Body

Shakespeare said "to be or not to be" is the question, and now scientists are asking how life forms grow to be the correct size with proportional body parts.

A study published today describes a newly-discovered, heritable genetic cause of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), namely mutation of the gene ETV6. Much like mutation of the gene BRCA marks people at risk to develop breast and ovarian cancers, identification of mutations in the gene ETV6 may allow doctors to predict the development of ALL, allowing increased monitoring and in the future, perhaps strategies to prevent the disease. There are just over 30,000 cases of ALL diagnosed in the United States each year, with the majority of those cases being in children ages 2-5.

A new paper concludes that there is limited evidence to show that xylitol prevents dental cavities in children and adults. Xylitol is a natural sweetener that is widely promoted globally, and can be found in wide range of everyday products including sugar-free chewing gum, toothpaste, gels, lozenges and sweets.

Hepatitis B Virus Infection (HBV) exposure increases the immune system maturation of infants, which may give a better survival advantage to counteract bacterial infection during early life. These findings radically modify the way that HBV vertical infection of neonates (mother-to-child) is portrayed, and present a paradigm shift in the approach to treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis B.

HAIR loss is a distressing side-effect of cancer treatment and can even deter some patients from undergoing life-saving chemotherapy. But researchers at the University of Huddersfield are establishing the scientific basis for a rapidly-advancing scalp cooling technology that can ensure hair retention in a vast number of cases. There is also an added benefit that the increased positivity of patients who retain their hair can help to boost their immune systems and therefore aid recovery.

Scientists from the University of Michigan have grown the first 3D mini lungs from stem cells. The study, published in eLife, compliments other developments in the field such as growing mainly 2D structures and building lung tissue from the scaffold of donated organs.

The advantage of growing 3D structures is that their organisation bears greater similarity to the human lung. The scientists succeeded in growing structures resembling both the large proximal airways and the small distal airways

Lead author Dr Jason Spence says:

Air pollution is linked to a higher risk of stroke, particularly in developing countries, according to a paper in BMJ. In a second article, a paper associates air pollution with anxiety.

A diagnosis of thyroid cancer can be devastating to professional singers, because surgical removal of the thyroid commonly causes voice changes. Massachusetts Eye and Ear surgeons developed a neural monitoring system to be used intraoperatively to improve outcomes. In the first study of its kind, they confirmed the hypothesis that the careers of singers and professional voice users are not impaired after thyroid surgery using this device.

A new study has identified a familial association in spontaneous coronary artery dissection, a type of heart attack that most commonly affects younger women, suggesting a genetic predisposition to the condition, researchers say.

Over the last 30 years, short sight, or myopia, has become a global health problem. The most dramatic rise has been in Singapore, Taiwan, China's cities and elsewhere in East Asia. Rates can be as high as 80-90 per cent among children leaving secondary schools in the region. As many as a fifth of them have severe myopia and so are at high risk of eye problems in later life. In Western countries rates are increasing; although not as rapidly as in East Asia.

The Myopia Mystery

Major League Baseball pitchers who underwent a second Tommy John surgery saw their performance decline and their career shortened, according to researchers at Henry Ford Hospital. In a retrospective, case-controlled study, researchers analyzed performance and longevity data of 33 pitchers who had a second surgery following the original elbow reconstruction between 1996 and 2012 and compared them with pitchers of similar age who had no prior Tommy John surgery. Key findings for pitchers after a second surgery:

More than 60 percent of the world's population is infected with a type of herpes virus called human cytomegalovirus. The virus replicates by commandeering the host cell's metabolism but the details of this maneuver are unclear.

At least 30 dogs in England have been killed in less than 18 months by an unknown disease which causes skin lesions and kidney failure, reveals research published in Veterinary Record. The disease is believed to be Alabama rot (cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy), a condition which has been seen in the USA in greyhounds for almost 30 years.

The harmful effects of smoking during pregnancy may be reflected in the facial movements of mothers' unborn babies, new research has suggested.

Researchers at Durham and Lancaster universities said the findings of their pilot study added weight to existing evidence that smoking is harmful to fetuses as they develop in the womb and warranted further investigation.

Young children who received the 4CMenB vaccine as infants to protect against serogroup B meningococcal disease had waning immunity by age 5, even after receiving a booster at age 3 ½, according to new research in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal)

Serogroup B meningococcal disease is the leading cause of meningitis and blood infections in developed countries. Infants and young children under the age of 5 years are especially at risk, and there is a second peak of cases in the late teenage years.