Scientists studying the decline and recovery of seagrass beds in one of California's largest estuaries have found that recolonization of the estuary by sea otters was a crucial factor in the seagrass comeback. Led by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, the study will be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of August 26. Seagrass meadows, which provide coastal protection and important habitat for fish, are declining worldwide, partly because of excessive nutrients entering coastal waters in runoff from farms and ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Programs aimed at helping obese black women lose weight have not had the same success as programs for black men and white men and women. But new research from Duke University has found that a successful alternative could be a "maintain, don't gain" approach. The study, which appears in the Aug. 26 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine, compared changes in weight and risk for diabetes, heart disease or stroke among 194 premenopausal black women, aged 25-44. They were recruited from Piedmont Health's six nonprofit community health centers in a multi-county area ...

Berkeley — Knocking out a single enzyme dramatically cripples the ability of aggressive cancer cells to spread and grow tumors, offering a promising new target in the development of cancer treatments, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. The paper, to be published Monday, Aug. 26, in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, sheds new light on the importance of lipids, a group of molecules that includes fatty acids and cholesterol, in the development of cancer. Researchers have long known that cancer ...

PHILADELPHIA – Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania demonstrate for the first time that the immune system influences the skin microbiome. A new study found that the skin microbiome – a collection of microorganisms inhabiting the human body – is governed, at least in part, by an ancient branch of the immune system called complement. In turn, it appears microbes on the skin tweak the complement system, as well as immune surveillance of the skin. They found that complement may, in part, be responsible for maintaining a diverse ...

PHILADELPHIA - Perelman School of Medicine researchers at the University of Pennsylvania report the first biomarker results reported from the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI), showing that a comprehensive test of protein biomarkers in spinal fluid have prognostic and diagnostic value in early stages of Parkinson's disease. The study is reported in JAMA Neurology. Compared to healthy adults, the study found that people with early Parkinson's had lower levels of amyloid beta, tau and alpha synuclein in their spinal fluid. In addition, those with lower ...

When ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS, a preinvasive malignancy of the breast) is described as a high-risk condition rather than cancer, more women report that they would opt for nonsurgical treatments, according to a research letter by Zehra B. Omer, B.A., of Massachusetts General Hospital—Institute for Technology Assessment, Boston, and colleagues. A total of 394 healthy women without a history of breast cancer participated in the study and were presented with three scenarios that described a diagnosis of DCIS as noninvasive breast cancer, breast lesion, or abnormal cells. ...

An intervention not focused on weight loss was effective for weight gain prevention among socioeconomically disadvantaged black women, according to a report published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication. Promoting clinically meaningful weight loss among black women has been a challenge. Compared to white women, "black women have higher rates of body weight satisfaction, fewer social pressures to lose weight, and sociocultural norms that tolerate heavier body weights," according to the study background. "New weight management strategies are necessary ...

Thyroid ultrasound imaging could be used to identify patients who have a low risk of cancer for whom biopsy could be postponed, according to a study by Rebecca Smith-Bindman, M.D., of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues. The retrospective case-control study of 8,806 patients who underwent 11,618 thyroid ultrasound imaging examinations from January 2000 through March 2005 included 105 patients diagnosed as having thyroid cancer. Thyroid nodules were common in patients diagnosed as having cancer (96.9 percent) and patients not diagnosed as having ...

A meta-analysis of previously reported studies by Gregory P. Moore, M.D., F.R.C.P.C., of The Ottawa Hospital, Ontario, Canada, and colleagues examined the rate of moderate to severe and severe neurodevelopmental impairment by gestational age in extremely preterm survivors followed up between ages 4 and 8 years, and determined whether there is a significant difference in impairment rates between the successive weeks of gestation of survivors. The search of English-language publications found nine studies that met inclusion criteria of being published after 2004, a prospective ...

Clinicians use the do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order not only as a guide for therapeutic decisions during a cardiopulmonary arrest but also as a surrogate for broader treatment directives, according to a study by Amy Sanderson M.D., of Boston Children's Hospital, M.A., and colleagues. A total of 107 physicians and 159 nurses responded to a survey regarding their attitudes and behaviors about DNR orders for pediatric patients. There was substantial variability in the interpretation of the DNR order. Most clinicians (66.9 percent) reported that they considered that a DNR order ...

Runs of homozygosity (ROHs, regions of the genome where the copies inherited from parents are identical) may contribute to the etiology (origin) of Alzheimer disease (AD), according to a study by Mahdi Ghani, Ph.D., of the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and colleagues. Caribbean Hispanics are known to have an elevated risk for AD and tend to have large families with evidence of inbreeding, according to the study background. A Caribbean Hispanic data set of 547 unrelated cases (48.8 percent with familial AD) and 542 controls collected from a population known ...

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of tau proteins, ɑ-synuclein, and β-amyloid 1-42 (Αβ1-42) appear to be associated with early stage Parkinson disease (PD) in a group of untreated patients compared with healthy patients, according to a study by Ju-Hee Kang, M.D., of the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues. The study included the initial 102 research volunteers (63 patients with PD and 39 healthy control patients) of the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) study. Results indicate that slightly, but significantly, lower levels of ...

A team led by UC San Francisco researchers has called for simplified guidelines on when to biopsy thyroid nodules for cancer, which they say would result in fewer unnecessary biopsies. Their recommendation, based on a retrospective study published online on August 26, 2013 in JAMA Internal Medicine, is to biopsy patients only when imaging reveals a thyroid nodule with microcalcifications – tiny flecks of calcium – or one that is over two centimeters in diameter and completely solid. Any other findings represent too low a risk to require biopsy or continued surveillance ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- The brain's tactile and motor neurons, which perceive touch and control movement, may also respond to visual cues, according to researchers at Duke Medicine. The study in monkeys, which appears online Aug. 26, 2013, in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides new information on how different areas of the brain may work together in continuously shaping the brain's internal image of the body, also known as the body schema. The findings have implications for paralyzed individuals using neuroprosthetic limbs, since they suggest ...

Even mild stress can thwart therapeutic measures to control emotions, a team of neuroscientists at New York University has found. Their findings, which appear in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, point to the limits of clinical techniques while also shedding new light on the barriers that must be overcome in addressing afflictions such as fear or anxiety. "We have long suspected that stress can impair our ability to control our emotions, but this is the first study to document how even mild stress can undercut therapies designed to keep our ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – August 26, 2013 – The same compound in a common household clothes detergent shows promise as a treatment to preserve muscle tissue after severe injury. Researchers at the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center's Institute for Regenerative Medicine hope the oxygen-generating compound could one day aid in saving and repairing limbs and tissue. The research in rats, published online ahead of print in PLOS ONE, found that injections of the compound sodium percarbonate (SPO) can produce enough oxygen to help preserve muscle tissue when blood flow is disrupted. "Some ...

The Chelyabinsk meteorite either collided with another body in the solar system or came too close to the Sun before it fell to Earth, according to research announced today (Tuesday 27th August) at the Goldschmidt conference in Florence. A team from the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy (IGM) in Novosibirsk have analysed fragments of the meteorite, the main body of which fell to the bottom of the Chebarkul Lake near Chelyabinsk on 15 February this year. Although all of the fragments are composed of the same minerals, the structure and texture of some fragments show ...

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Kansas State University entomologists have helped identify a neuropeptide named natalisin that regulates the sexual activity and reproductive ability of insects. The team is the first to observe and name the neuropeptide, which is composed of short chains of amino acids in the brain of insects and arthropods. The finding may open new possibilities for environmentally friendly pest management, said Yoonseong Park, professor of entomology at Kansas State University. Park and colleagues recently published their findings in the study, "Natalisin, a tachykinin-like ...

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- If current irrigation trends continue, 69 percent of the groundwater stored in the High Plains Aquifer of Kansas will be depleted in 50 years. But immediately reducing water use could extend the aquifer's lifetime and increase net agricultural production through the year 2110. Those findings are part of a recently published study by David Steward, professor of civil engineering, and colleagues at Kansas State University. The study investigates the future availability of groundwater in the High Plains Aquifer -- also called the Ogallala Aquifer -- and ...

Clues left at the scene of the crime don't always point to the guilty party, as EPFL researchers investigating Parkinson's disease have discovered. It is generally accepted that the disease is aggravated when a specific protein is transformed by an enzyme. The EPFL neuroscientists were able to show that, on the contrary, this transformation tends to protect against the progression of the disease. This surprising conclusion could radically change therapeutic approaches that are currently being developed by pharmaceutical companies. The research is to appear in an article ...

A study published in the August print issue of the Journal of Oncology Practice shows that from 1998-2008, wait times for colorectal cancer operations at Veterans Administration hospitals increased from 19 to 32 days. But researchers think longer waits may be a reflection of several unmeasured variables including more careful care, staffing, and patient conditions or preferences. "Some of it is purely staffing – we don't have enough surgeons or nurses or anesthetists or O.R. time to meet the need," says Martin McCarter, MD, investigator at the University of Colorado Cancer ...

Move over, silicon. In a breakthrough in the quest for the next generation of computers and materials, researchers at USC have solved a longstanding challenge with carbon nanotubes: how to actually build them with specific, predictable atomic structures. "We are solving a fundamental problem of the carbon nanotube," said Chongwu Zhou, professor in the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and corresponding author of the study published August 23 in the journal Nano Letters. "To be able to control the atomic structure, ...

Amsterdam, NL, August 26, 2013 – Of the 15 million people around the world who have survived poliomyelitis, up to 80% report progressive deteriorating strength and endurance many years after infection, a condition known as post-polio syndrome (PPS). Researchers in Italy from the National Hospital for Poliomyelitis, the Policlinico G.B. De Rossi in Verona, and the University of Milan have found that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for 15 days improved sleep and fatigue symptoms in patients with PPS, suggesting this non-invasive tool may be a new therapeutic ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Patients who had complex gynecologic surgery managed by an enhanced recovery pathway (ERP) resulted in decreased narcotic use, earlier discharge, stable readmission rates, excellent patient satisfaction and cost savings, according to a Mayo Clinic study. The findings are published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology. MULTIMEDIA ALERT: Video and audio of Dr. Dowdy are available for download on the Mayo Clinic News Network. A team of gynecologic oncologists, urogynecologists and anesthesiologists developed an enhanced recovery pathway for patients ...

SEATTLE – Coffee consumption is associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer recurrence and progression, according to a new study by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center scientists that is online ahead of print in Cancer Causes & Control. Corresponding author Janet L. Stanford, Ph.D., co-director of the Program in Prostate Cancer Research in the Fred Hutch Public Health Sciences Division, conducted the study to determine whether the bioactive compounds in coffee and tea may prevent prostate cancer recurrence and delay progression of the disease. Stanford and colleagues ...