Body

The drug letrozole results in higher birth rates in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) than the current preferred infertility treatment drug, according to a nationwide study led by Penn State College of Medicine researchers.

PCOS affects 5 to 10 percent of reproductive-age women and is the most common cause of female infertility. Women affected have excessive levels of the hormone androgen, have infrequent periods, develop small cysts on the ovaries and have trouble conceiving.

Boston, MA -- Vasectomy was associated with a small increased risk of prostate cancer, and a stronger risk for advanced or lethal prostate cancer according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). The researchers found that the association remained even among men who received regular PSA screening, suggesting the increased risk of lethal cancer cannot be explained by diagnostic bias. It is the largest and most comprehensive study to date to look at the link between vasectomy and prostate cancer.

Bacteria found in the bladders of healthy women differ from bacteria in women with a common form of incontinence, according to researchers from Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.

These findings, published July 9, 2014, in the American Society for Microbiology's online journal mBio, suggest that bacterial communities may play a role in female urinary health.

Obesity is common among U.S. Hispanics and is severe particularly among young Hispanics, according to research in the Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA).

The first large-scale data on body mass index (BMI) and cardiovascular disease risk factors among U.S. Hispanic/Latino adult populations suggests that severe obesity may be associated with considerable excess risk for cardiovascular diseases.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have documented the safety benefits of aortic stent grafts inserted during minimally invasive surgery to repair abdominal aortic aneurysms – weaknesses in the body's largest artery that can rupture, causing potentially lethal internal bleeding.

LA JOLLA-The ability to switch out one gene for another in a line of living stem cells has only crossed from science fiction to reality within this decade. As with any new technology, it brings with it both promise--the hope of fixing disease-causing genes in humans, for example--as well as questions and safety concerns. Now, Salk scientists have put one of those concerns to rest: using gene-editing techniques on stem cells doesn't increase the overall occurrence of mutations in the cells. The new results were published July 3 in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Regulated deer hunts in Indiana state parks have helped restore the health of forests suffering from decades of damage caused by overabundant populations of white-tailed deer, a Purdue study shows.

A research team led by Michael Jenkins, associate professor of forest ecology, found that a 17-year-long Indiana Department of Natural Resources policy of organizing hunts in state parks has successfully spurred the regrowth of native tree seedlings, herbs and wildflowers rendered scarce by browsing deer.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC, July 9, 2014 – The spread of damaging invasive forest pests is only partially powered by the insects' own wings. People moving firewood for camping can hasten and widen the insects' spread and resulting forest destruction. A new U.S. Forest Service study gives state planners a tool for anticipating the most likely route of human-assisted spread they can use to enhance survey and public education efforts.

Scientists from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) have discovered that NANOG, an essential gene for embryonic stem cells, also regulates cell division in stratified epithelia—those that form part of the epidermis of the skin or cover the oesophagus or the vagina—in adult organisms. According to the conclusions of the study, published in the journal Nature Communications, this factor could also play a role in the formation of tumours derived from stratified epithelia of the oesophagus and skin.

As climate change shifts the geographic ranges in which animals can be found, concern mounts over the effect it has on their parasites. Does an increased range for a host mean new territory for its parasites as well?

Silverback gorillas appear to use odor as a form of communication to other gorillas, according to a study published July 9, 2014 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Michelle Klailova from University of Stirling, UK, and colleagues.

A network of signals active in almost all types of cancer sends the protein factories in our cells into overdrive, and may help fuel a tumour's uncontrolled growth, new research suggests.

Scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, identified a molecular trigger responsible for ratcheting up activity of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) – the cellular factory that makes the building blocks cancer cells need to keep growing.

Using an innovative tool that captures heretofore hidden ways that cells are regulated, scientists at Rockefeller University have identified a protein that makes breast cancer cells more likely to metastasize.

What's more, the protein appears to trigger cancer's spread in part by blocking two other proteins that are normally linked to neurodegeneration, a finding that suggests these two disease processes could have unexpected ties.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Sexual selection refers to species' selection for traits that are attractive to the opposite sex. This special type of natural selection enhances opportunities to mate, the tail of male peacocks being an iconic example.

New findings from Fox Chase Cancer Center paint a relatively optimistic picture of women's chances of surviving a subset of breast cancers that have spread to the chest wall or skin, but not beyond.