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Smokers suffer more chronic back pain according to a new survey. Researchers interviewed more than 8000 people in the course of a telephone health survey. This included questions on social and demographic themes, as well as health and life style.

Many people, scientists among them, are largely unaware of the roles fungi play in the world around us. Research on fungi and fungal diseases are seriously neglected as a result -- a situation with grave negative repercussions for human health, agriculture, and the environment -- according to a new report from the American Academy of Microbiology.

Consistently maintaining certain blood levels of markers of bone metabolism and disease can prolong the lives of patients on hemodialysis, according to a new study. The findings indicate that keeping parathyroid hormone, calcium, and phosphorous levels in control is critically important for dialysis patients with chronic kidney disease.

New research findings provide more evidence that if we get smart about what we eat, our intelligence can improve. According to scientists, dietary nutrients found in a wide range of foods from infant formula to eggs increase brain synapses and improve cognitive abilities.

Thanks to salt and hot chili peppers, researchers have found a calculus-computing center that tells a roundworm to go forward toward dinner or turn to broaden the search. It's a computational mechanism, they say, that is similar to what drives hungry college students to a pizza. A computer-like mechanism drives neuron expression for taste and smell.

Researchers have found that quantum dot nanoparticles can penetrate the skin if there is an abrasion, providing insight into potential workplace concerns for healthcare workers or individuals involved in the manufacturing of quantum dots or doing research on potential biomedical applications of the tiny nanoparticles.

New findings shed light on the processes that determine the release of the blood sugar-lowering hormone insulin. The discovery is based on the development of image analysis methods that make possible the detailed study of events immediately inside the plasma membrane of the insulin-secreting cells.

What happens when red wine meets red meat? If the rendezvous happens in the stomach, scientists in Israel are reporting, wine's bounty of healthful chemical compounds may thwart formation of harmful substances released during digestion of fat in the meat.

Detecting food-borne diseases such as campylobacter and salmonella long before they enter the food chain would help ensure that the dinner on your table is safe to eat. There is currently no quick and simple way to detect infectious bacteria on farms, or even in food processing and distribution plants. Samples have to be sent to labs for testing, a process that can take hours or days. But what if tests for campylobacter and salmonella could be run on the spot in as little as half an hour?

Using a Blue Gene supercomputer, scientists have demonstrated the most extensive simulation yet of actual human bone structure. This achievement may lead to better clinical tools to improve the diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis, a widespread disease that worldwide affects one in three women and one in five men over the age of 50.