Diet And Lifestyle Changes May Help Prevent Infertility From Ovulatory Disorders

Women who followed a combination of five or more lifestyle factors, including changing specific aspects of their diets, experienced more than 80 percent less relative risk of infertility due to ovulatory disorders compared to women who engaged in none of the factors, according to a new study. The study was led by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and did not examine risk associated with other kinds of infertility, such as low sperm count in men.

Researchers find origin of ‘breathable’ atmosphere half a billion years ago

Ohio State University geologists and their colleagues have uncovered evidence of when Earth may have first supported an oxygen-rich atmosphere similar to the one we breathe today.The study suggests that upheavals in the earth’s crust initiated a kind of reverse-greenhouse effect 500 million years ago that cooled the world’s oceans, spawned giant plankton blooms, and sent a burst of oxygen into the atmosphere.

New study shows smoking increases risk of psoriasis

Another disease can be added to the list of smoking-related disorders — psoriasis. Researchers have found that smoking increases the risk of developing psoriasis, heavier smoking increases the risk further, and the risk decreases only slowly after quitting. Investigators from the Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Harvard School of Public Health, all in Boston, USA, and Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada, have published the results in the November 2007 issue of The American Journal of Medicine.

Mice help researchers understand Chlamydia

Genetically engineered mice may hold the key to helping scientists from Queensland University of Technology and Harvard hasten the development of a vaccine to protect adolescent girls against the most common sexually transmitted disease, Chlamydia.

Mineral ages show Blue Mountain rocks related to Klamath, Sierra Nevadas

New evidence, based on mineral dating, suggests that rocks of the Blue Mountains, the oldest geological formation in Oregon, may have been derived from the Klamath and Sierra Nevada mountain chains, University of Oregon researchers report.

Bonn astronomers simulate life and death in the universe

Stars always evolve in the universe in large groups, known as clusters. Astronomers distinguish these formations by their age and size. The question of how star clusters are created from interstellar gas clouds and why they then develop in different ways has now been answered by researchers at the Argelander Institute for Astronomy at the University of Bonn with the aid of computer simulations. The scientists have solved – at least at a theoretical level – one of the oldest astronomical puzzles, namely the question of whether star clusters differ in their internal structure. The findings have now been published in the science journal “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society” (MNRAS 380, 1589).

Vaginal reconstruction not needed for most inter-sex females

Dispelling a common myth, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center say vaginal reconstruction should be a matter of preference for most teens or adult women born with a type of inter-sex condition marked by the presence of both female and male genitals. The findings of the research are being presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics Conference Oct. 26 through Oct. 30 in San Francisco.

Survival of newborns with abdominal holes differs according to hospital

A newborn’s chance for surviving a low-risk version of a condition called gastroschisis varies greatly by hospital, according to a study by Johns Hopkins surgeons. Babies with the condition have a hole in their abdomen near the umbilical cord. The uncomplicated variant of the condition, where the hole is the only abdominal anomaly, is fairly easy to repair, and 97 percent of babies survive it. However the Hopkins findings suggest that in some hospitals, far fewer babies who should survive the condition after treatment actually do. Some hospitals had death rates three to five times the national average.

Physical Therapy In ICU Can Reduce Hospital Stays

The results of the first study to show the effectiveness of early physical therapy in a medical intensive care unit (ICU) are being presented October 23 by a researcher from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center at the national meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians in Chicago.

Harmful Byproducts Of Fossil Fuels Could Be Higher In Urban Areas

Nitrogen oxides, the noxious byproduct of burning fossil fuels that can return to Earth in rain and snow as harmful nitrate, could taint urban water supplies and roadside waterways more than scientists and regulators realize, according to research published Oct. 20 in the online edition of the journal Environmental Science and Technology.