Body

Weizmann Institute scientists have added another piece to the obesity puzzle, showing how and why a certain protein that is active in a small part of the brain contributes to weight gain. This research appeared today in Cell Metabolism.

Scientists have discovered a new component of mitochondria that plays a key part in their function. The discovery, which is presented in the journal Cell Metabolism, is of potential significance to our understanding of both inherited and age-related diseases.

Mitochondria are normally called the cell's power plants since they convert the energy in our food into a form that the body can use. To work properly, the mitochondria have to form new proteins, which they do in their ribosomes.

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is an indicator for coronary and carotid arterial disease and carries inherent risks of claudication and amputation. PAD screening has increased dramatically, particularly among cardiologists, while vascular surgery has demonstrated the greatest growth in revascularization procedures treating PAD, according to research being presented at the 2011 American Roentgen Ray Society's annual meeting.

MDCT arthrography is better than MR arthrography for diagnosing glenoid rim osseous lesions, lesions that have been identified as potential causes of recurrence after shoulder surgery, according to a new study.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Its head and body looked like a dog, yet its striped coat was cat-like. It carried its young in a pouch, like a kangaroo. No wonder the thylacine — the enigmatic, iconic creature of Australia and Tasmania — was the object of so much confusion, alternately called the "marsupial wolf" and the "Tasmanian tiger."

Rock climbers are having a negative impact on rare cliff-dwelling plants, ecologists have found. Writing in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology they say that in areas popular with climbers, conservation management plans should be drawn up so that some cliffs are protected from climbers.

In this week's PLoS Medicine, Molly Franke and Megan Murray of the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA and colleagues report that early antiretroviral therapy reduces mortality among HIV-infected adults with tuberculosis and improves retention in care, regardless of CD4 count.

The human eye long ago solved a problem common to both digital and film cameras: how to get good contrast in an image while also capturing faint detail.

Nearly 50 years ago, physiologists described the retina's tricks for improving contrast and sharpening edges, but new experiments by University of California, Berkeley, neurobiologists show how the eye achieves this without sacrificing shadow detail.

Using simple robots to simulate genetic evolution over hundreds of generations, Swiss scientists provide quantitative proof of kin selection and shed light on one of the most enduring puzzles in biology: Why do most social animals, including humans, go out of their way to help each other? In next week's issue of the online, open access journal PLoS Biology, EPFL robotics professor Dario Floreano teams up with University of Lausanne biologist Laurent Keller to weigh in on the oft-debated question of the evolution of altruism genes.

UCLA scientists have discovered a way to wake up the immune system to fight cancer by delivering an immune system-stimulating protein in a nanoscale container called a vault directly into lung cancer tumors, harnessing the body's natural defenses to fight disease growth.

Between 2001 and 2008, the annual rate of coronary artery bypass graft surgeries performed in the United States decreased by more than 30 percent, but rates of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI; procedures such as balloon angioplasty or stent placement used to open narrowed coronary arteries) did not change significantly, according to a study in the May 4 issue of JAMA.

In a study conducted to examine the health outcomes related to salt intake, as gauged by the amount of sodium excreted in the urine, lower sodium excretion was associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular death, while higher sodium excretion did not correspond with increased risk of hypertension or cardiovascular disease complications, according to a study in the May 4 issue of JAMA.

Only about half of new drugs approved in the last decade had comparative effectiveness data available at the time of their approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and approximately two-thirds of new drugs had this information available when alternative treatment options existed, according to a study in the May 4 issue of JAMA.

Breast cancers that are first detectable in the interval between screening mammograms are more likely to be aggressive, fast-growing tumors according to a study published online May 3rd in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Philadelphia – New research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine shows a substantial decrease in one type of revascularization procedure, coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, while rates of utilization of the other form, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), has remained unchanged. Coronary revascularization, the process of restoring the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the heart, is among the most common hospital-based major interventional procedures performed in the United States.