Body

Ionizing radiation treats many cancers effectively, but in some patients a few tumor cells become resistant to radiation and go on to cause relapse and metastasis. A growth factor-receptor protein called MET may be a key player in these cells' resistance to radiation, and drugs targeting MET may help to prevent radiation-induced metastasis, according to a study published online April 4th in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Adolescent girls participating in high-impact physical activity, specifically basketball, running and gymnastics/cheerleading, appear to be at increased risk for developing stress fractures, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the August print issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

The prevalence of plagiocephaly, a condition marked by an asymmetrical, flattening of the skull, appears to be increasing in infants and young children, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the August issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Measuring oxidative stress may help doctors predict the risk of developing atrial fibrillation, the most common heart beat irregularity. Research from Emory University School of Medicine has identified a connection between oxidative stress and enlargement of the heart's left atrium, which leads to atrial fibrillation.

A UCLA-led study has found that adherence to national guideline–recommended therapies for heart failure in an outpatient practice setting significantly lowered the mortality rate of heart failure patients.

The findings are posted in the April 4 online edition of the journal Circulation.

This is one of the first studies to examine how conformity with current and emerging heart-failure quality measures can impact patient survival and outcomes in the outpatient setting.

A new study reveals that a group of ancient enzymes adapted to substantial changes in ocean temperature and acidity during the last four billion years, providing evidence that life on Early Earth evolved from a much hotter, more acidic environment to the cooler, less acidic global environment that exists today.

RICHMOND, Va. (April 4, 2011) – An international team of researchers has identified a novel gene involved in differences in alcohol consumption, according to a new study published online the week of April 4-8 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study advances our understanding of the genetic mechanisms that influence alcohol drinking behavior.

Chemists at UC San Diego have produced the first high resolution structure of a nano-scale square made from ribonucleic acid, or RNA. The structure was published in a paper in this week's early online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by a team of chemists headed by Thomas Hermann, an assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UCSD.

ORLANDO, FL (April 4, 2011) – New findings by Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers link a common variant of the powerful anticancer gene p53 to increased inflammatory responses following DNA damage. The results may help explain why African Americans, who more frequently possess this variant, tend to be more susceptible to certain kinds of inflammation-related diseases and cancers, such as type II diabetes and colorectal cancer.

Caterpillars that masquerade as twigs to avoid becoming a bird's dinner are actually using clever behavioural strategies to outwit their predators, according to a new study.

Researchers at the universities of Exeter, Liverpool, Liverpool Hope and Glasgow have shown that when it comes to the art of camouflage, things are never quite the way they seem.

The study, published online today in the journal PNAS, reveals that twig-mimicking caterpillars choose their location to maximise their chances of fooling their predators into thinking they are twigs.

SALT LAKE CITY, April 4, 2011 – Fossil teeth of African animals show that during the past 10 million years, different plant-eating critters began grazing on grass at different times as many switched from a salad-bar diet of tree leaves and shrubs, says a University of Utah study.

BOSTON – Women with extremely low body fat, including runners and dancers, as well as women with eating disorders, are prone to develop hypothalamic amenorrhea, a condition in which their menstrual periods cease, triggering such serious problems as infertility and osteoporosis.

Researchers at King's College London and Osaka University in Japan have identified specific bone marrow cells that can transform into skin cells to repair damaged skin tissue, according to a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

MADISON — Scientists from the Morgridge Institute for Research, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of California and the WiCell Research Institute moved gene therapy one step closer to clinical reality by determining that the process of correcting a genetic defect does not substantially increase the number of potentially cancer-causing mutations in induced pluripotent stem cells.

Washington, D.C.—Formaldehyde, a poison and a common molecule throughout the universe, is likely the source of the solar system's organic carbon solids—abundant in both comets and asteroids. Scientists have long speculated about the how organic, or carbon-containing, material became a part of the solar system's fabric. New research from Carnegie's George Cody, along with Conel Alexander and Larry Nittler, shows that these complex organic solids were likely made from formaldehyde in the primitive solar system.