CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- MIT cancer biologists have identified a genetic change that makes lung tumors more likely to spread to other parts of the body. The findings, to be published in the April 6 online issue of Nature, offers new insight into how lung cancers metastasize and could help identify drug targets to combat metastatic tumors, which account for 90 percent of cancer deaths.
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A new pathway has been discovered that links a common dietary lipid and intestinal microflora with an increased risk of heart disease, according to a Cleveland Clinic study published in the latest issue of Nature.
CHICAGO --- In a large multi-center clinical trial, a new PSA test to screen for prostate cancer more accurately identified men with prostate cancer -- particularly the aggressive form of the disease -- and substantially reduced false positives compared to the twocurrently available commercial PSA tests, according to newly published research from Northwestern Medicine.
Troy, N.Y. – Proteins are critically important to life and the human body. They are also among the most complex molecules in nature, and there is much we still don't know or understand about them.
One key challenge is the stability of enzymes, a particular type of protein that speeds up, or catalyzes, chemical reactions. Taken out of their natural environment in the cell or body, enzymes can quickly lose their shape and denature. Everyday examples of enzymes denaturing include milk going sour, or eggs turning solid when boiled.
College Park, Md. (April 6, 2011) -- Most people experience X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanners when they are evaluated for a suspected tumor or blood clot. But in the lab of Dr. Quin Liu, PhD., in Wuhan China, rice plants were the patients in a novel use of CT scanners as part of an agriculture study to increase rice yield.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Like any other newborn, the neonatal horse can be a challenging patient. Its immune system is still under construction, its blood chemistry can vary wildly, and – like most infants – it wants to stay close to mom.
These factors are magnified in the critically ill foal, said Pamela Wilkins, a professor of equine internal medicine and emergency/critical care at the University of Illinois and the author of a new paper on equine neonatal intensive care.
Researchers at North Carolina State University are narrowing the search for genes involved in non-Hodgkin lymphoma – by turning dogs into humans.
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Every person has some level of alexithymia, as it is the personality trait which keeps people from sharing or even understanding their own emotions. Now, one University of Missouri researcher's latest study indicates that affectionate communication, such as hugging, could help those who have high levels of alexithymia lead more fulfilling lives.
Move over, newts and salamanders. The mouse may join you as the only animal that can re-grow their own severed limbs. Researchers are reporting that a simple chemical cocktail can coax mouse muscle fibers to become the kinds of cells found in the first stages of a regenerating limb. Their study, the first demonstration that mammal muscle can be turned into the biological raw material for a new limb, appears in the journal ACS Chemical Biology.
With efforts underway to ban lead-based ammunition as a potential health and environmental hazard, scientists are reporting new evidence that a prime alternative material for bullets — tungsten — may not be a good substitute The report, which found that tungsten accumulates in major structures of the immune system in animals, appears in ACS' journal Chemical Research in Toxicology.
Inspired by Mother Nature, scientists are reporting development of a protective coating with the potential to enable living cells to survive in a dormant condition for long periods despite intense heat, dryness and other hostile conditions. In a report in Journal of the American Chemical Society, they liken the coating to the armor that encloses the spores that protect anthrax and certain other bacterial cells, making those microbes difficult to kill.
People who follow a vegan lifestyle — strict vegetarians who try to eat no meat or animal products of any kind — may increase their risk of developing blood clots and atherosclerosis or "hardening of the arteries," which are conditions that can lead to heart attacks and stroke. That's the conclusion of a review of dozens of articles published on the biochemistry of vegetarianism during the past 30 years. The article appears in ACS' bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
WASHINGTON, DC, April 6, 2011 — New research from the University of Minnesota finds that a workplace environment that allows employees to change when and where they work, based on their individual needs and job responsibilities, positively affects the work-family interface and reduces turnover.
Led by U of M sociology professors Erin Kelly and Phyllis Moen, the research is published in an April American Sociological Review study, "Changing Workplaces to Reduce Work-Family Conflict: Schedule Control in a White-Collar Organization," and a February Social Problems study.
Researchers have long known that landfills produce methane, but had a hard time figuring out why – since landfills do not start out as a friendly environment for the organisms that produce methane. New research from North Carolina State University shows that one species of microbe is paving the way for other methane producers.
Specifically, the researchers found that an anaerobic bacterium called Methanosarcina barkeri appears to be the key microbe.
Scientists of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch (Germany) have demonstrated for the first time that a gene regulating neuronal cell migration during embryogenesis also plays a role in the development of the liver. Using zebrafish as a model organism, Dr. Christian Klein and Professor Ferdinand le Noble showed that the gene navigator-3 (abbreviated nav3a) regulates liver organogenesis. If nav3a is missing, the liver cannot develop (Development 2011, doi:10.1242/dev.056861)*. "Moreover, first evidence indicates," Dr.