Body

Circadian rhythms are internal clocks that determine many of an organism's daily rhythms, for example sleep-wake, feeding, urinary output and hormone production. Aligned with the environment by external forces such as sunlight and ambient temperature, circadian rhythms are important for animal health and survival. Disturbances of the circadian clock are associated with a variety of diseases in humans and animals, including cancer, mental illnesses and metabolic disorders, such as diabetes and obesity.

A team of scientists at the University of Granada has used a next-generation genetic sequencing method and a technique known as "Sanger sequencing" to conduct a detailed genetic screening of patients in Granada suffering from Parkinson's disease. They conducted the study in collaboration with the Movement Disorders Unit from the Virgen de las Nieves and San Cecilio hospitals, as well as with researchers from the Institute of Neurology at University College London (UCL).

Danish researchers have discovered a possible epigenetic link between the environment and pubertal timing. To a large extent, pubertal timing is heritable, but the underlying genetic causes are still unexplained. Researchers have now studied how chemical modifications of the human genome (so-called epigenetic modifications) change when girls and boys enter puberty. The results indicate that such epigenetic changes are involved in defining the onset of puberty.

In Europe, almost one in three schoolchildren under the age of ten is overweight, if not obese. In the search for the cause of this phenomenon, fetal programming inside a mother's womb was put under scrutiny as a potential culprit for this "heavy issue".

• Team spent ten years trying to find role of four genes
• Genes only act in one brief period during the early stages of an embryo
• After fertilisation starts the engine of growth, genes control the 'first gear' of embryo development
• Genes arose 70 million years ago in unstable area of human DNA

Oxford University researchers are closer to solving a decade-old mystery after discovering that a set of genes they are studying play a key role in early human development.

(TORONTO, Canada - June 28, 2016) - Prostate cancer researchers have discovered biomarkers using non-invasive liquid biopsies to identify aggressive disease before surgery.

Toronto (June 28, 2016) - Researchers at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) and University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto, along with researchers at the Eastern Virginia Medical School, have created protein signatures that accurately diagnose prostate cancer and can distinguish between patients with aggressive versus non-aggressive disease using a simple urine sample. The findings could be developed into a non-invasive "liquid biopsy" that could provide a faster, cheaper and easier method to detect prostate cancer with fewer complications for patients.

A team of Russian scientists from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), the N. D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry (RAS), the Institute of Developmental Biology (RAS), and the Institute of Cell Biophysics (RAS) proposed an efficient approach to a novel agents with anticancer activity. A synthesis of these compounds is based on compounds extracted from parsley and dill seeds. The results of the study have been published in the Journal of Natural Products.

For cancer therapy, treatment resistance poses a major hurdle. Even aggressive treatments such as immunotherapies or nanomedicines may fail to eliminate all cancer cells, allowing new mutations to develop that may cause relapse.

The current threshold for pre-emptive surgery to remove the ovaries and fallopian tubes of women aged 40+ at high risk of developing ovarian cancer should be halved, concludes research published online in the Journal of Medical Genetics.

This would not only extend the lives of more women, but would be very cost effective, and help to compensate for the current lack of a reliable test to screen for the disease, suggest the researchers.

PISCATAWAY, NJ - Misuse of prescription pain medications remains a major public health problem -- but programs to prevent it may be underused, according to a study in the July issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

The study comes out of Maine, one of the U.S. states hardest hit by the "epidemic" of prescription painkiller and heroin abuse. Researchers say that although there have been some positive trends recently, there are also troubling ones.

Stable flies and house flies are a concern in livestock and poultry farming because they can transmit harmful pathogens, and animals can harm themselves while trying to avoid bites from the flies. Researchers at the University of Florida found that a commercial formulation of the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium brunneum was effective at reducing house fly and stable fly egg-laying and inhibiting house fly development. Formulations of another fungus called Beauveria bassiana were also found to be effective, albeit less so.

Rising sea temperatures in the Mediterranean are encouraging alien lionfish species to invade and colonise new territories with potentially serious ecological and socioeconomic impacts.

Evidence collated from divers and fishermen reveals that in the space of a year, the poisonous predators have colonised Cyprus - and these may be at the vanguard of a pan-Atlantic Ocean invasion following the widening and deepening of the Suez Canal.

Biologists from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) have discovered that the evolutionary history of a hormone responsible for sexual maturity in humans is written in the genes of the humble starfish.

Scientists at Emory Vaccine Center, in collaboration with investigators from Thailand, have found that people infected with dengue virus develop antibodies that cross-react with Zika virus.

Some of these antibodies have the potential to neutralize Zika virus - possibly providing immune protection. At the same time, in laboratory experiments, antibodies against dengue could enhance Zika virus infection of human cells.

The results are scheduled for publication on Monday, June 27 in PNAS.