Body

EAST LANSING, Mich. - A rare, severe form of pulmonary hypertension, which up until now, has only been classified as a human lung disease, has also been discovered in dogs according to a Michigan State University study.

"Our research is the first to document the existence of pulmonary veno-occlusive disease, or PVOD, in dogs," said Kurt Williams, the lead author of the study and an expert in respiratory pathology in MSU's College of Veterinary Medicine. "PVOD is considered one of the most severe forms of pulmonary hypertension."

A diabetes medication described in some studies as an effective treatment for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) works no better than a placebo, report researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, after conducting the first randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial of sitagliptin, an oral antihyperglycemic marketed by Merck & Co. under the name Januvia.

New Orleans, LA - In invited commentary on a comparative study of the protective properties of windshields and side-windows in cars against harmful UV rays, Dr. Jayne Weiss, Professor and Chair of Ophthalmology at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine, has a take-home message for both ophthalmologists and consumers - UV protection should be used not just outdoors, but inside cars, too.

HOUSTON - (May 12, 2016) - Wellbores drilled to extract oil and gas can be dramatically reinforced with a small amount of modified graphene nanoribbons added to a polymer and microwaved, according to Rice University researchers.

A mutation that affects the proteins that package DNA--without changing the DNA itself--can cause a rare form of cancer, according to new findings in this week's Science from researchers at The Rockefeller University.

People with depression are significantly less likely to recover well after treatment for colorectal cancer compared to those without depression, according to new research by Macmillan Cancer Support and the University of Southampton.

(TORONTO, Canada - May 13, 2016) - Cancer researchers have identified a marker that shows up in a blood test that determines which patients with colorectal cancer that has spread would benefit from receiving the drug cetuximab.

Florence, Italy - 13 May 2016: Arterial switch to the 12 o'clock position is associated with abnormal coronary perfusion in adolescence, reveals research presented today at EuroCMR 2016.1 Babies born with transposition of the great arteries (TGA) undergo the arterial switch operation in the first days of life.

Ninety per cent of Norway's two million pairs of cliff-nesting seabirds are located in nesting colonies above the Arctic Circle.

But why are these colonies located exactly where they are? Much of the 1200-km stretch of coastline from the Arctic Circle to Norway's easternmost point, on the Russian border, has features that ought to be attractive to birds that nest in colonies, mainly steep, protected cliffs that are essentially inaccessible to terrestrial predators.

The development of persistent childhood asthma - characterized by having trouble breathing on an almost daily basis - is not well understood. In most cases, childhood asthma resolves with time, but as many as 20 percent of children with asthma will go on to have potentially severe symptoms in adulthood. In the largest and longest U.S. analysis of persistent asthmatics to date, investigators at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) found a link between persistent childhood asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in early adulthood.

Longer, hotter, more regular heat waves could have a damaging effect on life expectancy and crop production in Africa warn climate scientists in a study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters. Examining temperature data from 1979 to 2015, the researchers caution that heat waves classified as unusual today could become a normal occurrence within 20 years. This scenario could be triggered by an increase in average global temperature of 2 degrees.

Risk all year round

A combination of two compounds found in red grapes and oranges could be used to improve the health of people with diabetes, and reduce cases of obesity and heart disease.

The find has been made by University of Warwick researchers who now hope that their discovery will be developed to provide a treatment for patients.

Professor Thornalley who led research said: "This is an incredibly exciting development and could have a massive impact on our ability to treat these diseases. As well as helping to treat diabetes and heart disease it could defuse the obesity time bomb."

Septic or infectious arthritis of the knee and Lyme disease have similar symptoms in children but require different immediate treatment to ensure optimal recovery. A new study in the May 4 issue of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery identifies four symptoms that are predictive of septic arthritis when the condition presents itself in a child's knee--an important distinction in areas where Lyme disease is prevalent.

Two linked papers in The BMJ this week shed new light on the relation of alcohol and diet with breast cancer and heart disease.

The first study reports that high fruit consumption during adolescence may be associated with lower breast cancer risk, while the second study finds that increasing alcohol intake in later life is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer.

The NHS should significantly increase rates of weight loss surgery to 50,000 a year, closer to the European average, to bring major health benefits for patients and help reduce healthcare costs in the long term, argue experts in The BMJ this week.

Weight loss surgery, also known as bariatric surgery, reduces the size of the stomach with a gastric band or through removal of a portion of the stomach.