Obesity is generally discussed in terms of caloric intake (how much a person eats) and energy output (how much a person exercises). However, according to a University of Missouri-Columbia scientist, environmental chemicals found in everyday plastics and pesticides also may influence obesity. [click link for full article]

The near inevitability that influenza will explode into a pandemic in the coming few years has kept researchers searching for a way to prevent the worst effects of infection. The ultimate prize is a highly effective vaccine that could be produced and deployed rapidly.But developing a vaccine against one of the most talked about types of influenza - the H5, or avian flu - is proving to be more vexing than first thought. [click link for full article]

We all remember a time when we were paralyzed in the face of a tough decision. For animals in the natural world, making the right choice can mean the difference between life and death.When rats and other animals choose the thing that leads to a “reward,” such as food, changes happen in the body and the brain. Describing and understanding those changes has been the focus of Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) grantee Peter Shizgal for most of his career. [click link for full article]

Baby language is more than just nonsense to Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council grantee Janet Werker. Her research shows infants listen to the words being spoken to them and look for patterns - sounds that are repeated over and over again - to learn how to speak. Now, she is using this research to help children who are developmentally delayed in language. [click link for full article]

In families with a high incidence of Li-Fraumeni syndrome, the ends of individuals’ chromosomes act somewhat like a lit fuse, according to researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Their findings detail how telomeres, the ends of the chromosomes, shorten with every successive generation, leading to more severe cancers at an earlier age. [click link for full article]

The United States Military Cancer Institute (USMCI) and Generex Biotechnology Corporation announced that they have entered into a Phase II clinical trial for a novel peptide vaccine for breast cancer. The immunotherapeutic vaccine, AE37, is being developed by Generex’s Antigen Express division in the U.S. The study will be conducted in conjunction with USMCI’s Clinical Trials Group. [click link for full article]

In a first-of-its-kind trans-Atlantic effort to address cancer disparities among Nigerian and Nigerian-American populations, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, the Health Disparities Education, Awareness, Research & Training Consortium (HDEART) and the Ministry of Health of the Federal Republic of Nigeria today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), forming a partnership to collaborate on cancer research, education and training programs in Nigeria. [click link for full article]

Duke University biomedical engineering researchers have moved a step closer to a “smart bladder pacemaker” that might one day restore bladder control in patients with spinal cord injury or neurological disease.The team’s latest findings show that a device that taps into the urinary “circuit” in the spinal cord could selectively coordinate the contraction and release of muscles required for maintaining continence. [click link for full article]

Imagine a cancer treatment tailored to the cells in a patient’s body, each person receiving a unique treatment program.This is what Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council grantee Thomas Ruth and his colleagues hope to accomplish within the next decade. Using the TRIUMF particle accelerator based in Vancouver, British Columbia, they are taking vast amounts of radioactive material and separating the particular atoms they need for therapy. [click link for full article]

One of the most serious health conditions in the developed world is the metabolic syndrome (MetS), a collection of disorders (such as obesity and insulin resistance) that lead to increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease. A protein known as PPAR-gamma has been shown to be affect most aspects of MetS. However, these studies have had to focus on the affects of PPAR-gamma on one aspect of MetS at a time because mice lacking PPAR-gamma in all cells die before birth. [click link for full article]