CHICAGO – People in the late stages of cancer and other terminal illnesses are not only unharmed by discontinuing statins for cholesterol management, they may benefit, according to a study presented Friday by researchers at Duke Medicine representing a national research network.

The finding addresses a thorny question in treating people with life-limiting illnesses: When, if ever, is it appropriate to discontinue medications prescribed for other conditions that will likely not lead to their death?

Boston, MA – The tangled highway of blood vessels that twists and turns inside our bodies, delivering essential nutrients and disposing of hazardous waste to keep our organs working properly has been a conundrum for scientists trying to make artificial vessels from scratch. Now a team from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) has made headway in fabricating blood vessels using a three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting technique.

The study is published online this month in Lab on a Chip.

Exposing infants to a new vegetable early in life encourages them to eat more of it compared to offering novel vegetables to older children, say psychologists from the University of Leeds.

How dare biologists create something not found in nature!

Well, mankind has a lot of experience in trying to keep nature from killing us - the war between man and nature is a grudge match whose history and resentments run deep.  When scientists stop trying to keep nature from killing us is when we should worry.

To advertisers, there is only one knock on the Science 2.0 audience; there are too many women.

Before we complain about the sexism of advertisers, we have to take the issue on its merits. When we think of technological innovation, we think of men. Is it because it's always been men due to a legacy culture or are men actually more innovative? Fashion designers don't advertise here because science is not their audience and technology companies don't advertise here because women are not their audience, yet we know women adopt technology. 

Researchers of the Universitat Politècnica de València at the Campus de Gandia have designed and experimentally evaluated a new structure that permit the complete absorption of sound at a wide range of frequencies.

The best part is that they used conventional porous materials already common in the construction industry. No expensive metamaterials or mathematical wizardry.

The researchers demonstrated how the structure achieves extraordinary sound absorption using what might seem like a contradictory strategy - the sound attenuation increases when the quantity of absorbent material is reduced, so a totally reflective surface becomes a perfect absorbent despite the fact that, for the most part, there is no material that absorbs sound.

Shakespeare characterized Richard III as a hunchback because his personal and physical deformities were well known. Certainly some history is written by the winners, and he was a big loser in the War of the Roses, but now everyone can explore the true shape of one of history's most famous spinal columns.

Multimedia experts have created a 3-D model of Richard III's spine and the visualization reveals how the king's spine had a curve to the right, but also a degree of twisting, resulting in a "spiral" shape. During analysis, the skeleton was analyzed macroscopically for evidence of spinal deformity and any changes to the tissue caused by the condition.

A Curtin University researcher has shown that ancient volcanic eruptions in Australia 510 million years ago significantly affected the climate, causing the first known mass extinction in the history of complex life.

Published in prestigious journal Geology, Curtin's Associate Professor Fred Jourdan, along with colleagues from several Australian and international institutions, used radioactive dating techniques to precisely measure the age of the eruptions of the Kalkarindji volcanic province.

Dr Jourdan and his team were able to prove the volcanic province occurred at the same time as the Early–Middle Cambrian extinction from 510-511 million years ago – the first extinction to wipe out complex multicellular life.

OAKLAND, Calif. — A key measure of reduced kidney function and chronic kidney disease — reduced glomerular filtration rate — is an independent risk factor for renal and urothelial cancer, according to a study published online today in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

Chronic kidney disease and cancer are both major and growing public health problems. The incidence of chronic kidney disease continues to rise, with an estimated 11.5 percent of the U.S. population having reduced glomerular filtration rate and/or proteinuria, a condition in which a person has an abnormal amount of protein in the blood and a sign often associated with kidney disease. Approximately 13.5 million Americans with advanced stages of chronic kidney disease.

A study of 338 patients with coronary artery disease has identified a gene expression profile associated with an elevated risk of cardiovascular death. Used with other indicators such as biochemical markers and family history, the profile – based on a simple blood test – may help identify patients who could benefit from personalized treatment and counseling designed to address risk factors.