Body

NEW YORK, NY (Jan. 6, 2016) -- A new study conducted at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) has revealed some of the underlying mechanisms that may increase the risk of heart disease in people with sleep apnea. The study also found that statins -- the cholesterol-lowering medications commonly prescribed to combat heart disease -- may help reverse this process.

The study was published in the Jan. 6, 2016 online edition of Science Translational Medicine.

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women after skin cancer and occurred in 230,000 women in the United States in 2015. Breast cancer afflicts 1 in 8 women in their lifetime and 1 in 25 die from this disease. Although a number of randomized trials demonstrate the clear benefits of mammography screening in women up to age 74 on reducing mortality, data are sparse in women over the age of 74, especially minorities. In 2010, 41 percent of breast cancer deaths occurred in the more than 19 million women who are between the ages of 65 to 84 years.

Researchers develop two indicators to monitor hunting levels of rainforest mammals and birds Study adapts fisheries monitoring methods to gauge level of terrestrial species offtake

New York (January 6, 2016) - Scientists hoping to help stem the rate of unsustainable hunting in West and Central Africa have developed two monitoring indicators based in part on methods used to track populations trends of organisms in an entirely different ecosystem: the sea.

A team of researchers from Colorado State University has been studying DNA damage in living cells to learn more about how genetic abnormalities arise. It has long been known that DNA molecules in every cell get constantly damaged by things from the outside environment, like sunlight, cigarette smoke and radiation. However, more recently researchers have discovered that sources from within the cell itself can sometimes be even more damaging.

A new engineered version of the gene-editing CRISPR-Cas9 nuclease appears to robustly abolish the unwanted, off-target DNA breaks that are a significant current limitation of the technology, reducing them to undetectable levels. In their report receiving advance online publication in Nature, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers describe how altering the Cas9 enzyme to reduce non-specific interactions with the target DNA may greatly expand applications of the gene-editing technology.

Drought and extreme heat slashed global cereal harvests between 1964 and 2007 - and the impact of these weather disasters was greatest in North America, Europe and Australasia, according to a new study published in Nature led by UBC and McGill University researchers.

At a time when global warming is projected to produce more extreme weather, the study provides the most comprehensive look yet at the influence of such events on crop area, yields and production around the world.

Scientists at Imperial College London have discovered how flu viruses 'hijack' cell machinery when they infect the body. The findings, published in the journal Nature, may pave the way for more effective antiviral treatments for pandemics and for seasonal flu, which infects over 800 million people worldwide every year.

In the research, the team used hamster-chicken hybrid cells to discover why avian influenza virus (bird flu) cannot usually infect mammal cells.

Epidemiologists at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that persons residing at higher latitudes, with lower sunlight/ultraviolet B (UVB) exposure and greater prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, are at least two times at greater risk of developing leukemia than equatorial populations.

The findings are published in the Dec. 4, 2015 online issue of PLOS One.

The Endangered Species Act (ESA), which quietly passed its 42nd birthday last week, has shielded hundreds of species in the United States from extinction and dramatically achieved full recovery for a celebrated few. Flexibility of implementation is one of the ESA's great strengths, allowing for adaptation in response to new knowledge and changing social and environmental conditions.

In industrialized countries, a particularly high number of people suffer from arteriosclerosis -- with fatal consequences: Deposits in the arteries lead to strokes and heart attacks. A team of researchers under the leadership of the University of Bonn has now developed a method for guiding replacement cells to diseased vascular segments using nanoparticles. The scientists demonstrated in mice that the fresh cells actually exert their curative effect in these segments. However, much research remains to be done prior to use in humans.

URBANA, Ill. - An intricate system of basins, channels, and levees called the Headwaters Diversion carries water from the eastern Missouri Ozark Plateau to the Mississippi River south of Cape Girardeau. The system protects 1.2 million acres of agricultural lands in southeast Missouri from both overflow from the Mississippi River during flooding events and from Ozark Plateau runoff. Historical and more recent extensive rainfall and subsequent flooding prompted University of Illinois researcher Ken Olson to look more closely at where the excess or diverted water goes.

A study of two opioids used to wean babies born in withdrawal from drugs their mothers have taken shows that buprenorphine is superior to methadone in reducing duration of treatment and length of hospital stay.

While buprenorphine is often prescribed for pregnant women who are undergoing addiction therapy, this study is the first report of the drug being used to treat newborns in clinical practice.

If a mother is already a generous provider, her offspring will nag her less, according to new research in mice by University of Manchester scientists.

The study, published in eLife, uncovers a fitness cost to begging for care, so pups don't continue asking for more if they are already well provided. Pups that spend more time soliciting for care weigh less than those who are more easily satisfied.

Though the study was conducted on mice, the findings are applicable to any social species, including humans.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- If you're under constant stress and can't lose weight, there might be a protein to blame.

In cell and mouse model experiments, University of Florida Health researchers have discovered that chronic stress stimulates production of betatrophin, a protein that then goes on to inhibit an enzyme involved in fat metabolism. Those findings were published this month in the journal BBA Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids.

New research from North Carolina State University and the University of Michigan finds that bile acids which are altered by bacteria normally living in the large intestine inhibit the growth of Clostridium difficile, or C. diff. C. diff is a harmful bacterium that can cause painful and sometimes fatal infections. The work sheds light on the ways in which some commonly used antibiotics can promote C. diff infections by killing off the bile acid-altering microbes.