Body

Individuals who have a genetic mutation associated with high body mass index (BMI) may be able to offset their increased risk for obesity through physical activity, according to a report in the September 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

High levels of physical activity can help to counteract a gene that normally causes people to gain weight, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. They analyzed gene variants and activity levels of the Old Order Amish in Lancaster County, Pa., and found that the obesity-related FTO gene had no effect on individuals who were the most physically active.

Blacksburg, Va. – Virginia Tech chemistry Professor Harry Dorn has developed a new area of fullerene chemistry that may be the backbone for development of molecular semiconductors and quantum computing applications.

A new paper by a team of researchers led by Shahriar Mobashery, Navari Family Professor of Life Sciences at the University of Notre Dame, provides important new insights into the process by which bacteria recycle their cell wall.

The cell wall is a critically important entity for bacteria and essential for their survival. It is a rigid entity encasing the bacterium, and antibiotics are designed to interfere with disease processes by affecting its maturation. The function of antibiotics is to impair the cell wall, leading to bacterial death.

Single fathers should never be prevented from seeing their children. Even in the toughest family conflicts, interaction should always continue between father and child according to sociologist Germain Dulac, a researcher at the Université de Montréal's Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Violence Against Women and Families.

"Every father, even the worst delinquent, must see his child once in a while. It's beneficial for both parties," says Dulac, who has studied the male condition for 20 years and analyzed the impact of broken relationships.

AMES, Iowa – The first beam of protons will begin racing around the world's biggest science experiment on Wednesday, Sept. 10, and Iowa State University physicists will be part of the research team taking notes.

They'll also be joining physicists around the world in celebrating a major milestone for the $8 billion, 17-miles-around Large Hadron Collider, the most powerful particle accelerator ever built.

HOUSTON - The protein IKKalpha (IKKα) regulates the cell cycle of keratinocytes and plays a key role in keeping these specialized skin cells from becoming malignant, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the Sept. 9 issue of Cancer Cell.

Scientists have gained new insight into a mechanism whereby chemotherapy may actually assist the rapid regrowth of tumors after treatment. The research, published by Cell Press in the September issue of the journal Cancer Cell, also helps to explain why a combination of traditional chemotherapy with drugs that block formation of new blood vessels might impede the devastating tumor recovery that often follows cancer therapy.

Scientists have gained new insight into a mechanism whereby chemotherapy may actually assist the rapid regrowth of tumors after treatment. The research, published by Cell Press in the September issue of the journal Cancer Cell, also helps to explain why a combination of traditional chemotherapy with drugs that block formation of new blood vessels might impede the devastating tumor recovery that often follows cancer therapy.

Contrary to a long-standing assumption that blood vessel cells in healthy tissues and those associated with tumors are similar, a new study unequivocally demonstrates that tumor blood vessel cells are far from normal. The research, published by Cell Press in the September issue of the journal Cancer Cell, identifies tumor-specific blood vessel cells that are atypically stem cell-like and have the potential to differentiate into cartilage- or bone-like tissues.

Boston, MA - Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and their collaborators at Tufts University and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have identified a common genetic influence on B12 vitamin levels in the blood, suggesting a new way to approach the biological connections between an important biochemical variable and deficiency-related diseases.

A University of Colorado at Boulder team working at 16,400 feet in the Peruvian Andes has discovered how barren soils uncovered by retreating glacier ice can swiftly establish a thriving community of microbes, setting the table for lichens, mosses and alpine plants.

NEW YORK, September 8, 2008 – Patients with type 1 diabetes who used continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices to help manage their disease experienced significant improvements in blood sugar control, according to initial results of a major multicenter clinical trial funded by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

MADISON, WI, September 2, 2008 -- A new interactive web lesson teaches upper-level undergraduate students and graduate students how herbicides are developed. The lesson, developed by William E. Dyer, Montana State University, has the seal of approval by the Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education and is published in the 2008 issue.

Gone are the good old days when farmers knew all their cows by name. There is little time left for the animals in today's dairy industry. And it is easy to overlook the first signs of disease. This situation can now be remedied by a tiny sensor in the cow's rumen, which monitors the animal's state of health and raises the alarm in good time. The system determines the pH level and the temperature inside the cow's rumen. The data are wirelessly transmitted to an external receiver module in the animal's collar via an encapsulated measuring probe.