Foot ulcerations are one of the most serious complications of diabetes, resulting in more than 80,000 lower-leg amputations each year in the U.S. alone. A new study led by researchers at the Joslin-Beth Israel Deaconess Foot Center and Microcirculation Laboratory finds that early changes in the oxygenation of the skin could help foretell the development of ulcerations and enable doctors to treat patients at an earlier stage, before the onset of serious complications.

Reported in th

Tool is more objective, accurate in identifying children affected by

A simple test that measures eye movement may help to identify children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and ultimately lead to improved treatment for the condition, say Queen’s University researchers.

At present there are no objective diagnostic tools that can be used to distinguish between children with FASD – which affects approximately one per cent of children in Canada – and those w

Although the high-fat, calorie-restricted ketogenic diet (KD) has long been used to prevent childhood epileptic seizures that are unresponsive to drugs, physicians have not really understood exactly why the diet works. New studies by a research team at Emory University School of Medicine show that the diet alters genes involved in energy metabolism in the brain, which in turn helps stabilize the function of neurons exposed to the challenges of epileptic seizures. This knowledge could help scienti

The biologist Alejandro Toledo Arana has identified two new genes that operate as regulators in the formation process of the biofilm of Staphylococcus aureus, one of the bacteria most frequently involved in infections following medical implants, and has explained the functioning of a structural protein involved in this process. His research was the subject of a PhD thesis recently defended at the Institute of Agribiotechnology, a joint CSIC and Public University of Navarra centre, and is an a

At the Institut Curie, two CNRS teams have just reported crucial information on the orientation of cells as they divide. The cell division axis determines not only the position of the daughter cells but also their contents and hence their fate. The researchers have shown that the orientation of division depends on focal adhesions of the cell with its surroundings. They have also identified a new molecule that controls the localization of cellular determinants of so-called asymmetric cell div

Scientists from Wageningen University in the Netherlands have discovered that a factor released from body fat, which they call Fasting-Induced Adipose Factor or FIAF, has a major impact on blood levels of HDL and triglycerides in mice. The factor might be a promising drug candidate, team leader dr. Sander Kersten says. “Our study demonstrates that small changes in the production of FIAF in mice elevate blood HDL and triglycerides.”

Obesity is known to negatively influence the leve

A diagnostic approach will allow to quickly and precisely identify the enemy – tuberculosis culture pathogene, the approach being based on the so-called subtraction hybridization. How it can help to identify ‘personality’ of a dangerous bacterium was discussed by researchers from Moscow with their colleagues at the II International Conference “Molecular Medicine and Biosafety” in late October this year.

For smatterers the notion of tuberculosis – is necessary and sufficient for d

When the appetite-enhancing hormone ghrelin was discovered a few years ago, researchers thought they had found the last of the major genes that regulate weight. They were wrong.

Introducing: obestatin, a newly discovered hormone that suppresses appetite.

The finding, to be published in the Nov. 11 issue of Science, offers a key to researchers developing treatments for obesity. In a nation that desperately needs to slim down – the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and P

Scientists might have identified one of the reasons why the bird flu virus H5N1 is so deadly to humans. A study published today in the open access journal Respiratory Research reveals that, in human cells, the virus can trigger levels of inflammatory proteins more than 10 times higher than the common human flu virus H1N1. This might contribute to the unusual severity of the disease caused by H5N1 in humans, which can escalate into life-threatening pneumonia and acute respiratory distress.

New research indicates mouse nose detects most pheromones governing reproduction

Scientists at Harvard University have found strong signs that the pheromones driving reproduction and fertility in mice are detected primarily by the nose — not by the specialized vomeronasal system that many researchers had suspected of receiving and processing the bodily chemicals that govern mating behavior. The unexpected finding may settle an ongoing scientific debate by providing evidence that ke

Heredity helps determine why some adults are persistently lonely, research co-authored by psychologists at the University of Chicago shows.

Working with colleagues in The Netherlands, the scholars found about 50 percent of identical twins and 25 percent of fraternal twins shared similar characteristics of loneliness. Research on twins is a powerful method to study the impact of heredity because twins raised together share many of the same environmental influences as well as

Researchers have discovered evidence of an ancient sea creature that would have made Tyrannosaurus rex, think twice before stepping into the ocean.

At the southern tip of South America , they found fossils of an entirely new species of ancient crocodile – one whose massive jaws and jagged teeth would have made it the most fearsome predator in the sea.

Unlike the crocodiles we know today, Dakosaurus andiniensis lived entirely in the water, and had fins instead of legs. But

A University of Queensland study mapping the evolution of genes has shed light on the role of gene transfer in bacterial diseases.

The study, published recently in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, was conducted by three scientists at UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience.

Dr Robert Beiko, Professor Mark Ragan and Mr Timothy Harlow examined the genomes of 144 species of bacteria, in an effort to map how genes are shared between bacteria.

A gigantic ape, measuring about 10 feet tall and weighing up to 1,200 pounds, co-existed alongside humans, a geochronologist at McMaster University has discovered.

Using a high-precision absolute-dating method (techniques involving electron spin resonance and uranium series), Jack Rink, associate professor of geography and earth sciences at McMaster, has determined that Gigantopithecus blackii, the largest primate that ever lived, roamed southeast Asia for nearly a million years b

Controlled study should reassure patients

The use of a cardiopulmonary heart pump during coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery does not significantly damage such high-level mental tasks as thinking, reasoning and remembering, according to a study by Johns Hopkins researchers recently published in Neurology.

CABG surgery is effective for the relief of angina and reducing the risk of a heart attack but has been widely feared to cause “pump-related” damage to the cer

The role of mitochondrial dysfunction in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance is a widely debated topic. It has been shown that young, lean, insulin-resistant offspring of parents with type 2 diabetes have reduced mitochondrial function. But the precise role of this decreased function in relation to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes was not clear.

In a paper appearing online on November 10 in advance of print publication of the December issue of the Journal of Clinical Investiga