfully once it has started to spread – according to a study to be presented at Europe's largest cancer congress, ECCO 15 – ESMO 34 [1], in Berlin on Thursday.

Berlin, Germany: Researchers have shown for the first time that patterns of ultrasound signals can be used to identify whether or not cancer has started to spread in melanoma patients, and to what extent. The discovery enables doctors to decide on how much surgery, if any, is required and to predict the patient's probable survival.

Active tuberculosis can be rapidly identified in patients with negative sputum tests by a new method, according to European researchers. Active tuberculosis (TB) is the seventh-leading cause of death worldwide, and while the diagnosis of active TB can be rapidly established when the bacteria can be identified on sputum microscopy, in about half of all cases, the TB bacterium cannot be detected, making another diagnostic option critical in efforts to control the spread of TB.