Body

SEATTLE--Mailing yearly stool kits--an alternative to the often-dreaded colonoscopy--has helped Group Health to boost rates of lifesaving screening for colon cancer, according to new research from Group Health Research Institute.

Group Health researchers mailed an easy-to-use at-home stool kit to test more than 1,000 patients for signs of cancers of the colon and rectum. This boosted the screening rate from less than four in 10, to more than half of these hard-to-reach patients, who had never had a colonoscopy and were overdue for screening.

A new study from The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa is poised to completely change our understanding of Duchenne muscular dystrophy and pave the way for far more effective treatments.

The study, published in Nature Medicine on November 16, 2015, is the first to show that Duchenne muscular dystrophy directly affects muscle stem cells.

In the past few years, research on gut microbiota (that is, all microorganisms, mainly bacteria, inhabiting our gut) has started to unravel its tremendous role in our body, and how it symbiotically affects the functioning of our organs. In particular, microbiota has also an impact on the way calories are absorbed and how fat cells develop. By studying mice without microbiota, scientists from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) Faculty of Medicine, Switzerland, were able to demonstrate how the absence of microbiota has a remarkable effect against obesity.

The rate of acquiring human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was extremely low despite a high incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in a study where pre-exposure antiretroviral medication to prevent HIV infection was dispensed at clinics in three metropolitan areas heavily affected by HIV, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.

Children insured by Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) were more likely to get preventive medical and dental care than privately insured children in a study that compared access and use of health care for children in households with low to moderate incomes, according to an article published online by JAMA Pediatrics.

The ruff is a Eurasian shorebird that has a spectacular lekking behaviour where highly ornamented males compete for females. Now two groups report that males with alternative reproductive strategies carry a chromosomal rearrangement that has been maintained as a balanced genetic polymorphism for about 4 million years.

The two studies, one led by scientists at Uppsala university, are published today in Nature Genetics.

Whether you're territorial, a girlfriend stealer, or a cross dresser - when it comes to finding a partner, scientists have discovered that for some birds it's all in the genes.

Individual animals usually exhibit flexibility in their behaviour, but some behaviours are genetically determined.

Using genome sequencing, researchers from the University of Sheffield have now identified the genes that determine the striking mating behaviour of the males of a wading bird known as the ruff.

(BOSTON) - In parallel with their development of the first synthetic gene drives - which greatly increase the chance a specific gene will be passed on to all offspring - George Church, Ph.D., and Kevin Esvelt, Ph.D., helped pioneer proactive biosafety measures to ensure that gene drives are investigated effectively and safely in confined laboratory experiments.

Researchers have found that children in low-income families experience greater access to preventive medical and dental care under Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) than children covered by private insurance. However, for all types of insurance coverage, access to pediatric specialty care was a challenge.

Changes in cellular metabolites have been shown to regulate embryonic stem cell development at the earliest stages of life. Metabolites are simple compounds generated during life-sustaining chemical activities in cells.

The recent findings should improve scientists' ability to use embryonic stem cells to grow new tissues and organs to replace those damaged by disease or injury. The findings also could lead to new treatments for common disorders ranging from infertility to cancer.

Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, Director of Mount Sinai Heart and Physician-in-Chief of The Mount Sinai Hospital joined a panel of international experts at the United Nations where he spoke about promoting cardiovascular health worldwide and how the practice of medicine will change to reflect an increase in ambulatory care. Mount Sinai Heart is ranked No. 7 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in its 2015 "Best Hospitals" issue.

Efforts over the past seven years to reduce tobacco use in China have been strikingly ineffective and leave tobacco use a top threat to the health and economic well-being of the world's largest country, according to research findings by the University of Waterloo's International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC Project).

NEW YORK NY (November 16, 2015)--Short people have several health advantages over tall people, including lower risk for cancer and heart disease, and longer life expectancy. But there's at least one health-related downside to being small: the odds of getting a lung transplant are considerably lower.

For young animals depending on maternal care for survival, the loss of parents often leads to serious consequences and even death. The effect of the loss of parents among animals that could, in principle, survive without maternal care has now been researched by scientists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) using the example of the earwig - with surprising results. Contrary to expectations, earwigs raised without mothers became even larger as mature adults compared to those that were raised by their mothers.

NYU Langone Medical Center announced today the successful completion of the most extensive face transplant to date, setting new standards of care in this emerging field. Equally important, for the first time a face transplant has been performed on a first responder - a volunteer firefighter who suffered a full face and scalp burn in the line of duty.