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Macadamia nuts included in a heart healthy diet reduced low-density cholesterol (bad cholesterol) and should be included among nuts with qualified health claims, according to researchers.

Researchers have shown that administering a combination of the widely used drugs Celebrex (celecoxib, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug) and Lipitor (atorvastatin, a cholesterol lowering drug) stops the transition of early prostate cancer to its more aggressive and potentially fatal stage.

Following an outbreak or a bioterrorist attack, standard DNA sequencing and analysis of a pathogen genome for rapid identification of genetic changes or manipulations is time-intensive and likely impractical during an emergency. Researchers have now developed a comparative genomics strategy to drastically reduce the time needed to accurately identify unique genetic properties of a potential outbreak strain.

The treatment of uterine fibroids with 3T MR-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) is safe, noninvasive and effective, according to a recent study. According to the study, at 6 month follow-up, there was a decrease in SSS (ranging between 10-59%), treated fibroid volume, and total uterine volume. At 12 month follow-up, there was a persistent decrease in SSS (ranging between 15-62%), treated myoma volume, and total uterine volume.

New research shows that delivering molecules within aggregates of embryonic stem cells via biodegradable microspheres enhances the efficiency and purity of differentiation.

A team of European scientists has deliberately triggered electrical activity in thunderclouds for the first time, according to a new paper in the latest issue of Optics Express, the Optical Society's open-access journal. They did this by aiming high-power pulses of laser light into a thunderstorm.

Two recent studies provide a potential mechanism by which investigational anti-cancer compounds known as HDAC inhibitors specifically damage cancer cells as well as clues about possible adverse effects of these compounds -- findings with important implications for their clinical use as cancer therapies.

New research could offer hope that bone stem cells may be harnessed to repair the damaged cartilage that is one of the main symptoms of osteoarthritis. Scientists have successfully identified stem cells within articular cartilage of adults, which although it cannot become any cell in the body like full stem cells, has the ability to derive into chondrocytes - the cells that make up the body's cartilage -- in high enough numbers to make treatment a realistic possibility.

Researchers in the United Kingdom are investigating a mechanism that normally drives adult stem cells to repair the intestine. They have found that if things go wrong and a crucial gene called Apc is lost or damaged, then this normal function of controlling the adult stem cell population breaks down and ultimately leads to a tumour.

In a surprising outcome that overturns the conventional wisdom on the body's immune response to infection, scientists have shown that T-cells do not begin proliferation until up to three days after infection. Lag may provide protection against a possible autoimmune reaction.