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Los Baños, Philippines – Improved agricultural productivity can help developing countries reduce their reliance on international emergency food relief following natural disasters. This is one of the conclusions of a team of International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) scientists who visited cyclone-devastated Myanmar in August.

OAK BROOK, Ill. – September 17, 2008 – Results of the National CT Colonography Trial, published in the September 18 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, show improvements in the technology's ability to diagnose intermediate- to large-sized polyps in the colon, but this method of testing is not as effective in diagnosing small polyps. CT colonography is one of several colorectal cancer screening options. The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) encourages patients to speak to their doctor about the screening method that is best for them.

There may be no such thing as a 'safe' tan based on ultraviolet (UV) radiation, according to a series of papers published in the October issue of Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research, the official journal of The International Federation of Pigment Cell Societies (IFPCS) and the Society for Melanoma Research.

Biologists at the University of Rochester have found that small-bodied rodents with long lifespans have evolved a previously unknown anti-cancer mechanism that appears to be different from any anticancer mechanisms employed by humans or other large mammals. The findings are published in today's issue of Aging Cell.

Understanding this mechanism may help prevent cancer in humans because many human cancers originate from stem cells and similar mechanisms may regulate stem cell division.

The pathogenesis of NASH remains unclear. Nowadays, lipid metabolism abnormality, insulin resistance and oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation reaction are thought to place an important role in the pathogenesis of NASH. Several researches have also demonstrated that the change of intestinal environment may play a role in NASH, which may be a cause of enterogenous endotoxemia. While the relationship between intestinal mucosa barrier function and NASH is uncertain.

Gastrointestinal dysfunction is a common complication of severe burns. Injury to GI function, especially to GI barrier function, is an important initiator as well as a stimulator for occurrence of systemic inflammatory response syndrome, sepsis and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome following severe burns.

The mechanism of pneumatosis cystoids intestinalis (PCI) is unclear. The mechanical and bacterial factors are most predominant causes of PCI. Several chemotherapeutic agents recently have been reported to be associated with PCI. Fluorouracil-related PCI has not been described previously. This present case will add to the some reports of patients with fluorouracil related toxity.

The present brief clinical report showed that Contrast-enhanced intraoperative ultrasonography (CE-IOUS) using a new microbubble agent, Sonazoid, can allow surgeons to investigate the whole liver with enough time and to find new metastases intraoperatively.

Patients with IBD have high risk of infection by hepatitis viruses B or C because during the course of their disease, they need blood transfusions, and sometimes surgical and endoscopic procedures for diagnosis and treatment. It is important to alert health professionals about prevention and early diagnosis of HBV infection because the steroids and immunosuppressant drugs used in IBD treatment worsen the HBV liver disease. Few studies exist to verify if these drugs influence HBV infection in IBD patients.

Gastroesophageal adenocarcinomas have a poor prognosis. However, numerous randomized clinical trials (RCT) have evaluated, and continue to evaluate, the survival benefit of various treatment regimens. Surgery remains standard care for early stage esophageal cancer and gastric cancer. However, RCTs have also shown a survival benefit associated with chemotherapy and chemoradiation. Few studies have examined community-based patterns of care for these cancers.

Adult living related liver donors play an essential role in filling the gap of transplants needed due to a heavy shortage of cadaveric donations. Considering that living related donors are healthy individuals at baseline, it is imperative to ensure good outcomes and return to quality of life.

The new global metabolic profiling techniques, like lipidomics as a branch of metabolomics, have made it possible to measure large numbers of different metabolites, and are currently being applied to increase our understanding of the health and disease continuum.

ALEXANDRIA, VA, September 17, 2008 — In response to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showing that pelvic floor disorders, such as urinary incontinence, affect up to one-quarter of American women, the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) is urging women who suffer from this widespread disorder to consider treatment from a physical therapist.

DALLAS – Sept. 17, 2008 – Nearly one-quarter of all women suffer from pelvic-floor disorders, such as incontinence, at some point in their lives, a national study, including researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center, has found.

The study of nearly 2,000 women in seven U.S. cities found that 23.7 percent of participants had experienced at least one pelvic-floor disorder, and the risk increased with age.

INDIANAPOLIS – How frequently should symptom-free individuals at average risk for colon cancer undergo screening with colonoscopy? In a study published in the Sept. 18, 2008, New England Journal of Medicine, researchers led by Thomas F. Imperiale, M.D., of the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute, report that while there still is no definitive answer to the question, they now know the procedure need not be performed any sooner than every five years.