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Mycobacteria metabolism discovery may pave way for new TB drugs

The mystery of why mycobacteria—a family that includes the microbe that causes TB—are extraordinarily hardy organisms is being unravelled by University of Otago, New Zealand, research that offers new hope for developing a revolutionary class of antibiotics to tackle TB.

In collaboration with researchers in the US and Germany, Otago microbiologists have teased out the mechanisms by which the aerobic soil microbe Mycobacterium smegmatis is able to persist for extreme lengths of time in the absence, or near-absence, of oxygen.

Regulating the regulators: Degradation is key to the activity of the miR-21 oncomiR

Scientists from the RIKEN Center for Life Science Technologies in Japan have gained new clues that suggest the existence of a regulatory network that contributes to the irregular proliferation of cells in diseases such as cancers and psoriasis.

Bacteria swim with whole body, not just propellers

In taking that closer look, the researchers noticed that the cell body traces a wobbly, helical trajectory as it moves—a trajectory that looks a bit like the body is traveling though an invisible spiral tube. The spiral was less pronounced when the bacteria go in reverse compared to when they go forward. Using a mathematical model based on "resistive force theory", the researchers show that the thrust produced by the different body motions accounts for the differences in swimming speed. The bacterial body, it turns out, is more than just a docile passenger.

The real price of steak

We are told that eating beef is bad for the environment, but do we know its real cost? Are the other animal or animal-derived foods better or worse? New research at the Weizmann Institute of Science, conducted in collaboration with scientists in the US, compared the environmental costs of various foods and came up with some surprisingly clear results.

Water, water -- not everywhere: Mapping water trends for African maize

Today's food production relies heavily on irrigation, but across sub-Saharan Africa only 4 percent of cultivated land is irrigated, compared with a global average of 18 percent. Small-scale farming is the main livelihood for many people in the region, who depend on rainfall to water their crops.

Communication about female condom vital to young adults, UT Arlington researchers say

The female condom is one of just two barrier methods that can protect against sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies, yet many young adults are not aware of the device, a new study by two UT Arlington researchers has found.

They say the reason could lie in the way information about the female condom is communicated to young people.Charla Markham Shaw, associate professor of communication, and Karishma Chatterjee, an assistant professor of communication studies in The

Parents rank their obese children as 'very healthy'

A University of California, San Diego School of Medicine-led study suggests that parents of obese children often do not recognize the potentially serious health consequences of childhood weight gain or the importance of daily physical activity in helping their child reach a healthy weight.

The study is published online in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Increased overall survival for advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer patients is associated with availability of less toxic

DENVER – A 10-year population-based study shows that increased availability of better systemic chemo- and targeted-therapies for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) coincides with increased usage of these therapies. This in turn leads to a significant increase in overall survival.

ROS1 gene fusions are found in 2.4 percent of Asian patients with lung adenocarcinoma

DENVER -- ROS1 fusion genes were successfully detected independent of gender or smoking history in young East Asian patients with lung adenocarcinoma, a histological subgroup in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), using multiplex reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) diagnostic tests.

New accurate epigenetic test could eliminate unnecessary repeat biopsies for prostate cancer

New York, NY -- More than one million prostate biopsies are performed each year in the U.S. alone, including many repeat biopsies for fear of cancer missed. Therefore there is a need to develop diagnostic tests that will help avoid unnecessary repeat biopsies. Two independent trials have now validated the performance of an epigenetic test that could provide physicians with a better tool to help eliminate unnecessary repeat prostate biopsies, report investigators in The Journal of Urology®.

Parents want info about circumcision, not directives from health-care providers

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Most parents expect healthcare providers to answer their questions about circumcision, but they don't want a specific recommendation on the procedure, according to a new University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.

More than half of male infants born in the United States are circumcised, but the rates of circumcision continue to decline.

Another advancement in imaging from INRS professor François Légaré's team

François Légaré's team at the INRS Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications Research Centre successfully imaged a chemical reaction with a spatial and temporal resolution greatly exceeding that obtained to date using microscopes. The team used a femtosecond laser source to shoot a molecular movie of how an acetylene molecule turns into vinylidene. An article presenting the advancement was recently published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

Healing the heart with fat

Too much dietary fat is bad for the heart, but the right kind of fat keeps the heart healthy, according to a paper published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.

Unsaturated dietary fatty acids, such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), are known to protect against cardiovascular diseases. However, the mechanism and the specific fat metabolites responsible for this protection were unknown.

When temperatures get cold, newly-discovered process helps fruit flies cope

Cold-blooded animals cannot regulate their body temperature, so their cells are stressed when facing temperature extremes. Worse still, even at slightly colder temperatures, some biological processes in the cell are slowed down more than others, which should throw the cells' delicate chemical balance out of whack. Yet, those cells manage to keep their biological processes coordinated. Now researchers from the University of Rochester and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory have found out how they do that.

Scientists successfully generate human platelets using next-generation bioreactor

Boston, MA – Scientists at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have developed a scalable, next-generation platelet bioreactor to generate fully functional human platelets in vitro. The work is a major biomedical advancement that will help address blood transfusion needs worldwide.

The study is published July 21, 2014 in Blood.