A team led by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard has found that the most common bacterial community in the genital tract among healthy South Africa women not only is significantly different from that of women in developed countries but also leads to elevated levels of inflammatory proteins. In a paper in the May 19 issue of Immunity, the investigators describe finding potential mechanisms by which particular bacterial species induce inflammation and show that the presence of those species and of elevated ...

Ever since single-layer graphene burst onto the science scene in 2004, the possibilities for the promising material have seemed nearly endless. With its high electrical conductivity, ability to store energy, and ultra-strong and lightweight structure, graphene has potential for many applications in electronics, energy, the environment, and even medicine. Now a team of Northwestern University researchers has found a way to print three-dimensional structures with graphene nanoflakes. The fast and efficient method could open up new opportunities for using graphene printed ...

HIV infections continue to rise in a new generation of young, gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (YMSM) despite three decades of HIV prevention as well as recent availability of biomedical technologies to prevent infection. In the U.S., it is estimated that 63% of incident HIV infections in 2010 were among YMSM despite the fact that they represent a very small portion of the population. Given this heightened risk for HIV seroconversion among YMSM, researchers at New York University's Center for Health, Identity, Behavior & Prevention Studies (CHIBPS) sought ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Why do some cancer cells break away from a tumor and travel to distant parts of the body? A team of oncologists and engineers from the University of Michigan teamed up to help understand this crucial question. Cancer becomes deadly when it spreads, or metastasizes. Not all cells have the same ability to travel through the body, but researchers don't understand why. In a paper published in Scientific Reports, researchers describe a new device that is able to sort cells based on their ability to move. The researchers were then able to take the sorted ...

Run far or run fast? That is one of the questions NASA is trying to answer with one of its latest studies--and the answers may help keep us in shape on Earth, as well as in space. Even with regular exercise, astronauts who spend an extended period of time in space experience muscle weakening, bone loss, and decreased cardiovascular conditioning. This is because they no longer have to work against gravity in everyday living. NASA's Human Research Program Integrated Resistance and Aerobic Training study, known as iRAT, completed recently to evaluate the use of high intensity ...

Human error is estimated to cause more than 90% of traffic accidents, a percentage that might be drastically reduced by the implementation of self-driving cars featuring smart systems that control most aspects of driving. Although the potential benefits of self-driving cars have been widely touted, their success on the roadways of the near future is largely reliant on whether or not drivers are willing to trust these smart systems enough to hand over the wheel. A new study published in Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society evaluated whether ...

A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research shows a new dimension to the marginalization of smokers: people who smoke are less likely to vote than their non-smoking peers. "One on hand, the result is intuitive. We know from previous research that smokers are an increasingly marginalized population, involved in fewer organizations and activities and with less interpersonal trust than nonsmokers. But what our research suggests is that this marginalization may also extend beyond the interpersonal level to attitudes toward ...

PUYALLUP, Wash. -- Farmers' markets wanting to increase purchases by customers should consider accepting more than just cash or checks as payment, according to Washington State University researchers. "Customers are willing to buy more if they have other payment options," said Karina Gallardo, a WSU associate professor and extension specialist in the School of Economic Sciences. "They may not necessarily pay more, but they'll buy more." That's one of the results of a study recently published in the International Food and Agribusiness Management Review. Gallardo and her ...

If you want your cut gerberas to last longer in the vase, you could try a flower food made from acids and urea. That's the conclusion of research published in the International Journal of Postharvest Technology and Innovation. Gerbera jamesonii also known as the Transvaal daisy or African daisy, is a species native to South Africa and one of the most important commercially grown flower crops. Its large, vividly and varied blooms make it an attractive species for floral displays and a favorite in many households. Unfortunately, as with all cut flowers, "vase life" is limited ...

Maintaining a healthy and diverse soil community can buffer natural ecosystems against the damaging impacts of global warming, according to a new Yale-led study. In a long-term study, researchers showed that small soil animals can limit the effects of climate change, which would otherwise stimulate the loss of carbon from the soil into the atmosphere. The study provides key new insights into how the interactions between organisms in the soil are likely to be critical for controlling the changes in carbon cycling under current and future climate scenarios. The results ...

ATS 2015, DENVER--Living in a rural area and being poor are risk factors for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), said Sarath Raju, MD, MPH, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, lead author of a study presented at the 2015 American Thoracic Society International Conference. The researchers used a nationally representative sample to pinpoint COPD risk factors. "We wanted to identify the prevalence of COPD in urban and rural areas in the U.S. and determine how residence, region, poverty, race and ethnicity, and other factors influence COPD rates," ...

ATS 2015, DENVER - In 2015, an estimated 158,040 Americans are expected to die from lung cancer, making it the leading cause of cancer death in in this country. Lung cancer screening with low-dose CT scans in high risk smokers has recently been approved to help detect lung cancer in its early stages when no symptoms are noticeable. The hope is that by detecting lung cancer in the early, more treatable stages, doctors may be able to improve the outcomes of patients with lung cancer. However, in addition to screening high risk smokers, close follow-up and monitoring of ...

WASHINGTON D.C., May 19, 2015 -- Researchers have held tremendous interest in liquid metal electronics for many years, but a significant and unfortunate drawback slowing the advance of such devices is that they tend to require external pumps that can't be easily integrated into electronic systems. So a team of North Carolina State University (NCSU) researchers set out to create a reconfigurable liquid metal antenna controlled by voltage only, which they describe in the Journal of Applied Physics, from AIP Publishing. The team's work was inspired by a phenomenon recently ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic urologists will present research findings onseveral topics at the American Urological Association Annual Meeting May 15-19 in New Orleans. Researchers will be available to discuss their research with reporters who are covering the conference. Mayo Clinic studies to be presented include: Holmium Laser Excision of Genitourinary Mesh Exposure Following Anti-Incontinence Surgery: Minimum Six-Month Follow-up. Embargoed until Sunday, May 17, 2015 1:00 p.m. CT The polypropylene mesh implants used in some incontinence surgeries for women can ...

Among patients with acute radiculopathy (sciatica) due to a herniated lumbar disk, a short course of oral steroids, compared with placebo, resulted in modest improvement in function and no significant improvement in pain, according to a study in the May 19 issue of JAMA. Many patients with sciatica endure substantial pain and disability. For those who do not recover quickly, invasive procedures such as epidural steroid injections (ESIs) and surgery are commonly performed. Oral administration of steroid medication may provide similar anti-inflammatory activity, can be ...

Nearly 35 percent of all U.S. adults and 50 percent of those 60 years of age or older were estimated to have the metabolic syndrome in 2011-2012, according to a study in the May 19 issue of JAMA. The metabolic syndrome is combination of health conditions (such as obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, poor lipid profile) that contribute to cardiovascular illness and death. Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2006 reported a metabolic syndrome prevalence of 34 percent. Understanding updated prevalence trends may be important ...

Two studies in the May 19 issue of JAMA analyze the prevalence of the plaque amyloid among adults of varying ages, with and without dementia, and its association with cognitive impairment. Alzheimer disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia, with a worldwide prevalence of about 25 million in 2010, expected to be doubled by 2030 because of increased life expectancy. The earliest recognizable pathological event in AD is cerebral amyloid-β aggregation (protein fragments that clump together to form plaque). This pathology may be present up to 20 years before ...

Among patients with acute sciatica caused by a herniated lumbar disk (a condition also known as "acute radiculopathy"), a short course of oral steroids resulted in only modest improvement in function and no significant improvement in pain, according to a study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Acute sciatica, characterized by radiating buttock and leg pain, is most frequently associated with a herniated disk in the lower (lumbar) spine, and occurs in more than one in 10 people sometime in their lives. Although oral steroids are used by ...

Scientists have moved graphene -- the incredibly strong and conductive single-atom-thick sheet of carbon -- a significant step along the path from lab bench novelty to commercially viable material for new electronic applications. Researchers from the University of Manchester, together with BGT Materials Limited, a graphene manufacturer in the United Kingdom, have printed a radio frequency antenna using compressed graphene ink. The antenna performed well enough to make it practical for use in radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags and wireless sensors, the researchers ...

Antidepressants are associated with better rates of treatment response and remission for women with postnatal depression, when compared to a placebo, according to a new systematic review by the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London. Reports often focus on the risks of using antidepressants during pregnancy and the postnatal period but this paper, published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), highlights the benefits that antidepressants can have for women with postnatal depression. Postnatal depression ...

Researchers determined DNA sequences from the Y chromosomes of 334 men belonging to 17 populations from Europe and the Middle East Study shows that almost two out of three (64%) modern European men belong to just three young paternal lineage Male-specific population expansion was widespread, and surprisingly recent, focusing interest on the Bronze Age Geneticists from the University of Leicester have discovered that most European men descend from just a handful of Bronze Age forefathers, due to a 'population explosion' several thousand years ago. The project, which ...

The leading theory for why the blood of younger mice rejuvenates the muscles of older mice is now in contest. The vampiric exchange of young blood and old blood has long been reported to have anti-aging effects, but it was in 2013 when Harvard University researchers first linked GDF-11, a molecule that circulates in the blood, to this effect. Now, an analysis that set out to see how GDF-11 works in the muscles published May 19 in Cell Metabolism found just the opposite. The investigators showed first that GDF-11 was not specifically measured; the methods that were previously ...

Chicago -- May 14, 2015 -- Infants undergoing some types of surgery could have better recovery if they receive regional anesthesia rather than general anesthesia, according to two studies published in the Online First edition of Anesthesiology, the official medical journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists® (ASA®). Researchers explored the differences between the two types of anesthesia by measuring the presence of apnea, a breathing complication, following hernia surgery. Experts have long examined the effects of anesthesia on infants and toddlers, ...

With the help of a computer program called "Rosetta," researchers at Vanderbilt University have "redesigned" an antibody that has increased potency and can neutralize more strains of the AIDS-causing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) than can any known natural antibody. Their findings, published online today in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, suggest that computer-redesigned antibodies may speed the search for an effective therapy or vaccine for a virus that so far has eluded all attempts to eradicate it. "There's a consensus (in the HIV field) that the vaccine ...

WASHINGTON --The best remedy for severe salicylate poisoning is hemodialysis, according to a comprehensive systematic review of the medical literature published on Friday in Annals of Emergency Medicine ("Extracorporeal Treatment for Salicylate Poisoning: Systematic Review and Recommendations from the EXTIRP Workgroup"). Salicylate is an active ingredient in aspirin as well as hundreds of over-the-counter medications, and contributes to approximately 20,000 accidental or intentional poisonings and nearly 30 deaths reported to US Poison Control Centers every year. "Our ...