Body

PHILADELPHIA - A new appreciation for the interplay between two cell nucleus proteins that lead both intertwined and separate lives is helping researchers better understand fatty liver disease, according to a new study by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. They published their findings this month in Genes & Development.

Over the course of the 20th century, genes began to play a greater role in the height and body mass index (BMI) of Americans, while their significance decreased in educational attainment and occurrence of heart disease.

The findings, from research by Princeton sociologist Dalton Conley and colleagues, shed new light on how the genetic and environmental landscape of American society has changed over the past century, and highlight the power of combining new genetic tools with traditional social science research.

Tampa, FL (July 26, 2016) -- The short-term risk of developing cardiovascular disease following a first pregnancy is higher for women experiencing placental syndromes and a preterm birth or an infant born smaller than the usual size, a University of South Florida study reports. The USF researchers also found a five-fold increase in health care costs for women with placental syndromes who developed cardiovascular disease as soon as three to five years following delivery, compared to those who did not.

PULLMAN, Wash. -- Washington State University researchers have mapped the damage of ultraviolet radiation on individual units of DNA, opening a new avenue in the search for how sunlight causes skin cancer and what might be done to prevent it.

"This technique gives you almost a satellite-view image of all the damage across the genome," said John Wyrick, a WSU geneticist specializing in DNA repair and corresponding author of a study out this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A new statin treatment shows promise for reducing premature births and increasing babies' chances of survival for mothers with an autoimmune disease. The small preliminary study of 21 women, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, found that all babies of mothers treated with statins survived compared with the standard treatment group; maternal health also improved after treatment with statins.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- At the University of Illinois, an engineer teamed up with a veterinarian to test a bone cancer drug delivery system in animals bigger than the standard animal model, the mouse. They chose dogs - mammals closer in size and biology to humans - with naturally occurring bone cancers, which also are a lot like human bone tumors.

Mutations in the BRCA1 gene are one of the most common risk factors for breast and ovarian cancers. Although tumors that harbor BRCA1 mutations initially respond well to cancer treatments, many tumors eventually become less responsive. This month, two studies in the JCI investigated the mechanisms underlying the treatment resistance associated with some BRCA1 mutations, and the findings provide information that may help predict which treatments will be effective in women with breast and ovarian cancer.

Retailers are openly flouting the ban on tobacco sales near schools in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province in South-Central China, reveals research published online in the journal Tobacco Control.

Furthermore, marketing strategies targeting children are "pervasive," the study shows, prompting the authors to urge officials to take swift action to enforce the regulations.

Tobacco retail sales are prohibited within 100 metres of schools in many large cities in China, but it's not clear how well this zoning regulation is being enforced.

Using a statistical method developed at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, investigators found that survivors of pediatric Hodgkin lymphoma not only have more cardiovascular conditions than adults who did not have cancer in childhood, but the problems are more severe. The research, which appears today in the journal The Lancet Oncology, should aid efforts to reduce and better manage the late effects of cancer treatment.

HOUSTON - (July 25, 2016) -- The study of rhodopsin -- the molecule that allows the eye to detect dim light -- has a long and well-recognized history of more than 100 years. Nevertheless, there is still controversy about the structure in which the molecule exists in the cells of the eye.

Two separate UCLA studies reveal that menopause and the insomnia that often accompanies it make women age faster.

The dual findings, respectively published July 25 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Biological Psychiatry, suggest these factors could increase women's risk for aging-related diseases and earlier death

The H5 avian influenza A virus that devastated North American poultry farms in 2014-15 was initially spread by migratory waterfowl, but evidence suggests such highly pathogenic flu viruses do not persist in wild birds. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital led the research, which appears online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

CINCINNATI -- Metformin, a medication routinely used by millions of people with type 2 diabetes, may also play an unexpected role in blocking a significant cause of preterm birth, according to research findings published July 25.

The early-stage study, based on results from mice bred to be prone to premature birth, was led by a team of scientists at Cincinnati Children's along with colleagues in France and Japan. Their findings were posted online in JCI: The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

AT A GLANCE

MADISON -- Serotonin is best known for eliciting feelings of happiness in the human brain, but scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found the hormone plays a role in milk production in dairy cows -- and may have health implications for breastfeeding women.