Body

New research shows similarities in the social organisation of bees and mammals, and provides insight into the genetics of social behavior for other animals. These findings, published in PLOS Computational Biology, use sociogenomics - a field that explores the relationship between social behaviour and the genome - to show strong similarities in socially genetic circuits common in honey bees and mammals.

Increased risk for aggressive serous/serous-like endometrial cancer was increased in women with BRCA1 mutations, although the overall risk for uterine cancer after risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO) to remove the fallopian tube and ovary was not increased, according to a new study published online by JAMA Oncology.

The narrowest area of the nose is the internal nasal valve and obstruction can cause airflow trouble. A review article published online by JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery compares over-the-counter mechanical nasal dilators for their efficacy in dilating the internal nasal valve to improve nasal airflow.

Christopher Badger, B.S., of the University of California-Irvine, and coauthors generated a database of 33 available over-the-counter dilators using medical literature and internet searches.

Molecular pathway in brown and beige fat cells allows them to burn off calories instead of storing them as fat.

Amino acid-derived molecules in pathway injected into obese mice caused weight loss.

The discovery could lead to new therapies for obesity, diabetes, and related disorders.

One in eight women and one in ten men have experienced infertility, yet nearly half of them have not sought medical help, according to a study of more than 15,000 women and men in Britain published in Human Reproduction [1], one of the world's leading reproductive medicine journals.

The artificial pancreas -- a device which monitors blood glucose in patients with type 1 diabetes and then automatically adjusts levels of insulin entering the body -- is likely to be available by 2018, conclude authors of a paper in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes). Issues such as speed of action of the forms of insulin used, reliability, convenience and accuracy of glucose monitors plus cybersecurity to protect devices from hacking, are among the issues that are being addressed.

The risk of blindness caused by spinal fusion, one of the most common surgeries performed in the U.S., has dropped almost three-fold since the late 1990s, according to the largest study of the topic to date.

Results of the research were published online June 30, 2016 in Anesthesiology, the official medical journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

Kataegis is a recently discovered phenomenon in which multiple mutations cluster in a few hotspots in a genome. The anomaly was previously found in some cancers, but it has been unclear what role kataegis plays in tumor development and patient outcomes. Using a database of human tumor genomic data, researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center have discovered that kataegis is actually a positive marker in breast cancer -- patients with these mutation hotspots have less invasive tumors and better prognoses.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Latinos and Asian Americans are the least likely to have a say in California's politics, during election cycles and year round. That is one of the key findings of a new report by Advancement Project and the School of Public Policy at University of California, Riverside, the first comprehensive assessment in more than a decade of political participation at the ballot box and beyond in California.

Proteins consist of chains of amino acids and in each one it is possible to make out short sequences of amino acids with a discrete function called functional motifs. In some instances these motifs have already been described, in others they are yet to be specified. When a functional motif appears modified, the mutation could influence the development of a disease such as cancer. Verifying the possible changes in a protein is one of the first steps in conducting research into its function.

BARCELONA-LUGANO, 30 June 2016 - Post-operative treatment intensification with chemoradiotherapy does not achieve better outcomes when compared to post-operative chemotherapy in patients with gastric cancer who have already undergone pre-operative chemotherapy, according to phase III data presented at the ESMO 18th World Congress of Gastrointestinal Cancer in Barcelona, Spain.

Parents and society in general shouldn't shift the blame for young people's sexual behavior on what teens supposedly see and read in the media about intimate encounters. Proclaiming a link between such so-called sexy media and the sexual behavior of young people is in fact premature. The media neither contributes to the early initiation of sex among young people, nor to their sexual conduct more generally.

The study shows that the appetite hormone CART not only controls the sensation of satiety, but it also helps increase insulin secretion and decrease glucagon production.

CART (Cocaine and Amphetamine-Regulated Transcript) is a hormone that has mainly been studied in the brain's centre for appetite control.

The research group behind the new study made the previously unknown discovery that CART can also be found in human alpha and beta cells located in the pancreas, and that cells from people with type 2 diabetes contain more CART than cells in people who are healthy.

The nerve cells that transmit pain signals in the body are called nociceptors. When activated they release pro-inflammatory neuropeptides. In order to recognise harmful external influences, nociceptors are equipped with a wide range of receptors. The capsaicin receptor channel, for example, reacts strongly to the spicy substance in chili peppers. Another receptor is sometimes called the mustard oil receptor as it is activated by a substance found in mustard, horseradish and onions.

Bremerhaven/Germany, June 30th, 2016. In a recent study, scientists of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) have determined the molecular mechanisms which microalgae apply in order to switch from rapid cell division to growth-arrest during times of acute nutrient deficiency. In laboratory experiments, the scientists have been able to observe that calcifying microalgae in a state of nutrient deficiency initially tweak their metabolism to be more economic and efficient before, out of necessity, they even partially digest themselves.