Body

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. (May 10, 2016) -- Researchers at Tufts University have stabilized blood samples for long periods of time without refrigeration and at high temperatures by encapsulating them in air-dried silk protein. The technique, which is published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has broad applications for clinical care and research that rely on accurate analysis of blood and other biofluids.

One of the most complex human organs is the digestive tract: Here, the body comes into contact with all manner of diet-derived compounds and with countless bacteria. Scientists from the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) of the University of Luxembourg in collaboration with colleagues at the Luxembourg Institute of Health and the University of Arizona in the United States have now proven that a model of the human gut they have developed and patented - HuMiX - is representative of the actual conditions and processes that occur within our intestines.

Although ski season is behind us, serious skiers are already looking ahead to next season and searching for ways to shave split-seconds off their race times. Now scientists may have a new way to help -- perhaps in time for the next Winter Olympics. One team has determined how the microscopic texture of the bottoms of skis could affect their speed, depending on snow temperature. Their study appears in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

Treating a disease without causing side effects is one of the big promises of nanoparticle technology. But fulfilling it remains a challenge. One of the obstacles is that researchers have a hard time seeing where nanoparticles go once they're inside various parts of the body. But now one team has developed a way to help overcome this problem -- by making tissues and organs clearer in the lab. Their study on mice appears in the journal ACS Nano.

If claims on cosmetic products' labels are to be believed, users would all look 10 years younger and have luscious, frizz-proof hair. But advertising and truth aren't always aligned. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has called out some companies for promoting products using spurious claims. To avoid such charges, many cosmetic companies are looking to science, reports Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society.

Reston, Va. - A recent study reported in the May issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine demonstrates that Ga-68 DOTATATE PET/CT scans are superior to In-111 pentetreotide scans, the current imaging standard in the United States for detecting neuroendocrine tumors (NETS), and could significantly impact treatment management.

May 9, 2016 - Mothers of new babies should undergo screening for postpartum depression--preferably across healthcare locations and at multiple times up to one year after delivery, according to a research review in the Harvard Review of Psychiatry. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

A new study on the epigenetics of lactose intolerance may provide an approach to understanding schizophrenia and other complex, serious illnesses.

Both lactose intolerance and schizophrenia are inherited. In addition, neither condition emerges in the first years of life, but rather both appear years or even decades later, says senior author Dr. Arturas Petronis, head of the Krembil Family Epigenetics Laboratory in the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

MADISON, Wis. -- Sometimes, the evolutionary history of a species can be found in a fossil record. Other times, rocks and imprints must be swapped for DNA and genetic fingerprints.

COLUMBIA, Mo. - According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Native American adolescents have higher rates of cigarette smoking than other racial or ethnic groups. New research from the University of Missouri on the smoking habits of Native American adolescents finds that family warmth and support, as well as participation in school activities, can play a role in tobacco prevention.

Hamilton, ON (May 9, 2016) - Some children and youth with high videogame addiction tendencies may be at risk of sleep deprivation and disorders associated with obesity and poor cardio-metabolic health, Hamilton researchers have found.

The study, published in the scientific journal PLOS One, examines the growing global gaming phenomenon and its impact on youth health.

DENTON (UNT), Texas - Plant science researchers at the University of North Texas have found potential new pathways for the creation of plant-based bioproducts. The research is outlined in a new article in the journal Nature Plants.

The UNT research team was working as part of the US Department of Energy's BioEnergy Science Center coordinated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Athens, Ga. - Iron, a critical element for living organisms, can be hard to hard to come by in open marine waters--except each summer, when atmospherically transported dust from north Africa's Sahara Desert provides pulses of biologically important nutrients, including iron, to the tropical marine waters of the Caribbean and southeastern U.S.

The human placenta is an organ unlike any other. During the course of nine months it is formed by the embryo, sustains life and then is shed.

"What that means," said Montserrat Anguera, an assistant professor in the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, "is it has to make very specialized cells, it has to form structures to support itself and the baby, it has to sense cues from the mom and from the environment and it has to do all of these things really, really fast."

A targeted antibiotic designed for treatment of staph infections caused fewer changes to the gut microbiome of mice than did common broad-spectrum antibiotics. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists led the study, which provides the first evidence that a pathogen-selective approach to antibiotic development minimizes disruption of the gut microbiome that leaves patients at a risk for a variety of metabolic and immune disorders. The experimental drug is being developed by the global pharmaceutical company Debiopharm International.