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Adults and teens that underwent surgery as infants to correct a congenital condition -- known as unilateral coronal synostosis -- that causes the forehead and face to appear uneven still have a degree of facial asymmetry years later, according to new research.

Early and intensive lowering of high blood pressure has shown promising effects in stroke patients, according to results of a new stroke study. Initial results of the first large-scale investigation into managing raised blood pressure after intracerebral haemorrhage (stroke) demonstrates that rapid blood pressure lowering is well tolerated and appears to reduce the amount of bleeding in the brain, indicating that such treatment could reduce the risk of death and disability in stroke patients.

Using artificial cell-like particles, biomedical engineers have devised a rapid and efficient way to produce a 45-fold enhancement of T cell activation and expansion, an immune response important for a patient's ability to fight cancer and infectious diseases.

Researchers have found that even men with advanced prostate cancer can take a much-needed safe break, or holiday, from chemotherapy. Prior to this study, it wasn't known whether stopping chemotherapy would lead to treatment resistance.

Scientists have discovered a new mechanism controlling the choice in humans between two lines of defense in the event of attack. In the presence of viruses or bacteria, the immune system can trigger a response that is rapid but devoid of memory -- innate immunity -- or a response that takes longer to put in place but is more specifically targeted -- adaptive immunity. The body is often faced with attacks from outside (viral or bacterial infection) and sometimes from inside, because of the dysfunction of its own cells (cancer), and defends itself by activating its immune system.

Cases of esophageal cancer in the US have risen in recent decades from 300,000 cases in 1973 to 2.1 million in 2001 at age-adjusted rates. A new study shows that these rates in the US closely mirrored trends of increased carbohydrate intake and obesity from 1973-2001.

Scientists developed a new crime-fighting tool by showing that human hair reveals the general location where a person drank water, helping police track past movements of criminal suspects or unidentified murder victims.

Scientists have developed a new large-scale method to identify the interactions between proteins that are a major target for therapeutic intervention. The novel method can identify the weak, short-lived interactions that are characteristic of cell responses to cues from the environment or from within the body. Cell surface proteins are targets for many drugs and are central to many processes of cell regulation, such as some cancer therapeutics, diabetes, and growth.

A tiny handful of genes appears to hold important clues to understanding why some patients with peripheral artery disease face high rates of amputation and early death while others are spared those consequences, say researchers. This is the first documented genetic mutation linked to PAD. Although the work was done in mice, researchers say it is likely to give them new insight into how PAD develops and progresses in humans.

Researchers have isolated biomarkers in the blood that identify mood disorders, a breakthrough that may change the way bipolar illness is diagnosed and treated. The panel of markers is present in differing amounts in individuals suffering from high or low mood states. The concentration of the blood markers also varies depending on the severity of the depression or mania the individual experiences.