DALLAS - May 2, 2016 - Researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified an important new function of genes in the Fanconi anemia pathway -- a finding that could have implications for development of new therapies to treat this disorder and some cancers.
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As traditional print journals merge with contemporary web-based journals, publishing scientists find themselves in a rapidly evolving transition. In order to understand how these changes in publishing culture have influenced the literature on cycads, authors April Cascasan and Thomas Marler recently conducted comparisons of online search approaches and the established foundation of printed proceedings from international conferences focused on cycads. The result of the endeavor appeared in the March 2016 issue of the Journal of Threatened Taxa.
A recent research study at The Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota is providing insight into the regulation of chromosome segregation and the mechanisms used by cells to prevent them from forming tumors.
A U.S. government agency whose mission is to help save the lives of people around the world living with HIV and AIDS has seen a steep drop in funding for an important part of its budget. The finding, from a UCLA study, could be a cause for concern because many countries rely on the agency to help pay for vital health care services for people with the disease.
The textbook "monogamy hypothesis" argues that monogamy favors the evolution of cooperation by increasing sibling relatedness, since helpers are as related to the full siblings that they care for as they are to their own offspring. So under certain circumstances helping can be as, or even more, successful in getting genes passed on as reproducing. But in an Opinion, published May 3 in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, two experts in social and reproductive behavior say that the proof isn't all there.
Chronic hepatitis B infection, a lifetime disease with no effective cure, could one day be cleared from a person's system with a series of shots, according to a new USC study.
Most healthy adults infected with HBV will develop protective immunity, healing their own bodies within a few months. But children who acquired the virus from their mothers are unable to scrub HBV from their systems. Instead these individuals are fated to live with the virus for the rest of their lives.
A genetic variation associated with obesity and appetite in Labrador retrievers - the UK and US's favourite dog breed - has been identified by scientists at the University of Cambridge. The finding may explain why Labrador retrievers are more likely to become obese than dogs of other breeds.
Following a heart attack, successful repair of damaged tissue can prevent cardiac rupture and other adverse outcomes. The ability to repair myocardial tissue depends on the activation of fibroblasts, which stimulate the formation of connective tissue. In this month's issue of the JCI, a team led by Ken Suzuki at the William Harvey Research Institute determined that tissue reparation after a heart attack depends on the production of a type of white blood cell called M2 macrophages.
Dog owners tell their vets that Labrador retrievers are always interested in food, and new work shows there might be a biological truth to the claim. A May 3 study in Cell Metabolism links a gene alteration specifically found in Labs and related flat coat retrievers to greater food-motivated behavior, describing the first gene associated with canine obesity. The variation also occurs more frequently in Labradors chosen as assistance dogs, and might explain why these canines seem more trainable with food rewards.
(SALT LAKE CITY) -- Babies whose moms get flu vaccinations while pregnant have a significantly reduced risk of acquiring influenza during their first six months of life, a new study shows, leading the authors to declare that the need for getting more pregnant women immunized is a public health priority.
In December 2015 an international group of scientists convened in Austria to discuss the imminent extinction of the northern white rhinoceros and the possibility of bringing the species back from brink of extinction. The discussions of this historic meeting appear in the international Journal Zoo Biology. The publication of this work is designed as part of the ongoing effort to raise awareness for the extinction crisis facing rhinos and many other species while also reaching out to the scientific community to share and gather information.
In a study appearing in the May 3 issue of JAMA, Pascal Hammel, M.D., of Beaujon Hospital, Clichy, France and colleagues assessed whether chemoradiotherapy improves overall survival of patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer controlled after 4 months of gemcitabine-based induction chemotherapy, and assessed the effect of erlotinib on survival. Gemcitabine and erlotinib are drugs used to treat cancer.
In a study appearing in the May 3, 2016 issue of JAMA, Anette-Gabriele Ziegler, M.D., of Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, Munich, Germany, and colleagues examined associations between infection types during the first 2 years of life and between respiratory tract infections in the first 6 months and type l diabetes (T1D). Viral infections, particularly enteroviruses, have been hypothesized to cause T1D. Recent studies suggest that respiratory tract infections are associated with increased T1D risk if they are encountered within the first 6 months.
Sharing a sanitation facility between households can be linked to increased risk of moderate-to-severe diarrhea (MSD) in children under 5 y at some sites, according to Global Enteric Multicenter Study (GEMS) study findings published this week in PLOS Medicine. The study, conducted by Kelly K. Baker of University of Iowa College of Public Health, Iowa City, United States, and colleagues, suggests that access to private sanitation facilities should remain a global health priority.
Recently developed treatments that cure hepatitis C virus (HCV) will create new opportunities for people with other liver diseases to receive transplanted livers.
Only one-third of Americans who need liver transplants receive them, and shortages are expected to rise as the transplant waiting list continues to grow while the supply of organs remains flat. The research suggests that the benefits of new HCV treatments could spill over to many other diseases that cause end-stage liver failure.