Body

June 21, 2016 - A simple model consisting of four risk factors can help surgeons to predict the risk of complications after surgery for cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM)--a common condition causing compression of the spinal cord in the neck, reports a study in the July issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, published by Wolters Kluwer.

Chronic pain is one of the most prevalent, disabling and expensive public health crises in the United States. It affects more than 100 million Americans, with annual costs estimated at $635 billion, says a 2014 report from the American Pain Society.

CHAPEL HILL, NC -- With no laboratory test available to diagnose functional gastrointestinal disorders, proper diagnostic criteria are critical for clinicians to make an accurate determination of what ails their patients.

A special communication article published online by JAMA Pediatrics explores whether new paradigms in child health may emerge because of Zika virus.

DNA may be the blueprint of life, but it's also a molecule made from just a few simple chemical building blocks. Among its properties is the ability to conduct an electrical charge, making one of the hottest areas in engineering a race to develop novel, low-cost nanoelectronic devices.

Between a third and half (43%) of the UK population--roughly 28 million adults--lives with chronic pain, finds an analysis of the available evidence, published in the online journal BMJ Open.

This proportion is likely to rise as the population ages, warn the researchers, who add that chronic pain is a major cause of disability and distress among those affected by it.

The risk of birth defects among twins may be higher among mums who haven't used fertility treatment--which is known to increase the chances of a twin birth--than among those who have used it, finds US research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

Australian researchers have discovered that an existing medication could have promise in preventing breast cancer in women carrying a faulty BRCA1 gene.

People who carry a faulty BRCA1 gene are at high risk of developing aggressive breast cancer. Currently many women with a gene mutation choose surgical removal of their breast tissue and ovaries to reduce their chance of developing breast and ovarian cancer.

Crop yields will fall within the next decade due to climate change unless immediate action is taken to speed up the introduction of new and improved varieties, experts have warned.

The research, led by the University of Leeds and published today in the journal Nature Climate Change, focusses on maize in Africa but the underlying processes affect crops across the tropics.

Large-scale genetic studies have linked variations in genes and proteins to an increased risk for developing obesity. Determining how these variations alter metabolism to increase body mass may lead to the identification of preventative therapies for obesity and related disorders. In this month's issue of the JCI, research led by Thomas Willnow at the Max Delbrück Center examined how fatty acid metabolism is controlled by differences in the availability of SORLA, a protein that has been identified as an risk factor for both obesity and Alzheimer's disease.

Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have discovered a previously unknown strategy photosynthetic organisms use to protect themselves from the dangers of excessive light, providing further insight into photosynthesis and opening up new avenues for engineering this process, which underlies the global food chain.

Washington, DC - June 20, 2016 - Lychnopholide, a substance isolated from a Brazilian plant, and formulated as part of "nanocapsules" cured more than half of a group of mice that had been infected experimentally with Chagas disease parasites. "Chagas disease affects millions of people, mainly in poor rural areas of 21 Latin American countries," said Marta de Lana, PhD. The research is published in online ahead of print June 20 in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

Boston, MA - 12:30 pm, Monday, June 20, 2016 - A phase II clinical trial demonstrated that a new type of treatment for genital herpes, an immunotherapy called GEN-003, may reduce the activity of the virus and the number of days with recurrent herpes. This effect of treatment, given by a series of three injections, appears to last for up to at least one year. The research is presented at the ASM Microbe research meeting in Boston.

Proteins are among the functional key elements of life. Made up of long chains of amino acids, they fold to form highly organised, three-dimensional structures much like an origami creation. However, folded proteins are not stiff, but variable and in constant motion. This allows them to act as molecular machines that execute a variety of functions which together create life.

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Cold viruses cause us irritation by penetrating into our cells and transporting their RNA into the cytoplasma of the infected cells. This is the only way they can multiply. The details of how the transfer of the RNA from within the virus occurs are difficult to study. However, a new method has been developed at TU Wien that can be used to analyse this process. It was developed from the combination of two established procedures - 'molecular beacons' and capillary electrophoresis in chip format.