Body | Page 3806 | Science Codex

Missing sugar molecule raises diabetes risk in humans

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego say an evolutionary gene mutation that occurred in human millions of years ago and our subsequent inability to produce a specific kind of sugar molecule appears to make people more vulnerable to developing type 2 diabetes, especially if they're overweight.

The findings are published in the Feb. 24 online edition of The FASEB Journal, a publication of the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology.

PSA screening declines following publication of large trials, guidelines

PSA screening has declined in one large U.S. healthcare network since publication of two large screening trials and a set of guidelines, according to a study published online February 24 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

PSA velocity screening for prostate cancer may lead to unnecessary biopsies

Guidelines of several cancer organizations have recommended that men with a rapid rise in PSA have a biopsy for prostate cancer, even if there is no other indication and the PSA is within the "normal" range. But change in PSA – known as PSA velocity—is a poor predictor of prostate cancer, and may lead to many unnecessary biopsies, according to a study published online February 24 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Protein could be new target to reduce damage after heart attack

Scientists have identified a protein that plays a key role in debilitating changes that occur in the heart after a heart attack, according to research reported in Circulation Research: Journal of the American Heart Association.

These changes, or "remodeling" of the heart, often lead to fatal heart failure, which kills nearly 60,000 Americans each year. The findings suggest a possible future therapy for preventing or reducing heart muscle damage after a heart attack.

Change in PSA level does not predict prostate cancer

NEW YORK, February 24, 2011 — Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have found that change in PSA levels over time — known as PSA velocity — is a poor predictor of prostate cancer and may lead to many unnecessary biopsies. The new study of more than 5,000 men was published online February 24 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Menopausal hot flashes may be a good sign for heart

CHICAGO – You are enjoying a night out with friends when it starts; first you feel flush, then a sensation of warmth crawls down your body. Soon you begin perspiring and you feel as if everyone around you can tell what is happening – another hot flash. An estimated three out of four women experience hot flashes associated with menopause and nearly all would agree they are a nuisance, but experts say there could be an upside to having hot flashes.

A North American first at the Montreal Heart Institute could help treat thousands of Canadians

Montreal, February 24, 2011 – The interventional cardiology team at the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) recently began patient enrolment for a new device, the Neovasc ReducerTM, designed to treat patients suffering from refractory angina. The treatment method is a first in North America and is being conducted as part of an international study, the COSIRA trial. This innovative treatment is promising for thousands of Canadians disabled by refractory angina and who lack alternatives for relieving their symptoms and improving their quality of life.

Just like cars, developmental genes have more than 1 way to stop

EAST LANSING, Mich. — There's more than one way to silence gene activity, according to a Michigan State University researcher.

Downregulating activity is how healthy genes should shift out of their development cycle. The results, published in this week's Current Biology, discuss how specific repressor proteins – which researchers have named Hairy and Knirps – slow genes during development and how the process is comparable to slowing down a car, says molecular biologist David Arnosti.

New research suggests that obesity and diabetes are a downside of human evolution

As if the recent prediction that half of all Americans will have diabetes or pre-diabetes by the year 2020 isn't alarming enough, a new genetic discovery published online in the FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) provides a disturbing explanation as to why: we took an evolutionary "wrong turn." In the research report, scientists show that human evolution leading to the loss of function in a gene called "CMAH" may make humans more prone to obesity and diabetes than other mammals.

Homoplasy: A good thread to pull to understand the evolutionary ball of yarn

With the genetics of so many organisms that have different traits yet to study, and with the techniques for gathering full sets of genetic information from organisms rapidly evolving, the "forest" of evolution can be easily lost to the "trees" of each individual case and detail.

Child's cremation site reveals domestic life in Paleoindian Alaska

French, Japanese, Chinese and Arabic.

Scientists have discovered the cremated skeleton of a Paleoindian child in the remains of an 11,500-year-old house in central Alaska. The findings reveal a slice of domestic life that has been missing from the record of the region's early people, who were among the first to colonize the Americas.

Scientists find gene responsible for color patterns in mice

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Scientists at Harvard University are moving closer to answering some age-old questions.

How did the leopard get its spots? How did the zebra get its stripes?

The answer may be a gene called Agouti, which the Harvard team has found governs color patterns in deer mice, the most widespread mammal in North America. This gene, found in all vertebrates, may establish color pattern in a wide variety of species, a process that has been poorly understood at both the molecular and the evolutionary level.

UF study traces global red imported fire ant invasions to southern US

GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Red imported fire ant invasions around the globe in recent years can now be traced to the southern U.S., where the nuisance insect gained a foothold in the 1930s, new University of Florida research has found.

Native to South America, the ant had been contained there and in the southeastern U.S. before turning up in faraway places in the last 20 years — including California, China, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand.

Newborn heart muscle can grow back by itself, UT Southwestern researchers have found

DALLAS – Feb. 24, 2011 – In a promising science-fiction-meets-real-world juxtaposition, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered that the mammalian newborn heart can heal itself completely.

Researchers, working with mice, found that a portion of the heart removed during the first week after birth grew back wholly and correctly – as if nothing had happened.

New study shows ability of transgenic fungi to combat malaria and other bug-borne diseases

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - New findings by a University of Maryland-led team of scientists indicate that a genetically engineered fungus carrying genes for a human anti-malarial antibody or a scorpion anti-malarial toxin could be a highly effective, specific and environmentally friendly tool for combating malaria, at a time when the effectiveness of current pesticides against malaria mosquitoes is declining.