Body

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Women live longer than men.

This simple statement holds a tantalizing riddle that Steven Austad, Ph.D., and Kathleen Fischer, Ph.D., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham explore in a perspective piece published in Cell Metabolism on June 14.

"Humans are the only species in which one sex is known to have a ubiquitous survival advantage," the UAB researchers write in their research review covering a multitude of species. "Indeed, the sex difference in longevity may be one of the most robust features of human biology."

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Researchers at Mayo Clinic have developed an accurate way to measure a circulating factor, called GDF11, to better understand its potential impact on the aging process. They found that GDF11 levels do not decline with chronological age, but are associated with signs of advanced biological age, including chronic disease, frailty and greater operative risk in older adults with cardiovascular disease. Results appear today in Cell Metabolism.

PULLMAN, Wash. - Washington State University researchers have developed a portable biosensor that makes it easier to detect harmful bacteria.

The research team, led by Yuehe Lin, professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, recently published the work in the journal, Small.

Mainstays of biomedical research, permanent lines of cloned cells are used to study the biology of health and disease and to test prospective medical therapies. Yet, all too often, these apparent pillars of bioscience and biotechnology crumble because they are crafted from faulty starting materials: misidentified or cross-contaminated cell lines.

Philadelphia, PA, June 14, 2016 - Fifty years after the first reported partial-ileal bypass, metabolic surgery has an established role in achieving weight loss and reducing cardiovascular death in obese patients. Scientists have now demonstrated that it can significantly benefit the lipid profiles of these patients a year and more after surgery, according to a new report published in The American Journal of Medicine.

Bottom Line: Metastatic ovarian cancer patients treated with chemotherapy prior to surgery had altered immune cells in their tumors, and specific alterations identified suggest that immunotherapy given after chemotherapy may help in preventing the cancer from coming back.

Journal in Which the Study was Published: Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Author: Frances R. Balkwill, PhD, professor of cancer biology at Barts Cancer Institute in Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom.

Bottom Line: A newly devised tumor-specific fluorescent agent and imaging system guided surgeons in real time to remove additional tumors in ovarian cancer patients that were not visible without fluorescence or could not be felt during surgery.

Journal in Which the Study was Published: Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Author: Alexander L. Vahrmeijer MD, PhD, head of the Image-guided Surgery group in the Department of Surgery at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands.

Women with advanced ovarian cancer may benefit more from immunotherapy drug treatments if they are given straight after chemotherapy, according to a new study published in Clinical Cancer Research* today.

Researchers - funded by Cancer Research UK** and based at Queen Mary University London - examined samples from 60 women *** with ovarian cancer and found that chemotherapy given prior to surgery activates specialised immune cells called T cells within the tumour.

Exposure to a group of common pesticides, called dithiocarbamates, has long been associated with an increased risk of Parkinson's disease, although the mechanism by which the compounds exert their toxicity on the brain has not been completely understood. A new UCLA study sheds light on the toxicity of the compounds while also suggesting a strategy that may help protect against the disease.

Millions of people use free livestreaming websites to watch sports and other live events online, but this comes with a considerable security risk. Researchers from KU Leuven-iMinds (Belgium) and Stony Brook University have found that viewers are often exposed to malware infections, personal data theft, and scams. As much as 50% of the video overlay ads on free livestreaming websites are malicious.

In a large prospective study published online in the British Journal of Cancer*, researchers looked at the association between nut consumption and prostate cancer risk and mortality among 47,299 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A new type of electronic sensor that might be used to quickly detect and classify bacteria for medical diagnostics and food safety has passed a key hurdle by distinguishing between dead and living bacteria cells.

Nagoya, Japan - Domestic goats first appeared in the Fertile Crescent, in modern-day Iran and Turkey, around 10,000 years ago through domestication of the Bezoar wild goat. However, as this wild goat species is distributed across a large part of the Middle East, it is still unclear whether all domestic goats in this region descend from a single domestication event, or if multiple domestications occurred.

A new study into pythons and boas has for the first time found the two groups of snakes evolved independently to share similar traits, shedding new light on how the reptiles evolved.

Pythons and boas are two families that include the largest snakes in the world, like the reticulated python and the anaconda boa, which have been known to grow close to eight meters in length.

Six mating positions (amplexus modes) are known among the almost 7,000 species of frogs and toads found worldwide. However, the Bombay night frog (Nyctibatrachus humayuni), which is endemic to the Western Ghats Biodiversity hotspot of India, mates differently. In a new study, scientists have described a new (seventh) mode of amplexus -- now named as dorsal straddle.