(SALT LAKE CITY) - Despite studies that claim people with cancer are less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease--raising the possibility that what triggers cancer also prevents the neurodegenerative disorder--a new investigation finds a more somber explanation. Many cancer patients don't live long enough to get Alzheimer's.
Body
Researchers have identified a vital supply route that cancer cells use to obtain their nutrients, in a discovery that could lead to new treatments to stop the growth of tumours.
The research team blocked gateways through which the cancer cell was obtaining the amino acid glutamine and found the cells almost completely stopped growing.
"This is likely to work in a wide range of cancers, because it is a very common mechanism in cancer cells," said lead researcher Professor Stefan Bröer from The Australian National University (ANU).
In order to fight invading pathogens, the immune system uses "outposts" throughout the body, called lymph nodes. These are small, centimeter-long organs that filter fluids, get rid of waste materials, and trap pathogens, e.g. bacteria or viruses. Lymph nodes are packed with immune cells, and are know to grow in size, or 'swell', when they detect invading pathogens. But now, EPFL scientists have unexpectedly discovered that lymph nodes also contain more immune cells when the host is infected with a more complex invader: an intestinal worm.
Researchers from the University of Adelaide say the global increase in cases of type 1 diabetes is directly linked to advances in medical care, with the underlying genetics of the disease more likely to be passed from one generation to the next.
Patients aged 65 years and older are living longer after lung cancer surgery, and with older people representing a rapidly growing proportion of patients diagnosed with lung cancer, this improved survival is especially significant, according to an article posted online today by The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.
The sex of many reptile species is set by temperature. New research reported in the journal GENETICS identifies the first gene associated with temperature-dependent sex determination in any reptile. Variation at this gene in snapping turtles contributes to geographic differences in the way sex ratio is influenced by temperature. Understanding the genetics of sex determination could help predict how reptiles will evolve in response to climate change.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Use of hospice services does not increase care costs in the last six months of life for long-stay nursing homes residents according to an analysis conducted by researchers from the Indiana University Center for Aging Research and the Regenstrief Institute.
The cells in our bodies are constantly dividing. From embryonic development to adult life, cell division is necessary for tissue growth and renewal. During division, cells must duplicate their genetic material (or DNA) and ensure identical copies are passed along to the daughter cells. The entire process must work perfectly. If not, the next generation of cells will not have the genetic material necessary to function properly. Their role becomes especially relevant in situations in which cells proliferate rapidly, like embryonic development or tumor proliferation.
Hamilton, ON (May 5, 2016) - A team of researchers led by McMaster University's Charu Kaushic has revealed for the first time how estradiol, a female sex hormone present during the menstrual cycle and found in oral contraceptives, may work to protect women against sexually transmitted viral infections.
Male voices are not deeply pitched in order to attract female mates, but instead serve to intimidate the competition, according to a team of researchers studying a wide variety of primates including humans.
"We wanted to determine if sexual selection had produced sex differences in humans and closely related species," said David A. Puts, associate professor of anthropology, Penn State. "If similar vocal sex differences appear across species with similar levels of mating competition, then we infer that sexual selection produced these sex differences."
While women who are pregnant, or breastfeeding or who may become pregnant are often excluded from clinical trials for type 2 diabetes drugs, the exclusion is frequently not based on the risk of fetal harm, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers and may be contributing to the underrepresentation of women in clinical trials and an incomplete understanding of the effects of drugs on women who become pregnant unexpectedly.
Statins are equally effective at decreasing risk of coronary events in men and women, and yet women are less likely to be prescribed these cholesterol-lowering drugs than men. A study by investigators at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) published this week in PLOS ONE identifies four factors that may account for sex differences in statin therapy among patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), pointing to interventions and additional research that will be needed to help overcome this sex disparity and reduce cardiovascular risk for women.
Every process that sustains life is carried out by proteins, but understanding how these complex molecules do their jobs depends on learning the arrangement of their atoms -- and how this structure changes -- as they react. No imaging method for observing molecular movement in such detail and speed had been available, until now.
MANHATTAN, KANSAS -- Kansas State University biologists are skimming pond scum for clues of multicellular evolution and possible origin of cancer.
Brad Olson, assistant professor in the Division of Biology; Erik Hanschen, doctoral student at the University of Arizona; Hisayoshi Nozaki, University of Tokyo; and an international team of researchers found a single gene is responsible for the evolution of multicellular organisms. The study is published in a recent issue of Nature Communications.
A tension-sensitive "fail safe" protein helps make sure that when our cells divide the two resulting cells inherit the normal number of chromosomes, researchers from the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center report today, May 5, in the journal Cell.
When a cell divides, in a process called mitosis, the dividing cell makes a copy of each of its chromosomes. It then distributes them so that each daughter cell inherits one copy of each chromosome.