Tight control of blood glucose levels is critical to mitigating the long-term complications of diabetes; however, the intensive insulin therapy required for this control is frequently accompanied by recurrent episodes of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). Hypoglycemic episodes have been implicated in brain damage and cognitive impairment. Though the brain depends predominantly on glucose as an energy source, it can also use alternative fuels, such as lactate, to satisfy its energy requirements. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Raimund Herzog and colleagues ...

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a degenerative skeletal muscle disease caused by mutations in the protein dystrophin. Dystrophin functions to protect muscle cells from injury and loss of functional dystrophin results in break down and loss of muscle cells. A cellular signal relay system, known as a MAP kinase cascade, regulates the function of muscle stem cells, serving as a source of the new cells that are required for muscle regeneration. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers led by Anton Bennett at Yale University identified the protein ...

BETHESDA, MD – April 1, 2013 -- A surprising research discovery in mosquitoes could affect future prospects for malaria control. A team of scientists from West Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom found that the mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, which was thought to be splitting into two completely new species, may actually have a more complex range of forms due to frequent inter-mating. The resulting hybrids may have implications for insecticide resistance and malaria parasite infectivity. The study published in the April 2013 issue of the journal GENETICS, documents ...

Bethesda, MD—April 1, 2013 – Listed below are the selected highlights for the April 2013 issue of the Genetics Society of America's journal, Genetics. The April issue is available online at http://www.genetics.org/content/current. Please credit Genetics, Vol. 193, April 2013, Copyright © 2013. Please feel free to forward to colleagues who may be interested in these articles on a wide array of topics including methods, technology and resources; gene expression; genetics of complex traits; genome integrity and transmission; population and evolutionary genetics; cellular ...

Millbrook, NY – Pharmaceuticals commonly found in the environment are disrupting streams, with unknown impacts on aquatic life and water quality. So reports a new Ecological Applications paper, which highlights the ecological cost of pharmaceutical waste and the need for more research into environmental impacts. Lead author Dr. Emma Rosi-Marshall, a scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, comments: "Pharmaceutical pollution is now detected in waters throughout the world. Causes include aging infrastructure, sewage overflows, and agricultural runoff. Even ...

AURORA, Colo. (April 1, 2013) – Although guns are used in over half of all American suicides, a new study shows that many emergency room doctors and nurses do not routinely ask suicidal patients about their access to firearms. "In our study, less than half of emergency room medical providers believe most or all suicides are preventable and many rarely ask about the availability of firearms," said Marian Betz, MD, MPH, at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and lead author of the study. "There is a great opportunity to save lives here that many are not taking ...

Even if you didn't eat your veggies or drink your milk as a child, your height is still in your hands, reveal new findings by economists from the University of Southern California, Harvard University and Peking University. Using unique data from a new massive longitudinal survey of 17,708 adults beginning at age 45, the researchers show for the first time that lifestyle choices we make in adulthood — and not just the hand we're dealt as children — influence how tall we stand as we age. "Had we only examined the correlations between measured height and health, we would ...

DETROIT – In a first-of-its-kind experiment using microvesicles generated from mesenchymal bone marrow cells (MSCs) to treat cancer, neurological researchers at Henry Ford Hospital have discovered a novel approach for treatment of tumor. Specifically, the research team found that introducing genetic material produced by MSCs, significantly reduced a particularly resistant form of malignant brain tumor in living lab rats. "This is the first foray of its type in experimental cancer therapy, and it represents a highly novel and potentially effective treatment," says Michael ...

Although sildenafil is best known for promoting erections, it may also serve as a weight loss aid by coaxing our bodies to store more healthy "brown fat" relative to unhealthy "white fat" than it would otherwise do on its own. According to new research published online in The FASEB Journal, this is because sildenafil inhibits the breakdown of cyclic GMP, which has been well known as a messenger molecule used by the body to control blood pressure and flow, and has now been shown to play an important role determining which type of fat—white or brown—the body stores. "There ...

If you're pulling and all-nighter to finish a term paper, a new parent up all night with a fussy baby, or simply can't sleep like you once could, then you may be snoozing on good health. That's because new research published in The FASEB Journal used mice to show that proper sleep patterns are critical for healthy metabolic function, and even mild impairment in our circadian rhythms can lead to serious health consequences, including diabetes and obesity. "We should acknowledge the unforeseen importance of our 24-hour rhythms for health," said Claudia Coomans, Ph.D., a ...

Fish oil rich in DHA and EPA is widely believed to help prevent disease by reducing inflammation, but until now, scientists were not entirely sure about its immune enhancing effects. A new report appearing in the April 2013 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, helps provide clarity on this by showing that DHA-rich fish oil enhances B cell activity, a white blood cell, challenging the notion that fish oil is only immunosuppressive. This discovery is important as it shows that fish oil does not necessarily reduce the overall immune response to lower inflammation, possibly ...

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Men who have dependent children and whose spouses or partners died from cancer are an overlooked population. These fathers face unique challenges not addressed by traditional grief support groups that often attract an older, female population. Faculty in the UNC Department of Psychiatry report on a successful pilot peer support program called "Single Fathers Due to Cancer" they created to help these men. The program is the first of its kind in the United States. They describe the program's development so that other institutions may develop similar ...

Rice University researchers have found an unexpected link between a protein that triggers the formation of blood clots and other proteins that are essential for the body's immune system. The find could lead to new treatments for thousands of patients who suffer from inflammatory diseases and disorders that cause abnormal blood clotting. The research is available online in the journal PLOS ONE. "This link opens the door for studying severe, debilitating inflammatory disorders where the disease mechanism is still poorly understood, including lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, ...

Reston, Va. (April 1, 2013) – In vivo ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) imaging can detect early changes to the lung caused by cigarette smoke exposure and provides a noninvasive method for studying lung dysfunction in preclinical models, according to research published in the April issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. These measures have the potential to be applied clinically to study and diagnose the early stages of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). COPD is a slow-progressing, debilitating lung disease which is commonly caused by cigarette smoking. Defining ...

CHICAGO --- For-profit hospitals are out-performing other hospitals when treating stroke, heart attack and pneumonia patients in emergency departments and, thus, will be more likely to receive bonuses under Medicare's new payment rules, according to a new Northwestern Medicine® study. Though nonprofit and public hospitals are lagging behind in performance, many are making noticeable improvements and also many will be eligible for bonuses, too. The findings give an early look at how hospitals are measuring up under the new, mandatory Hospital Inpatient Value-Based Purchasing ...

Scientists have mostly focused on the benefits of meditation for the brain and the body, but a recent study by Northeastern University's David DeSteno, published in Psychological Science, takes a look at what impacts meditation has on interpersonal harmony and compassion. Several religious traditions have suggested that mediation does just that, but there has been no scientific proof—until now. In this study, a team of researchers from Northeastern University and Harvard University examined the effects meditation would have on compassion and virtuous behavior, and ...

Amsterdam, NL, April 1, 2013 – In a mouse model of early Parkinson's disease (PD), animals displayed movement deficits, loss of tyrosine-hydroxylase (TH)-positive fibers in the striatum, and astro-gliosis and micro-gliosis in the substantia nigra (SN), without the loss of nigral dopaminergic neurons. These findings, which may cast light on the molecular processes involved in the initial stages of PD, are available in the current issue of Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience. "The most intriguing finding of our study was the lack of a significant decrease of TH levels ...

Ann Arbor, Mich. — Medications used to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, are some of the most widely used medications in children less than one year old. But in a new study, researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of Missouri concluded that physicians often label common symptoms in infants, such as crying and spitting up, as disease. Frequent use of the GERD label can lead to overuse of medication, according to study published today online ahead of print in the journal Pediatrics. The study found that doctors' use of the label GERD ...

ANN ARBOR—Surface appearances can be so misleading: In most forests, the amount of carbon held in soils is substantially greater than the amount contained in the trees themselves. If you're a land manager trying to assess the potential of forests to offset carbon emissions and climate change by soaking up atmospheric carbon and storing it, what's going on beneath the surface is critical. But while scientists can precisely measure and predict the amount of above-ground carbon accumulating in a forest, the details of soil-carbon accounting have been a bit fuzzy. Two ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Clumps of proteins that accumulate in brain cells are a hallmark of neurological diseases such as dementia, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. Over the past several years, there has been much controversy over the structure of one of those proteins, known as alpha synuclein. MIT computational scientists have now modeled the structure of that protein, most commonly associated with Parkinson's, and found that it can take on either of two proposed states — floppy or rigid. The findings suggest that forcing the protein to switch to the rigid structure, ...

Research by a University of Tennessee, Knoxville professor has found that about a thousand bird species became extinct following human colonization. Research by Alison Boyer, a research assistant professor in ecology and evolutionary biology, and an international team studied the extinction rates of nonperching land birds in the Pacific Islands from 700 to 3,500 years ago. Some of the birds studied included birds of prey and ducks. The team uncovered the magnitude of the extinctions and insight into how and why human impacts varied across the region. The findings are ...

African American men on average wait a week longer than their Caucasian counterparts between the initial diagnosis of prostate cancer and treatment, according to University of North Carolina researchers. The study was published online March 28 in Cancer, the journal of the American Cancer Society, by a team led by Ronald Chen, MD, MPH, assistant professor with the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. The study is the first published population-based examination of racial disparities in prostate cancer treatment delay. Using data from Medicare patients, Dr. Chen ...

PHILADELPHIA - Neurosurgeons can visualize important pathways in the brain using an imaging technique called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), to better adapt brain tumor surgeries and preserve language, visual and motor function while removing cancerous tissue. In the latest issue of Neurosurgical Focus, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania review research showing that this ability to visualize relevant white matter tracts during glioma resection surgeries can improve accuracy and, in some groups, significantly extend survival ...

The word "organic" can mean many things to consumers. Even so, the power of an organic label can be very strong: studies have shown that this simple label can lead us to think that a food is healthier, through what is known as the 'health halo effect'. But can this bias go further? A study by Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab researchers Lee, Shimizu, Kniffin and Wansink set out to answer this question. Their study shows that an organic label can influence much more than health views: perceptions of taste, calories and value can be significantly altered when a food ...

URBANA - Inclusion of corn germ in swine diets can reduce diet costs, depending on the local cost of corn germ and other ingredients. Recent research conducted at the University of Illinois indicates that corn germ can be included at up to 30 percent in diets fed to growing pigs. "In previous research, we had seen that pigs do very well on diets containing 10 percent corn germ, so we wanted to investigate if higher inclusion rates can be used," said Hans Stein, professor of animal sciences at Illinois. The corn germ used in this study came from the ethanol, or dry grind, ...