A new study has identified a familial association in spontaneous coronary artery dissection, a type of heart attack that most commonly affects younger women, suggesting a genetic predisposition to the condition, researchers say.
Body
A diagnosis of thyroid cancer can be devastating to professional singers, because surgical removal of the thyroid commonly causes voice changes. Massachusetts Eye and Ear surgeons developed a neural monitoring system to be used intraoperatively to improve outcomes. In the first study of its kind, they confirmed the hypothesis that the careers of singers and professional voice users are not impaired after thyroid surgery using this device.
Over the last 30 years, short sight, or myopia, has become a global health problem. The most dramatic rise has been in Singapore, Taiwan, China's cities and elsewhere in East Asia. Rates can be as high as 80-90 per cent among children leaving secondary schools in the region. As many as a fifth of them have severe myopia and so are at high risk of eye problems in later life. In Western countries rates are increasing; although not as rapidly as in East Asia.
The Myopia Mystery
Major League Baseball pitchers who underwent a second Tommy John surgery saw their performance decline and their career shortened, according to researchers at Henry Ford Hospital. In a retrospective, case-controlled study, researchers analyzed performance and longevity data of 33 pitchers who had a second surgery following the original elbow reconstruction between 1996 and 2012 and compared them with pitchers of similar age who had no prior Tommy John surgery. Key findings for pitchers after a second surgery:
At least 30 dogs in England have been killed in less than 18 months by an unknown disease which causes skin lesions and kidney failure, reveals research published in Veterinary Record. The disease is believed to be Alabama rot (cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy), a condition which has been seen in the USA in greyhounds for almost 30 years.
More than 60 percent of the world's population is infected with a type of herpes virus called human cytomegalovirus. The virus replicates by commandeering the host cell's metabolism but the details of this maneuver are unclear.
The harmful effects of smoking during pregnancy may be reflected in the facial movements of mothers' unborn babies, new research has suggested.
Researchers at Durham and Lancaster universities said the findings of their pilot study added weight to existing evidence that smoking is harmful to fetuses as they develop in the womb and warranted further investigation.
Young children who received the 4CMenB vaccine as infants to protect against serogroup B meningococcal disease had waning immunity by age 5, even after receiving a booster at age 3 ½, according to new research in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal)
Serogroup B meningococcal disease is the leading cause of meningitis and blood infections in developed countries. Infants and young children under the age of 5 years are especially at risk, and there is a second peak of cases in the late teenage years.
Microbes may just be the next diet craze. Researchers have programmed bacteria to generate a molecule that, through normal metabolism, becomes a hunger-suppressing lipid. Mice that drank water laced with the programmed bacteria ate less, had lower body fat and staved off diabetes -- even when fed a high-fat diet -- offering a potential weight-loss strategy for humans.
A new study from Princeton University sheds light on the handing over of genetic control from mother to offspring early in development. Learning how organisms manage this transition could help researchers understand larger questions about how embryos regulate cell division and differentiation into new types of cells.
The study, published in the March 12 issue of the journal Cell, provides new insight into the mechanism for this genetic hand-off, which happens within hours of fertilization, when the newly fertilized egg is called a zygote.
Scientists have discovered an antioxidant system that helps sustain the liver when other systems are missing or compromised.
Like a generator kicking in when the power fails or an understudy taking the stage when a lead actor is sick, the newly found system steps up during a crisis. It's fueled by methionine, an amino acid that can't be manufactured in the body and doesn't come from herbal teas or supplements. People get it only by eating protein.
Tumors acquiring resistance is one of the major barriers to successful cancer therapy. Feng Fu, Sebastian Bonhoeffer (ETH Zurich) and their collaborator Martin Nowak (Harvard) use mathematical models to characterize how important aspects of tumor microenvironment can impair the efficacy of targeted cancer therapies.
Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and their international collaborators have developed a novel fluorescence microscopy technique that for the first time shows where and when proteins are produced. The technique allows researchers to directly observe individual messenger RNA molecules (mRNAs) as they are translated into proteins in living cells.
Nutrition and metabolism are closely linked with reproductive health. Several reproductive disorders including polycystic ovary syndrome, amenorrhea, and ovarian cancer have been linked to malnutrition, diabetes, and obesity. Furthermore, fasting in numerous species can result in decreased fertility, because the development of immature egg cells, called oocytes, is arrested. Understanding how nutrients accumulate in immature oocytes will provide valuable insights into the link between metabolic disease and reproductive dysfunction.
A new analysis of a medieval cesspit in the Christian quarter of the old city of Jerusalem has revealed the presence of a number of ancient parasite eggs, providing a window into the nature and spread of infectious diseases in the Middle East during the 15th century.
Researchers found evidence of six species of intestinal parasites in the over 500-year-old latrine. These included large quantities of roundworm and whipworm, both spread by faecal contamination of food and thought to be endemic to the region dating back to human evolution out of Africa.