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The results of preclinical studies by investigators at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) reported in the April 2016 issue of Translational Research suggest that the M10 peptide could help protect against fibrotic damage in patients with systemic sclerosis, particularly in those who develop interstitial lung diseases (ILD), its deadliest complication.

A team of researchers from Washington University in St. Louis have helped discover a new chemical method to immobilize uranium in contaminated groundwater, which could lead to more precise and successful water remediation efforts at former nuclear sites.

New research in monkeys exposed to SIV, the monkey equivalent of HIV, suggests that the virus spreads rapidly in the body and triggers early host responses that suppress antiviral immunity, thus promoting viral replication. The study, published in Cell, provides a detailed view of the period between initial mucosal exposure to the virus and the point at which it becomes detectable in the blood. A better understanding of these early events, which are difficult if not impossible to study in people with HIV, will inform development of strategies to prevent HIV infection.

BOSTON - New research in monkeys exposed to SIV, the animal equivalent of HIV, reveals what happens in the very earliest stages of infection, before virus is even detectable in the blood, which is a critical but difficult period to study in humans. The findings, published online today in the journal Cell, have important implications for vaccine development and other strategies to prevent infection.

A review of blood samples for nearly 5,000 patients seen at The Johns Hopkins Hospital Emergency Department suggests that federal guidelines for hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening may be missing up to a quarter of all cases and argues for updated universal screening.

A report on the study is published online ahead of print in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Irvine, Calif., April 13, 2016 -- Across the United States, online vendors of e-liquids -- the nicotine-rich fluids that fuel electronic cigarettes -- are failing to take proper precautions in preventing sales to minors, according to a study by the University of California, Irvine and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

• Existing trends suggest that by 2040 nearly half of developing countries still are unlikely to meet international health spending targets to make basic services universally available
• International aid for health is stagnating and is unlikely to bridge the gap

Two major studies published in The Lancet reveal the health financing crisis facing developing countries as a result of low domestic investment and stagnating international aid, which could leave millions of people without access to even the most basic health services.

People with asthma have telltale molecules circulating in their blood, say researchers at Penn State College of Medicine. The discovery could lead to the first diagnostic blood test for asthma, as well as more targeted treatments for the condition.

There are currently no definitive diagnostic tests for asthma, a common chronic inflammatory lung disease that affects 25 million Americans.

Receptors for leptin, a protein hormone, may be associated with tumor recurrence in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC), providing further understanding about molecular links between obesity and RCC tumor formation and prognosis, according to a study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

The findings are being presented April 18 at the annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) in New Orleans.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- Whether a creature is a worm, a fly, a mouse, or a human, death inevitably awaits. And not only do these organisms share a common fate, but also, according to a new study, they may share some of the specific mechanisms of mortality. The researchers found that in all four species, there are 46 genes regulated by the same family of "FOXO" proteins known to be central in aging and longevity.

A group of University of Iowa researchers has shown that although patients who have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have a higher burden of mutations in cancer-promoting oncogenes, they actually have lower rates of cancer.

Physicists from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich report that temperature gradients within pores in rock could have separated primitive biopolymers on the basis of their sequences -- a vital precondition for the formation of self-replicating systems in the primordial ocean.

PHILADELPHIA - New preclinical research provides support to a drug that has been repurposed to possibly treat a rare and extremely disabling genetic bone disease, particularly in children. In that disease, fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), a mutation triggers bone growth in muscles, alters skeletal bone formation, and limits motion, breathing, and swallowing, among a host of progressive symptoms. The research appeared online in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research (JBMR) ahead of the print issue.

DURHAM, N.C. -- The bearcat. The binturong. Whatever you call this shy, shaggy-haired creature from Southeast Asia, many people who have met one notice the same thing: it smells like a movie theater snack bar.

Most describe it as hot buttered popcorn. And for good reason -- the chemical compound that gives freshly made popcorn its mouthwatering smell is also the major aroma emitted by binturong pee, finds a new study.

New research in laboratory animals suggests that the drug palovarotene may prevent multiple skeletal problems caused by a rare but extremely disabling genetic bone disease, and may even be a candidate for use in newborn babies with the condition. Scientists at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who previously repurposed the drug to prevent excess bone formation in animal models of fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), have extended that research in animals carrying the exact human disease-causing mutation.