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For risk-takers and impulsive people, New Year's resolutions often include being more careful, spending more frugally and cutting back on dangerous behavior, such as drug use. But new research finds that these individuals -- labeled as novelty seekers by psychologists -- face an uphill battle in keeping their New Year's resolutions due to the way their brains process dopamine.

Scientists have identified a molecular mechanism used by cancer cells to "defend" themselves against chemotherapeutics in an attempt to ensure their own survival. Both the messenger substance nitrogen monoxide (NO) and the protein survivin play a role in this.

Maintaining blood sugar levels, even in the absence of disease, may be an important strategy for preserving cognitive health, suggests a new study. The findings suggest that exercising to improve blood sugar levels could be a way for some people to stave off the normal cognitive decline that comes with age.

Chemists in Canada have developed a new approach for producing more effective medical antifreeze fluids for preserving kidneys, hearts, and other organs donated for transplantation. These next-generation antifreezes can decrease damage to organs caused by ice crystals, and thus prolong the time a donated organ will remain viable prior to transplantation. This could increase the number of available organs for potential recipients.

One extra hour of sleep per night appears to decrease the risk of coronary artery calcification, an early step down the path to cardiovascular disease. Calcified arteries were found in 27 percent of those who slept less than five hours a night, 11 percent of those who slept five to seven hours and six percent of those who slept more than seven hours a night.

Women more than doubled their fruit and vegetable intakes and dramatically increased their consumption of 'good' fats when they were counseled by registered dietitians and provided with a list of guidelines on the amount of certain foods they should eat each day.

While examining patterns of DNA modification in lung cancer, scientists have discovered what they say is a surprising new mechanism. They say that "silencing" of a single gene in lung cancer led to a general impairment in genome-wide changes in cells, contributing to cancer development and progression.

The hormone deprivation therapy that prostate cancer patients often take gives them only a temporary fix, with tumors usually regaining their hold within a couple of years. Now, researchers have discovered critical differences in the hormone receptors on prostate cancer cells in patients who no longer respond to this therapy.

A research group in China investigated the growth inhibitory and apoptotic effects of Scutellaria barbata D.Don (S. barbata) and determined the underlying mechanism of its anti-tumor activity in mouse liver cancer cell line H22. They found that extracts from S. barbata can effectively inhibit the proliferation and induce apoptosis of H22 cells involving loss of mitochondrial transmembrane potential, release of cytochrome C, and activation of caspase-3.

A research group from United Kingdom investigated the mechanisms by which Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni ) causes inflammation and diarrhea. They found that C. jejuni causes two distinct patterns of disease comprising watery diarrhea (especially in children) and a condition that is normally self limiting but mimics ulcerative colitis.