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Legs of grasshoppers and crabs have ideal shape to resist bending and compression

Researchers from Trinity College Dublin have recently shown that the legs of grasshoppers and crabs have the ideal shape to resist bending and compression. If human leg bones were built the same way, they could be twice as strong.

13 Sep 2012

Study discovers pathways that govern instability of GAA/TTC repeats

A study of more than 6,000 genes in a common species of yeast has identified the pathways that govern the instability of GAA/TTC repeats. In humans, the expansions of these repeats is known to inactivate a gene - FXN - which leads to Friedreich's ataxia, a neurodegenerative disease that is currently incurable. In yeast, long repeats also destabilize the genome, manifested by the breakage of chromosomes.

11 Sep 2012

Wall Street Journal examines drug-resistant TB

The Wall Street Journal examines global efforts to stop the spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) strains, stating, "Global health officials view the emergence of incurable cases of tuberculosis in India as a worrisome evolution in a trend they have been concerned and intensely frustrated about for years -- the rise of drug resistant forms of tuberculosis around the world."

10 Sep 2012

Dynamic mapping could potentially help fill gaps in influenza research

Influenza outbreaks in the United States typically begin with the arrival of cold weather and then spread in seasonal waves across geographic zones. But the question of why epidemics can vary from one season to the next has baffled scientists.

10 Sep 2012

Simple low-cost biosensor to detect contaminated drinking water

Diarrheal disease is the second leading cause of death in children under five years old - killing as many as 1.5 million children worldwide every year. These startling statistics from the World Health Organization (2009) point to the reason why a group of undergraduate students from Arizona State University is working to develop a low-cost biosensor - a simple device that would detect contaminated drinking water.

7 Sep 2012

Young doctors seek to alter practice of medicine; Medical schools push training in addiction

The Associated Press examines how tech-savy young doctors are changing medicine, and KHN looks at efforts to train doctors to recognize how addictions complicate other health problems.

5 Sep 2012

OptiMedica Catalys Precision Laser System for creating corneal incisions receives FDA 510(k) clearance

Global ophthalmic company OptiMedica Corp. has announced U.S. Food and Drug Administration 510(k) market clearance of its Catalys Precision Laser System for creating single-plane and multi-plane arc cuts/incisions in the cornea during cataract surgery.

5 Sep 2012

FSU researchers achieve significant benchmarks in alpha-tropomyosin study

Florida State University researchers led by physics doctoral student Campion Loong have achieved significant benchmarks in a study of the human cardiac protein alpha-tropomyosin, which is an essential, molecular-level component that controls the heart's contraction on every beat.

3 Sep 2012

Scientists create mathematical model that helps to design new drug cocktails against HIV

For years, doctors treating those with HIV have recognized a relationship between how faithfully patients take the drugs they prescribe, and how likely the virus is to develop drug resistance. More recently, research has shown that the relationship between adherence to a drug regimen and resistance is different for each of the drugs that make up the "cocktail" used to control the disease.

3 Sep 2012

Seven antibiotic-resistance genes swapped between human and soil bacteria

Soil bacteria and bacteria that cause human diseases have recently swapped at least seven antibiotic-resistance genes, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report Aug. 31 in Science.

1 Sep 2012

French data highlight women under 60 at risk for heart disease

An analysis of four French registries has shown a dramatic drop in ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction mortality from 1995 to 2010, accompanied by a significant change in patient characteristics.

31 Aug 2012

Weill Cornell Medical College receives three new research grants for translational blood cancer study

Weill Cornell Medical College has been awarded three new research grants from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society totaling $1.8 million. The funds will support critically-needed translational research for blood cancers, accelerating promising discoveries from the laboratory to the patient's bedside.

31 Aug 2012

FAST-MI highlights young women at risk for heart disease

29 Aug 2012

Cyclin D3 protein regulates size and quantity of RBCs

The adult human circulatory system contains between 20 and 30 trillion red blood cells (RBCs), the precise size and number of which can vary from person to person. Some people may have fewer, but larger RBCs, while others may have a larger number of smaller RBCs. Although these differences in size and number may seem inconsequential, they raise an important question: Just what controls these characteristics of RBCs?

29 Aug 2012

Study shows why some fats may encourage growth of harmful bacteria in the digestive system

All dietary fats are not created equal. Some types of fats have been linked to ailments like heart disease and diabetes, while others, like those often found in plants and fish, have well documented health benefits.

28 Aug 2012

Morphotek commences MORAb-004 Phase II metastatic soft tissue sarcoma trial

Morphotek, Inc. announced today that it has commenced a multi-center, Phase II study evaluating the safety and efficacy of MORAb-004 when combined with gemcitabine and docetaxel in the treatment of metastatic soft tissue sarcoma.

28 Aug 2012

People with guanine version of rs55705857 SNP more likely to develop gliomas

People who carry a "G" instead of an "A" at a specific spot in their genetic code have roughly a six-fold higher risk of developing certain types of brain tumors, a Mayo Clinic and University of California, San Francisco study has found. The

27 Aug 2012

American Physical Therapy Association to host series on concussion in sports

As football season gets under way, the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) will host a series on concussion in sports called "Head in the Game."

26 Aug 2012

Trevo Retriever effectively removes blood clots in patients with stroke

Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States has a stroke, usually caused when a clot blocks an artery that supplies blood to the brain. Now the results of two multicenter studies published online in The Lancet on August 26 are giving physicians new innovative tools proven to better remove these clots that block blood flow.

26 Aug 2012

Certain human diseases may have evolutionary epigenetic origins

Ninety-six percent of a chimpanzee's genome is the same as a human's. It's the other 4 percent, and the vast differences, that pique the interest of Georgia Tech's Soojin Yi. For instance, why do humans have a high risk of cancer, even though chimps rarely develop the disease? In research published in September's American Journal of Human Genetics, Yi looked at brain samples of each species. She found that differences in certain DNA modifications, called methylation, may contribute to phenotypic changes.

24 Aug 2012