Body

Previous research has found that children raised in homes without a biological father have sex earlier than children raised in traditional nuclear families. Now a new study that used a novel and complex design to investigate why this is so challenges a popular explanation of the reasons.

ATLANTA– September 15, 2009 – The latest edition of Cancer Facts & Figures for Hispanics/Latinos reports that Hispanic/Latino Americans –the largest, fastest-growing, and youngest minority in the United States—have a unique cancer risk profile that requires a targeted approach to cancer prevention. The report finds Hispanic/Latino Americans are less likely than non-Hispanic whites to develop and die from all cancers combined as well as the four most common cancers (female breast, prostate, colorectum, and lung).

International guidelines for treating tuberculosis are due for specific improvements, according to two research papers published this week in the open access journal PLoS Medicine.

New York, NY (September 14, 2009): A new study published in the September 15, 2009, issue of PLoS ONE found that patients with cavitary pulmonary tuberculosis receiving anti-TB medications supplemented with nebulized interferon-gamma have fewer bacilli in the lungs and less inflammation, thereby reducing the transmissibility of tuberculosis in the early phase of treatment.

Montreal, September 15, 2009 – Tuberculosis is a global threat that affects more than 10 million people each year. Working with colleagues in the United States and France, Dr. Dick Menzies of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) has placed current tuberculosis treatment guidelines under the microscope in a new study. The team's conclusions, published today in two separate articles in the journal PLoS Medicine, recommend that the World Health Organization (WHO) must review and adjust its guidelines for fighting the disease.

A dietary ingredient derived from a melon rich in antioxidant superoxide dismutase enzymes has been shown to relieve stress. In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, published in Nutrition Journal, researchers found that the supplement decreased the signs and symptoms of perceived stress and fatigue in healthy volunteers.

People living in the Seveso area of Italy, which was exposed to dioxin after an industrial accident in 1976, have experienced an increased risk of developing cancer. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Environmental Health found an increased risk of breast cancer in women from the most exposed zone and an excess of lymphatic and hematopoietic tissue neoplasms in all but the least exposed zone.

CINCINNATI - Scientists have identified the main genetic switch that causes excessive mucus in the lungs, a discovery that one day could ease suffering for people with chronic lung diseases like asthma and cystic fibrosis, or just those fighting the common cold.

The discovery was reported in a study posted online Sept. 14 by the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The new research sheds light on what has been a medical mystery - the precise biological reasons that the lungs in people with asthma, cystic fibrosis and other respiratory ailments clog with thick mucus.

X-linked lymphoproliferative disease (XLP) is a rare inherited immunodeficiency most commonly caused by deficiency in the protein SAP. Following infection with the common virus that causes infectious mononucleosis (also known as mono or glandular fever), boys with XLP often develop an extreme, usually fatal, accumulation of activated immune cells known as cytotoxic T lymphocytes; but the mechanistic link between this and SAP deficiency has not been determined.

In the lung, mucus is produced by cells known as goblet cells, which are present in small numbers in the walls of the lungs and airways. Many inflammatory stimuli, including allergens, cigarette smoke, and chronic infections, increase the number and activity of these goblet cells. This leads to mucus hyperproduction and subsequent airway obstruction and contributes to symptoms in several common lung diseases, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and cystic fibrosis (CF).

In blood cells, the protein Bcl-xL has a well-characterized role in preventing cell death by a process known as apoptosis. However, its function(s) in osteoclasts, cells that slowly breakdown bone (a process known as resorption), has not been determined. In addressing this issue, Sakae Tanaka and colleagues, at The University of Tokyo, Japan, have discovered that not only does Bcl-xL prevent osteoclast apoptosis in mice, it also negatively regulates the bone-resorbing activity of osteoclasts.

Primary lung cancer shifts to metastatic disease by suppressing a family of small molecules that normally locks the tumor in a noninvasive state, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the Genes and Development.

"Existing treatments have little success against cancer that has spread to other organs, so finding a way to prevent metastasis could have a huge impact on survival," said senior author Jonathan Kurie, M.D., professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology.

CHAPEL HILL – Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and the College of Arts & Sciences have identified a new biological process that spurs the growth of new blood vessels.

New research from the University of Cincinnati (UC) shows that a common, over-the-counter pain salve rubbed on the skin during a heart attack could serve as a cardiac-protectant, preventing or reducing damage to the heart while interventions are administered. The findings are published in the journal Circulation.

With the goal of tailoring cancer interventions for the individual, researchers at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown have published the results of a prospective study that validates the use of a simple blood test to help doctors more reliably assess treatment effectiveness for patients with metastatic breast cancer. These findings were released in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.