Body

TAMPA, Fla. (July 8, 2016) - Cancer is a group of more than 100 different diseases. All are driven by cells and genes that escape the normal process of division and begin their own plan to replicate in the body. Advances in genetics and molecular biology are providing researchers with better knowledge of the genetic mutations and cell alterations that can lead to cancer, and also how to utilize that information to develop preventive measures and therapies to target the diseases.

Researchers from the Chromatin and Disease group of the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), led by Dr. Esteban Ballestar, have identified for the first time epigenetic alterations in autoinflammatory diseases, particularly in cryopyrin-associated periodic syndromes (CAPS). The study has been published this week in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the most prestigious journal in the clinical immunology area.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- A new study of more than 1,000 primary care melanoma screenings in the western Pennsylvania area in 2014 suggests that overall the practice complies with the old medical maxim to "first do no harm." The numbers show that screenings did not result in a spike in surgical treatments or specialist referrals.

There are thousands of scientific papers dedicated to a particular type of tumor, a particular gene, a type of specific molecular lesion or the effect of a particular drug. However, there are very few examples of publications that integrate these four concepts (type of tumor, gene alteration and drug) in a significant amount of samples. An article published in Cell, in collaboration with the group of Dr.

Your risk of heart attack increases with the amount of traffic noise to which you are exposed. The increase in risk - though slight - is greatest with road and rail traffic noise, less with aircraft noise. Such are the conclusions reached by Andreas Seidler and co-authors in the Deutsches Ärzteblatt International after evaluating information from statutory health insurers on over a million Germans over the age of 40 (Dtsch Arztbl Int; 2016; 113: 407-14).

Utah State University scientists report a watershed-scale experiment in highly degraded streams within Oregon's John Day Basin demonstrates building beaver dam analogs allows beavers to increase their dam building activities, which benefits a threatened population of steelhead trout.

"Whether or not beaver dams are beneficial to trout and salmon has been hotly debated," says ecologist Nick Bouwes, owner of Utah-based Eco Logical Research, Inc. and adjunct assistant professor in USU's Department of Watershed Sciences.

When cells die, whether through apoptosis or necrosis, the DNA and other molecules found in those cells don't just disappear. They wind up in the blood stream, where degraded bits and pieces can be extracted.

This cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is degraded due to its exposure to enzymes in the blood but is nonetheless a powerful monitoring tool in cancer, pregnancy and organ transplantation. One fairly recent breakthrough is prenatal testing for conditions such as Down syndrome, as fragments of fetal cfDNA can be detected in a mother's bloodstream.

The resurgence of Zika virus has raised anxieties about the spread of infectious disease by mosquitoes as the Ecological Society of America heads to southern Florida for its 101st Annual Meeting. Research on mosquito biology and disease transmission will have a strong showing at the meeting Fort Lauderdale, this 7-12 August 2016. Climate change and species invasions are strong themes among this year's research presentations on infectious disease.

Climate has influenced the distribution patterns of Adélie penguins across Antarctica for millions of years. The geologic record tells us that as glaciers expanded and covered Adélie breeding habitats with ice, penguins in the region abandoned their colonies. When the glaciers melted during warming periods, the Adélie penguins were able to return to their rocky breeding grounds.

While most butterflies feed on nectar from flowers, researchers from the University of Connecticut believe that northern oak hairstreaks feed on non-nectar sources such as oak galls and honeydew from aphids and other insects.

In addition, this "rare" butterfly may not be so rare after all. The researchers believe that the perceived rarity of the northern oak hairstreak (Satyrium favonius ontario) may be due to the fact that it lives covertly, hidden from the eyes of butterfly watchers as it feeds and breeds overhead in the leaves and branches of the forest canopy.

Research published today in Cell has shown that patient-derived cancer cell lines harbour most of the same genetic changes found in patients' tumours, and could be used to learn how tumours are likely to respond to new drugs, increasing the success rate for developing new personalised cancer treatments.

The process by which a mother's diet during pregnancy can permanently affect her offspring's attributes, such as weight, could be strongly influenced by genetic variation in an unexpected part of the genome, according to research led by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). The discovery could shed light on why many human genetic studies have previously not been able to fully explain how certain diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and obesity, are inherited.

7 July 2016 - New research shows that patient-derived cancer cell lines harbour most of the same genetic changes found in patients' tumours, and could be used to learn how tumours are likely to respond to new drugs. The findings, published in Cell, will help to increase the success rate for developing new, more personalised cancer treatments.

CINCINNATI -- More women may be smoking and exposed to nicotine during pregnancy than previously thought, according to a new study by researchers from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in collaboration with Cradle Cincinnati.

The study reveals a significant gap between the number of local, pregnant mothers who report smoking during pregnancy and the number who test positive for nicotine exposure.

WASHINGTON, DC (July 7, 2016)--Adult lesbian and bisexual women are more likely to be obese than their heterosexual counterparts, but national weight-and-fitness interventions tailored to their needs are lacking. To address this disparity, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health provided funding for the initiative Healthy Weight in Lesbian and Bisexual Women: Striving for a Healthy Community (HWLB), which involved culturally tailored interventions of 12-16 weeks in ten cities across the United States.