Cultivars of popular ornamental woody plants that are being sold in the United States as non-invasive are probably anything but, according to an analysis by botanical researchers published in the October issue of BioScience. Tiffany M. Knight of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and her coauthors at the Chicago Botanic Garden write that the claims of environmental safety are in most cases based on misleading demographic evidence that greatly underestimates the plants' invasive potential.
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A Californian-based study has looked in detail at air quality and the impact of traffic-related air pollution on premature birth. Published in BioMed Central's open access journal Environmental Health, results from this study show that traffic-related air pollution, especially polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), is associated with up to a 30% increase in premature births, and that seasonal changes and vicinity to the coast affected concentration of toxic pollutants in the air.
The increasing use of "narrative verdicts" by coroners in England and Wales may be leading to greater underestimation of suicide rates, warn experts on bmj.com today, based on ongoing research part funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
Professor David Gunnell at the University of Bristol and colleagues from the Universities of Oxford and Manchester say changes are needed urgently to ensure the future reliability of national suicide statistics.
Amsterdam, NL, 7 October 2011 – A new study in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease shows for the first time the effects of α-Synuclein (α-syn) gene multiplication on mitochondrial function and susceptibility to oxidative stress in human tissue. Mitochondrial dysfunction has been frequently implicated in the neurodegenerative process that underlies Parkinson's disease, but the basis for this has not been fully understood.
MADISON – Ten years of meticulous mouse breeding, screening, and record-keeping have finally paid off for Alan Attie and his lab members.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers' efforts, published Oct. 6 in the journal PLoS Genetics, pinpointed a gene that confers diabetes susceptibility in obese mice.
They also showed that the protein coded by the gene, called tomosyn-2, acts as a brake on insulin secretion from the pancreas.
Genetics play an important role in the variation in, and risk of, low testosterone concentrations in men. A study by the CHARGE Sex Hormone Consortium, published in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics on Thursday, 6th October, is the first genome-wide association study to examine the effects of common genetic variants on serum testosterone concentrations in men.
A group of researchers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison has pinpointed a gene that confers diabetes susceptibility in obese mice. Published on October 6th in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics, this study also shows that its protein tomosyn-2 acts as a brake on insulin secretion from the pancreas.
"It's too early for us to know how relevant this gene will be to human diabetes," says Alan Attie, who leads the group, "but the concept of negative regulation is one of the most interesting things to come out of this study and that very likely applies to humans."
A researcher at MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer research has identified a gene that controls the process by which antibodies gain their ability to combat retroviruses. Edward Browne shows that the gene TLR7 allows the antibody generating B cells to detect the presence of a retrovirus and promotes a process by which antibodies gain strength and potency, called a germinal center reaction. The findings are published in the Open Access journal PLoS Pathogens on October 6th.
A novel mechanism has been identified in which Chlamydia trachomatis tricks host cells into taking up the bacteria. Researchers from University of California San Francisco, led by Joanne Engel, report their findings in the Open Access journal PLoS Pathogens on October 6th.
ATLANTA -- October 6, 2011 -- A new study finds liver cancer incidence rates continue to increase in some low-risk parts of the world such as North America, and are decreasing in some of the highest risk countries of Asia. Despite this, the incidence rates in Asian countries remain twice as high as those in Africa and more than four times as high as rates in North America. The study will be published in an upcoming issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention and appears early online.
AMHERST, Mass. -- New research based on post-hospital arrival data from U.S. trauma centers finds that even after adjusting for differences in injury severity, gun use, and other likely causes of race difference in death from assault, African-Americans have a significantly higher overall post-scene of injury mortality rate than whites. The study was conducted by Anthony R. Harris, emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and colleagues and published in August by the Journal of Trauma, Injury, Infection and Critical Care.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- In the face of climate change, animals have an advantage over plants: They can move. But a new study led by Brown University researchers shows that plants may have some tricks of their own.
Cambridge scientists have identified the cause of a rare, life-threatening form of hypoglycaemia. Their findings, which have the potential to lead to pharmaceutical treatments for the disorder, were published today, 07 October, in the journal Science.
Hypoglycaemia, usually characterised by too much insulin which results in too little sugar in the bloodstream, is fairly common, often affecting diabetic patients or individuals with disorders that cause insulin overproduction. Symptoms can include seizures and unconsciousness.
LA JOLLA, Calif., October 6, 2011 – In cancer, genes turn on and off at the wrong times, proteins aren't folded properly, and cellular growth and proliferation get out of control. Even a cancer cell's metabolism goes haywire, as it loses the ability to appropriately sense nutrients and use them to generate energy. One particular piece of cellular machinery that is known to malfunction in a number of cancers is a group of proteins called mTORC1.
Scientists have discovered how cells detect tissue damage and modify their repair properties accordingly. The findings, published today [6 October] in the journal Developmental Cell, could open up new opportunities for improving tissue repair in patients following illness or surgery.
The Wellcome Trust-funded study, led by biochemists at the University of Bristol, examined the signalling process in damaged tissue cells and identified the cellular mechanisms responsible for activating effective repair.