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Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has been linked to oxidative stress caused by dysregulation of the genes that control mitochondria. A study in the open access journal BMC Genomics has revealed alterations in respiration gene expression in the white blood cells of CKD patients.

In most transplant centers, the kidneys of very young deceased donors are transplanted together into one patient. According to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN), a single kidney from a very young deceased donor maintains the health of an adult with kidney failure.

DURHAM, N.C. – The lowly appendix, long-regarded as a useless evolutionary artifact, won newfound respect two years ago when researchers at Duke University Medical Center proposed that it actually serves a critical function. The appendix, they said, is a safe haven where good bacteria could hang out until they were needed to repopulate the gut after a nasty case of diarrhea, for example.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan State University researcher is challenging health standards that consider nitrates and nitrites in food to be harmful.

Norman Hord's research suggests that although there are negative health effects associated with the use of nitrogen-based fertilizers and excessive nitrates in groundwater, nitrates and nitrites -- as they occur in plants -- may actually provide health benefits.

Research published by Army scientists indicates that a minor reduction in levels of one particular gene, known as CD45, can provide protection against two divergent microbes: the virus that causes Ebola hemorrhagic fever and the bacterium that causes anthrax. Taken together, the results suggest a common host restriction factor and a promising approach to drug development for treating two completely different infections.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new process for creating ultrathin, ultrasmall inorganic light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and assembling them into large arrays offers new classes of lighting and display systems with interesting properties, such as see-through construction and mechanical flexibility, that would be impossible to achieve with existing technologies.

In the latest proof that the oceans continue to offer remarkable findings and much of their vastness remains to be explored, scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and their colleagues have discovered a unique group of worms that live in the depths of the ocean.

The discoveries feature worms—nicknamed "green bombers"—that can release body parts that produce a brilliant green bioluminescent display.

The discovery is described in the August 21 issue of the journal Science and is led by Karen Osborn of Scripps Oceanography.

This release is available in http://chinese..org/zh/emb_releases/2009-08/aaft-cca081809.php">Chinese.

The term "beneficial virus" sounds like an oxymoron.

But for pea aphids under attack by parasitic wasps, carrying infected bacteria is the difference between life and a slow death, according to new research.

The wasps lay eggs inside the aphids, and the wasp larvae eat the living aphids from the inside out.

"A parasitoid death would be a very gruesome death," said first author Kerry M. Oliver. "It's like the movie 'Alien' where this thing grows inside of you and then ruptures out of you and kills you."

CLEMSON -- Optimal control of the spread of the seasonal flu and H1N1 is achieved by prioritizing vaccinations for schoolchildren and for adults aged 30 to 39 in the United States. Those are the findings of a new study by Clemson University mathematician Jan Medlock and colleague Alison Galvani of the Yale University School of Medicine.

New Haven, Conn. —With the seasonal flu season approaching and uncertainty over whether swine flu will become more severe, new research published by Yale School of Public Health has found that more people are likely to avoid illness if vaccines are given out first to those most likely to transmit viruses, rather than to those at highest risk for complications. This research differs from current vaccination recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

A new study finds that young muskoxen conserve heat almost as well as adults, a finding that runs contrary to a longstanding assumption among scientists that young animals should be more vulnerable in extreme cold. The study, by biologist Adam Munn from the University of Sydney, Australia, will be published in the forthcoming issue of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology.

In middle-aged women, visceral fat, more commonly called belly fat, is known to be a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but what causes visceral fat to accumulate?

The culprit is likely not age, as is commonly believed, but the change in hormone balance that occurs during the menopause transition, according to researchers at Rush University Medical Center.

Scientists have uncovered a vital link in the chain of events that gives stem cells their remarkable properties.

Researchers from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research at the University of Cambridge have pinpointed the final step in a complex process that gives embryonic stem cells their unique ability to develop into any of the different types of cells in the body (from liver cells to skin cells). Their findings, published today in the journal Cell, have important implications for efforts to harness the power of stem cells for medical applications.

MADISON — Success in soccer sometimes comes with "bending it like Beckham." Success in cellular fusion — as occurs at the moment of conception and when nerve cells exchange neurotransmitters — requires that a membrane be bent before the merging process can begin, University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have shown.