Up to 20 percent of professional boxers develop neuropsychiatric sequelae. But which acute complications and which late sequelae can boxers expect throughout the course of their career? These are the questions studied by Hans Foerstl from the Technical University Munich and his co-authors in the current issue of Deutsches Aerzteblatt International.

A new study has shown that hospitalized elderly patients who take even short walks around a hospital unit tend to leave the hospital sooner than their more sedentary peers.

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have now developed a clinical risk prediction rule using factors such as sex, race and health history to assess the danger the surgery poses, while a modified version will help patients make a more fully informed choice about whether to have the procedure.

"Directed Self-Assembly of Vertical Nanotubes for Biosensors, Logic, and Nano-Biofuel Cells," will be the focus of NJIT's exhibit today at the National Nanotechnology Innovation Summit '10.

A two-year study by a University of Pittsburgh team suggests that non-chemical treatment systems -- touted as environmentally conscious stand-ins for such chemicals as chlorine -- may allow dangerous bacteria to flourish in the cooling systems of hospitals, commercial offices and other water-cooled buildings. The study is the first to thoroughly investigate the ability of nonchemical treatment devices to control the growth of bacteria in water-based air-conditioning systems found in many large buildings.

As many as half of postmenopausal women taking aromatase inhibitor drugs for breast cancer complain of bothersome musculoskeletal symptoms, including carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Now, a new study by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers shows that a simple test that measures a woman's ability to feel two metal points pressed against her fingertips may help evaluate the risk for developing CTS.

Working with cell cultures and mouse models, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have tested a cocktail of three drugs that holds promise for treating so-called triple negative breast cancers.

Metastatic breast cancer patients whose blood contains circulating tumor cells before or after treatment with high-dose chemotherapy and blood stem cell transplant have shorter survival periods, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Scientists have discovered how a network of repair proteins enables bacteria to prioritize the repair of the most heavily used regions of the DNA molecules that carry the instructions necessary for living cells to function.

Metastatic breast cancer patients who had circulating tumor cells in their blood before or after high-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation had poor outcomes, according to researchers from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

For patients with breast cancer and bone metastases, denosumab delayed skeletal-related side effects five months longer compared to those on zoledronic acid, according to results presented at the 33rd Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 8-12.

A high level of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) -- cells that have detached from a tumor and are circulating in the body through the blood -- are an independent prognostic marker in metastatic breast cancer as first-line therapy. In addition, persistence of high CTC level during therapy was found to be an early marker of poor outcome.

The presence of one to four circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the blood of early-stage breast cancer patients almost doubled patient's risk of cancer relapse and death, and five or more CTCs increased recurrence by 400 percent and death by 300 percent, according to Phase III results of the SUCCESS trial. These cells were found in patients after surgery but before chemotherapy treatment.

The December issue of the Quarterly Review of Biology features articles on the nature of individual organisms, evolution observed in the lab, play behavior across animal species, and a criticism of intelligent design creationism.

A recent study of the use of metaphors in spoken language and various sign languages shows that certain types of metaphors are difficult to convey in sign language. The study, "Iconicity and metaphor: Constraints on metaphorical extension of iconic forms," to be published in the December 2010 issue of the scholarly journal Language, is authored by Irit Meir of the University of Haifa.