Body

Rich nations "must abandon colonial narratives" and work alongside low and middle income countries to boost access to safe and affordable surgery for the world's poor, concludes an international blueprint for action, published in the newly launched journal BMJ Global Health.

The enormous human and economic cost of continuing to neglect surgical conditions, which has been estimated to run into trillions of dollars, far exceeds the investment required, emphasises the consensus statement.

April 7, 2016 - Today, BMJ Global Health, a new publication launched by the BMJ, published a roadmap to expanding access to surgical care around the world. According to a landmark 2015 report by the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery, nearly a third of the global disease burden can be attributed to surgically treatable conditions, but an estimated 5 billion people cannot access surgery due to a lack of infrastructure, insufficient numbers of trained surgeons and anesthesiologists, or the prohibitive costs of receiving care.

Montreal, April 7 2016-- Skin tests traditionally used to predict allergies to amoxicillin, one of the most commonly prescribed antibiotics in children, are ineffective according to a new study led by a team at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) in Montreal. The findings, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics this week, determined that oral provocation or challenge test, with appropriate follow up, was a more efficient and safer screening method for diagnosing non-life threatening reactions to amoxicillin in children.

Cancers can resist treatment by 'stealing' blood vessels from nearby tissues, a new study shows.

The important new study is the first to show that tumours can become resistant to drugs over time by learning to steal normal blood vessels from surrounding tissue - a process that researchers call vessel co-option.

Although 98 percent of all organizations have sexual harassment policies, sexual harassment remains an issue in the workplace. Researchers at the University of Missouri are evaluating how employees' interpretations of sexual harassment policies can invalidate the purpose of the policies. They found that employee perceptions of how exactly "sexual harassment" is defined by a company's policy can, in effect, eliminate or reshape the meaning of these policies and contradict the norms and values of the companies that try to enforce them.

April 7, 2016, Chicago--A recent survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that three-quarters of Americans who have heard at least a little about the Zika virus are aware that the virus is linked to birth defects in babies born to infected mothers. However, the survey found that most Americans are unclear about the availability of tests to diagnose Zika and whether or not preventative vaccines and effective medicines exist to treat it.

FAIRFAX, Va., April 7, 2016 - Wide variability exists in radiation treatment decisions following neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) and surgery for breast cancer, according to a review of the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG) Z1071, a prospective trial. ACOSOG is now part of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology.

Genotoxins damage the genetic material in cells and can cause mutations and cancer. Some bacteria code for and produce genotoxins. A study published on April 7th in PLOS Pathogens reports the surprising finding that one of them, typhoid toxin, actually increases survival of the infected host and promotes long-term colonization without causing disease in the host. The work, the authors say "poses the semantic and biological question of whether 'toxin' is the appropriate designation".

April 7, 2016 Berkeley -- Researchers from Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, report in today's edition of Science that volunteer canvassers - both transgender and not - reduced voters' prejudice against transgender people.

Door-to-door canvassers who had brief conversations with Florida residents measurably changed attitudes toward transgender people, a new study finds. The effects of the canvassers also increased support for laws that protect transgender people from discrimination. These effects were achieved by transgender and nontransgender canvassers alike and represent changes in attitude greater than those realized towards gay and lesbian people in America between 1998 and 2012, the report's authors say.

This special issue on cancer, largely focused on metastasis, features two Reviews, two Perspectives, an editorial and a news story that highlight the latest advances in understanding how cancer cells spread and the best means by which to prevent this dissemination. These are critical insights, as metastatic disease remains largely incurable and represents the main cause of cancer-related deaths. The special issue also includes a report that provides new insights into how tumors develop resistance to targeted drug treatments.

Therapeutic stem cells can be made without introducing genetic changes that could later lead to cancer, a study in PLOS Genetics has found.

The discovery, made by researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, is a boost for scientists working on ways to make regenerative medicines from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells; a type of stem cell made by reprogramming healthy body cells.

It is the first time scientists have tracked the genetic mutations gathered by iPS cells as they are grown in the laboratory.

While advertising and promotion in general, specifically observed within the American society, is a largely researched topic, Dr János Tóth, Kodolányi János University of Applied Sciences, and the undergraduate students from the Karoli Gaspar University of the Reformed Church in Hungary have had their curiosity and attention drawn to a specific non-American and, therefore, underrepresented in such studies environment, namely the Maltese city of Msida.

PHILADELPHIA--A new genetic clue discovered

by a team co-led by a researcher at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania is shedding light on the functions of the mysterious "long non-coding RNAs" (lncRNAs). These molecules are transcribed from genes and are often abundant in cells, yet they do not code for proteins. Their functions have been almost entirely unknown--and in recent years have attracted much research and debate.

A team of the Lomonosov Moscow State University scientists investigated the genetic mechanisms underlying the development of the coronary atherosclerosis. The obtained results are potentially valuable for estimating the risk of the myocardial infarction. An article on the research project was published in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine.