Body

Adults and children who are referred for patch testing of allergens appear equally likely to have allergic contact dermatitis, although they tend to react to different allergens, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Among high-risk patients with head and neck cancer, chest computed tomography (CT) may help detect disease progression involving the lungs, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Researchers at the University of Michigan Health System Department of Dermatology have found scientific evidence that the appearance of sun-damaged skin may be improved by treatment with a topical product that increases the skin's sensitivity to light, followed by laser therapy.

Heart failure patients are at higher risk for fractures, including debilitating hip fractures, than other heart patients and should be screened and treated for osteoporosis, Canadian researchers reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

One year after an emergency room visit, 4.6 percent of heart failure patients experienced a fracture compared to only 1 percent of other heart patients. The one-year rate for hip fractures was 1.3 percent for heart failure patients compared to only 0.1 percent for other heart patients.

Johns Hopkins scientists were dubious in the early 1980s when they stumbled on small sugar molecules lurking in the centers of cells; not only were they not supposed to be there, but they certainly weren't supposed to be repeatedly attaching to and detaching from proteins, effectively switching them on and off. The conventional wisdom was that the job of turning proteins on and off -- and thus determining their actions -- fell to phosphates, in a common and easy-to-detect chemical step in which phosphates fasten to and unfasten from proteins; a process called phosphorylation.

Boston, MA – More than 330,000 lives were lost to HIV/AIDS in South Africa from 2000 and 2005 because a feasible and timely antiretroviral (ARV) treatment program was not implemented, assert researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) in a study published online by the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS) (http://www.jaids.com/).

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine may be one step closer to understanding why past oral contraceptive use dramatically lowers the risk of ovarian and uterine cancers later in life.

St. Louis, Oct.20, 2008 — Researchers have shown that self-induced breaks in the DNA of immune cells known as lymphocytes activate genes that cause the cells to travel from where they're made to where they help the body fight invaders.

Nalini Nadkarni of Evergreen State College currently advises a team of researchers who sport shaved heads, tattooed biceps and prison-issued garb rather than the lab coats and khakis typically worn by researchers. Why is Nadkarni's team composed of such apparently iconoclastic researchers? Because all of her researchers are inmates at Cedar Creek Corrections Center, a medium security prison in Littlerock, Washington.

A new study shows that a low-carbohydrate diet changes hepatic energy metabolism. When carbohydrates are restricted, the liver relies more on substances like lactate and amino acids to form glucose, instead of glycerol. These findings are in the November issue of Hepatology, a journal published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). The article is also available online at Wiley Interscience (www.interscience.wiley.com).

Treating all U.S. prisoners who have hepatitis C with the standard therapy of pegylated-interferon and ribavirin would be cost-effective, says a new study in the November issue of Hepatology, a journal published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). The article is also available online at Wiley Interscience (www.interscience.wiley.com).

Sandia scientists are helping train Iraqi scientists and technicians to clean up radioactively contaminated sites and safely dispose of the radioactive wastes as part of the Iraqi Nuclear Facility Dismantlement and Disposal Program.

The Sandia work is a technical transfer of skills and knowledge that the Labs use day to day, says Sandia principal investigator John Cochran. As an example of this, Sandia has transferred its Rad Worker II training materials to the government of Iraq.

A new UC Davis study says that people trying to help nature bydesigning corridors for wildlife need to think more naturally.

"Human beings tend to think in terms of regular, symmetricalstructures, but nature can be much more irregular," said UC Davispostdoctoral researcher Matthew Holland, the study's lead author. "Wefound that symmetrical systems of corridors may actually do less goodfor natural communities than designs with some randomness orasymmetry built in."

BERKELEY, CA – Because they are riddled with defects, bulk crystalline materials never achieve their ideal strength; nanocrystals, on the other hand, are so small there's no room for defects. ("Nano" is short for nanometer, a billionth of a meter.) Yet while nanocrystalline materials may approach ideal strength in their resistance to stress, most nanostructures have shown only a limited ability to withstand large internal strains before they fail. Overcoming this limitation could lead to great advances in engineered materials on all scales.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Reducing the number of deer in forests and parks may unexpectedly reduce the number of reptiles, amphibians and insects in that area, new research suggests.

A recent study by researchers at Ohio State University and National Park Service found that higher deer activity is modifying forest ecosystems in unexpected ways. Out of several species of snakes, salamanders, and invertebrates studied, a greater diversity of animals were found in areas with deer populations than were in areas with no deer activity.