A protein that normally fosters tissue repair instead acts to inhibit healing when sugar levels are high, according to a new study, and that role reversal helps explain why wounds heal slowly in people with diabetes.

When educating medical students or residents, there is always a need to balance quality results and optimal patient care with the educational mission - and when it comes to cardiac surgery residents, it works just fine.

A new study found no differences in patient outcomes or graft patency between the residents and attending surgeons when it came to coronary artery bypass grafting. 

The analysis of prospective data from a study of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) found no differences in short-term or one-year patient outcomes and patency of grafts between properly-supervised residents and attending surgeons. G. Hossein Almassi, MD, presented the results of the research earlier this week at the 95th AATS Annual Meeting in Seattle.

Detecting an earthquake on Venus is no trivial task.

For one thing, it is not a surface like we think of surface. It is under crushing pressure and the temperate is almost 900 degrees. Ordinary seismic instruments aren't suited for that. But the upper atmosphere is not so bad by comparison and so researchers hope to deploy an array of balloons or satellites that could detect Venusian seismic activity.

And instead of using vibrations they will use sound.

The ability to move in water is key to existence for many species so it may not be a surprise that so many species have converged on swimming. What is intriguing is how diverse creatures have evolved to swim with elongated fins using the same mechanical motion that optimizes their speed.

The Persian carpet flatworm, the cuttlefish and the black ghost knifefish are nothing like each other - their last common ancestor lived 550 million years ago, before the Cambrian period - but all three aquatic creatures converged evolutionaru on the same swimming, according to a new study uses a combination of computer simulations, a robotic fish and video footage of real fish. 

A hacked Microsoft Kinect games controller has been used to relieve one of the most distressing symptoms of Parkinson's - freezing of gait.

Many patients are afflicted by 'freezing of gait' where suddenly, in mid-stride, the muscles freeze and they are left unable to move forward, or they simply fall over. Previous research has found that giving visual clues, such as projecting lines ahead on the floor, “unfreezes” the muscles but equipment had to be worn. 

We know that everyone has influences and inspirations and collaborations, but they often go unmentioned. How do classical music composers collaborate with and influence one another?

We have some answers. Big Data has been able to show how culture has evolved and influenced the recording market.

The big concern about the latest Vitamin D fad is the potential for toxicity. 

Some people have low vitamin D levels and we have been told to avoid the sun so vitamin D supplement use has climbed in recent years and some articles and even books are claiming that Vitamin D is the cause and cure for many things, making potential harm even greater.  But Vitamin D is important because it has been shown to boost bone health, that's why some foods are fortified with it. 

Coffee has been enjoying a health resurgence. It was once considered a bad thing because of caffeine but now it is lauded for its antioxidants. 

A new paper details how free radicals and antioxidants behave during every stage of the coffee brewing process, from intact bean to coffee brew.

Olive oil, canola oil, and vegetable oil largely consist of unsaturated fatty acids, whereas animal fat is richer in the saturated ones. After a meal, carbohydrates are the primary source of energy production by the heart but under fasting conditions, free fatty acids become the major energy producer. 

Metformin, a medication commonly taken for Type II diabetes, is being found in freshwater systems worldwide, and a new study says that it causes physical changes in male fish exposed to doses similar to the amount in wastewater effluent. It causes intersex in fish - male fish that produce eggs - according to the study in Chemosphere.

Because intersex fish occur more often downstream from wastewater treatment plants, studies have investigated the effect of hormones from birth control pills, but metformin is not a hormone and it targets blood sugar regulation so the correlation is surprising.