Body | Page 4379 | Science Codex

Obesity linked to poorer breast cancer outcomes

SAN ANTONIO – Breast cancer patients with a high body mass index (BMI) have a poorer cancer prognosis later in life. Specifically, their treatment effect does not last as long and their risk of death increases.

"Overall, women should make an effort to keep their BMI less than 25," said Marianne Ewertz, M.D., professor in the Department of Oncology at Odense University Hospital, Denmark. "Those who have a high BMI should be encouraged to participate in mammography screening programs for prevention efforts."

U-M researchers discover a way to strengthen proteins

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Proteins, which perform such vital roles in our bodies as building and maintaining tissues and regulating cellular processes, are a finicky lot. In order to work properly, they must be folded just so, yet many proteins readily collapse into useless tangles when exposed to temperatures just a few degrees above normal body temperature.

Ovaries must suppress their inner male to remain ovaries

For an ovary to remain an ovary, the female organ has to continuously suppress its inner capacity to become male. That's the conclusion of a study in the December 11th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, revealing that the ovaries of mice can be reprogrammed into testes (minus the sperm) by silencing a single gene.

The findings may have implications for understanding certain sex disorders in children and premature menopause in women, the researchers say.

Research opens door to new thrombosis treatments

The latest findings on how blood clots form could open the door to the development of new and better-targeted drugs for patients at risk of strokes or heart attacks.

Many of these patients currently take anticoagulant drugs such as Warfarin, which lower the risk of heart attacks or strokes by reducing the blood's ability to clot.

Although these drugs reduce the risk of dangerous blood clot formation within blood vessels (thrombosis), they also affect normal wound healing, leaving patients at risk of lethal bleeding if they injure themselves in any way.

Reaching the summit of protein dynamics

Waltham, MA–Understanding the incredibly speedy atomic mechanisms at work when a protein transitions from one shape to another has been an elusive scientific goal for years, but an essential one for elucidating the full panoply of protein function. How do proteins transition, or interconvert, between distinct shapes without unfolding in the process? Until now, this question has been a hypothetical one, approached by computation only rather than experimentation.

Hydroxyurea turns bacteria suicidal

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — MIT and Boston University researchers have discovered that the drug hydroxyurea kills bacteria by inducing them to produce molecules toxic to themselves — a conclusion that raises the possibility of finding new antibiotics that use similar mechanisms.

Hydroxyurea inhibits the enzyme critical for making the building blocks for DNA, so for decades it has been used to study the consequences of inhibiting DNA replication in E. coli, yeast and mammalian cells. It is also sometimes used in chemotherapy to halt the growth of cancer cells.

Amount of gene surplus determines severity of mental retardation in males

Leuven, 10 December 2009 -- Researchers have discovered a new explanation for differences in the severity of mental illness in males. The more excess copies of a certain gene, the more serious the handicap. The genetic defect is situated on the X-chromosome; and it is suspected that it is the amount of copies of the GDI1 gene that is responsible.

Potential impact of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles

A new report from the National Research Council, TRANSITIONS TO ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGIES — PLUG-IN HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES, examines the technological status of plug-in hybrids and identifies factors that might hinder their acceptance in the marketplace. The report develops plausible scenarios of potential market penetration and uses them to estimate reductions in petroleum consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.

Source: National Academy of Sciences

Successful stem cell therapy for treatment of eye disease

Newcastle, United Kingdom, December, 2009 – Newly published research, by investigators, at the North East England Stem Cell Institute (NESCI) in the journal Stem Cells reported the first successful treatment of eight patients with "Limbal Stem Cell Deficiency" (LSCD) using the patients' own stem cells without the need of suppressing their immunity.

Newly discovered mechanism by which blood clots form

Polyphosphate from blood platelets plays a key role in inflammation and the formation of blood clots, scientists from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have shown. The study, which is presented in the prestigious scientific journal Cell, describes how this mechanism can be used in treatment.

Heavy alcohol consumption may increase breast cancer recurrence risk

SAN ANTONIO – Moderate to heavy consumption of alcoholic beverages (at least three to four drinks per week) is associated with a 1.3-fold increased risk of breast cancer recurrence. Women who are post-menopausal or overweight may be most susceptible to the effects of alcohol on recurrence. Drinking less than three drinks per week was not associated with an increased risk.

University of Alberta researchers develop drug interface to save lives

A drug information interface system developed by two University of Alberta researchers has been shown to help in dealing with visual and motor impairments, which can make sorting, holding and indentifying pills a challenge as we age.

Potential new heart attack biomarker uncovered

Though they remain a leading killer, heart attacks can be effectively treated provided they can be rapidly diagnosed following initial onset of symptoms. In a study appearing in this month's Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, researchers have identified cardiac myosin-binding protein C (cMyBP-C) as a potential new diagnostic biomarker for heart attacks, one that may be particularly valuable for mild attacks in which traditional diagnostic proteins may not be abundant enough.

Study reveals H1N1's unexpected weakness--hemagglutinin 'hook'

The H1N1 influenza virus has been keeping a secret that may be the key to defeating it and other flu viruses as well.

Researchers at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) have found what they believe is a weakness in H1N1's method for evading detection by the immune system.

Synthetic protein mimics structure, function of metalloprotein in nature

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists have designed a synthetic protein that is both a structural model and a functional model of a native protein, nitric-oxide reductase.

The designed protein "provides an excellent model system for studying nitric-oxide reductase, and for creating biocatalysts for biotechnological, environmental and pharmaceutical applications," said University of Illinois chemistry professor Yi Lu, who directed the work.