Body

ITHACA, N.Y. - The human heart is a remarkable muscle, beating more than 2 billion times over the average life span.

But the heart's efficiency can decrease over time. One major contributor to this decreased function is cardiac hypertrophy - a thickening of the heart muscle, resulting in a decrease in the size of the left and right ventricles. This makes the heart work harder and pump less blood per cycle than a healthy heart.

RICHLAND, Wash. - When water levels in rivers rise, an area known as the "river's liver" kicks into action, cleansing river water of pollutants and altering the flow of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

LAWRENCE -- The public's understanding of genetics, particularly as a cause of sexual orientation, can influence the level of stereotypical behavior, according to a new study by two University of Kansas researchers.

Mark Joslyn and Don Haider-Markel, professors in the KU Department of Political Science, found that genetic attributions strongly shape perceptions of whether a person's sexual orientation could change and likely made same-sex marriage and other policies more widely acceptable in the past decade.

In everyday conversation, bilingual speakers often switch between languages mid-sentence with apparent ease, despite the fact that many studies suggest that language-switching should slow them down. New research suggests that consistency may allow bilingual speakers to avoid the costs that come with switching between languages, essentially allowing them to use two languages for the price of one.

The research is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

London, UK (April 06, 2016). A new report from Index on Censorship exposes how many LGBT activists in Honduras risk torture, prison and assassination.

The research from Index on Censorship, published by SAGE, carried out by journalist Duncan Tucker and utilising data collected by on-the-ground NGOs, delves into some shocking statistics:

To e-puff or not to e-puff: that is the question. Public Health England (PHE), a governmental body the equivalent of our Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), recently released an evidence review claiming that e-cigarettes are 95 percent less harmful to health than combustible cigarettes. In recommending that smokers who cannot or will not quit cigarettes try e-cigarettes, PHE takes a position on the opposite side of the aisle from the U.S., where many prominent tobacco control advocates, public health officials, and policymakers are critical of e-cigarettes.

People who eat fresh fruit on most days are at lower risk of heart attack and stroke than people who rarely eat fresh fruit, according to new research published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. The findings come from a 7-year study of half a million adults in China, where fresh fruit consumption is much lower than in countries like the UK or US.

A metabolic pathway that is up-regulated in certain breast cancers promotes the disease's progression by activating a cell signaling protein called Arf6, according to a paper published in the Journal of Cell Biology. The study, "P53- and mevalonate pathway-driven malignancies require Arf6 for metastasis and drug resistance" by Ari Hashimoto and colleagues, has been published online ahead of print and suggests that statin-like drugs may be effective treatments for breast cancer patients whose tumors express high levels of Arf6 signaling proteins.

ROSEMONT, Ill. (April 6, 2016)--Are runners less injury-prone trekking barefoot than in pricey running shoes? Maybe, according to a new literature review in the March issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS). Advances in running shoe technology in the last 40 years have not reduced injuries, but racing "barefoot" in shoes with minimal cushioning could help runners change their strides and landing patterns to prevent repetitive heel pain and stress fractures.

Organizational models known as "network governance" can help big conservation alliances govern themselves, researchers argue in a special April issue of the Ecological Society of America's journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

MINNEAPOLIS - Babies born to pregnant women taking the epilepsy drug lamotrigine may not be at an increased risk of birth defects, such as cleft lip, cleft palate or clubfoot, according to a study published in the April 6, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

DALLAS, April 6, 2016 -- Achieving the American Heart Association's definition of ideal cardiovascular health may also help prevent chronic kidney disease, according to new research in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Life's Simple 7 are the ideal cardiovascular health factors/goals that include healthy blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, diet, body weight, enough physical activity and not smoking.

Harnessing an invasive fish species sounded like a promising conservation tool to help reverse the destruction wreaked by zebra mussels on endangered native mollusks in the Great Lakes - except that it won't work, says a University of Guelph ecologist.

In a novel twist on invasive species ecology, a research team led by integrative biology professor Joe Ackerman found that the round goby fish - an invader in Ontario waters -- only makes matters worse for native mollusks already driven to near-extinction by an earlier zebra mussel invasion.

DALLAS - April 6, 2016 - Scientists at the Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI) have identified a novel metabolic pathway that helps cancer cells thrive in conditions that are lethal to normal cells.

In humans, cholera is among the world's most deadly diseases, killing as many as 140,000 persons a year, according to World Health Organization statistics. But in aquatic environments far away from humans, the same bacterium attacks neighboring microbes with a toxic spear - and often steals DNA from other microorganisms to expand its own capabilities.