Rice University evolutionary biologists David Queller and Joan Strassmann argue in a new paper that high cooperation and low conflict between components, from the genetic level on up, give a living thing its "organismality," whether that thing is an animal, a plant, a bacteria – or a colony.
Body
For parents of children with cancer, the hopeful news is that pediatric survival rates have steadily improved for decades. Among the bad news—treatments that enable survival often cause infertility.
Boys diagnosed with cancer who have reached puberty currently have an opportunity to preserve their fertility: before undergoing cancer treatment, they may have their semen frozen and preserved in sperm banks. Younger boys, however, do not produce sperm, although their testicular tissue contains young cells that will eventually become sperm.
Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. – Oncologists have had their hands tied because more than half of all human cancers have mutations that disable a protein called p53. As a critical anti-cancer watchdog, p53 masterminds several cancer-fighting operations within cells. When cells lose p53, tumors grow aggressively and often cannot be treated.
What do you get when you cross a mouse with poor hearing and a mouse with even worse hearing? Ironically, a new strain of mice with "golden ears" – mice that have outstanding hearing as they age.
Montreal, November 9, 2009 – On Noah's Ark animals came in twos: male and female. In human bodies trillions of cells are coupled, too, and so are the molecules from which they are composed. Yet these don't come in twos, they are regrouped into indistinguishable clusters. Because these complex cell networks are the backbone of life – and illness – scientists have long searched for ways to splice cell clusters down to their original pairs.
Researchers from Tufts University and their community-based colleagues have identified several strategies to improve community-based participatory research (CBPR) partnerships.
Heart rate variability, a sign of a healthy heart, has been shown to be higher in yoga practitioners than in non-practitioners, according to research to be published in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics.
To celebrate its fifth year of publication, Journal of the Royal Society Interface in conjunction with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) honoured the best research article published in the journal at an awards ceremony in London on 6th November.
Grenoble, 8 November 2009 - Much as adrenaline coursing through our veins drives our body's reactions to stress, the plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) is behind plants' responses to stressful situations such as drought, but how it does so has been a mystery for years. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Grenoble, France, and the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC) in Valencia, Spain discovered that the key lies in the structure of a protein called PYR1 and how it interacts with the hormone.
MAYWOOD, Il. -- Gifted young athletes are under increasing pressure to play only one sport year round.
But a new Loyola University Health System study of 519 junior tennis players has found that such specialization increases the risk of injury. Researchers who analyzed 3,366 matches in United States Tennis Association junior competition found that players who specialized in only tennis were more likely to withdraw from tournaments for medical reasons, typically injuries.
PHILADELPHIA – The use of postmenopausal hormone therapy has decreased over time in the United States, which researchers suggest may play a key role in the declining rate of atypical ductal hyperplasia, a known risk factor for breast cancer.
A new study finds that women treated for breast cancer are at higher risk of cancer recurrence if they have dense breasts. Published in the December 15, 2009 issue of Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study's results indicate that breast cancer patients with dense breasts may benefit from additional therapies following surgery, such as radiation.
An Indiana University study involving 2,453 women ages 18 to 68 found that lubricant use during sexual activity alone or with a partner contributed to higher ratings of pleasurable and satisfying sex.
Personal lubricants have long been recommended to women to improve the comfort of sexual intercourse and to reduce the risk of vaginal tearing, yet strikingly little available data is available on women's use of lubricants or associated vaginal symptoms.
Using imaging mass spectrometry, researchers at the University of California, San Diego have developed tools that will enable scientists to visualize how different cell populations of cells communicate. Their study shows how bacteria talk to one another – an understanding that may lead to new therapeutic discoveries for diseases ranging from cancer to diabetes and allergies.
HOUSTON - (Nov. 8, 2009) – The loss of a gene through deletion of genetic material on chromosome 15 is associated with significant abnormalities in learning and behavior, said a consortium of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine (www.bcm.edu) in a report that appears online today in the journal Nature Genetics.