ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Adolescents with stronger muscles have a lower risk of heart disease and diabetes, according to a new study that examined the influence of muscle strength in sixth grade boys and girls. Stronger kids also have lower body mass index (weight to height ratio), lower percent body fat, smaller waist circumferences, and higher fitness levels, according to the study that appears in Pediatrics. Researchers analyzed health data for more than 1,400 children ages 10 to 12, including their percent body fat, glucose level, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and ...

VIDEO: New statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons show that since 2000, breast lift procedures have grown by 70 percent, twice the rate of breast implants. According to the... Click here for more information. ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill., March 31, 2014 – New statistics released today by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) show that breast lift procedures are growing at twice the rate of breast implant surgeries. Since 2000, breast lifts have grown by ...

Spouses who regulate their emotions together in a satisfactory manner are more fulfilled sexually, psychologically, and relationally, among couples in which the woman has provoked vestibulodynia (PVD), also known as "vulvar vestibulitis". This was discovered by Nayla Awada, a doctoral candidate in psychology at the Université de Montréal, in a study which she conducted with 254 couples in which the woman was diagnosed with PVD. PVD is characterized by often chronic pain felt on the "vestibule," or entrance of the vagina, especially during penetration. The pain is usually ...

A research group at Uppsala University, Sweden has developed a new responsive coating for implants used in surgery to improve their integration into bone and to prevent rejection. Neutron scattering experiments at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, France have shown how a protein that promotes bone growth binds to this surface and can be released in a controlled way. Orthopaedic and dental implants must last for many years. Success for these surgical components depends on integration into adjacent bone tissue. Gels made by modifying hyaluronan, a large biological ...

The initial results of this trial were published a few months ago (Circulation. 2013;128:1495-1503), and showed that patients who received this treatment during emergency transit to hospital had much smaller amounts of dead heart muscle than those randomly assigned to receive no treatment. The new study shows that the proportion of patients with a severely deteriorated heart contractile function is much less (60%) in the group that received metoprolol. Early treatment with metoprolol treatment also significantly reduced the rate of hospital readmission for chronic heart ...

Greenhouse gas emissions from food production may threaten the UN climate target of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, according to research at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. On Monday 31 March the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) presents their report on the impacts of climate change. Carbon dioxide emissions from the energy and transportation sectors currently account for the largest share of climate pollution. However, a study from Chalmers now shows that eliminating these emissions would not guarantee staying below the UN ...

Researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City have identified a biological process that may help physicians predict when someone with heart disease is likely to have a heart attack in the near future. A new study by the team has identified plasma levels of two markers – microRNA 122 and 126 – that appear to decline a few days before a person suffers a heart attack. Results of the study could help the 715,000 Americans who suffer from heart attacks each year. "It's always been a mystery trying to identify people with heart disease ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass-- The shells of a sea creature, the mollusk Placuna placenta, are not only exceptionally tough, but also clear enough to read through. Now, researchers at MIT have analyzed these shells to determine exactly why they are so resistant to penetration and damage — even though they are 99 percent calcite, a weak, brittle mineral. The shells' unique properties emerge from a specialized nanostructure that allows optical clarity, as well as efficient energy dissipation and the ability to localize deformation, the researchers found. The results are published this ...

Researchers at King's College London and Imperial College London have discovered that people with fewer copies of a gene coding for a carb-digesting enzyme may be at higher risk of obesity. The findings, published in Nature Genetics, suggest that dietary advice may need to be more tailored to an individual's digestive system, based on whether they have the genetic predisposition and necessary enzymes to digest different foods. Salivary amylase plays a significant role in breaking down carbohydrates in the mouth at the start of the digestion process. The new study suggests ...

VIDEO: This video shows a numerical simulation of Earth's deep mantle. The top panel is temperature and the bottom panel is composition which includes three components: the more-primitive reservoir at the... Click here for more information. TEMPE, Ariz. – Seeking to better understand the composition of the lowermost part of Earth's mantle, located nearly 2,900 kilometers (1,800 miles) below the surface, a team of Arizona State University researchers has developed new simulations ...

Polymer materials are usually thermal insulators. But by harnessing an electropolymerization process to produce aligned arrays of polymer nanofibers, researchers have developed a thermal interface material able to conduct heat 20 times better than the original polymer. The modified material can reliably operate at temperatures of up to 200 degrees Celsius. The new thermal interface material could be used to draw heat away from electronic devices in servers, automobiles, high-brightness LEDs and certain mobile devices. The material is fabricated on heat sinks and heat ...

Ever notice how Harry Potter's T-shirt abruptly changes from a crewneck to a henley shirt in "The Order of the Phoenix," or how in "Pretty Woman," Julia Roberts' croissant inexplicably morphs into a pancake? Don't worry if you missed those continuity bloopers. Vision scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have discovered an upside to the brain mechanism that can blind us to subtle changes in movies and in the real world. They've discovered a "continuity field" in which the brain visually merges similar objects ...

Tweaking a specific cell type's ability to absorb potassium in the brain improved walking and prolonged survival in a mouse model of Huntington's disease, reports a UCLA study published March 30 in the online edition of Nature Neuroscience. The discovery could point to new drug targets for treating the devastating disease, which strikes one in every 20,000 Americans. Huntington's disease is passed from parent to child through a mutation in the huntingtin gene. By killing brain cells called neurons, the progressive disorder gradually deprives patients of their ability ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Using a new gene-editing system based on bacterial proteins, MIT researchers have cured mice of a rare liver disorder caused by a single genetic mutation. The findings, described in the March 30 issue of Nature Biotechnology, offer the first evidence that this gene-editing technique, known as CRISPR, can reverse disease symptoms in living animals. CRISPR, which offers an easy way to snip out mutated DNA and replace it with the correct sequence, holds potential for treating many genetic disorders, according to the research team. "What's exciting about ...

Pioneering new research from the University of Exeter could have a major impact on climate and environmental science by drastically transforming the perceived reliability of key observations of precipitation, which includes rain, sleet and snow. The ground breaking study examines the effect that increased aerosol concentrations in the atmosphere, emitted as a result of burning fossil fuels, had on regional temperature and precipitation levels. Scientists from Exeter's Mathematics department compared observed regional temperature and precipitation changes throughout ...

Researchers have discovered that mutations in a specific gene are responsible for a hereditary form of melanoma. Every year in the UK, almost 12,000 people are diagnosed with melanoma, a form of skin cancer. About 1 in 20 people with melanoma have a strong family history of the disease. In these patients, pinpointing the genetic mutations that drive disease development allows dermatologists to identify people who should be part of melanoma surveillance programmes. The team found that people with specific mutations in the POT1 gene were extremely likely to develop melanoma. ...

JUPITER, FL, March 30, 2014 – At first glance, measuring what the common fruit fly eats might seem like a trivial matter, but it is absolutely critical when it comes to conducting studies of aging, health, metabolism and disease. How researchers measure consumption can make all the difference in the accuracy of a study's conclusions. Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed what amounts to a best practices guide to the most accurate way of measuring fruit fly food consumption that could lead to more informed research and ...

Researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Murray, Utah, have discovered that elevated levels of two recently identified proteins in the body are inflammatory markers and indicators of the presence of cardiovascular disease. These newly identified markers of inflammation, GlycA and GlycB, have the potential to contribute to better understanding of the inflammatory origins of heart disease and may be used in the future to identify a heart patient's future risk of suffering a heart attack, stroke, or even death. Inflammation occurs in the body ...

Among patients undergoing aortic valve replacement using a catheter tube, a comparison of two types of heart valve technologies, balloon-expandable or self-expandable valve systems, found a greater rate of device success with the balloon-expandable valve, according to a JAMA study released online to coincide with presentation at the 2014 American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions. Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has emerged as a new option for patients with severe narrowing of the aortic valve and as an effective alternative treatment method to ...

Use of the drug aleglitazar, which has shown the ability to lower glucose levels and have favorable effects on cholesterol, did not reduce the risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack or stroke among patients with type 2 diabetes and recent heart attack or unstable angina, according to a JAMA study released online to coincide with presentation at the 2014 American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions. Cardiovascular disease remains the dominant cause of death among patients with type 2 diabetes. No drug therapy specifically directed against diabetes nor strategy ...

Puritas Organic Gold, the official hydration sponsor of actress/singer/TV personality Lauren Mayhew, announces her "WHAT IS LOVE" video will debut on FOX Sports homepage April 8th, and be televised nationwide on April 9th on FOX's "UFC Tonight." Puritas Organic Gold is the only USDA certified organic fulvic-infused, naturally stable 9.5pH high alkaline water, which meets or exceeds standards for kosher and vegan, contains more than 77 trace minerals and provides superior hydration. "We are thrilled to be able to support Lauren Mayhew's newest video, while also increasing ...

Recent controversy erupted after an unknowing breastfeeding mum was blasted with derogatory comments after being secretly photographed breastfeeding her 8 months old baby in public. The image went viral after being published on social media website, facebook, yet received a deluge of support which became the catalyst for a pro-breastfeeding campaign in Rugeley. To show their support for the rights of breastfeeding mums, 'Neuner's' are showing a united front with one of their stockists, Peak Health Food, by supplying the Rugeley store with hundreds of free samples of ...

Mr. Robert L. Parker has started his new adventure by producing and directing his own movie from his book, "The Awakening of A Troubled Mind!" He said he has gotten so many positive responses from the book that he decided to shoot the movie/fim on it. The Casting Calls are due to be administered on April 5, 2014 from 1-4pm at Next Level Complex at 5070 Raleigh Lagrange Rd, Memphis, Tn. He says that this will be a big break for Memphis to really get on the map with the movie scene! The plans for this movie goes far beyond to what is expected and is looking to be a huge success! ...

The Engineering and Science University Magnet School (ESUMS), an innovative STEM school in the New Haven Public School District, is celebrating the announcement of its first Student Innovation Expo Mini event that will take place on April 8, 2014. The event is open to the general public, and will take place on their temporary campus at 130B Leeder Hill Drive in Hamden, Connecticut. The school has enlisted educators, college professors, and industry professionals to judge the projects and provide feedback to the student groups. The winners of this event will move forward ...

According to one of the nation's leading movers, the 2013 Atlas Van Lines Migration Patterns study found the majority of the country achieved a balance between inbound and outbound moves while the total number of moves increased six percent from 2012. Having started in 1993, Atlas conducts the annual study to track the nation's interstate (or between states) moving patterns year to year. Two states that were outbound in 2012 are now balanced states, Vermont and West Virginia. Formerly inbound states Alaska and Washington also became balanced. After spending 2012 as balanced ...