Body

Radiologists at Duke University Medical Center have developed a scale called the Duke Abdominal Assessment Scale (DAAS) to assist clinicians in determining the severity of disease and the need for surgery in infants with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), according to a study in the November issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

A medical imaging procedure known as lung scintigraphy may be more reliable than pulmonary CT angiography (CTA) for identifying or excluding pulmonary embolism (PE) in pregnant patients, according to a study published in the November issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Researchers have found recent evidence that shows the growth of external, off-hours teleradiology services (EOTSs) has slowed in recent years, despite a significant increase in the number of radiology practices using those services between 2003 and 2007, according to a study in the November issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

ATLANTA — Did you know that millions of tons of fruits and vegetables in the United States end up in the trash can before being eaten, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture?

Scientists have for the first time produced liver cells from adult skin cells using the induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology.

The study, led by the University of Edinburgh's MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, paves the way for the creation of a stem cell library that can be used for in vitro hepatic disease models.

Children whose bones are "older" than their chronological age may be at an increased risk of hypertension, according to a study reported today (19 October) in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.(1) As a result, the investigators suggest that markers of biological maturity should be evaluated in hypertensive children, and that physical activity and diet may deter the accelerated development of biological maturity.

Researchers are building the environmental equivalent of the ASX200 as a means of monitoring the health of Australian marine ecosystems.

The state of an ecosystem can be understood by measuring the right ecological characteristics, just as the ASX200 index shows the state of the Australian stock market by following 200 selected stocks.

CSIRO Wealth from Oceans Flagship scientist Dr Keith Hayes, one of the leaders of the project, says the difficult part is selecting which characteristics to track.

Genetic information from an extinct species of bison preserved in permafrost for thousands of years could help improve modern agricultural livestock and breeding programs, according to University of Adelaide researchers.

Researchers from the University's Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD) worked with an international team of genomics researchers to analyse the genetic mutations of an ancient bison, many modern cattle breeds and members of the larger ruminant family tree, including deer, antelopes, and giraffes.

The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) released new data today showing that a staggering 285 million people worldwide have diabetes. The latest figures from the IDF Diabetes Atlas indicate that people in low and middle-income countries (LMCs) are bearing the brunt of the epidemic, and that the disease is affecting far more people of working age than previously believed.

When mother and daughter cells are created each time a cell divides, they are not exactly alike. They have the same set of genes, but differ in the way they regulate them. New research now reveals that these regulatory differences between mother and daughter cells are directly linked to how they prepare for their next split. The work, a collaboration between scientists at Rockefeller University and the State University of New York, Stony Brook, may ultimately lead to a better understanding of how cell division goes awry in different types of cancer.

Mangosteen juice has anti-inflammatory properties which could prove to be valuable in preventing the development of heart disease and diabetes in obese patients. A study, published in BioMed Central's open access Nutrition Journal, describes how the juice of the exotic 'superfruit' lowered levels of C-reactive protein.

COLUMBIA, Mo. ¬— Pairing a new approach to prepare ancient DNA with a new scientific technique developed specifically to genotype a cow, an MU animal scientist, along with a team of international researchers, created a very accurate and widespread "family tree" for cows and other ruminants, going back as far as 29 million years. This genetic information could allow scientists to understand the evolution of cattle, ruminants and other animals.

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2009Media Contacts:Rachel Seroka, rseroka@aan.com, (651) 695-2738Angela Babb, ababb@aan.com, (651) 695-2789

A report from a team of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) physicians calls into question the longstanding belief that pulmonary embolism (PE) – the life-threatening blockage of a major blood vessel in the lungs – is caused in trauma patients by a blood clot traveling from vessels deep within the legs or lower torso. In their study utilizing advanced imaging technologies, which appears in the October Archives of Surgery, the MGH investigators found no evidence of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in most trauma patients with pulmonary embolism.

Microdermabrasion using a coarse diamond-studded instrument appears to induce molecular changes in the skin of older adults that mimic the way skin is remodeled during the wound healing process, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.