Body

Montreal, March 15, 2016 -- Even though the search for the Fountain of Youth dates back to the ancient Greeks, the quest to live forever continues today. Indeed, it has been said that the ability to slow the aging process would be the most important medical discovery in the modern era.

A new study published in the journal Oncotarget by researchers from Concordia and the Quebec-based biotech company Idunn Technologies may have uncovered an important factor: plant extracts containing the six best groups of anti-aging molecules ever seen.

BOSTON-- Conflicting expectations between parents and medical providers about who is responsible for scheduling follow-up appointments is resulting in a failure of young girls completing the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination series, according to a new study led by Boston Medical Center researchers. The study, which is published online ahead of print in the journal Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics, involved interviews with both parents and providers in order to determine why, despite the known benefits of the vaccine, patients are not receiving all three doses.

While carrying out a biodiversity study, a Mexican-Italian research team discovered three new dung beetle species in montane forests disturbed by livestock grazing. Mexico has been a mecca for naturalists, and its dung beetle species are among the best known in the world. This is why the discovery of new species there is noteworthy. The present study, published in the open-access journal ZooKeys, describes two of them and highlights the need to further explore the biodiversity of disturbed ecosystems.

A review of p-values in the biomedical literature from 1990 to 2015 shows that these widely misunderstood statistics are being used increasingly, instead of better metrics of effect size or uncertainty.

A study of millions of journal articles shows that their authors are increasingly reporting p-values but are often doing so in a misleading way, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. P-values are a measure of statistical significance intended to inform scientific conclusions.

An analysis of numerous studies and reports finds that unvaccinated or undervaccinated individuals comprised substantial proportions of cases in measles and some pertussis outbreaks, and vaccine refusal was associated with an elevated risk for measles and pertussis, including among fully vaccinated individuals, according to a study appearing in the March 15 issue of JAMA.

In a study that included more than 30,000 women, genetically elevated maternal body mass index (BMI) and blood glucose levels were potentially causally associated with higher offspring birth weight, while genetically elevated maternal systolic blood pressure was potentially causally related to lower birth weight, according to a study appearing in the March 15 issue of JAMA.

Being overweight or obese in pregnancy causes babies to be born larger, according to new research. The study, led by the universities of Exeter and Bristol, also found that having higher blood glucose (sugar) during pregnancy causes babies to be born larger. Conversely, having higher blood pressure in pregnancy causes babies to be smaller.

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- A new study from MIT reveals how cancer cells take some of their first steps away from their original tumor sites. This spread, known as metastasis, is responsible for 90 percent of cancer deaths.

PHILADELPHIA - The kidney is the most commonly transplanted organ in the United States, with more than 17,000 transplants performed each year. Following kidney transplant, patients are routinely placed on a regimen of immunosuppressant medications to prevent organ rejection, which often includes calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) as the backbone medication of this regimen. However, questions remain about the best use of these drugs to strike the balance between preventing rejection and avoiding drug-related complications.

Obesity, which is associated with low-grade inflammation, is an important contributor in the development of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. While the role of several organs including adipose tissue have been implicated in this process, the cell types and factors driving this process have not been clear.

Does it help to reward people if you want them to exercise more? Yes, but try a combination of individual and team incentives, says Mitesh Patel, MD, MBA, MS, of the University of Pennsylvania. He led a study¹ in the Journal of General Internal Medicine², published by Springer, that also showed how smartphones can be a hassle-free way to monitor people's exercise programs.

Throughout the Arctic, ice wedges are thawing at a rapid pace. Changes to these structures, which are very common in permafrost landscapes, have a massive impact on the hydrology of the tundra. This is the result of a study carried out by an international research team in cooperation with the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) which will be published in the journal Nature Geoscience on 14 March.

Previous analyses of the hominins from Sima de los Huesos in 2013 showed that their maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA was distantly related to Denisovans, extinct relatives of Neandertals in Asia. This was unexpected since their skeletal remains carry Neandertal-derived features. Researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, have since worked on sequencing nuclear DNA from fossils from the cave, a challenging task as the extremely old DNA is degraded to very short fragments.

Papa might not have been a rolling stone, according to a new study that examined the mating dynamics of transient wildlife that have dispersed from other areas. The researchers found if males traveling from long distances are less attractive to females, connectivity can be greatly impacted. They link these results to existing evidence showing that males from far-off areas have less offspring.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are zinc-dependent endopeptidases, responsible for the degradation of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Their involvement has been demonstrated in several diseases, among which chronic inflammation and cancer; therefore, they have been considered interesting therapeutic targets. The design of MMP inhibitors (MMPIs) has largely focused on development of various compounds containing a zinc binding group (ZBG) in their structure, with the hydroxamate being the most potent one.