A research team, led by Emeritus Professor Kazuhiro Nakaya of Japan's Hokkaido University, analyzed world-first footage captured by public broadcaster NHK in which two goblin sharks separately captured prey on a total of five occasions. The research has unraveled a century-old mystery surrounding how the deep-sea shark utilizes its protruding jaws, among other factors, to feed itself.
The goblin shark (Mitsukurina owstoni) was first discovered in deep waters off Japan in 1898.
Lentiviruses cause a variety of chronic diseases in mammals --- ranging from the most notorious example of HIV/AIDS in humans to various neurological disorders in primates----yet little is known of their evolutionary history and origin.
As HIV/AIDS has emerged only recently and so far eluded efforts to outwit it, researchers have been looking at imprints left by related viruses in other animals to better understand their origins. Until recently, the oldest known lentiviral lineages --- in lemurs, rabbits and ferrets --- have been found to date back to 3-12 million years ago.
Higher levels of total physical activity are strongly associated with lower risk of five common chronic diseases - breast and bowel cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke, finds a study in The BMJ today.
Many studies have shown the health benefits of physical activity. This has led the World Health Organization (WHO) to recommend a minimum total physical activity level of 600 metabolic equivalent (MET) minutes a week across different 'domains' of daily life.
The use of a newly-developed mosquito trap incorporating human odour has resulted in a 70% decline in the population of the most significant malaria mosquito on the Kenyan island of Rusinga. After the introduction of the odour-baited traps on the island the proportion of people with malaria was 30% lower among those living in houses with a trap compared to people living in houses who were yet to receive a trap. The study was published today in The Lancet, a leading scientific journal. Prof.
An international research team has linked rare variations in a cell membrane protein to the wide variation in symptom severity that is a hallmark of porphyria, a rare disorder that often affects the skin, liver and nervous system. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital helped to lead the research, which appears today in the journal Nature Communications and suggests possible new treatment strategies.
Dublin, Ireland, August 10th 2016: A new study by academics in Trinity College Dublin has found that there is a strong positive relationship between planned birth at home and breast feeding: breastfeeding was twice as likely after planned home births compared to hospital births. The research involved the largest population cohorts comprehensively examined to date for an association between breast feeding outcomes and place of birth in low risk pregnancies.
Hamilton, ON, August 9, 2016 - Researchers from McMaster University have evaluated and determined the best ventilation strategy to prevent chronic lung disease, one of the most significant complications in preterm infants.
The study, published today in the Journal of American Medical Association, compared seven different ventilation strategies. Based on data collected from 30 different trials and over 5,500 infants younger than 33 weeks' gestational age, the lead author of the study, Dr. Tetsuya Isayama, said one strategy appeared more effective than most.
Tumor shrinkage is not the only measure of a successful anti-cancer therapy. A University of Colorado Cancer Center article published in the journal Frontiers in Oncology describes a promising alternative: metabolic imaging. Tumors rush their metabolism to grow and proliferate. By recognizing a drug's ability to stop this energy overuse, doctors may be able to determine a patient's response to a new, targeted therapy far earlier and with far more precision than watching and waiting for a tumor to shrink.
August 9, 2016 -- A study at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health showed that obesity was more prevalent in patients with a history of cancer than in the general population, and survivors of colorectal and breast cancers were particularly affected. The study is among the first to compare rates of obesity among U.S. cancer survivors and adults without a history of cancer. Findings are published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Whitehead Institute researchers have identified the pre-mouth array--an area of the developing face in embryonic frogs--that "unzips" to surround the mouth opening. Their work highlights the precision necessary to create the mouth and identifies the cellular mechanisms that drive its formation.
KEY FINDINGS: A new study in mice suggests that in a tumor's pre-clinical stages, long before a human tumor would be clinically recognizable, certain immune cells can recognize changes that make these cells behave as cancerous cells and attempt to launch an immune attack. However, the T cells that are recognizing these "driver" mutations in the tumor are rapidly turned off and then permanently silenced, making the cells non-functional and thereby protecting the tumor from an immune attack.
DURHAM, N.C. -- As more of Southeast Asia's natural forests are cleared and converted into plantations for growing oil palm, rubber and other tree crops, a Duke University-led study finds that 42 percent of species endemic to the region's forests face a much higher risk of extinction from habitat loss than previously thought.
More than 200 of the mammal, bird and amphibian species that were newly identified as being at high risk by the study are not currently listed as threatened or endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
University of Hawai'i Cancer Center researchers developed a computational algorithm to analyze "Big Data" obtained from tumor samples to better understand and treat cancer.
"A growing problem in cancer research is figuring out how to analyze the many kinds of big genomic data for different cancers. The overwhelming quantity and complexity of the data has created an analysis bottleneck that has slowed the translation of the knowledge within the data to the clinic," said Gordon Okimoto, Co-Director of Biostatistics and Informatics Shared Resource at the UH Cancer Center.
For the first time, researchers at Washington State University have created an injectable compound or "probe" that illuminates hydrogen sulfide and hydrogen polysulfides in different colors when they are present in cells.
Hydrogen sulfide and hydrogen polysulfides are gases notorious as the source of rotten egg stench. They are produced and used for a wide variety of processes in the body. They are thought to play a role in aging as well as diabetes, Alzheimer's, heart attack, cancer and many other diseases, but their precise functions remain a mystery.
A drug originally used to boost the immune system is showing promise as a potential new treatment for lupus, Monash University-led research published today (August 9) shows. Lupus is an autoimmune disease, where the immune system attacks the body's own organs and tissues.