August 1, 2016 - Should children be considered for facial transplantation? While there are some special ethical and psychological concerns, these shouldn't rule out the possibility of performing face transplant in carefully selected children, according to an expert review in the August issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
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August 1, 2016 - African American women undergoing mastectomy for breast cancer are more likely than white women to undergo autologous breast reconstruction using their own tissue, rather than implant-based reconstruction, reports a study in the August issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
DURHAM, N.C. -- One of the main mysteries confounding development of an HIV vaccine is why some people infected with the virus make the desired antibodies after several years, but a vaccine can't seem to induce the same response.
A research team led by scientists at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute has been unraveling that mystery, detailing new insights in a study published July 29 in the journal Science Immunology.
Scientists have revealed for the first time the molecular steps that turn on bacteria's pathogenic genes. Using an array of high-powered X-ray imaging techniques, the researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) showed that histone-like proteins that bind to DNA are related to the physical twisting of the genetic strand, and that the supercoiling of the chromosome can trigger the expression of genes that make a microbe invasive.
People living with HIV who naturally produce broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) that may help suppress the virus have different immunological profiles than people who do not, researchers report. While bNAbs cannot completely clear HIV infections in people who have already acquired the virus, many scientists believe a successful preventive HIV vaccine must induce bNAbs. The new findings indicate that bNAb production may be associated with specific variations in individual immune functions that may be triggered by unchecked HIV infection.
In their mission to design new biomaterials that promote tissue regeneration, Drexel University researchers have identified how inflammation, when precisely controlled, is crucial to bone repair.
Their findings, published this week in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, show that a new type of ceramic scaffold causes inflammatory cells to behave in a way that is more regenerative than scaffolds that are currently used clinically.
In a study of more than 5,000 people, investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital have found that greater intake of nuts was associated with lower levels of biomarkers of inflammation, a finding that may help explain the health benefits of nuts. The results of the study appear July 27 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Investigators at Brigham and Women's Hospital have developed a hydrogel patch that can adhere to tumors in a preclinical model of colon cancer, delivering a local, combination treatment as the elastic gel breaks down over time. The new technique may allow clinicians to one day use diagnostic colonoscopy equipment to immediately deliver treatment without the need for open surgery at a later date. The team's findings are published in the July 25 issue of Nature Materials.
A new U of T Scarborough study has identified "superstar" varieties of rice that can reduce fertilizer loss and cut down on environmental pollution in the process.
The study, authored by U of T Scarborough Professor Herbert Kronzucker in collaboration with a team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, looked at 19 varieties of rice to see which ones were more efficient at using nitrogen.
Ill-fitting joint sockets, contact dermatitis and sebaceous cysts are just a few of the problems plaguing prosthetic patients. They are all a result of the pressure that their prosthetic devices place on the soft tissue of their bodies.
Now researchers at Tel Aviv University, FOM Institute AMOLF and Leiden University in the Netherlands have developed a new approach to manufacturing mechanical "metamaterials" -- synthetic composite materials with structures and properties not usually found in natural materials -- that can be programmed to deform in a uniquely complex manner.
Results of preclinical studies by MUSC investigators reported in the July 2016 issue of PLOS One, demonstrate for the first time that the transcription factor KLF12 promotes CRC cell growth, in part, by activating EGR1. Furthermore, data demonstrate that KLF12 and EGR1 levels synergistically correlate with poor CRC prognoses.
Newly discovered fossil evidence from Namibia strengthens the proposition that the world's first mass extinction was caused by "ecosystem engineers" - newly evolved biological organisms that altered the environment so radically it drove older species to extinction.
WHAT:
Vaccination against a single strain of Zika virus should be sufficient to protect against genetically diverse strains of the virus, according to a study conducted by investigators from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH); Washington University in St. Louis; and Emory University in Atlanta.
Friday, June 29, Baltimore, 2016 - Insilico Medicine, Inc in collaboration with scientists from Atlas Regeneration, Inc, Vision Genomics, Inc and Howard University published two research papers on fibrosis in the lung and liver and fibrotic signatures in glaucoma. Scientists utilized the new software tool referred to as "Regeneration Intelligence" to evaluate the perturbation status of many signaling pathways. This new system aimed to identify robust biomarkers of fibrotic disease and develop effective targeted therapy.
A new research replication project, involving 24 labs and over 2100 participants, failed to reproduce findings from a previous study that suggested that self-control is a depletable resource. The findings are published as part of a Registered Replication Report in Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.