For more than 50 years, scientists have known of the existence of "jumping genes," strands of DNA material that can move from one location in the genome to another.
Now, for the first time, researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM) have demonstrated conclusively that one of these jumping genes appears to play a key role in the generation of cancer. The study was published today in the journal Genome Research. It is the first study to ever elucidate this process.
Kichitaro Nakajima, a graduate student at the Graduate School of Engineering Science, Hirotsugu Ogi, Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Engineering Science, and Yuji Goto, Professor at Institute for Protein Research, Osaka University succeeded in increasing the velocity constant for a reaction in which proteins causing Alzheimer disease (AD) turn into toxic substances to 1,000 times by using optimum frequency of ultrasonic irradiation.
DURHAM, N.C. -- A new study finds that the more than 90,000 species of mushrooms, molds, yeasts and other fungi found everywhere in the soil, water and air may owe their abilities to grow, spread, and even cause disease to an opportunistic virus they caught more than a billion years ago.
Induced pluripotent stem cells hold promise for regenerative medicine because they can, in theory, turn into any type of tissue and because they are made from a patient's own adult cells, guaranteeing compatibility. However, the technique that turns adult cells into these iPS cells is not foolproof; after reverting to their pluripotent state, these cells don't always correctly differentiate back into adult cells.
The first annual State of the World's Plants report, which involved more than 80 scientists and took a year to produce, is a baseline assessment of current knowledge on the diversity of plants on earth, the global threats these plants currently face, as well as the policies in place and their effectiveness in dealing with threats.
The true incidence of hazing in youth sports is unknown because victims don't report the mistreatment or fail to recognize it as hazing, according to a review of scientific literature on the subject by a team of Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) researchers.
One study revealed that of the 47 percent of student athletes who had been hazed, only 8 percent labeled the behavior as hazing. Another study found that college students perceived hazing as having more positive benefits than negative effects.
A new study from Tel Aviv University, Cornell University and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine reveals genetic proof of the Jewish roots of the Bene Israel community in the western part of India. They have always considered themselves Jewish.
Government lobbying and political connections may add lift to the air transportation industry's profitability, but they could also cause a crash in talented transportation administrators, according to a Penn State Harrisburg researcher.
In a study of 46 companies in the airline transportation industry over the past 15 years, Richard S. Brown, assistant professor of management, found after controlling for other factors, that political lobbying was related to a company's profitability.
CINCINNATI--Researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy are presenting collaborative research on the use of mathematical methods for understanding the transportation of chemical compounds in biological tissues, like the skin.
This could lead to better ways of testing cosmetic or consumer products without harming humans or animals.
Stanford, CA-- Algae may hold the key to feeding the world's burgeoning population. Don't worry; no one is going to make you eat them. But because they are more efficient than most plants at taking in carbon dioxide from the air, algae could transform agriculture. If their efficiency could be transferred to crops, we could grow more food in less time using less water and less nitrogen fertilizer.
Ann Arbor, MI, May 10, 2016 - Drinking alcohol can increase the risk of illness and death from the hepatitis C virus. A new national household study of U.S. adults published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine shows that many people living with hepatitis C report either former or current excessive alcohol use. In addition, hepatitis C-infected adults were three times more likely to drink five or more drinks per day every day at some point in their lives than those without hepatitis C.
LA JOLLA, CA - May 10, 2016 - Call them professional "data wranglers."
A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) is expanding web services to make biomedical research more efficient. With their free, public projects, MyGene.info and MyVariant.info, researchers around the world have a faster way to spot new connections between genes and disease.
"This is about how to deliver information quickly to biologists," said Chunlei Wu, associate professor of molecular medicine at TSRI.
Scientists have identified genetic mutations that appear to be a key culprit behind a suite of birth defects called ciliopathies, which affect an estimated 1 in 1,000 births. In a paper published online this week in Nature Genetics, a team of researchers led by The University of Texas at Austin's John Wallingford reveals that these mutations prevent certain proteins from working together to smooth the way for cells to communicate with one another.
In a myriad of workplace settings, standard processes are key to a successful operation, ensuring efficiency and safety. For these processes to work, employees must comply. But what's the best way to go about enforcing that compliance, and sustain it?
Medication that is normally used to lower cholesterol could stop the spread of Lyme disease, according to a new study co-authored by Janakiram Seshu, associate professor of biology at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA).
"Roughly 300,000 cases of Lyme disease are estimated to occur in the US by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention every year," Seshu said. "One of the questions we're asking is how Lyme disease can be stopped before it's transmitted from ticks to humans."