Body

A new study led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators finds that heart failure patients who underwent bariatric surgery to treat morbid obesity had a significant reduction in the incidence of heart failure exacerbation - a dangerous, sudden worsening of symptoms - in the two years following surgery. The report appears in the March Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (Feb. 25, 2016) -- Extreme heat can pose several health risks, such as dehydration, hyperthermia and even death, especially during sustained periods of high temperatures. However, a uniform definition of a heat wave doesn't exist. As a result, public health agencies may be unsure of when to activate heat alerts, cooling centers and other protective measures. A University of Missouri School of Medicine researcher has developed a uniform definition of a heat wave that may help public health agencies prepare for extreme temperatures.

The erosion of large natural channels by flowing water -- gully erosion -- can wreak havoc on fields, roads, and buildings. In some cases, the sudden expansion of gullies even claims human lives. Geographers from KU Leuven, Belgium, are the first to show a worldwide link between heavy rainfall and the speed at which gullies expand. With predicted climate change, gullies may erode up to three times faster.

Cryptochromes are light-sensitive molecules that exist in bacteria, plants and animals. In animals, they are involved in the control of the body's circadian rhythms. In birds, cryptochromes are also involved in the light-dependent magnetic orientation response based on the Earth's magnetic field: cryptochrome 1a is located in photoreceptors in birds' eyes and is activated by the magnetic field. Now researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt have also detected cryptochrome 1 in photoreceptors in several mammalian species.

A new study led by evolutionary biologist Alistair Evans of Monash University in Australia, took a fresh look at the teeth of humans and fossil hominins. The research confirms that molars, including 'wisdom teeth' do follow the sizes predicted by what is called 'the inhibitory cascade' - a rule that shows how the size of one tooth affects the size of the tooth next to it. This is important because it indicates that human evolution was a lot simpler than scientists had previously thought.

Glioblastoma is an extremely aggressive brain tumor with limited treatment options. Recent progress in using immunotherapy-based treatment options in other tumor types has spurred interest in developing approaches that might be effective in this devastating malignancy. Myeloid-derived innate immune cells, such as macrophages, microglia, and myeloid-derived suppressor cells, are known to be present within glioblastomas.

The constant beating of the heart requires an enormous output of energy. To meet this demand, cardiomyocytes are loaded with mitochondria, organelles that generate the majority of energy for cells. These mitochondria are dynamically regulated to ensure that damaged mitochondria are removed and replaced by healthy mitochondria. In this month's issue of JCI Insight, James George, Anupam Agarwal, and colleagues at the University of Alabama at Birmingham examined the role of the inducible stress response gene heme oxygenase-1 in mediating mitochondrial quality control in the heart.

Human polyomaviruses are commonly found in the population and generally do not produce noticeable symptoms. However, one type of human polyomavirus, the Merkel cell polyomavirus, is known to cause a rare form of skin cancer called Merkel cell carcinoma, and other members of the polyomavirus family can induce non-cancer related diseases in people with compromised immune systems.

An immune-enhancing treatment can push SIV (simian immunodeficiency virus) out of its hideouts in infected monkeys that have the virus controlled with drugs, scientists at Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University report.

The results were presented on Wednesday, February 24 at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Boston by graduate student Geetha Mylvaganam.

In cardiac hypertrophy, metabolic energy reserves in the heart are depleted, which is thought to contribute to the subsequent development of heart failure. The primary energy source in the heart relies on fatty acid oxidation within the mitochondria, the cell's energy powerhouse. In this month's issue of JCI Insight , Daniel Kelly of the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and his coauthors sought to explore how post-translational modification of mitochondrial proteins involved in energy metabolism contributes to the development of heart failure.

As their natural habitats continue to be destroyed, increasing numbers of displaced endangered mammals are taken to sanctuaries and rehabilitation centres worldwide. The ultimate goal of these centres is often reintroduction: to return these animals to wild populations. In a new study published today in Scientific Reports, however, Graham L Banes and Linda Vigilant of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, caution that such reintroductions can act as a form of genetic translocation.

DALLAS - Feb. 24, 2016 - UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have designed and built a microscope capable of creating high-resolution, 3-D images of living cancer cells in realistic, controllable microenvironments.

• Researchers determine DNA sequences from the Y chromosomes of our nearest animal relatives - chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans
• Human 'Adam' is about 200,000 years old and gorilla 'Adam' about 100,000 years old
• Gorillas show a much shallower Y-chromosome family tree than humans, reflecting the alpha-male structure of gorilla societies
• Chimpanzees show very deep ancestry in their Y chromosomes - the common ancestor (chimpanzee 'Adam') lived over 1 million years ago, over five times more ancient than human 'Adam'

One in four cases of colorectal cancer (CRC) detected in a guiac faecal occult blood testing (gFOBT) programme are diagnosed within two years of a negative screening result, a study in the UEG Journal (1) has found, suggesting that gFOBT should be replaced by more sensitive screening methods to improve detection rates.

CRC is the most common type of digestive cancer in Europe (2) and annual incidence is predicted to rise by 12% by 2020 (3).

Feb. 25, 2016 -- (BRONX, NY) -- Juvenile idiopathic arthritis, or JIA, is the most common form of childhood arthritis. It appears to be an autoimmune disease, caused by antibodies attacking certain proteins in a person's own tissue. But no "autoantigens" -- the proteins triggering an immune attack -- have been linked to JIA.