Anyone involved in the housing market knows the recent housing crisis has cause massive hysteria among banks, realtors and home owners alike. While the figures suggested by a recent Newsday article suggest that the housing crisis is on its way out, there are still plenty of foreclosed homes available for purchase. Although the numbers are high, the competition is even higher and individual buyers often lose out in face of investment companies and house flippers. Responding to the tips found in the article, New York-based Absolute Capital Homes suggests that unlucky buyers ...

Tampa, Fla. (June 6, 2012) – Two studies appearing in the current issue of Cell Transplantation (21:2/3), now freely available on-line at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/, evaluate the transplantation potential and success of islet cells derived from pancreatic tissues, in addition to a clinical study that reports the occurrence of adverse events. Fresh islets are better than cultured islets A team of researchers from Baylor Research Institute, Texas and the University Graduate School of Medicine in Okayama, Japan has found that islet cells freshly retrieved ...

Below are highlights of new review articles appearing in the June 2012 issue of the JAAOS, as well as the full table of contents. Each news highlight, and listed title in the table of contents, includes a link to the abstract. Effects of Smoking on Bone and Joint Health During cigarette use, hazardous gases and chemicals that can cause genetic mutations and the development of cancer are released into the bloodstream. One of these chemicals, nicotine, also can cause and/or exacerbate many smoking-related diseases and harm a patient's bone and joint health prior to, during ...

In 2009, the H1N1 "swine flu" pandemic struck, infecting millions and killing more than 18,000 worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Though less severe than initially feared, the pandemic highlighted the potential threat of deadly viruses emerging from animals into humans, and the importance of quick and effective public health intervention. In a globalized world, the probability of a severe pandemic striking are high, according to Lauren Ancel Meyers, an expert in infectious disease epidemiology at The University of Texas at Austin. A biologist by training, ...

A new app from the NRDC connects technology with fresh, organic produce. As explained The Huffington Post in a recent article, the iPhone app, titled "NRDC Eat Local" allows shoppers to find out what produce is in season and where they can buy it. The app is available for free download and uses location-based information to determine what you can get from area farmers and where you can find them. Jerry Cosgrove is an expert in local farming and is Associate Director of the Local Economies Project supported by the New World Foundation. He believes this new technological ...

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — A team of UC Davis investigators has found that a genetic mutation may play an important role in the development of prostate cancer. The mutation of the so-called p53 (or Tp53) gene was previously implicated in late disease progression, but until now has never been shown to act as an initiating factor. The findings may open new avenues for diagnosing and treating the disease. The study was published online in the journal Disease Models & Mechanisms and will appear in the November 2012 print edition in an article titled, "Initiation of prostate ...

Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment researchers have helped open a new door of possibility in the high-stakes effort to save the world's coral reefs. Working with an international team, the scientists – including Stanford Woods Institute Senior Fellows Jeff Koseff, Rob Dunbar and Steve Monismith – found a way to create future ocean conditions in a small lab-in-a-box in Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The water inside the device can mimic the composition of the future ocean as climate change continues to alter Earth. Inside the mini-lab, set in shallow water ...

Scientists at A*STAR's Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) uncovered the origin of a group of skin-deep immune cells that act as the first line of defence against harmful germs and skin infections. SIgN scientists discovered that these sentry cells of the skin, called the Langerhans cells (LCs), originate from two distinct embryonic sites - the early yolk sac and the foetal liver. LCs are dendritic cells (DCs) found in the outermost layer of the skin. DCs are a critical component of the immune system because they are the only cells able to 'see' and 'alert' other responding ...

SALT LAKE CITY, June 6, 2012 – Talk about throwing yourself into a relationship too soon. A University of Utah study found that when a virgin male moth gets a whiff of female sex attractant, he's quicker to start shivering to warm up his flight muscles, and then takes off prematurely when he's still too cool for powerful flight. So his headlong rush to reach the female first may cost him the race. The study illustrates the tradeoff between being quick to start flying after a female versus adequately warming up the flight muscles before starting the chase. Until the ...

Evarcha culicivora jumping spiders, also known as vampire spiders, are picky eaters by any standards. Explaining that the arachnid's environment is swamped with insects, Ximena Nelson from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, says, 'You can see from the diet when you find them in the field that there is a high number of mosquitoes in what they eat'. And when Robert Jackson investigated their diet further, he found that the spiders were even more selective. The delicacy that E. culicivora prize above all others is female blood-fed Anopheles mosquitoes, which puzzled ...

In a critical step that may lead to more effective HIV treatments, Harvard scientists have found pre-existing mutations in a small number of HIV patients. These mutations can cause the virus to develop resistance to the drugs used to slow its progression. The finding is particularly important because, while researchers have long known HIV can develop resistance to some drugs, it was not understood whether the virus relied on pre-existing mutations to develop resistance, or if it waits for those mutations to occur. By shedding new light on how resistance evolves, the study, ...

SEATTLE – In exploring the genetics of mitochondria – the powerhouse of the cell – researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have stumbled upon a finding that challenges previously held beliefs about the role of mutations in cancer development. For the first time, researchers have found that the number of new mutations are significantly lower in cancers than in normal cells. "This is completely opposite of what we see in nuclear DNA, which has an increased overall mutation burden in cancer," said cancer geneticist Jason Bielas, Ph.D., whose findings are published ...

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—June 7, 2012—Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have for the first time transformed skin cells—with a single genetic factor—into cells that develop on their own into an interconnected, functional network of brain cells. The research offers new hope in the fight against many neurological conditions because scientists expect that such a transformation—or reprogramming—of cells may lead to better models for testing drugs for devastating neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease. This research comes at a time of renewed focus on Alzheimer's ...

For the first time, researchers have produced a coherent, laser-like, directed beam of light that simultaneously streams ultraviolet light, X-rays, and all wavelengths in between. One of the few light sources to successfully produce a coherent beam that includes X-rays, this new technology is the first to do so using a setup that fits on a laboratory table. An international team of researchers, led by engineers from the NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) for EUV Science and Technology, reports their findings in the June 8, 2012, issue of Science. By focusing intense ...

A breakthrough in laser science was achieved in Vienna: In the labs of the Photonics Institute at the Vienna University of Technology, a new method of producing bright laser pulses at x-ray energies was developed. The radiation covers a broad energy spectrum and can therefore be used for a wide range of applications, from materials science to medicine. Up until now, similar kinds of radiation could only be produced in particle accelerators (synchrotrons), but now a laser laboratory can also achieve this. The new laser technology was presented in the current issue of the ...

CINCINNATI – Scientists have discovered a new function for a protein that protects cells during injury and could eventually translate into treatment for conditions ranging from cardiovascular disease to Alzheimer's. Researchers report online June 7 in the journal Cell that a type of protein called thrombospondin activates a protective pathway that prevents heart cell damage in mice undergoing simulated extreme hypertension, cardiac pressure overload and heart attack. "Our results suggest that medically this protein could be targeted as a way to help people with many ...

Easy-to-use, inexpensive tests to diagnose infectious diseases are urgently needed in resource-limited countries. A new report based on an American Academy of Microbiology colloquium, "Bringing the Lab to the Patient: Developing Point-of-Care Diagnostics for Resource Limited Settings," describes the challenges inherent in bringing new medical devices and technologies to the areas of the world where they are needed most. Point-of-care diagnostics (POCTs) bypass the need for sophisticated laboratory systems by leveraging new technologies to diagnose infectious diseases and ...

(PORTLAND, Ore.) —June 07, 2012—Eleven integrated health systems, with more than 16 million members, have combined de-identified data from their electronic health records to form the largest, most comprehensive private-sector diabetes registry in the nation. According to a new study published today in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Preventing Chronic Disease, the SUPREME-DM DataLink provides a unique and powerful resource to conduct population-based diabetes research and clinical trials. "The DataLink will allow us to compare more prevention and ...

There's new hope for development of an antibiotic that can put down a lethal bacteria or superbug linked to the deaths of hundreds of hospital patients around the world. Researchers from the University of Alberta-based Alberta Glycomics Centre found a chink in the molecular armour of the pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii. The bacteria first appeared in the 1970's and in the last decade it developed a resistance to most antibiotics. U of A microbiologist Mario Feldman identified a mechanism that allows Acinetobacter baumannii to cover its surface with molecules knows ...

Berlin, Germany, June 7 2012: Data presented today at EULAR 2012, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, demonstrates that tailoring biologic treatment to individual patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can reduce total costs by €2,595,557 per 272 patients over 3 years (95 percentile range -€2,983,760 to -€2,211,755), whilst increasing effectiveness by an average of 3.67 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs)*. Cost savings were mostly on drug costs. The Dutch study, which investigated 272 patients with RA starting adalimumab treatment, measured ...

Berlin, Germany, June 7 2012: Results from a retrospective analysis of contemporary data presented today at EULAR 2012, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, predict, based on estimates from a multivariate regression model, that the cumulative use of anti-tumour necrosis factor drugs (anti-TNFs) for one, two, or three years is associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular events by 24%, 42% and 56% in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) respectively, compared to not using anti-TNF therapies (adjusting for background use of methotrexate or other ...

Berlin, Germany, June 7 2012: A new American study presented today at EULAR 2012, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, calls for more aggressive management of osteoporosis in the extreme elderly as the true impact of osteoporotic hip fractures in those aged 80 years or older is unveiled. Via the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), 4.3 million patients over the age of 65 with osteoporotic hip fractures were studied. Results showed that 67.3% of hip fractures occurred in the extreme elderly, increasing from 172,209 in 1993 to 180,428 in 2008. This ...

Berlin, Germany, June 7 2012: A new Phase III study presented today at EULAR 2012, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, shows that patients treated with certolizumab pegol (CZP) were twice as likely to meet the primary endpoint of ACR20* response at week 12 than those on placebo: 58% on CZP200mg Q2W; and 51.9% on CZP 400 mg Q4W compared to 24.3% on placebo. This randomised, placebo controlled, 24 week period of an ongoing Phase III study of 409 patients indicated that more patients treated with both doses of CZP achieved ACR50* and ACR70* response ...

Berlin, Germany, June 7 2012: According to a study presented today at EULAR 2012, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who are prescribed biologic treatments have a significantly lower mortality risk (adjusted hazard ratio [HR]: 0.61) than those just treated with traditional disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs).The study also found the mortality was similar irrespective of the method of action of biologics (anti-tumour necrosis factor drugs [anti-TNFs] or rituximab). Results of the German study ...

Berlin, Germany, June 7 2012: Patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases (IRD) treated with anti-tumour necrosis factor medications (anti-TNFs) have a 75% greater risk of developing herpes zoster, or shingles, than patients treated with traditional disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), according to a meta-analysis presented today at EULAR 2012, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism. "Anti-TNFs, such as infliximab, adalimumab and etanercept have become the treatment of choice for patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases who ...