Body

In preliminary research for patients with severe emphysema, a minimally invasive intervention involving the implantation of coils in the lungs with an endoscope resulted in improved exercise capacity at 6 months, although with high short-term costs, according to a study in the January 12 issue of JAMA.

Mental health conditions, such as depression and binge eating disorder, are common among patients seeking and undergoing bariatric surgery, according to a study in the January 12 issue of JAMA.

Bariatric surgery is an accepted method of promoting weight loss in severely obese individuals. Mental health conditions may be common among patients seeking bariatric surgery; however, the prevalence of these conditions and whether they are associated with postoperative outcomes has not been known.

Ayami Yoshimi, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Freiburg, Germany, and colleagues examined the use of peripheral blood stem cells and bone marrow as stem cell sources for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in patients with bone marrow failure worldwide and factors associated with the use of each stem cell source. The study appears in the January 12 issue of JAMA.

Clouds play a bigger role in the melting of the Greenland ice sheet than was previously assumed. Compared to clear skies, clouds enhance the meltwater runoff by a third. Those are the findings of an international study that was coordinated by KU Leuven and published in Nature Communications.

Marine scientists are calling for a re-think of how marine protected areas (MPAs) are planned and coordinated, following a global assessment of the conservation of tropical corals and fishes.

Researchers from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE), at James Cook University in Townsville, analysed the extent to which the evolutionary histories of corals and fishes are protected, rather than looking at individual species.

Black women are nearly four times more likely than white women to have a baby born between 16 and 22 weeks gestation, a time period in which the life of a baby outside the womb is not viable.

The racial disparity in what are known as "previable" preterm births may explain much of the racial disparity in infant mortality, according to a new study published online in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

To establish an infection in the urinary tract, bacteria must be able to withstand the tremendous forces of urine flow so they're not simply washed away. New research is giving scientists a remarkable view of a strange, spring-like shock absorber used by the most common cause of urinary tract infections (UTIs) to survive and thrive where other bacteria cannot. By better understanding how these bugs anchor themselves to the urinary tract lining, doctors will be able to devise new drugs and vaccines to stop them.

Most Common Cause of UTIs

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Cell survival depends on having a plentiful and balanced pool of the four chemical building blocks that make up DNA -- the deoxyribonucleosides deoxyadenosine, deoxyguanosine, deoxycytidine, and thymidine, often abbreviated as A, G, C, and T. However, if too many of these components pile up, or if their usual ratio is disrupted, that can be deadly for the cell.

Men have one copy, women have two, but scientists have long puzzled over why the human X chromosome mostly contains genes that are active in a small number of tissues. Now, a team of researchers led by the University of Bath studying the evolution of this X chromosome has discovered why it contains such an unusual mixture of genes.

In humans, males have XY chromosomes, females have XX but only one of these is active, meaning that both sexes only have one active copy of the X chromosome.

The Tsaratanana Massif the highest mountain on Madagascar and one of the island's most remote regions is home to several indigenous species. Yet, the majority of these species remain unknown to science due to the fact that this woodland area is difficult to reach. Thanks to a European expedition to this area, however, a group of scientists has discovered, among other species, two new species of very elusive frogs that live on the forest floor.

ITHACA, N.Y. - Cornell researchers have discovered potent cancer-killing proteins that can travel by white blood cells to kill tumors in the bloodstream of mice with metastatic prostate cancer. The breakthrough study will be published Feb. 10 as the cover article in the Journal of Controlled Release.

Boston--A team of local researchers have discovered a previously unknown cellular defect in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease, and identified a sequence of pathological events that can trigger or accelerate premature death of certain neurons in the brain seen in this disease.

Scientists at the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) in Mainz have identified a missing piece of the puzzle in understanding how epigenetic marks are removed from DNA. The research on DNA demethylation sheds new light on a fundamental process that is important in development and diseases such as cancer.

AMHERST, Mass. - Scientists have wondered for years how legumes such as soybeans, whose roots host nitrogen-fixing bacteria that produce essential plant nutrients out of thin air, are able to recognize these bacteria as both friendly and distinct from their own cells, and how the host plant's specialized proteins find the bacteria and use the nutritional windfall.

Use of copper as a fluorescent material allows for the manufacture of inexpensive and environmentally compatible organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Thermally activated delayed fuorescence (TADF) ensures high light yield. Scientists of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), CYNORA, and the University of St Andrews have now measured the underlying quantum mechanics phenomenon of intersystem crossing in a copper complex. The results of this fundamental work are reported in the Science Advances journal and contribute to enhancing the energy efficiency of OLEDs.