Spanish researchers have confirmed that the largest bat in Europe, Nyctalus lasiopterus, was present in north-eastern Spain during the Late Pleistocene (between 120,000 and 10,000 years ago). The Greater Noctule fossils found in the excavation site at Abríc Romaní (Barcelona) prove that this bat had a greater geographical presence more than 10,000 years ago than it does today, having declined due to the reduction in vegetation cover.
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BETHESDA, Md.—The American Physiological Society (APS; www.the-aps.org) announced today that it has endorsed the recommendation of a National Academy of Sciences* (NAS) report calling for the identification of new suppliers to replace Class B dealers as providers of random source dogs and cats for medical research.
DALLAS – Oct. 29, 2009 – Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have eliminated non-small cell lung (NSCL) cancer in mice by using an investigative drug called BEZ235 in combination with low-dose radiation.
Biofield therapies, which claim to use subtle energy to stimulate the body's healing process, are promising complementary interventions for reducing the intensity of pain in a number of conditions, reducing anxiety for hospitalized patients and reducing agitated behaviors in dementia, over and above what standard treatments can achieve. However, longer-term effects are less clear. Dr. Shamini Jain, from the UCLA Division of Cancer Prevention and Control Research, and Dr.
A recent study by doctors at Shinshu University, School of Medicine, in Japan determined that left side grafting has lower risk to donors compared to grafts taken from the right lobe, and it appears to be the procedure of choice for adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). Researchers also found that graft size was not the only cause behind "small-for-size graft syndrome," a severe complication resulting in organ malfunction and transplant failure.
A study conducted by exercise physiologists in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Human Studies finds that as little as 80 minutes a week of aerobic or resistance training helps not only to prevent weight gain, but also to inhibit a regain of harmful visceral fat one year after weight loss.
The study was published online Oct. 8 and will appear in a future print edition of the journal Obesity.
Tampa, Fla. (Oct. 29, 2009) – Trophoblast stem cells (TSCs), cells found in the layer of peripheral embryonic stem cells from which the placenta is formed, are thought to exhibit "immune privilege" that aids cell survivability and is potentially beneficial for cell and gene therapies. Further, the survivability of TSCs has been thought to require the presence of ovarian hormones. However, none of these assumptions has ever been verified.
Researchers from Tufts University School of Medicine have determined that patients over 65 years of age with knee osteoarthritis (OA) who engage in regular Tai Chi exercise improve physical function and experience less pain. Tai Chi (Chuan) is a traditional style of Chinese martial arts that features slow, rhythmic movements to induce mental relaxation and enhance balance, strength, flexibility, and self-efficacy. Full findings of the study are published in the November issue of Arthritis Care & Research, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology.
A recent study determined glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (OP) is now treatable with Teriparatide, a synthetic form of the human parathyroid hormone. Researchers found patients with glucocorticoid-induced OP who were treated with teriparatide for 36 months had a greater increase in bone mineral density (BMD) and fewer new vertebral fractures than those treated with alendronate. The findings of this study are published in the November issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR).
Despite recent advances in anti-inflammatory therapy, many rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients continue to suffer from pain. Research published in BioMed Central's open access journal, Arthritis Research & Therapy found that inflammation is associated with heightened pain sensitivity at joint sites, whereas increased sleep problems are associated with heightened pain sensitivity at both joint and non-joint sites.
Intensive lifestyle changes aimed at modest weight loss reduced the rate of developing type 2 diabetes by 34 percent compared with placebo in people at high risk for the disease, researchers conclude based on 10 years of data.
Participants randomly assigned to make lifestyle changes also had more favorable cardiovascular risk factors, including lower blood pressure and triglyceride levels, despite taking fewer drugs to control their heart disease risk, according to the study.
Intensive lifestyle changes aimed at modest weight loss reduced the rate of developing type 2 diabetes by 34 percent over 10 years in people at high risk for the disease.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and 26 other sites nationwide determined the results from the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study (DPPOS), a 10-year follow-up study of patients who participated in the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP). The results appear in the Oct. 29, 2009, online edition of The Lancet.
Metastases are responsible for over 90% of cancer deaths. In the upcoming issue of G&D, Dr. Robert Weinberg (MIT) and colleagues lend molecular insight into how microRNAs suppress tumor metastasis.
Scott Valastyan, lead author on the study, describes it as presenting "detailed mechanistic insight regarding the process of tumor metastasis, and identifies several key regulators of this process that might prove to be interesting diagnostic and/or therapeutic targets in breast cancer."
Two genetic mutations that may put individuals at increased risk of fungal infections have been identified by scientists from UCL and Radboud University, increasing understanding about the genetic basis of these infections and potentially aiding the development of new treatments.
PHILADELPHIA –- An international team of environmental scientists led by the University of Pennsylvania has shown that sea-level rise, at least in North Carolina, is accelerating. Researchers found 20th-century sea-level rise to be three times higher than the rate of sea-level rise during the last 500 years. In addition, this jump appears to occur between 1879 and 1915, a time of industrial change that may provide a direct link to human-induced climate change.
The results appear in the current issue of the journal Geology.