Body

Electronic cigarettes are widely promoted and used to help smokers quit traditional cigarettes, but a new analysis from UC San Francisco found that adult smokers who use e-cigarettes are actually 28 percent less likely to stop smoking cigarettes.

The study -- a systematic review and meta-analysis of published data -- is the largest to quantify whether e-cigarettes assist smokers in quitting cigarettes.

The findings will be published online January 14, 2016 in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

ANN ARBOR--A thin, stretchable film that coils light waves like a Slinky could one day lead to more precise, less expensive monitoring for cancer survivors.

The University of Michigan chemical engineers who developed the film say it could help patients get better follow-up treatment with less disruption to their everyday lives.

(Boston)--Researchers have made a breakthrough in understanding blood vessel occlusion by discovering a novel pathway involved in this process.

The findings, which appear in the journal Blood, may lead to new treatments for clotting associated with atherosclerosis, cancer, heart attacks and strokes.

URBANA, Ill. - Nematodes, an abundant group of roundworms that exist in nearly every habitat, have long been used as model organisms for studying the function of neurons - the basic unit of animal nervous systems. For years, it was assumed that neuron anatomy was remarkably similar across this large and diverse group. A recent study by University of Illinois researchers turns that assumption on its head.

Greater intake of dietary nitrate and green leafy vegetables was associated with a 20 percent to 30 percent lower risk of primary open-angle glaucoma, according to a study published online by JAMA Ophthalmology.

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators may have uncovered a novel mechanism behind the ability of the diabetes drug metformin to inhibit the progression of pancreatic cancer. In their report that has been published in the open access journal PLOS One, the research team describes finding that metformin decreases the inflammation and fibrosis characteristic of the most common form of pancreatic cancer.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- Combining the drug topiramate with psychological counseling curbed marijuana use among young smokers significantly more than did counseling alone, according to newly published results of a small randomized, controlled trial at Brown University. The results come with a caveat, however: many study volunteers couldn't tolerate the medicine's side effects.

Scientists at the University of Kent have led a study that has developed a 'nanoprobe', a tenth of the size of a human hair, to help uncover more of the secrets of DNA.

New research directed by Dr Neil Kad, of the University's School of Biosciences, has led to the use of the nanoprobe to study how individual proteins interact with DNA. Invisible to the human eye, this tiny triangular probe can be captured using laser tweezers and then moved around inside a microscope chamber.

The cancer drug paclitaxel just got more effective. For the first time, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have packaged it in containers derived from a patient's own immune system, protecting the drug from being destroyed by the body's own defenses and bringing the entire payload to the tumor.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Jan. 14, 2016--Researchers at the Department of Energy's BioEnergy Science Center are looking beyond the usual suspects in the search for microbes that can efficiently break down inedible plant matter for conversion to biofuels. A new comparative study from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory-based center finds the natural abilities of unconventional bacteria could help boost the efficiency of cellulosic biofuel production.

The first study to look at the influence of Asian parents on their young adult child's body dissatisfaction levels and disordered eating in Singapore has found significant differences with Western culture, leading to calls for a tailored approach to treatment.

There has been much discussion of the evolutionary role of genetic recombination: the exchange of parental genetic material that gives rise to new genetic combinations in offspring. Recombination is a practically universal phenomenon in living beings. In sexual organisms recombination occurs during the process of meiosis, which produces the sexual cells, and maintenance of this sophisticated mechanism, which systematises recombination to the whole genome, is the usual reason given for the preponderance of sex. But what exactly is the advantage of recombination?

A new elegant orchid species that grows on rocks in deciduous forests of the Pacific slope of Oaxaca state, Mexico, has finally put an end to a long standing dispute among taxonomists. 'Sheltered' under the name of a close relative, the plant has been proved by a research team, led by Dr. Leopardi-Verde, to be different enough for a species of its own. Its distinct features, including shape, size and colors, are discussed and published in the open-access journal PhytoKeys.

FINDINGS: PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, is the first medicine that the Food and Drug Administration has approved to be shown effective to prevent infection with HIV. Nearly 50,000 new cases of HIV occur in the United States every year. Many doctors might be worried about prescribing PrEP for safety reasons.

The gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori is highly adapted to survival in the human stomach and responsible for the majority of peptic ulcer and gastric cancer cases worldwide. An important survival strategy for the bacterium involves the tight binding to the stomach mucosa, out of reach of the noxious gastric juices. To do so, H. pylori adheres to blood group sugars found on gastric mucus and underlying cells.