PhysOrg.com

Small protein may have big role in making more bone and less fat
A small protein may have a big role in helping you make more bone and less fat, researchers say. "The pathways are parallel, and the idea is if you can somehow disrupt the fat production pathway, you will get more bone," says Dr. Xingming Shi, bone biologist at the Medical College of Georgia Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics.

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Best treatment for MS may depend on disease subtype
Animal studies by University of Michigan scientists suggest that people who experience the same clinical signs of multiple sclerosis (MS) may have different forms of the disease that require different kinds of treatment.

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Can children have strokes?
Childhood stroke is at least as common as brain tumours in children and may be as common as all childhood cancer but the condition is under-recognised by both the public and the medical profession. A new study hopes to address some of the large gaps in the understanding of this condition.

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Multiple vaccinations have not caused ill health in UK soldiers in Iraq
Multiple vaccinations have not been a cause of ill health in UK service personnel deployed to Iraq, finds a study published on bmj.com today.

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Sunburn alert: UVB does more damage to DNA than UVA
As bombs burst in air this July 4, chances are that sunburn will be the red glare that most folks see - and feel. But unfortunately, even when there is no burn, the effects of the sun's ultraviolet (UV) rays can have deadly consequences.

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Sleep problems associated with menopause vary among ethnic groups
Difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep increase as women go through menopause according to research by Rush University Medical Center. Waking up earlier than planned also increases through late perimenopause but decreases when women become postmenopausal. The study is published in the July 1 issue of the journal SLEEP.

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Finding that could shed light on 'golden staph,' candida and allergies
Recent scientific findings explain why patients with a rare immunodeficiency disorder are unusually susceptible to certain common infections. By revealing the exact molecular mechanisms involved, they also give us clues as to why some 'healthy' people are more prone to these infections than others, and suggest potential treatments.

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New research shows employer-based weight loss programs are helpful
A new review of studies from the University of Cincinnati (UC) shows that a little shove from the workplace may actually be the ticket to dropping weight.

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Predicting TB outbreaks based on the first 2 cases
Outbreaks of tuberculosis (TB) may be able to be identified by looking at certain characteristics of the first two patients, according to new research. If the first two patients are diagnosed within three months of each other, live in urban areas, and if one or both are of sub-Saharan African origin, there is a 56 percent chance that the two cases will lead to a large outbreak of TB, whereas if the patients exhibit none of those characteristics, the odds are just one percent.

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Smokers suffer more back pain
Smokers suffer more chronic back pain. This was the result of the analysis of a questionnaire performed by Monique Zimmermann-Stenzel and her colleagues and published in the current edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int, 2008; 105[24]: 441-8).

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