MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. (May 6, 2016) -- Half of the world's fruit and vegetable crops are lost during the food supply chain, due mostly to premature deterioration of these perishable foods, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
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Males who evolve in male-dominated populations become far better at securing females than those who grow up in monogamous populations, according to new research into the behaviour of fruit flies at the University of Sheffield.
May 5, 2016 -- Exchange of immunization data between a centralized city immunization registry and provider electronic health records led to significant improvements in pediatric immunization coverage, a reduction in over-immunization for adolescents, and increased completeness of immunization records, according to a study conducted at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian, and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Citywide Immunization Registry.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- An international team led by Indiana University researchers has uncovered the regulation of a system that allows a globally abundant bacterium to efficiently capture sunlight and perform photosynthesis.
The study -- led by IU biologist David M. Kehoe and conducted by Joseph E. Sanfilippo, IU Ph.D. student, and Animesh Shukla, former IU Ph.D. student, in collaboration with researchers in the United States and France -- is the first to show how a process that improves light capture in marine cyanobacteria is regulated.
BOSTON - The Internet has become a powerful and important resource for daily life. When patients receive a medical diagnosis, particularly a difficult one like pancreatic cancer, the web can be an essential information tool, helping to enable patients to have meaningful discussions with health care providers. However, new research from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) published today in JAMA Surgery suggests that online information about pancreatic cancer is often written at a prohibitively high reading level and lacks accuracy concerning alternative therapies.
Through the use of powerful genomic techniques, researchers at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) have found that the development of immune cells, called innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), gradually prepares these cells for rapid response to infection. This work, which appeared online today in Cell, sheds light on the development and function of a cell type that is increasingly recognized as having an important role in the body's immune defense. NIAMS is part of the National Institutes of Health.
DARIEN, IL - A new study reports that short sleep duration combined with frequent snoring reported prior to cancer diagnosis may influence subsequent breast cancer survival.
A study exploring the prevalence of mental health symptoms in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and questioning (LGBQ) community, found that the oft-overlooked questioning and bisexual youth face their own significant challenges, particularly when it comes to depression, anxiety and traumatic distress.
By studying fossils from southern China, scientists have gained insights into how primates in Asia evolved to resemble the array seen today. The results suggest that a distinct period marked by cooler weather served as a filter of sorts in Asia, altering the makeup of primates there to reflect fewer anthropoids (monkeys and apes) and more strepsirrhines, a suborder of primates that includes lemurs. Primates are sensitive to shifts in temperature, and thus, to climate change.
A team of researchers led by Leonid Kruglyak have developed a technique using the gene editing system CRISPR to rapidly identify gene variants. The findings could significantly improve efforts to map out genes and determine their function.
An assessment of rivers in the US suggests that although there is a relationship between increased flood size and erosion, the effect is most pronounced for moderate floods. Understanding the effects of climate on the geometry and erosion rate of rivers is essential for reconstructing the geologic history of landscapes, as well as for predicting the response of rivers to human-accelerated climate change. Currently, models predict that climate should play a fundamental role in setting erosion rates, yet a strong correlation has not been verified in studies of bedrock erosion.
Two new studies reveal that administering a potent, broadly neutralizing antibody that binds to HIV evokes a strong immune response in humans, and can even accelerate the clearance of infected cells. First, Till Schoofs et al.
Irvine, Calif. -- University of California, Irvine scientists who study how circadian rhythms -- our own body clocks -- control liver function have discovered that cancerous lung tumors can hijack this process and profoundly alter metabolism.
Their research, published online in Cell, is the first showing that lung adenocarcinoma can affect the body clock's sway over lipid metabolism and sensitivity to insulin and glucose.
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- A Mayo Clinic study suggests laboratory findings do not tell the whole story of how the diabetes drug metformin works to limit the level of glucose in the blood. The researchers found that metformin does not limit the action of the hormone glucagon, specifically glucagon-stimulated glucose production from the liver. The article appears in the journal Cell Reports.
DURHAM, N.C. -- A research team from Duke Health has developed an antibody from the body's own immune system that preferentially attacks cancer cells.
The antibody works by targeting a natural defense mechanism that cancer tumors exploit.
Cells in the body essentially use a home security system that relies on certain proteins to protect the cell surface and keep it safe. These proteins help the cell avoid injury and even death from unwanted activation of the immune system.