Body

Following a heart attack, successful repair of damaged tissue can prevent cardiac rupture and other adverse outcomes. The ability to repair myocardial tissue depends on the activation of fibroblasts, which stimulate the formation of connective tissue. In this month's issue of the JCI, a team led by Ken Suzuki at the William Harvey Research Institute determined that tissue reparation after a heart attack depends on the production of a type of white blood cell called M2 macrophages.

Dog owners tell their vets that Labrador retrievers are always interested in food, and new work shows there might be a biological truth to the claim. A May 3 study in Cell Metabolism links a gene alteration specifically found in Labs and related flat coat retrievers to greater food-motivated behavior, describing the first gene associated with canine obesity. The variation also occurs more frequently in Labradors chosen as assistance dogs, and might explain why these canines seem more trainable with food rewards.

(SALT LAKE CITY) -- Babies whose moms get flu vaccinations while pregnant have a significantly reduced risk of acquiring influenza during their first six months of life, a new study shows, leading the authors to declare that the need for getting more pregnant women immunized is a public health priority.

In December 2015 an international group of scientists convened in Austria to discuss the imminent extinction of the northern white rhinoceros and the possibility of bringing the species back from brink of extinction. The discussions of this historic meeting appear in the international Journal Zoo Biology. The publication of this work is designed as part of the ongoing effort to raise awareness for the extinction crisis facing rhinos and many other species while also reaching out to the scientific community to share and gather information.

In a study appearing in the May 3 issue of JAMA, Pascal Hammel, M.D., of Beaujon Hospital, Clichy, France and colleagues assessed whether chemoradiotherapy improves overall survival of patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer controlled after 4 months of gemcitabine-based induction chemotherapy, and assessed the effect of erlotinib on survival. Gemcitabine and erlotinib are drugs used to treat cancer.

In a study appearing in the May 3, 2016 issue of JAMA, Anette-Gabriele Ziegler, M.D., of Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, Munich, Germany, and colleagues examined associations between infection types during the first 2 years of life and between respiratory tract infections in the first 6 months and type l diabetes (T1D). Viral infections, particularly enteroviruses, have been hypothesized to cause T1D. Recent studies suggest that respiratory tract infections are associated with increased T1D risk if they are encountered within the first 6 months.

Sharing a sanitation facility between households can be linked to increased risk of moderate-to-severe diarrhea (MSD) in children under 5 y at some sites, according to Global Enteric Multicenter Study (GEMS) study findings published this week in PLOS Medicine. The study, conducted by Kelly K. Baker of University of Iowa College of Public Health, Iowa City, United States, and colleagues, suggests that access to private sanitation facilities should remain a global health priority.

Recently developed treatments that cure hepatitis C virus (HCV) will create new opportunities for people with other liver diseases to receive transplanted livers.

Only one-third of Americans who need liver transplants receive them, and shortages are expected to rise as the transplant waiting list continues to grow while the supply of organs remains flat. The research suggests that the benefits of new HCV treatments could spill over to many other diseases that cause end-stage liver failure.

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is the leading cause of viral encephalitis (infection of the brain) in Asia. There is no specific treatment for Japanese encephalitis (JE) which can cause death or serious long-term disability, and WHO recommends JEV vaccination in all areas where the disease is recognized as a public health priority. A study published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases suggests that current vaccines may fail to protect individuals against an emerging strain of the virus.

Analyzing medical death rate data over an eight-year period, Johns Hopkins patient safety experts have calculated that more than 250,000 deaths per year are due to medical error in the U.S. Their figure, published May 3 in the BMJ, surpasses the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) third leading cause of death -- respiratory disease, which kills close to 150,000 people per year.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 3, 2016) - Three new species of mouse lemurs - the smallest primates in the world - have been discovered by scientists at the University of Kentucky, along with collaborators at the German Primate Center and Duke Lemur Center.

"We didn't go into this work looking for a new species, but there was no real way to get around the fact that there are three new species here to describe," said Scott Hotaling, lead author on the Molecular Ecology paper and a PhD candidate in the UK Department of Biology.

The nerve agent sarin causes a deadly overstimulation of the nervous system that can be stopped if treated with an antidote within minutes of poisoning. Today, a ground-breaking study has been published in PNAS, which in detail describes how such a drug works. Researchers at the Swedish Defence Research Agency, Umeå University and in Germany are behind the study.

Sarin is a colourless, odourless liquid fatal even at very low concentrations. Serious sarin poisoning causes visual disturbance, vomiting, breathing difficulties and, finally, death.

A study has found that a syringe-like device used to invade intestinal cells also acts as a traffic cop -- directing bacteria where to go and thereby enabling them to efficiently carry out infection.

The findings by researchers at Washington State University and Harvard University appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (Go to: http://www.pnas.org/content/113/17/4794.long)

New research from the University of Adelaide in Australia shows children aged 9-10 years old are receiving almost half of their daily energy requirements from "discretionary" or junk foods.

An international collaboration of researchers has identified five new gene regions that increase a woman's risk of developing endometrial cancer, one of the most common cancers to affect women, taking the number of known gene regions associated with the disease to nine.

Endometrial cancer affects the lining of the uterus. It is the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancer in UK women, with around 9,000 new cases being diagnosed each year.