Certain women with vaginal prolapse are most likely to benefit from undergoing vaginal mesh surgery, a technique that has become controversial and is the focus of numerous lawsuits. The findings, which are published early online in Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology, provide valuable information regarding who should and should not be considered candidates for the surgery. Vaginal prolapse—when pelvic tissues weaken and the vaginal canal may protrude through the vaginal opening—affects roughly 10% to 20% of women. A significant number of patients require repeat surgeries ...

In the fall of 2008, the booster club in Muscatine, Iowa took a chance. Researchers from the University of Iowa asked whether the club would add healthy foods – from apples to string cheese – to its concessions menu. And, by the way, would it also consider putting healthier ingredients in big sellers like nachos and popcorn? These were no idle requests. Booster clubs across the United States directly support schools' athletic and extra-curricular programs like band and choir. The Muskie Boosters, for instance, raise $90,000 annually for athletics and other outside school ...

These new findings were reported by scientists from the German Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research Berlin (IZW). The study – published in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology – is the first to show that seed-dispersing bats avoid feeding in light-polluted areas. Working in Costa Rica with Sowell's short-tailed bats (Carollia sowelli), Daniel Lewanzik from the IZW gave the bats a simple choice. He divided a flight cage into two compartments. One was naturally dark and the other was illuminated by a sodium street lamp, the most common ...

A short-term study found that oral glucosamine supplementation is not associated with a lessening of knee cartilage deterioration among individuals with chronic knee pain. Findings published in Arthritis & Rheumatology, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) journal, indicate that glucosamine does not decrease pain or improve knee bone marrow lesions—more commonly known as bone bruises and thought to be a source of pain in those with osteoarthritis (OA). According to the ACR 27 million Americans over 25 years of age are diagnosed with OA—the most common ...

PULLMAN, Wash.—Washington State University researchers have documented dramatic differences in the swimming ability of domesticated trout and their wilder relatives. The study calls into question the ability of hatcheries to mitigate more than a century of disturbances to wild fish populations. Kristy Bellinger, who did the study for her work on a Ph.D. in zoology, said traditional hatcheries commonly breed for large fish at the cost of the speed they need to escape predators in the wild. "The use of hatcheries to support declining wild salmon and steelhead is controversial," ...

March 10, 2014 -- Death rates from opioids have been soaring in the U.S. since the 1990s. To support the appropriate use of these controlled substances and inform public health interventions to prevent drug abuse, most states have implemented a prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP). In a latest study, researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health evaluated the impact of these state-wide programs and found that after tripling until 2007, annual rates of prescriptions for opioid analgesics have stabilized although the effects of PDMPs on opioid ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery – especially in the predator/prey/poison cycle. In nature, bright colors are basically neon signs that scream, "Don't eat me!" But how did prey evolve these characteristics? When did predators translate the meaning? In the current issue of the journal PLOS ONE, researchers at Michigan State University reveal that these color-coded communiqués evolve over time through gradual steps. Equally interesting, the scientists show how drab-colored, oft-eaten prey adopt garish colors to live long and prosper, ...

STANFORD, Calif. — Some sour news for lactose-intolerant people who hoped that raw milk might prove easier to stomach than pasteurized milk: A pilot study from the Stanford University School of Medicine shows little difference in digestibility between the two. The study was small — it involved 16 participants — but the lead investigator said the results were highly consistent among all the participants and deflate some of the claims surrounding raw, or unpasteurized, milk. "It's not that there was a trend toward a benefit from raw milk and our study wasn't big enough ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – As energy costs rise, more Americans are turning to bioenergy to provide power to their homes and workplaces. Bioenergy is renewable energy made from organic sources, such as biomass. Technology has advanced enough that biomass power plants small enough to fit on a farm can be built at relatively low costs. Now, University of Missouri researchers have found that creating a bioenergy grid with these small plants could benefit people in rural areas of the country as well as provide relief to an overworked national power grid. "Transporting power through ...

A new study by UCLA scientists and colleagues adds further proof to earlier findings by Dr. Claire Lugassy and Dr. Raymond Barnhill of UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center that deadly melanoma cells can spread through the body by creeping like tiny spiders along the outside of blood vessels without ever entering the bloodstream. In addition, the new research, published March 6 in the journal Nature, demonstrates that this process is accelerated when the skin cancer cells are exposed to ultraviolet light. The husband-and-wife team of Barnhill and Lugassy collaborated ...

There has been much research into the factors that have influenced the human genome since the end of the last Ice Age. Anthropologists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and geneticists at University College London (UCL), working in collaboration with archaeologists from Berlin and Kiev, have analyzed ancient DNA from skeletons and found that selection has had a significant effect on the human genome even in the past 5,000 years, resulting in sustained changes to the appearance of people. The results of this current research project have been published this week ...

Identification of a broadly neutralizing HIV-1 antibody in a lupus patient Broadly neutralizing antibodies (BnAbs) recognize conserved epitopes, representing a promising strategy for targeting rapidly mutating viruses. BnAbs display a unique set of characteristics that suggest their development may be limited by immune tolerance. Interestingly, the HIV-1 infection frequency is disproportionately low among patients with the autoimmune disease lupus. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Mattia Bonsignori and colleagues at Duke University identified an ...

Research using NASA data is giving new insight into one of the processes causing Greenland's ice sheet to lose mass. A team of scientists used satellite observations and ice thickness measurements gathered by NASA's Operation IceBridge to calculate the rate at which ice flows through Greenland's glaciers into the ocean. The findings of this research give a clearer picture of how glacier flow affects the Greenland Ice Sheet and shows that this dynamic process is dominated by a small number of glaciers. Over the past few years, Operation IceBridge measured the thickness ...

Climate change may even test lizards' famous ability to tolerate and escape the heat -- making habitat protection increasingly vital -- according to a new study by UBC and international biodiversity experts. The study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, looks at the heat and cold tolerance of 296 species of reptiles, insects and amphibians, known as ectotherms. The researchers discovered that regardless of latitude or elevation, cold-blooded animals across the world have similar heat tolerance limits. However, species in the tropics ...

For soil microbiology, it is the best of times. While no one has undertaken an accurate census, a spoonful of soil holds hundreds of billions of microbial cells, encompassing thousands of species. "It's one of the most diverse microbial habitats on Earth, yet we know surprisingly little about the identities and functions of the microbes inhabiting soil," said Jim Tiedje, Distinguished Professor at the Center for Microbial Ecology at Michigan State University. Tiedje, along with MSU colleagues and collaborators from the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE ...

(Cincinnati, OH) – The results from Boston Children's Hospital's Phase 1 human clinical trial in Rett syndrome came out today. A team of investigators successfully completed a Phase 1 clinical trial using mecasermin [recombinant human insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1)], showing proof-of-principle that treatments like IGF-1 which are based on the neurobiology of Rett syndrome, are possible. The study deemed that IGF-1 is safe and well tolerated in girls diagnosed with Rett syndrome, and the data also suggests that certain breathing and behavioral symptoms associated ...

(Millbrook, NY) What do people living in Boston, Baltimore, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Phoenix, and Los Angeles have in common? From coast to coast, prairie to desert – residential lawns reign. But, according to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, beneath this sea of green lie unexpected differences in fertilization and irrigation practices. Understanding urban lawn care is vital to sustainability planning, more than 80% of Americans live in cities and their suburbs, and these numbers continue to grow. The study was undertaken to ...

Men who at the age of 18 years have poorer cardiovascular fitness and/or a lower IQ more often suffer from dementia before the age of 60. This is shown in a recent study encompassing more than one million Swedish men. In several extensive studies, researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy of Gothenburg University have previously analyzed Swedish men's conscription results and were able to show a correlation between cardiovascular fitness as a teenager and health problems in later life. Increased risk for early-onset dementia In their latest study, based on data from 1.1 ...

CORAL GABLES, FL (March 10, 2014) -- When it comes to romantic relationships, attributes such as health, kindness, and social status have been shown to be important qualities in choosing a partner. It may be surprising to learn, however, that certain personal traits predispose a person towards either getting married or forming a cohabitating relationship. According to a study recently published in the journal Social Science Research, scoring high on attractiveness, personality, and grooming is associated with a greater probability of entering into a marital relationship ...

There have been plenty of fad diets that captured the public's imagination over the years, but Harvard scientists have identified what may be the strangest of them all – sunlight and electricity. Led by Peter Girguis, the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Natural Sciences, and Arpita Bose, a post-doctoral fellow in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, a team of researchers showed that the commonly found bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris can use natural conductivity to pull electrons from minerals located deep in soil and sediment while remaining at the surface, ...

BEER-SHEVA, Israel, March 10, 2014 - Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers have unraveled the genetic basis of a hereditary disease that causes severe brain atrophy, mental retardation and epilepsy in Jews of Moroccan ancestry, according to a study published this week online in the Journal of Medical Genetics. The disease, which the researchers have called PCCA2 (Progressive Cerebello-Cerebral Atrophy Type 2), is caused by two mutations in the VPS53 gene. It results in defective circulation of vacuoles (endosomes) within patents' cells and leads to detrimental ...

Even the mildest form of a traumatic brain injury, better known as a concussion, can deal permanent, irreparable damage. Now, an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania is using mathematical modeling to better understand the mechanisms at play in this kind of injury, with an eye toward protecting the brain from its long-term consequences. Their recent findings, published in the Biophysical Journal, shed new light on the mechanical properties of a critical brain protein and its role in the elasticity of axons, the long, tendril-like part ...

ARCATA, Calif.—Woodland salamanders perform a vital ecological service in American forests by helping to mitigate the impacts of global warming. Global warming occurs when greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere. Woodland salamanders facilitate the capture of this carbon before it is released by feeding on invertebrates (beetles, earthworms, snails, ants, etc.) that would otherwise release carbon through consumption of fallen leaves and other forest debris. Woodland salamanders are the most common vertebrate species in American forests; consequently, ...

This news release is available in French. It may now be possible to identify the first-stage Parkinson's patients who will go on to develop dementia, according to a study conducted at the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal by Dr. Oury Monchi, PhD, and his postdoctoral student, Dr. Alexandru Hanganu, MD, PhD, both of whom are affiliated with Université de Montréal. These findings were published in the journal Brain. Although Parkinson's disease is generally associated with motor problems such as trembling or rigidity, people with this disease actually ...

Tropical Cyclone Lusi has spawned warnings and watches in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Zealand as it moves through the South Pacific Ocean. NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites provided visible and infrared views of the storm that revealed it has become better organized. NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible image of Tropical Cyclone Lusi over Vanuatu on March 9 at 23:30 UTC. The image showed towering thunderstorms surrounded the center and northwestern quadrants of the storm. The next day at 02:17 UTC, NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Lusi and captured infrared ...