Finding parasites on fossils is a rarity, since, as we humans have experienced with a shudder, they tend to attach to skin or soft tissue and not skeleton. However, a discovery led by the University of Cincinnati not only has uncovered the ancient remnants of two parasites on marine animals, but also revealed how the parasites and hosts evolved over hundreds of years.
Body
Being all in one piece is not always a good strategy for resisting external strain. Biological tissues are well aware of it: they tend to crack simultaneously and gradually in several places, rather than catastrophically in one place only. This makes them particularly resistant. A group of SISSA researchers conducted a theoretical study that explains the mechanism underlying this phenomenon, which was experimentally observed in epithelial cell cultures. By doing so, they take their first steps towards creating artificial materials with features inspired by biomaterials.
To gain a clearer picture of health and disease, scientists have now provided an independent reference for all human variation by looking through the evolutionary lens of our nearest relatives. Such a powerful approach has been developed by Temple University professor Sudhir Kumar and colleagues and was detailed in the advanced online publication of Molecular Biology and Evolution.
LA JOLLA, CA - October 29, 2015 - A new study from scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) helps explain why cancer metastasis is so hard to stop.
ORLANDO, Fla. - Researchers at Oregon State University today announced an important advance in the field of cancer imaging and phototherapy, using a single-agent system that may ultimately change the efficacy of cancer surgery and treatment around the world.
(Philadelphia, PA) - For patients with inflammatory bowel disease, the possibility of taking a single pill to bring long-lasting relief might seem too good to be true. Scientists at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University are on the brink of making that happen, thanks to a recent proof-of-concept study, in which the severity of a form of inflammatory bowel disease in mice was dramatically reduced with one oral dose of a protein isolated from a bacterial biofilm.
ORLANDO, Fla. Oct. 29, 2015 -- Scientists are investigating a biodegradable nanomedicine that can selectively destroy ovarian cancer cells left behind after surgery. These findings are a step forward in the development of targeted therapies for hard-to-treat cancers. This work is being presented Oct. 29 at the 2015 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Annual Meeting and Exposition, the world's largest pharmaceutical sciences meeting, in Orlando, Fla. Oct. 25-29.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (Oct. 29, 2015) - Rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm is one of the most dramatic medical emergencies a person can face. It usually strikes without warning, killing approximately 50 percent of those who experience it before they reach a hospital. Of those who do get to a health facility alive, only about 50 percent survive. When diagnosed through screening, aortic aneurysms are carefully monitored for signs of enlargement, and surgical intervention often is needed to prevent rupture of the vessel.
Gastric cancer, otherwise known as stomach cancer, does not respond well to existing treatments and it is currently the third leading cause of cancer death in the world (after lung and liver cancer). Researchers have discovered that certain drugs, currently used to treat breast, ovarian and pancreatic cancers, could also be used to treat certain gastric cancers with a particular pattern of mutations (genomic molecular fingerprint).
Researchers have made another important step in the progress towards being able to block the development of multiple sclerosis (MS) and other autoimmune diseases.
Published today in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers at the University of Adelaide have identified a key protein involved in a 'super-inflammatory' immune response that drives the progression of MS and other autoimmune diseases.
A new pair of studies suggests that statins, drugs widely used to reduce cholesterol, may have a detrimental effect on the immune response to influenza vaccine and the vaccine's effectiveness at preventing serious illness in older adults. Published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, the findings, if confirmed by additional research, may have implications for flu vaccine recommendations, guidelines for statin use around the time of vaccination, and future vaccine clinical trials in seniors.
London, UK (October 29, 2015). Many transgender men who have the capacity to bear children are faced with barriers in the healthcare system as a result of a lack of training, argue Juno Obedin-Maliver and Harvey Makadon in a commentary published in SAGE journal Obstetric Medicine.
Following the success of the 2013 Lancet Oncology Commission on cancer care in Latin America [1], The Lancet Oncology today launches a second Commission on cancer in this region, highlighting the promising progress that has been made in just 2 years, but also the substantial barriers that remain to ensure all those that need cancer treatment and care receive optimal clinical management.
A pioneering drug developed to treat women with inherited cancers can also benefit men with advanced prostate cancer, a major new clinical trial concludes.
The trial is a milestone in cancer treatment as the first to show the benefits of 'precision medicine' in prostate cancer - with treatment matched to the particular genetic characteristics of a man's tumour.
MINNEAPOLIS - New research suggests that older women who complain of memory problems may be at higher risk for experiencing diagnosed memory and thinking impairment decades later. The study is published in the October 28, 2015, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.