Electromagnetic fields do not pose a health hazard to workers in the electrical energy supply industry, suggests a large study of 28,000 people, published ahead of print in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Exposure to low frequency electromagnetic fields of 50 to 60 Hz has been implicated in an increased risk of leukaemia, brain and breast cancers.

The researchers used the health and employment records of more than 22,000 utility workers at 99 different electrical energy supply companies in Denmark.  All the employees had been employed at the companies for a minimum of three months since 1968, and they were tracked for an average of nearly 23 years or until death.

There are many reasons why living in dense groups with others of your own kind is a good idea. Oftentimes, aggregations of a species serve as protection from predators and harsh environments or may be beneficial to future reproductive success. However, in the case of oyster larvae, the selection of a place to call home can be a life or death decision.

Increasing intake of antioxidant-rich cherries may help lower the risk of metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease, suggests a new study(1) presented today at the Experimental Biology annual meeting.

Researchers say the animal study is encouraging and will lead to further clinical studies in humans.

Triptolide is derived from a Chinese medicinal herb, named Lei Gong Teng, which has been used in traditional medicine to treat cancer, inflammation, and auto-immune diseases and, more recently, also has been tested in Phase I clinical trials as an anti-tumor agent.

Using a compound from Triptolide, Yale University researcher Dr. Craig Crews has been able to prevent the formation of kidney-destroying cysts in a mouse model of polycystic kidney disease. This ability holds out hope for what would be the first treatment, other than kidney transplant or frequent dialysis, for one of the most lethal of all kidney diseases worldwide.

By giving ordinary adult mice a drug - a synthetic designed to mimic fat - Salk Institute scientist Dr. Ronald M. Evans is now able to chemically switch on PPAR-d, the master regulator that controls the ability of cells to burn fat. Even when the mice are not active, turning on the chemical switch activates the same fat-burning process that occurs during exercise. The resulting shift in energy balance (calories in, calories burned) makes the mice resistant to weight gain on a high fat diet.

Northwestern University scientist Mary J.C. Hendrix and colleagues discovered that aggressive melanoma cells (but not normal skin cells nor less aggressive melanoma cells) contain specific proteins similar to those found in embryonic stem cells. This groundbreaking work led to the first molecular classification of malignant melanoma and may help to explain how, by becoming more like unspecialized stem cells, the aggressive melanoma cell gained enhanced abilities to migrate, invade and metastasize while virtually undetected by the immune system.