Body

Worcester, Mass. - Within each of our cells is a distribution system that uses molecular motors and filaments to move proteins, organelles, and other tiny bits of cargo along its inner framework, or cytoskeleton. To achieve this feat, the motors and filaments must tug on flexible membranes that surround the cargo packages, but these membranes, made of fatty molecules called lipids, are extremely slippery. Scientists have long wondered how the molecular transport machinery is able to maintain its grip.

HOUSTON - (June 27, 2016) - Infertility affects about 15 percent of couples around the world. A couple's fertility depends on both the female's and male's ability to reproduce, which relies on thousands of genes working properly. In the male mouse, more than 1,000 genes are predominantly expressed in the testis, but their particular functions in reproduction are still a mystery.

(NEW YORK June 27, 2016) The 2009 swine H1N1 flu pandemic -- responsible for more than 17,000 deaths worldwide -- originated in pigs from a very small region in central Mexico, a research team headed by investigators at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is reporting.

The scientists say their findings, published in the journal eLife, represent the first time that the origin of an influenza pandemic virus has been determined in such detail.

PULLMAN, Wash. - Washington State University researchers have developed a new software tool that will improve scientists' ability to identify and understand bacterial strains and accelerate vaccine development.

RepeatAnalyzer is able to track, manage, analyze and catalogue the short, repeating sequences of bacterial DNA.

Physicians have been mystified by chronic fatigue syndrome, a condition where normal exertion leads to debilitating fatigue that isn't alleviated by rest. There are no known triggers, and diagnosis requires lengthy tests administered by an expert.

Now, for the first time, Cornell University researchers report they have identified biological markers of the disease in gut bacteria and inflammatory microbial agents in the blood.

Researchers, led by Carnegie Mellon University President Subra Suresh and MIT Principal Research Scientist Ming Dao, have created a new computer model that shows how tiny slits in the spleen prevent old, diseased or misshapen red blood cells from re-entering the bloodstream. Members of this multidisciplinary team include specialists in mathematics, supercomputing, clinical medicine, engineering and computational biology.

Scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), all parts of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), describe how combining engineered anthrax toxin proteins and existing chemotherapy drugs could potentially yield a therapy to reduce or eliminate cancerous tumors. The findings, based on testing in mice, will appear this week in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Red blood cells must be small and flexible enough to squeeze through the tiniest capillaries of the body, where they deliver oxygen to surrounding cells. In the late 1960s, scientists proposed that the minute dimensions of these capillaries, which are less than 4 micrometers in diameter, are responsible for defining the size and shape of red blood cells.

Matthew Gdovin, an associate professor in the UTSA Department of Biology, has developed a newly patented method to kill cancer cells. His discovery, described in a new study in The Journal of Clinical Oncology, may tremendously help people with inoperable or hard-to-reach tumors, as well as young children stricken with cancer.

A new drug with the potential to reverse or slow the development of asthma is being tested by researchers at The University of Queensland.

Developed by international pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc., the drug is being trialled by UQ's School of Biomedical Sciences.

Research team leader Associate Professor Simon Phipps said the drug targeted a protein called IL-33.

"The tests are based on our recent research, which discovered IL-33 plays a significant role in the development of asthma," Associate Professor Phipps said.

Strands of cow cartilage substitute for ink in a 3D bioprinting process that may one day create cartilage patches for worn out joints, according to a team of engineers. "Our goal is to create tissue that can be used to replace large amounts of worn out tissue or design patches," said Ibrahim T. Ozbolat, associate professor of engineering science and mechanics. "Those who have osteoarthritis in their joints suffer a lot. We need a new alternative treatment for this."

Sydney - A new study of the 37,000-year old remains of the "Deep Skull" - the oldest modern human discovered in island South-East Asia - has revealed this ancient person was not related to Indigenous Australians, as had been originally thought.

The Deep Skull was also likely to have been an older woman, rather than a teenage boy.

The research, led by UNSW Australia Associate Professor Darren Curnoe, represents the most detailed investigation of the ancient cranium specimen since it was found in Niah Cave in Sarawak in 1958.

The way the ocean transported heat, nutrients and carbon dioxide at the peak of the last ice age, about 20,000 years ago, is significantly different than what has previously been suggested, according to two new studies. The findings suggest that the colder ocean circulated at a very slow rate, which enabled it to store much more carbon for much longer than the modern ocean.

ANN ARBOR--Every woman who has ever had a baby shower has had to sit through the gruesome war stories about labor and childbirth.

A new University of Michigan study shows that women are even more afraid of childbirth than previously thought--and are as concerned about their health care providers and their place of birth as they are about pain or complications.

The findings are a lukewarm endorsement at best of the maternity care given to mothers in the United States compared to more family friendly countries like Sweden, say the study's authors.

Benign tumors in the pituitary gland make up ten to 15 percent of all brain tumors. Because accurate subtyping directly impacts the patient's treatment plan, Allina Health researchers wanted to simplify the complex pathology classification process.