Body

Eukaryotic cells employ multiple strategies of checkpoint signaling and DNA repair mechanisms to monitor and repair damaged DNA. There are two branches of the checkpoint response pathway, ataxia telangiectasia-mutated (ATM) pathway and ATM-Rad3-related (ATR) pathway. Virus replication presents the host cells with large amounts of exogenous genetic material, including DNA ends and unusual structures. Therefore, infected cells recognize viral replication as a DNA damage stress and elicit DNA damage signal transduction, which ultimatelyinduces apoptosis as part of host immune surveillance.

Women who have had two or more induced abortions have a reduced risk of pre-eclampsia by 60 %. It is not currently understood to what degree physical activity during pregnancy protects against pre-eclampsia, compared to previous studies. This is shown in two new studies from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) that use data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa).

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It's a leading cause of death, but no one knows for sure how and why it happens. It's a major source of health care costs, adding days or weeks to the hospital stays and lost work time of millions of people. But no one fully understands how best to fight it.

"It" is bacterial infection in the blood, also called bacteremia, and it's a major part of the very serious illness called sepsis.

CHAPEL HILL – All biological reactions within human cells depend on enzymes. Their power as catalysts enables biological reactions to occur usually in milliseconds. But how slowly would these reactions proceed spontaneously, in the absence of enzymes – minutes, hours, days? And why even pose the question?

Small skink lizards, Lerista, demonstrate extensive changes in body shape over geologically brief periods. Research published in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology shows that several species of these skinks have rapidly evolved an elongate, limbless body form.

Racial disparity in the control of hypertension contributes to the deaths of almost 8,000 black men and women in the United States annually, according to a first-of-its-kind study published today in the Annals of Family Medicine by University of Rochester Medical Center researchers.

The researchers concluded that the deaths could be avoided or postponed if blacks had their hypertension, or high blood pressure, controlled to the same level as whites.

NEW YORK (Nov. 10, 2008) -- Phase I results of the first clinical trial of gene therapy for patients with advanced heart failure show the approach to be promising, with improvements in several measures of the condition's severity.

In Phase I clinical trials, researchers test a new treatment in a small group of people for the first time to evaluate its safety, determine a safe dosage range, and identify side effects.