Body

It is upsetting to see anyone in pain, but it's especially heartbreaking to watch a child endure chronic pain.

In addition to the suffering itself, chronic pain can cause traumatic effects on a child's quality of life, and it can have significant physical, psychological and social consequences. Making matters worse, chronic pain greatly can affect the child's parents or caregivers by causing feelings of helplessness and inadequacy.

An inexpensive metal insert for primitive cookstoves created by a University of Iowa researcher may decrease global warming and potentially save the lives of thousands of women and children.

The study authored by UI professor of mechanical and industrial engineering H.S. Udaykumar was published in the November issue of Solutions.

Despite Congressional mandates aimed at diversifying clinical research, little has changed in the last 30 years in both the numbers of studies that include minorities and the diversity of scientists being funded, according to a new analysis by researchers at UC San Francisco.

That lack of diversity could have a serious impact on our ability to care for the nearly 40 percent of the current U.S. population whose heritage includes non-European races, the authors said, and will increase in urgency as the proportion of minority residents exceeds 50 percent in 2044.

Data from animal-borne sensors, including seal tags, can help scientists produce analyses and forecasts of ocean temperature and salinity, according to a UK led study.

Washington, DC -- Women who have high levels of both testosterone and estrogen in midlife may face a greater risk of developing benign tumors on the uterus called uterine fibroids than women with low levels of the hormones, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

CHICAGO (December 15, 2015): Among patients undergoing major cancer operations, the preoperative use of blood-thinning drugs such as heparin does not increase rates of major bleeding or transfusions, and is associated with a decreased risk of blood clots, according to new study results published online in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons ahead of print publication early next year.

Researchers have found that a prophylaxis treatment can prevent new-onset hepatitis B in children who receive liver transplants from donors who were previously infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) but had successfully cleared the virus. The findings are published in Liver Transplantation, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

Hamilton, ON (Dec. 15, 2015) - Many scientific advances have been made in the delivery of care and infection prevention for open fractures, but the standard practice of wound cleaning with soap and water before surgery has remain the unchanged. Now, an international team of researchers led by McMaster University in collaboration with the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre has found that soap and water is actually less effective than just using saline water.

Around this time every year, the flu virus infects up to one-fifth of the U.S. population and kills thousands of people, many of them elderly. A study published by Cell Press on Dec. 15, 2015 in Immunity now explains why the flu vaccine is less effective at protecting older individuals. More broadly, the findings reveal novel molecular signatures that could be used to predict which individuals are most likely to respond positively to vaccination.

A team of immunologists and informatics experts at the Stanford University School of Medicine has identified a distinctive pattern of gene expression that distinguishes people with a viral infection from those with a bacterial infection. The team also identified a second pattern of gene expression that is more specific: It can distinguish the flu from other respiratory infections.

LA JOLLA, CA - December 15, 2015 - From Peter Parker's fateful spider bite to Arthur pulling the sword from the stone at the beginning of his reign--everyone likes to know a hero's origin story.

In this case, our heroes are potent antibodies from the body's immune system that bind to and neutralize HIV--and the story could lead to a vaccine against AIDS.

HANOVER, N.H. - The production of hazardous wastewater in hydraulic fracturing is assumed to be partly due to chemicals introduced into injected freshwater when it mixes with highly saline brine naturally present in the rock. But a Dartmouth study investigating the toxic metal barium in fracking wastewater finds that chemical reactions between injected freshwater and the fractured shale itself could play a major role.

A bile acid that can turn off a receptor in the gut has prevented and reversed fatty liver disease in mice, according to an international team of researchers. The compound may help treat certain metabolic disorders, such as Type 2 diabetes and obesity, as well.

Obese and diabetic mice fed glycine-beta muricholic acid -- Gly-MCA -- pills with a high-fat diet had significantly less fat and less insulin resistance than the untreated control group, according to Andrew Patterson, associate professor of molecular toxicology, Penn State.

CLEMSON, S.C. -- About 100 million years ago, a tiny beetle flew into a coniferous tree and became engulfed in its resin.

Though the tree fell to ruin in a time long forgotten, a drop of its resin fossilized into amber -- with the beetle fully encased -- and then survived the relentless ravages of time, resulting in one of the most spectacularly preserved ancient beetle specimens yet described.

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State University has not only defined the term "food fraud," but the university also is helping the United States and other countries establish the strategies to fight it.

In the current issue of Food Chemistry Journal, the MSU research team introduces the topic of food fraud and provides a definition with translations in Russian, Korean and Chinese. The paper also tackles a system-wide focus that could lead to prevention.