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A moderate level of aerobic fitness can significantly reduce stroke risk for men and women, according to a large, long-running study. About 780,000 U.S. adults suffer a stroke each year, and stroke is a leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States, according to the American Stroke Association. It’s often fatal, claiming about 150,000 lives and ranking as the No. 3 cause of death.

Scientists have developed an effective laser based method for the characterization of the bulk chemical content of pharmaceutical capsules -- without opening the capsules. The technique holds great potential for a range of process control applications in the pharmaceutical industry.

Researchers have made a world-first discovery that links viral infection with high blood pressure during pregnancy and preterm birth. Their work demonstrates, for the first time, that exposure to viral infection -- especially viruses of the herpes group -- may be associated with pregnancy-induced hypertensive disease (pre-eclampsia) and also with pre-term birth.

A single microRNA, microRNA-223, in mice controls the production and activation of granulocytes, white blood cells essential for host defense against invading pathogens. Now, scientists have discovered the first microRNA shown to play a key role in the immune system's early warning system--the innate immune response.

Scientists have identified a gene that is responsible for a rare hereditary form of hair loss. The newly identified receptor plays a role in hair growth. Researchers now hope that their research findings will lead to new therapies that will work with various forms of hair loss.

Notch, a protein known to govern the determination of cell differentiation into different kinds of tissues in embryos, plays a critical role in bone formation and strength later in life. These new findings may provide a basis for understanding osteoporosis and related diseases.

A technique that specifically "tags" tumors responding to chemotherapy may offer a new strategy for determining a cancer treatment's effectiveness within days of starting treatment, according to a new study by Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center investigators.

A method to create an artificial heart using the extracellular matrix of an actual heart that has been stripped of all cells may hold promise for its use in transplant surgery. About 3,000 patients in the United States await a donor heart; worldwide, 22 million people live with heart failure. An artificial heart is a theoretical alternative for transplantation.

A new way to manipulate human embryonic stem cells offers hope for an eventual cell-based therapy to treat muscular dystrophies. Muscular dystrophies, such as Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy (DMD), are caused by genetic mutations that lead to a loss of expression of dystrophin, a key structural protein of muscle cells, which results in cell dysfunction. When this occurs the cells can no longer regenerate after injury, resulting in progressive muscle weakness and eventual death. One hope for therapy has been to replenish these defective cells with ESCs that produce normal dystrophin.

A gene that "wakes up" the blood system's stem cells in times of stress also plays an important role in protecting against infection, said researchers in the journal Cell Stem Cell. Researchers note that it makes sense that a serious infection with a pathogen or disease-causing organism could require that stem cells rally to generate new blood cells to fight against the invading organisms.