New research finds that gestational diabetes, or pregnancy-related diabetes, may not raise the risk of heart disease independent of other cardiovascular risk factors except in certain high-risk populations, such as Hispanics. The results will be presented Monday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. "The prevalence of gestational diabetes is increasing, and its impact for the mother can extend well beyond pregnancy by raising her risk of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease," said study co-author Rhonda Bentley-Lewis, MD, of Massachusetts ...

Women with low bone density are seven times more likely to benefit from a bisphosphonate drug when their vitamin D blood levels are above recent recommendations from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) as adequate for bone health. These new study results will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. "Maintaining adequate vitamin D levels above those recently recommended by the IOM is important for optimizing a standard therapy for osteoporosis: bisphosphonates," said coauthor Richard Bockman, MD, PhD, chief of the endocrine service at ...

Overweight girls lose more weight and can better stay on a healthy diet if they eat sugar-free, low-fat desserts several times weekly, as opposed to any dessert once a week, a new study finds. The results will be reported Monday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. "Dieters commonly splurge on dessert once a week, usually choosing fattening items," said lead investigator Antonia Dastamani, MD, PhD, a pediatrician and research fellow at Athens University School of Medicine in Athens, Greece. "However, we found a positive effect of more frequent consumption ...

Post-menopausal women have better memory after daily treatment with a testosterone spray for six months, a new preliminary study finds. The results will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. "Women have a higher risk of developing dementia compared to men," said Sonia Davison, MD, PhD, the study's lead investigator and a postdoctoral research fellow at Monash University, Melbourne. "These results offer a potential therapy, where none currently exists, to slow cognitive decline in women." The researchers compared a control group ...

This Father's Day, Joe Sutton's charming children's tale starring Wanda, a mischievous, gum-chewing yet lovable little girl, launches, giving a nod to the lost art of storytelling -- passing stories, family histories and values from one generation to the next. "Wanda and the Oblahlahs", (Bright Sky Press, September 2011), the brainchild of then Army Colonel Sutton, emerged at bedtime for his rambunctious young daughters, Gretchen and Megan. Now 35 years later, Wanda's imaginative adventure lives on for Sutton's grandchildren and, as a children's book, can share ...

A lower dose of zoledronic acid than currently recommended for prevention of bone fractures due to osteoporosis decreases bone resorption and increases bone density, and may be effective in reducing the risk of osteoporotic fractures, a study finds. The new research findings will be presented Monday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. "Our research suggests that one fifth or one half of the recommended dose might be sufficient to decrease fracture risk," said Andrew Grey, MD, principal investigator of the study and an associate professor of medicine ...

A new study comparing lifelong obesity with the weight fluctuations of "yo-yo dieting" suggests it is better to attempt to lose weight despite repeated failures at keeping the weight off than to not diet and remain obese. The results will be presented Monday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. "It is clear that remaining on a stable, healthy diet provides the best outcome for health and longevity," said the study's principal investigator, Edward List, PhD, a scientist at Ohio University, Athens. "However, obese individuals commonly weight cycle—they ...

Women who have higher levels of the appetite-controlling hormone leptin have fewer symptoms of depression, and this apparent inverse relationship is not related to body mass index (BMI), a new study finds. On Monday the results will be presented at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. "Animal data suggest that leptin may reduce anxiety and improve depression. Our study in women suggests that leptin may indeed have antidepressant qualities," said the study's lead author, Elizabeth Lawson, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School ...

Buried mangrove layer dampens seismic shaking along Caribbean coasts Engineers have long used a soft flexible layer, often made of rubber bearings, between a rigid building and the soil to reduce the impact of ground shaking on the structure. Now French scientists have determined that a buried mangrove layer along the coasts of Guadeloupe Island, close to the Caribbean subduction zone, serves a similar purpose. The mangrove swamps limit the effects of seismic waves on the uppermost sandy layer, reducing the potential of liquefaction from shaking caused by earthquakes. ...

CHICAGO – As the world marks the 30-year anniversary of the first reporting of HIV/AIDS, now comes the realization of a new challenge for people with the incurable disease. For reasons not yet clear, people with HIV face a higher rate of cancers not usually associated with HIV. This increasing rate of "non-AIDS defining cancers" includes lung, head and neck, liver, kidney, and anal cancers, among others. The alarming uptick in cancer rates highlights the critical need to understand how to treat tumors in people taking highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) for ...

Scientists at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have discovered a key molecule needed to kill the blood vessels that supply tumours. The research team from the institute's Molecular Genetics of Cancer and Cancer and Haematology divisions found that for anti-cancer therapies that target tumour blood vessels to work the death- inducing molecule Bim is required. The finding could lead to improved anti-cancer treatments that are based on a two- or three-pronged attack on both the tumour and its blood supply. The research will be published online in the Journal of Experimental ...

Researchers at the National University of Singapore have invented a graphene-based polarizer that can broaden the bandwidth of prevailing optical fibre-based telecommunication systems. The graphene research team, led by Professor Kian Ping Loh at the National University of Singapore, invented an ultra-slim broadband polarizer that uses graphene, a single-atomic-layer crystallized carbon, to convert light beam into polarized light. This is the first experimental demonstration of using graphene as an ultrathin waveguide to couple and modulate light. Light modulation by ...

Researchers from the University of Hull have discovered a way to load up nanoparticles with large numbers of light-sensitive molecules to create a more effective form of photodynamic therapy (PDT) for treating cancer. Photodynamic therapy uses molecules which, when irradiated with light, cause irreparable damage to cells by creating toxic forms of oxygen, called reactive oxygen species. Most PDT works with individual light-sensitive molecules – but the new nanoparticles could each carry hundreds of molecules to a cancer site. A number of different light-sensitive molecules ...

Work by researchers at Queen Mary, University of London could point to a new way to treat aggressive types of cancer. The scientists have found that a molecule called Met is responsible for stimulating the growth and spread of cancer because it is relocating to the wrong part of the cell. Experiments in the lab suggest that moving Met molecules from the inside of the cell to the cell surface could halt the growth of cancer cells and even cause tumours to shrink. Met molecules are involved in the growth of cells in the human body but they are usually only active in ...

Scientists could have a revolutionary new way of measuring how much of the potent greenhouse gas methane is produced by cows and other ruminants, thanks to a surprising discovery in their poo. Researchers from the University of Bristol and the Teagasc Animal and Grassland Research Centre in Ireland, have found a link between methane production and levels of a compound called archaeol in the faeces of several fore-gut fermenting animals including cows, sheep and deer. The compound could potentially be developed as a biomarker to estimate the methane production from ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – While violent video games may lead to more aggression and anger in players, a new study shows that the opposite is also true: relaxing video games can make people happier and more kind. "With all the evidence about the dangers of violent video games, it's good to know that game players can choose games that will provide a positive experience," said Brad Bushman, co-author of the study and professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State University. Bushman has conducted many studies showing the bad effects of violent games, especially on teens ...

Exploding stars are the 'factories' that produce all the heavy elements found, among other places, in our bodies. In this sense, we are all stardust. These exploding stars – supernovae – are highly energetic events that can occasionally light up the night sky. Such an explosion generally involves disruption in the balance between gravity – which pulls the star's material inward – and the thermonuclear reaction at the star's core – which heats it and pushes it outward. Certain types of stars that go in this way have a much bigger mass (10-100 times) and are much younger ...

The world's first 'meat-flavored spirit', Bakon Vodka (www.bakonvodka.com), today announced a new partnership with the number one distributor in the United States, Southern Wine & Spirits. Bakon Vodka has also strategically expanded its partnerships with Republic National Distributing Company and California's BevMo! stores to increase product accessibility as a result of growing demand for the bacon vodka infusion. Currently available in 32 states, the acclaimed and award-winning spirit is expected to be available in all 50 states and break sales of one million dollars ...

The treatment of obesity still needs improvement. In the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, Norbert Runkel and colleagues present a new, interdisciplinary S3 guideline entitled "Bariatric Surgery" (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2011; 108[20]: 341𔃄). One in two persons in Germany is overweight, and every fifth one is obese. Conservative treatment is considered to have been exhausted when it fails to bring about a 10% to 20% loss of weight in one year in a patient whose initial body-mass index was between 35 and 40 kg/m2. In this situation, bariatric surgery ...

This world-first has its origins in Hamburg. Jörg Weißmüller, a materials scientist at both the Technical University of Hamburg and the Helmholtz Center Geesthacht, has carried out research on this groundbreaking development, working in cooperation with colleagues from the Institute for Metal Research in Shenyang, China. The 51-year-old researcher from the Saarland referred to his fundamental research, which opens the door to a multitude of diverse applications, as "a breakthrough in the material sciences". The new metallic high-performance material is described by Prof. ...

Cancer cells do not grow equally well everywhere in the body. Often, they first create the conditions in which they can grow. Many years ago researchers discovered that solid tumors attract blood vessels to ensure their supply of nutrients by secreting specific factors. Now the immunologist Dr. Uta Höpken (Tumor and Immunogenetics Research Group at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, MDC, Berlin-Buch in the Helmholtz Association) and the hematologist Dr. Armin Rehm (Charité – Virchow-Klinikum, Department of Hematology, Oncology and Tumor Immunology, MDC) have ...

The human impact on the environment, especially through the release of greenhouse gases, is an area of controversy in public understanding of climate change, and is important for predicting future changes. Many studies into our collective impact use climate models to understand the causes of observed climate changes, both globally and in specific regions. Writing in WIREs Climate Change, Professors Gabriele Hegerl from the University of Edinburgh and Francis Zwiers from the University of Victoria assess the role of climate models in studies of observed changes and the robustness ...

When teens start experiencing changes in moods or emotions, they tend to fear sharing their blue days with their families and adults who can help them. As a consequence, they often suffer in silence. Case Western Reserve University KL2 Clinical Research Scholar and Instructor Melissa Pinto-Foltz from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing wants to find the magical elixir that helps teens speak up, seek help and then stick with treatments that get them feeling better. "About one in five Americans has a mental illness, with half of these individuals first experiencing ...

The tropics and much of the Northern Hemisphere are likely to experience an irreversible rise in summer temperatures within the next 20 to 60 years if atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations continue to increase, according to a new climate study by Stanford University scientists. The results will be published later this month in the journal Climatic Change. In the study, the Stanford team concluded that many tropical regions in Africa, Asia and South America could see "the permanent emergence of unprecedented summer heat" in the next two decades. Middle latitudes of ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Instead of feeling stressed by the money they owe, many young adults actually feel empowered by their credit card and education debts, according to a new nationwide study. Researchers found that the more credit card and college loan debt held by young adults aged 18 to 27, the higher their self-esteem and the more they felt like they were in control of their lives. The effect was strongest among those in the lowest economic class. Only the oldest of those studied – those aged 28 to 34 – began showing signs of stress about the money they owed. "Debt ...