LAWRENCE -- In a study to be published this week in the journal Science, researchers describe unearthing a "mother lode" of a half-dozen fossil primate species in southern China.
These primates eked out an existence just after the Eocene-Oligocene transition, some 34 million years ago. It was a time when drastic cooling made much of Asia inhospitable to primates, slashing their populations and rendering discoveries of such fossils especially rare.
ITHACA, NY--Potato plants boost the chemical defenses in their leaves when Guatemalan tuber moth larvae feed on their tubers, report researchers at the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI).
People with type 2 diabetes treated with insulin plus metformin had a reduced risk of death and major cardiac events compared with people treated with insulin alone, a new study by Cardiff University shows.
Led by Professor Craig Currie of the University's School of Medicine, the retrospective research looked at people with type 2 diabetes who were treated with insulin with or without metformin from the year 2000 onwards.
(Boston)--A newly discovered pathway leading to neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease (AD) may unlock the door to new approaches for treating the disease.
Can a staging system - much like one used to classify cancerous tumors - help facial plastic surgery patients understand the complexity of their revision rhinoplasty and help to manage their expectations?
In a new review article published online by JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, Regina Rodman, M.D., and Russell Kridel, M.D., of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, propose the PGS Staging System.
Menlo Park, Calif. -- A number of important biological processes, such as photosynthesis and vision, depend on light. But it's hard to capture responses of biomolecules to light because they happen almost instantaneously.
Now, researchers have made a giant leap forward in taking snapshots of these ultrafast reactions in a bacterial light sensor. Using the world's most powerful X-ray laser at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, they were able to see atomic motions as fast as 100 quadrillionths of a second -- 1,000 times faster than ever before.
Most high school students can recite the central dogma of molecular biology: DNA makes RNA makes protein. We all know it. But have we ever seen it?
Parts of it, yes. DNA transcription, the first step in gene expression, has been quantified in real time. But the second step - the translation of genetic code into a protein - is much harder to see in living systems, and until now has eluded us.
Before mRNA can be used by ribosomes as a guide to build proteins, it has to undergo a series of processing steps. This includes getting a series of adenine (A) nucleotides added by poly(A) polymerase to one of the mRNA's ends. This addition of multiple (A) nucleotides results in a poly(A) tail. After this process is completed, the mRNA can continue on its way to be exported out of the nucleus where it will be used for translation.
For the first time, scientists have shown that MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and other antibiotic-resistant 'superbug' infections can be tracked across Europe by combining whole-genome sequencing with a web-based system. In mBio today (May 5, 2016) researchers at Imperial College London and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute worked with a European network representing doctors in 450 hospitals in 25 countries to successfully interpret and visualise the spread of drug-resistant MRSA.
In a recent breakthrough, scientists from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, and the Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, Mumbai, demonstrate an accurate method to simulate prehistoric movements of people based upon current topographical satellite data. Recently published in the journal PLOS ONE, population dynamics of prehistoric human migration into the island comprising England, Scotland and Wales was simulated by applying a diffusion equation tempered by geographical data determined from satellite-based information.
Imaging probes that specifically target tumors can provide more sensitive and relevant information about the tumor compared to conventional, non-specific probes. Additionally, targeted probes can improve tumor detection, characterization, therapy stratification, and enhance selective delivery of anti-cancer drugs. A major limitation to the clinical use of such agents is their large size, which restricts their delivery to the tumor.
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects multiple organ systems. Autoantibodies, which are produced by B cells, contribute to development of SLE. Recent studies have also shown that type 1 interferons (IFNs) and associated inflammatory molecules are highly expressed in serum from SLE patients. Specialized cells called plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) primarily produce type 1 IFNs and may represent a therapeutic target for SLE therapies.
Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a progressive thinning of heart muscle that commonly results in heart failure. DCM is a known secondary complication of conditions such as alcohol abuse and infection and is also an inherited disorder. However, the molecular events that underlie DCM progression are not fully understood. A study in this issue of JCI Insight identifies a gene signature that characterizes the transition from DCM to heart failure.
PHILADELPHI A-- Running large, multi-gene sequencing panels to assess cancer risk is a growing trend in medicine as the price of the technology declines and more precise approaches to cancer care gain steam. The tests are particularly common among breast and ovarian cancer patients. However, questions remain about the growing list of mutations and their suspected, but unproven association with breast and ovarian cancer risk.
Sports are enormously popular, and one striking pattern is that boys and men are typically much more involved than are girls and women. This sex difference has policy implications, and it raises fundamental questions about the nature of sex differences. Although scholars from many disciplines have explored sex differences in sport involvement, few have addressed the issue from a broad, evolutionary perspective. A recent review article by Deaner, Balish, and Lombardo (2016), published in Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, synthesizes the relevant theoretical and empirical work.