Hyderabad, India and Shenzhen, China, 06 November 2011 – Once referred to as an "orphan crop" mainly grown by poor farmers, pigeonpea is now set to join the world's league of major food crops with the completion of its genome sequence.
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HOUSTON -- The embryonic enzyme pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) has a well-established role in metabolism and is highly expressed in human cancers. Now, a team led by researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reports in advance online publication of the journal Nature that PKM2 has important non-metabolic functions in cancer formation.
University of Toronto materials science and engineering (MSE) researchers have demonstrated for the first time the key mechanism behind how energy levels align in a critical group of advanced materials. This discovery is a significant breakthrough in the development of sustainable technologies such as dye-sensitized solar cells and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs).
The combination of chemotherapy and radiation significantly improved the 5-year overall survival of patients with stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), according to a phase III study published Nov. 4 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Researchers often work with a narrow range of compounds when making organic electronics, such as solar panels, light emitting diodes and transistors. Professor Tim Bender and Ph.D. Candidate Graham Morse of University of Toronto's Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry have uncovered compounds that exhibit unique and novel electro-chemical properties.
Working with lab cultures and mice, Johns Hopkins scientists have found that a strain of the common gut pathogen Bacteroides fragilis causes colon inflammation and increases activity of a gene called spermine oxidase (SMO) in the intestine. The effect is to expose the gut to hydrogen peroxide – the caustic, germ-fighting substance found in many medicine cabinets -- and cause DNA damage, contributing to the formation of colon tumors, say the scientists.
Laval, Canada -- Measles virus is perhaps the most contagious virus in the world, affecting 10 million children worldwide each year and accounting for 120,000 deaths. An article published in the Nov. 2, 2011 issue of Nature explains why this virus spreads so rapidly. The discovery by Roberto Cattaneo, Ph.D., at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, in collaboration with Veronika von Messling, DVM, at the Centre INRS–Institut Armand-Frappier and research teams at several other universities opens up promising new avenues in cancer treatment.
The enzyme arginase-2 plays a major role in kidney failure, and blocking the action of this enzyme might lead to protection against renal disease in diabetes, according to researchers.
"We believe these arginase inhibitors may be one of the new targets that can slow down the progression of, or even prevent the development of, end-stage renal disease," said Alaa S. Awad, assistant professor of nephrology, Penn State College of Medicine.
Invasive species have hitchhiked to the U.S. on cargo ships for centuries, but the method U.S. regulators most rely on to keep them out is not equally effective across coasts. Ecologists from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center have found that ports on the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico are significantly less protected than ports on the West Coast.
Waste not, want not. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Don't snack before supper; you'll ruin your appetite.
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Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are up to 100,000 times thinner than a human hair and as light as plastic. Despite this they have a higher tensile strength than steel, are harder than diamond and conduct electricity better than copper. These properties make CNTs a raw material with a very promising future. All over the world possible applications are being investigated, including use in solar cells, plastics, batteries, medical technology and the purification of drinking water.
Research led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists has identified an unexpected mechanism facilitating some protein interactions that are the workhorses of cells and, in the process, identified a potential new cancer drug development target.
An international collaboration involving Inserm has revealed how the measles virus leaves the body of an infected person to contaminate another individual. The researchers have identified a key receptor, located in the trachea, which allows the virus to spread through the air rapidly from one organism to another. The receptor, nectine-4, is also known to be a biomarker for some cancers.
This research appeared in a letter, dated 2 November 2011, published in Nature.
Varicose veins, sometimes referred to as "varices" in medical jargon, are usually just a cosmetic problem if they occur as spider veins. In their advanced stage, however, they pose a real health threat. In people with this widespread disorder, the blood is no longer transported to the heart unhindered but instead pools in the veins of the leg. This is because the vessel walls or venous valves no longer function adequately. Dr. Thomas Korff and his group at the Division of Cardiovascular Physiology (Director: Prof.
(Boston) - Using a sophisticated technique of x-ray crystallography, researchers Xiaohu Mei, PhD, and David Atkinson, PhD, from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have for the first time obtained an "image" of the structure and the precise arrangement of the atoms in a truncated form of the apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) molecule. The findings, which appear in the November issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, may lead to the development of new drugs to treat obesity, stroke and diabetes.