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Plastic surgeons are beginning to deploy a new type of laser that goes deeper into the skin to help reduce wrinkles, tighten surface structures and treat pigmentation differences. Plastic surgeons at UT Southwestern have completed testing and are now starting to use the new carbon dioxide-based fractional laser, which combines minute focused columns of laser-induced injury with heat deposition for less skin damage and quicker recovery time.

New evidence suggests screening for colorectal cancer, which is now recommended to begin at age 50 for most people, should start five to 10 years earlier for individuals with a significant lifetime exposure to tobacco smoke, a new study said.

Night-time noise from aircraft or traffic can increase a person's blood pressure even if it does not wake them. Scientists monitored 140 sleeping volunteers in their homes near London Heathrow and three other major European airports. The researchers measured the volunteers' blood pressure remotely at 15-minute intervals and then analyzed how this related to the noise recorded in the volunteers' bedrooms.

A new analyzing a sample of over 275,000 individuals, has found that when it comes to participation in physical activity, one size does not fit all. The study looked at a wide range of factors, including income, education and ethnicity, that influence whether a person decides to be physically active. It also examined the impact of government spending on parks and recreation on an individual's decision to participate in physical activity and sports.

A preliminary study found that a stent designed to open clogged arteries in the brain was successfully deployed in nearly all cases and significantly reduced arterial blockage in the short term. But data on the long-term benefit of the stent, compared to medical treatment alone, were inconclusive, prompting the upcoming launch of a large-scale randomized trial that is expected to provide definitive results.

The brain's serotonin system differs between men and women. The scientists who conducted the study think that they have found one of the reasons why depression and chronic anxiety are more common in women than in men. Serotonin is a brain neurotransmitter that is critical to the development and treatment of depression and chronic anxiety.

An important family of proteins known to function at the cell surface also functions at a site within the cell. The findings have potential implications for drug development as they involve G protein-coupled receptors. These molecules are the target of forty to fifty percent of modern medicinal drugs, such as antihistamines and drugs for high blood pressure.

A mathematical model that looks at different strategies for curbing hospital-acquired infections suggests that antimicrobial cycling and patient isolation may be effective approaches when patients are harboring dual-resistant bacteria. In an era of "superbugs," such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureas (MRSA), this type of modeling, if used to develop policies and treatment protocols, may reduce dual drug-resistant infections in hospitals.

A mathematical model shows that a new wave of drug-resistant HIV is rising among among men in San Francisco who have sex with men and that this trend will continue over the next few years, according to a new study. At the same time, the evolution of drug-resistant HIV may have actually reduced the severity of the city's epidemic, saving many men from becoming infected.

A sophisticated new mathematical model identifies controlling the way that antibiotics are prescribed and administered is the key to control the growing epidemic of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in hospitals around the world.