Men with naturally high levels of the female hormone oestrogen may have a greater risk of developing breast cancer, according to research by an international collaboration including Cancer Research UK published today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
This is the first time a link between oestrogen levels in the blood and male breast cancer has been identified, despite its connection to breast, womb and ovarian cancers in women.
The bacteria that sneak past the brain's defenses to cause deadly bacterial meningitis are clever adversaries. Brandon Kim would know. The biology graduate student at San Diego State University investigates the molecular tricks bacteria use to convince their host that they are harmless and cause disease.
A new study shows that the microbial communities we carry in and on our bodies--known as the human microbiome--have the potential to uniquely identify individuals, much like a fingerprint. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researchers and colleagues demonstrated that personal microbiomes contain enough distinguishing features to identify an individual over time from among a research study population of hundreds of people.
Transposable elements are DNA sequences that are capable of changing their genome position by cut and paste or copy and paste through the enzyme transposase. This ability can be harmful for hosts if transposable elements destroy functioning genes, but it can also bring advantages. From an evolutionary point of view, transposable elements diversify the genome and open up chances for adaptation.
DNA that uses its host
One of developmental biology's most perplexing questions concerns what signals transform masses of undifferentiated cells into tremendously complex organisms, a process called ontogeny.
New research by University at Buffalo scientists, published last week in PLOS ONE, provides evidence that it all begins with a single "master" growth factor receptor that regulates the entire genome.
A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has uncovered a big clue to how bacteria may promote some colon cancers.
The study, reported in Cell Metabolism on May 7, 2015, used novel metabolomic technologies to reveal molecular evidence suggesting a vicious circle in which cancerous changes in colon cells promote the growth of bacterial conglomerations called biofilms, and biofilms in turn promote cancer development.
Scientists at the University of Copenhagen have identified one mechanism that explains how some stem cells choose to become a given cell type: the cells combine specific sets of proteins at precise positions along the DNA. When these particular groups of proteins are combined, the gates are opened so that certain groups of genes can now be used, giving the cells a new identity.
Scientists at Johns Hopkins say they've discovered a cause-and-effect link between chronic high blood sugar and disruption of mitochondria, the powerhouses that create the metabolic energy that runs living cells. The discovery, reported online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on April 27, sheds light on a long-hidden connection and, they say, could eventually lead to new ways of preventing and treating diabetes.
Using proteomics techniques to study injured optic nerves, researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have identified previously unrecognized proteins and pathways involved in nerve regeneration. Adding back one of these proteins--the oncogene c-myc--they achieved unprecedented optic nerve regeneration in mice when combined with two other known strategies. The findings were published online April 30 by the journal Neuron.
Patients with type 2 diabetes who are overweight but not obese live longer than those who are underweight or normal-weight, according to a study is published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Researchers call this effect the "obesity paradox."
Many of us take a healthy immune system for granted. But for certain infants with rare, inherited mutations of certain genes, severe infection and death are stark consequences of their impaired immune responses.
Now, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have identified an important role for calcium signaling in immune responses to chronic infection resulting from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium causing tuberculosis (TB).
Nerves aren't known for being stretchy. In fact, "nerve stretch injury" is a common form of trauma in humans. But researchers have discovered that nerves in the mouths and tongues of rorqual whales can more than double their length with no trouble at all.
"These large nerves actually stretch and recoil like bungee cords," says A. Wayne Vogl of the University of British Columbia. "This is unlike other nerves in vertebrates, where the nerve is of a more fixed length that has enough slack in it to accommodate changes in position of the structures the nerves are supplying."
Doping is damaging the image of sport without benefitting athletes' results, according to University of Adelaide research.
Researchers from the University's School of Medical Sciences collated sporting records (including Olympic and world records) of male and female athletes across 26 sports, between 1886 and 2012. Comparisons were made between pre-1932 records (when steroids became available) and post, and it was found that the times, distances and other results did not improve as expected in the doping era.
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the main component of our genetic material. It is formed by combining four parts: A, C, G and T (adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine), called bases of DNA combine in thousands of possible sequences to provide the genetic variability that enables the wealth of aspects and functions of living beings.
Two more bases: the Methyl- cytosine and Methyl-adenine
In proof-of-concept experiments, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine demonstrate the ability to tune medically relevant cell behaviors by manipulating a key hub in cell communication networks. The manipulation of this communication node, reported in this week's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, makes it possible to reprogram large parts of a cell's signaling network instead of targeting only a single receptor or cell signaling pathway.