Body

In Antarctic waters that would kill a person within minutes happily dwells a tiny, single-celled organism known as Euplotes focardii. In a new study, researchers from Italy's University of Camerino examine the genes and proteins behind this organism's remarkable ability to cope with its extreme environment, which is not only unthinkably cold, but also saturated with oxygen at a level that would be very stressful for most organisms. The team's findings reveal new insights about how--and how quickly--life can adapt to a changing climate.

One of the most exciting strategies researchers are pursuing for fighting cancer is to cut off the blood supply of cancerous cells. However, many initially-promising therapies have failed in part because tumor cells counteract these therapies by increasing their production of "pro-angiogenic" proteins that promote new blood vessel growth and boost tumor blood supply. In a new study, researchers have found a way to turn the tables on this process by disrupting the ability of vascular endothelial cells (blood vessel-forming cells) to respond to these pro-angiogenic signals from tumors.

A team of scientists in Portugal has discovered, in the mouse gut, a novel process that protects the bowel's lining against inflammation and microbial aggressions - and fights them when they arise. And, most surprisingly, they have shown that this mechanism is under the control of the intestinal nervous system - the so-called "second brain".

"We show that specific imbalances in the gut microbiota are essential contributors to insulin resistance, a forerunner state of widespread disorders like type 2 diabetes, hypertension and atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases, which are in epidemic growth," says Professor Oluf Pedersen, Metabolism Center, University of Copenhagen, and senior lead author of the paper.

A study of 3.9 million adults published today in The Lancet finds that being overweight or obese is associated with an increased risk of premature death. The risks of coronary heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease and cancer are all increased. Overall, the excess risk of premature death (before age 70) among those who are overweight or obese is about three times as great in men as in women.

Boston, MA - Being overweight or obese is associated with a higher risk of dying prematurely than being normal weight--and the risk increases with additional pounds, according to a large international collaborative study led by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the University of Cambridge, UK. The findings contradict recent reports that suggest a survival advantage to being overweight--the so-called "obesity paradox."

The study will be published online on July 13, 2016 in The Lancet.

Sturdy, lightweight carbon foam has many structural and insulating applications in aerospace engineering, energy storage and temperature maintenance. Current methods to create this material run into difficulties when trying to make the product strong, lightweight, environmentally friendly and low-cost. Now, a group reports in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces a method to produce such a carbon foam by using super-toasted bread.

Plastic packaging might seem impenetrable -- and sometimes nearly impossible to remove -- but water molecules can still pass through. And this permeability to moisture can limit the lifespan of a product. To better protect goods such as electronics and medicines, scientists have developed a new kind of packaging that incorporates a single layer of graphene. They report their material, which reduces by a million fold how much water can get through, in the journal ACS Nano.

ORLANDO, FL - Cavefish that live in dark caves with only sporadic access to food show symptoms similar to diabetes, but don't appear to experience any health problems. New findings presented at The Allied Genetics Conference (TAGC) 2016, a meeting hosted by the Genetics Society of America, reveal the genetic basis of how cavefish have adapted to their extreme environment, information that might one day lead to new kinds of treatments for diabetes and other diseases.

Researchers at Hokkaido University in Japan have demonstrated that a molecule, called biglycan, plays an intrinsic role in attracting tumour cells toward the inner wall of tumour blood vessels.

Biglycan is a normal component of the supportive matrix outside cells and appears to modulate the biological activities of a number of growth factors. It is also released by immune cells in inflamed tissues.

The team conducted investigations by grafting low-metastatic (LM) and high-metastatic (HM) melanoma tumour cells under the skin of mice.

A common feature of cancer and aging is cells' reduced ability to respond to stress-induced damage to DNA or cellular structures. Specifically, changes occur in the protective processes of apoptosis and cellular senescence, whose roles in cancer and aging are thoroughly reviewed by Cerella et al. in Current Drug Targets (Bentham Science Publishers). The authors outline the evidence that these processes are regulated by separate but intertwined pathways.

Antibody-drug conjugates take the advantage of antigen specificity of monoclonal antibodies to deliver highly potent cytotoxic drugs selectively to antigen-expressing tumor cells.

High energy sound waves could treat a potentially deadly complication that affects some twin pregnancies, says new research.

The early-stage feasibility study involving sheep suggests High Intensity Focused Ultrasound - a technique already used for treating some cancers - could help a condition called Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS). It was conducted by researchers from Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge, with technology being developed at The Institute of Cancer Research, London.

Researchers of Kumamoto University in Japan have succeeded in the world's first visualization of a peptidoglycan 'wall' present in the chloroplasts of bryophytes (moss plants). Until now, chloroplasts of green plants were considered to be surrounded only by two envelopes. The results of this research overturns conventional wisdom about the structure of chloroplasts.

The researchers in the laboratory of Dr. Manisha Tiwari have recently reviewed "Polypharamocological Drugs in the Treatment of Epilepsy: The Comprehensive Review of Marketed and New Emerging Molecules". In this article, they have comprehensively discussed the role of polypharmacological drugs for the therapy of epilepsy. A comparable effect of polypharmacological drugs versus single-targeted drugs has also been discussed in detail. As we know epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder having complex pathophysiology involving various enzymes, receptors and ion channels.