Short people are at greater risk of developing heart disease than tall people, according to the first systematic review and meta-analysis of all the available evidence, which is published online today (Wednesday 9 June) in the European Heart Journal [1].
Body
Researchers at Yale University have found that the risk of extinction for mountain birds due to global warming is greatest for species that occupy a narrow range of altitude. In fact, a species' vertical distribution is a better predictor of extinction risk than the extent of temperature change they experience, the researchers report in the June 9 issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
Fresh understanding of the virus that causes chickenpox and shingles could lead to improved vaccines and diagnostic tests, a study suggests.
Scientists at the University of Edinburgh devised a technique to separate the virus into its constituent proteins and then print them on to a biochip, before incubating the chip with blood from people who had previously had the infection.
They were able to pinpoint which proteins in the virus triggered a reaction in the body's immune system, giving scientists clues about how best to design a vaccine or blood test.
A bacteria that lives in hot springs in Japan may help solve one of the mysteries of the early evolution of complex organisms, according to a study publishing next week in PLoS Biology. It may also be the key to 21st century biofuel production.
Biochemists Alan Lambowitz and Georg Mohr began investigating Thermosynechococcus elongatus, a cyanobacterium that can survive at temperatures up to 150 degrees Fahrenheit, after they noticed an unusually high percentage of the bacteria's genetic sequence was composed of elements known as group II introns.
(KINGSTON, ON.) Queen's University Brian Amsden is hoping that in about 10 years a tendon, spinal cord or heart valve will be able to regenerate itself after an injury or disease.
The chemical engineering professor, along with scientists from the University of Western Ontario and University of Toronto, is currently trying to develop microscopic polymer fibers to help rebuild human tissue and speed the healing process.
A blood vessel-blocking drug called tasquinimod slowed the rate of disease progression in a clinical trial of 200 prostate cancer patients, according to experts at Johns Hopkins, Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Duke University.
Tasquinimod is a so-called "anti-angiogenesis" drug that squeezes off blood supply to prostate tumors by blocking new blood vessel development. Tumors require these vast networks of blood vessels to supply nutrients.
Grand Rapids, Mich. (June 8, 2010) – In collaboration with the National Cancer Centre, Singapore, Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) researchers have identified an enzyme that could help diagnose and treat cholangiocarcinoma, a form of liver cancer that strikes up to 3,000 new patients each year in the United States.
Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Regenerative Medicine (MGH-CRM) and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute have a developed a new type of human pluripotent stem cell that can be manipulated more readily than currently available stem cells. As described in the June 4 Cell Stem Cell, these new cells could be used to create better cellular models of disease processes and eventually may permit repair of disease-associated gene mutations.
African Americans with incomes below the poverty line have a significantly higher risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) than higher-income African-Americans or whites of any socioeconomic status, research led by scientists at Johns Hopkins and the National Institute on Aging shows. Conducted in a racially and socioeconomically diverse sample of participants from the city of Baltimore, Md., the study could help researchers eventually develop strategies to prevent CKD in vulnerable populations.
A comparison of hockey leagues in Canada for 11-12 year old players finds that compared with leagues that do not allow body checking, those that do have an associated 3-fold increased risk of game-related injuries, including severe injuries and severe concussions, according to a study in the June 9 issue of JAMA.
Bodychecking in Pee Wee hockey (with players aged 11-12) more than triples the risk of concussion and injury, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Calgary.
The researchers compared rates of injury between Alberta Pee Wee leagues, which allow body checking, and Quebec Leagues, which don't. The study followed 74 Alberta teams (1,108 players) and 76 Quebec teams (1,046 players) for a season, recording how and when injuries occurred during a game.
CHICAGO --- After men have surgery to remove a cancerous prostate gland, up to 80 percent of them will lose the ability to have an erection because of damage to a critical nerve that runs along the prostate.
New research from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine shows the damaged nerve can be regenerated more quickly with a protein called sonic hedgehog delivered via a nanofiber gel.
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Forestry scientists at Oregon State University have demonstrated for the first time that the growth rate and other characteristics of trees can be changed through "cisgenics" – a type of genetic engineering that is conceptually similar to traditional plant breeding.
Cisgenics uses genes from closely related species that usually are sexually compatible. If governments choose to regulate it similarly to conventional breeding, experts say, it could herald a new future for biotechnology, not only in forestry but crop agriculture and other areas.