Body

Aligning minimum wages with fair ('living') wages could generate further positive productivity effects and slash the number of working poor, Australian and British researchers have found.

A new study challenges the common industry position that introducing a national living wage in excess of minimum wage levels would result in an excessive cost burden, significant job losses and no guarantee of future productivity growth.

Two new research papers on scabies and tapeworms published today in the Open Access journal GigaScience also include a collaboration with protocols.io. This collaboration showcases a new way to share scientific methods that allows scientists to better repeat and build on these complicated studies on difficult-to-study parasites. It also highlights a new means of writing all research papers with citable methods that can be updated over time. Keeping work clear, consistent, and current.

ATLANTA - June 2, 2016 -There were more than 15.5 million Americans with a history of cancer as of January 1, 2016, a number that is projected to reach more than 20 million by 2026. That's according to Cancer Treatment and Survivorship Statistics, 2016, published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, and its companion publication for consumers, Cancer Treatment & Survivorship Facts & Figures, 2016-2017.

Pulmonary hypertension is an abnormal elevation of pressure in the pulmonary circulation that results in stress on the heart and remodeling of blood vessels in the lung. Pulmonary hypertension is caused by a variety of factors, and patient prognosis often depends on the underlying cause. Increased stiffness of pulmonary arteries has been linked to increased mortality in patients with pulmonary hypertension, but it is not clear how stiffness develops or drives worsening of disease.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is one of the most aggressive and deadliest forms of cancer. Treatment options are limited because symptoms typically do not appear until the disease is advanced and complete surgical resection of tumors is not possible. In this issue of JCI Insight, a group of researchers led by Motoyuki Otsuka at the University of Tokyo describe a pilot study of a new method for detecting a pancreatic cancer biomarker in patient serum. Previous work has shown that an RNA known as human satellite II (HSATII) RNA is highly enriched in human pancreatic cancer tissue.

Dopamine signaling in the kidneys plays a critical role in blood pressure regulation and is responsible for nearly half of the salt and water excretion that occurs in response to increased dietary salt intake. Notably, genetic deletion of any of the 5 dopamine receptors expressed in the kidney causes hypertension in mice. Additionally, genetic polymorphisms in specific dopamine receptor subtypes are associated with susceptibility to kidney injury in humans.

The lungs contain a thin layer of fluid known as the airway surface liquid (ASL), which helps protect against pathogens. The appropriate ASL volume, pH, and ionic composition are required for optimal airway defense. Cystic fibrosis (CF) is caused by expression of a dysfunctional cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), which acidifies the ASL and renders CF patients more susceptible to lung infections.

The prevalence of frailty in young bone marrow transplant survivors is similar to that seen in the elderly population and frailty is associated with an increased risk of subsequent death, according to a new study published online by JAMA Oncology.

Almost all the oxygen in the atmosphere today was produced by cyanobacteria 3,000 million years ago; cyanobacteria continue to produce between 20% and 30% of the photosynthetic activity on Earth. Furthermore, they perform additional vital tasks: along with other microorganisms called Archaea, they are the only living beings able to convert nitrogen from the atmosphere into chemical forms which can be used by any life form. According to one of the authors of the research, Saúl Ares of Grupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos (GISC; Interdisciplinary Complex Systems Group) at UC3M.

Preeclampsia is one of the most common complications to occur during pregnancy, yet its causes are still unknown. A new study involving patients, cell cultures and animal experiments has now shown that those affected by the disease have lower quantities of the placenta's immune protein CD74, and that certain inflammatory factors are higher. These factors disrupt the formation of the placenta and leave the fetus undernourished.

PITTSBURGH, June 2, 2016 - Surgery to remove the primary tumor in women diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer, followed by the standard combination of therapies, adds months to the patients' lives, compared with standard therapy alone, an international clinical trial led by a University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) professor revealed.

A group of scientists from Russia, US, Canada and Germany has developed a simple and effective web service called GAM (Genes And Metabolites) to help researchers study complex biological processes in cells. The program identifies links between changes in metabolism and genes, enabling a better understanding of how, for example, cancer or immune system cells work. Metabolic regulation plays a major role in these biological objects.

It has been established that not all cancer cells are equally aggressive -- most can be neutralised with radiation and chemotherapy. Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have now discovered that some cancer cells can accumulate fat droplets, which appear to make them more aggressive and increase their ability to spread.

The interior of a cancer tumour is a hostile environment with oxygen deficiency, low pH levels and lack of nutrients. The cells that survive in this environment are called "stressed cells" and are considered to be more aggressive.

Sally Fields's famous Academy Award outburst of gratitude - "You like me, you really like me" - apparently holds true for customers who are asked to participate in retailer-sponsored Web panels, according to an article forthcoming in the June 2016 issue of the Journal of Retailing. One result of these panels, which are growing in popularity, is that participants feel valued by being invited to take part and tend to express their gratitude by buying more and across more different product categories.

For consumers with two left thumbs, purchasing a product that comes with installation included makes a lot of sense. But for retailers, the quandary is how to price the package in a way that's attractive to the buyer and profitable for the seller. Marketing Professors Jeffrey Meyer and Venkatesh Shankar posit a solution in "Pricing Strategies for Hybrid Bundles: Analytical Model and Insights." The article is forthcoming in the June 2016 issue of the Journal of Retailing.