Healthier Happy Meals Small changes to familiar combo meals can help cut calorie consumption What would happen if a fast-food restaurant reduces the calories in a children's meal by 104 calories, mainly by decreasing the portion size of French fries? Would children ...

Renegades of cell biology: Why K-Ras gene mutations prove so deadly in cancer SALT LAKE CITY—Cells with a mutation in the gene called K-Ras—found in close to 30 percent of all cancers, but mostly those with worst prognosis, such as pancreatic cancer, colon cancer, and lung ...

Researchers find a cause of aging that can be reversed Medical researchers have found a cause of ageing in animals that can be reversed, possibly paving the way for new treatments for age-related diseases including cancer, type 2 diabetes, muscle ...

Anti-epilepsy drugs can cause inflammations RUB physicians investigate how various substances affect glial cells Physicians at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) have been investigating if established anti-epilepsy drugs have anti-inflammatory or pro-inflammatory ...

Emotions in Parkinson's disease Is it the disease itself or the treatment that impairs the perception of emotions? Patients affected by Parkinson's disease may experience, in addition to the more obvious motor symptoms (such as tremors ...

Evolution of plumage patterns in male and female birds Ducks, geese and swans are waterfowl, an order known to scientists as Anseriformes. Hens, pheasants, partridges and turkeys are game-birds (Galliformes). Both orders are famous not just for their flesh ...

Availability of food increases as countries' dependence on food trade grows The figures come out in a study made at Aalto University in Finland examining developments in food availability and food self-sufficiency in 1965. Researchers of Aalto University examined ...

BCG vaccine more effective than previously thought The BCG vaccine has been found to be more effective against the most common form of tuberculosis than previously thought, according to a new study in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Bacillus ...

Young killer cells protect against infectious mononucleosis More than 90 percent of all adults are carriers of the oncogenic Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV). Primary infection with this herpes virus as a young child is generally not linked to any symptoms, ...

Congenital heart disease causes hypoglycaemia In a new study, scientists from University of Copenhagen document a connection between congenital arrhythmia and the bodies' ability to handle sugar. The results can be of vital importance for patients with the ...

Brain connections may explain why girls mature faster As we grow older, our brains undergo a major reorganisation reducing the connections in the brain. Studying people up to the age of 40, scientists led by Dr Marcus Kaiser and Ms Sol Lim at Newcastle University ...

New magnetic behavior in nanoparticles could lead to even smaller digital memories Electronic devices such as mobile phones and tablets spur on a scientific race to find smaller and smaller information processing and storage elements. One of the ...

Management of atrial fibrillation still suboptimal in Europe ESC presents preliminary results of Atrial Fibrillation General Registry Sophia Antipolis, 19 December 2013. Results for a pilot registry on the management and treatment of atrial fibrillation ...

The first cancer operation room with a navigator is created This news release is available in Spanish. The system, presented at Gregorio Marañón Hospital, permits real-time interaction with the body of the patient (with its different tissues and cancer) as well as the radiotherapy ...

Norway's quest to discover all its native species Effort identifies 1,165 new species since project began in 2009 More than a thousand new species –nearly one-quarter of which are new to science – have been discovered in Norway ...

New compound could reverse loss of muscle mass in cancer and other diseases A new antibody could dramatically boost strength and muscle mass in patients with cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), sporadic inclusion body myositis, and in elderly ...

Controlling parasitic worms with genetic selection Scientists at the University of Guelph consider drug-free alternatives to control harmful parasites in sheep Helminths are gastrointestinal parasitic worms that have become a major concern ...

Deciphering the secret of the sugar beet Scientists from Germany and Spain announce the sequence of the sugar beet genome This news release is available in German. An international team of researchers from Bielefeld University, Germany, ...

Integrated approaches to customize fungal cell factories Described in Industrial Biotechnology Journal New Rochelle, NY, December 19, 2013—The natural ability of certain fungi to break down complex substances makes them very valuable ...

Monthly appointments with pharmacists improve medication adherence Patients are more likely to take chronic medications when they meet monthly with pharmacists to coordinate medication schedules and treatments, according to a Virginia Commonwealth University ...

MRI method for measuring MS progression validated New imaging research from Western University (London, Canada) has demonstrated that a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) approach called quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) can be an important tool for ...

Study confirms target of potent chronic leukemia drug COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study led by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC ...

High-dose cytarabine improves outcome in patients with AML in EORTC-GIMEMA AML-12 Trial Results of the EORTC and GIMEMA (Gruppo Italiano Malattie Ematologiche dell' Adulto) AML-12 Trial appearing in the Journal of Clinical Oncology show that high-dose ...

A new role for milk: Delivering polyphenols with anti-cancer activity Milk can serve as a protective carrier of bioactive molecules, suggests report in the Journal of Dairy Science® Philadelphia, PA, December 19, 2013 – Polyphenols found in tea manifest anti-cancer ...

Corn pest decline may save farmers money Populations of European corn borer (ECB), a major corn crop pest , have declined significantly in the eastern United States, according to Penn State researchers. The decline suggests that the use of genetically modified, ECB-resistant corn ...