In order for cells to function properly, cargo needs to be constantly transported from one point to another within the cell, like on a goods station. This cargo is located in or on intracellular membranes, called vesicles. These membranes have a signature, and only those with the correct signature may fuse with the membrane of another organelle into one compartment.
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The USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture supports NoroCORE, a multidisciplinary research collaborative of 30 researchers from 25 universities who are joining forces to understand and control food borne virus risks.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - How genes in our DNA are expressed into traits within a cell is a complicated mystery with many players, the main suspects being chemical. However, a new study by University of Illinois researchers and collaborators in China has demonstrated that external mechanical force can directly regulate gene expression. The study also identified the pathway that conveys the force from the outside of the cell into the nucleus.
New Orleans, LA - Dr. John England, Professor and Chair of Neurology at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine, and colleagues in Honduras and Venezuela have reported a new neurological complication of infection with the Zika virus. They described the first confirmed case of Zika-associated sensory polyneuropathy in a paper published online by the Journal of the Neurological Sciences, available at http://www.jns-journal.com/article/S0022-510X(16)30535-4/abstract.
In patients with cancer, initial diagnosis most often includes the detection of the primary or original tumor and the presence or absence of metastases, ie cells from the original tumor that have escaped from their original location and are growing into other tissues of the patient. However, in between 5% and 10% of human tumors this process is done otherwise: metastasis is diagnosed, but the primary tumor is not detected despite various diagnostic testing. This situation is called Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP).
A new study from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will help researchers understand the ways that marine animal larvae use sound as a cue to settle on coral reefs. The study, published on August 23rd in the online journal Scientific Reports, has determined that sounds created by adult fish and invertebrates may not travel far enough for larvae --which hatch in open ocean--to hear them, meaning that the larvae might rely on other means to home in on a reef system.
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center have identified RNA-based biomarkers that distinguish between normal, aging hematopoietic stem cells and leukemia stem cells associated with secondary acute myeloid leukemia (sAML), a particularly problematic disease that typically afflicts older patients who have often already experienced a bout with cancer.
The findings, published online August 25 in Cell Stem Cell, suggest a new way to predict leukemic relapse early and to identify potential targets for new drug development.
WORCESTER, MA - A study in The Journal of Cell Biology by scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School reveals important new details about the inner workings of the CRISPR-Cas9 machinery in live cells that may have implications for the development of therapeutics that use the powerful gene editing tool.
Kansas City, MO. -- Researchers at the Stowers Institute have established a definitive link between the makeup of the microbiome, the host immune response, and an organism's ability to heal itself.
They showed that a dramatic shift in the microbial community of planaria robs the freshwater flatworm of its superior regenerative abilities. This same shift has been observed in human inflammatory disorders, though previous attempts to mimic it in lower organisms like fruit flies or zebrafish have proved unsuccessful.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Researchers have created a new drug delivery system that could improve the effectiveness of an emerging concept in cancer treatment - to dramatically slow and control tumors on a long-term, sustained basis, not necessarily aiming for their complete elimination.
US teens are more likely to vape for the flavourings found in e-cigarettes rather than nicotine, suggests research published online in the journal Tobacco Control.
The findings call into question the designation of e-cigarettes as Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) and suggest that the recent spike in the popularity of e-cigarettes among this age group doesn't signal a 'nicotine epidemic' as feared, conclude the researchers.
Summary: Hodgkin's Lymphoma (HL) is a common malignancy in early adulthood with a complex etiology. In a cohort of 2.3 million Jewish adolescent males and females followed for up to 45 years, being born in Israel was associated with a much elevated risk for nodular sclerosis HL. Higher risks were found among Israeli-born subjects compared to European, Asian and North African immigrants; higher risks were also found for women, those born more recently, those with higher BMI and taller stature.
A team including the National Cancer Center (NCC) (Tokyo, Japan), the RIKEN Center for Life Science Technologies (CLST) (Yokohama, Japan), and Carna Biosciences Inc. (Kobe, Japan) has jointly announced the development of a novel small-molecule Wnt inhibitor named NCB-0846. Wnt signaling is a key pathway of cancer stem cell (CSC) development. The inhibitor may provide a new therapy option for patients with drug-refractory colorectal cancer.
Distributing health products through a simple voucher system is effective for screening out people who would otherwise accept but not use the free product, a study conducted in Kenya reports. The results inform an ongoing debate about how to get health products to those who need them most without incurring wastage, ultimately suggesting that introducing "small hassles" of time and energy may be more effective than charging money.
In this Policy Forum, Randall Hansen and Shalini Randeria discuss the different ideological viewpoints of liberals and conservatives in Europe with respect to accepting refugees, highlighting why - even though the continent is not bearing the "brunt" of the refugee crisis - it remains "in the center of a political and social storm" related to refugees asylum. Globally, there are at least 65 million displaced people, 21 million of whom seek refuge across international borders.