Body

BOSTON, MA - The use of contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM), the surgical removal of a breast unaffected by cancer as part of the course of treatment for breast cancer, has more than tripled from 2002 to 2012 despite evidence suggesting no survival benefit over breast conservation, according to a new study from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) published in Annals of Surgery on March 11, 2016.

Recently, researchers compared the effects of tai chi to leg strengthening exercises (a physical therapy called "lower extremity training," or LET) in reducing falls. Falls are a leading cause of serious injuries in older adults and can lead to hospitalization, nursing home admission, and even death.

Researchers in the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering at ETH Zurich in Basel have developed a new method that allows them to record the vast range of antibodies in an individual, genetically in one fell swoop. For example, they can track very precisely how the immune system produces antibodies following a vaccination or an infection. The new genetic method, established by scientists led by Sai Reddy, Professor of Biomolecular Engineering, delivers far more information than the previous decades-old antibody detection techniques.

People with type 2 diabetes and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may not experience improved glycemic control by using continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, as some studies have suggested, according to the results of a randomized, controlled trial published online ahead of print in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

In the ongoing arms race between pathogenic viruses and the cells they infect, each side needs every advantage it can get. One way wily viruses can get a leg up is by subverting the microRNAs (miRNAs) of their host. These miRNAs are small stretches of RNA made by host cells to regulate gene expression. If a virus can co-opt one, it can manipulate its host without having to make its own protein.

ITHACA, N.Y. - Genetic cues from male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes passed on during sex affect which genes are turned on or off in a females' reproductive tract post-mating, including genes related to blood feeding, egg development and immune defense, according to new Cornell research.

The researchers believe such processes provide information that could be exploited to fight mosquito-borne diseases, such as dengue fever, chikungunya and Zika virus.

March 11, 2016 - For patients undergoing plastic surgery of the chin (genioplasty), the use of ultrasonic "piezosurgery" equipment reduces trauma, pain, and swelling, compared to traditional surgical drills, reports a study in the The Journal of Craniofacial Surgery. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

Although both liberal and conservative economists have denounced the longstanding exemption of employment-based health benefits from taxes as tantamount to a "regressive" tax subsidy that unfairly favors the rich, and have lauded a provision of Affordable Care Act that will impose a hefty tax on costlier ("Cadillac") benefit packages, those who stand to be hit hardest by the new provision are middle-income families.

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have taken some initial steps toward the creation of bioengineered human hearts using donor hearts stripped of components that would generate an immune response and cardiac muscle cells generated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which could come from a potential recipient. The investigators described their accomplishments - which include developing an automated bioreactor system capable of supporting a whole human heart during the recellularization process -- earlier this year in Circulation Research.

The introduction of screening colonoscopy in Germany is showing results: Within ten years of the start of this screening program for the early detection of colorectal cancer, the number of new cases has significantly dropped in the age groups 55 years and over. This is the conclusion drawn by Hermann Brenner, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg and co-authors in the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2016; 113: 101-6).

In a study published this week in PLOS Genetics, scientists Nareg J. Djabrayan and Jordi Casanova from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) and CSIC, have identified two molecular signals and the pathway of events that allows cells in a tissue that are already specialized to regain their behaviour as stem cells. The study offers new information about how cells become differentiated and how "this other type" of stem cells, called facultative, get activated, which is of particular interest in cell reprogramming, regenerative medicine, and in understanding cancer.

PHILADELPHIA - Breastfeeding campaigns that extol breastfeeding as the "natural" way to feed infants could result in harmful decision-making by some parents on other important health matters, according to experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Brown adipose tissue (BAT), a major site for mammalian non-shivering thermogenesis, could be a target for prevention and treatment of human obesity. Transient receptor potential vanilloid 2 (TRPV2), a Ca2+-permeable cation channel, plays vital roles in the regulation of various cellular functions.

Researchers from the University of Granada (UGR) have developed a new, simple and non invasive method which allows to determine whether a child aged 2-4 suffers from celiac disease or not without the necessity of a blood extraction.

Moreover, this method doesn't require experienced personnel (although it has to be interpreted by health professionals), is quick (10 minutes), economic (10-12 euros per device) and, most important of all in the case of infant population, this method is less invasive than a blood extraction.

If your favourite pub moves - would you move too or look for another pub? For bacteria living in symbiosis with marine worms it all depends on whether they sit outside or inside the pub. Scientifically speaking: bacteria living on the body surface of their hosts are loyal to those, while bacteria living inside their hosts prefer to stay local, as scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology from Bremen now revealed.