Body

The cells in our bodies are constantly dividing. From embryonic development to adult life, cell division is necessary for tissue growth and renewal. During division, cells must duplicate their genetic material (or DNA) and ensure identical copies are passed along to the daughter cells. The entire process must work perfectly. If not, the next generation of cells will not have the genetic material necessary to function properly. Their role becomes especially relevant in situations in which cells proliferate rapidly, like embryonic development or tumor proliferation.

Hamilton, ON (May 5, 2016) - A team of researchers led by McMaster University's Charu Kaushic has revealed for the first time how estradiol, a female sex hormone present during the menstrual cycle and found in oral contraceptives, may work to protect women against sexually transmitted viral infections.

Male voices are not deeply pitched in order to attract female mates, but instead serve to intimidate the competition, according to a team of researchers studying a wide variety of primates including humans.

"We wanted to determine if sexual selection had produced sex differences in humans and closely related species," said David A. Puts, associate professor of anthropology, Penn State. "If similar vocal sex differences appear across species with similar levels of mating competition, then we infer that sexual selection produced these sex differences."

While women who are pregnant, or breastfeeding or who may become pregnant are often excluded from clinical trials for type 2 diabetes drugs, the exclusion is frequently not based on the risk of fetal harm, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers and may be contributing to the underrepresentation of women in clinical trials and an incomplete understanding of the effects of drugs on women who become pregnant unexpectedly.

Statins are equally effective at decreasing risk of coronary events in men and women, and yet women are less likely to be prescribed these cholesterol-lowering drugs than men. A study by investigators at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) published this week in PLOS ONE identifies four factors that may account for sex differences in statin therapy among patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), pointing to interventions and additional research that will be needed to help overcome this sex disparity and reduce cardiovascular risk for women.

Every process that sustains life is carried out by proteins, but understanding how these complex molecules do their jobs depends on learning the arrangement of their atoms -- and how this structure changes -- as they react. No imaging method for observing molecular movement in such detail and speed had been available, until now.

MANHATTAN, KANSAS -- Kansas State University biologists are skimming pond scum for clues of multicellular evolution and possible origin of cancer.

Brad Olson, assistant professor in the Division of Biology; Erik Hanschen, doctoral student at the University of Arizona; Hisayoshi Nozaki, University of Tokyo; and an international team of researchers found a single gene is responsible for the evolution of multicellular organisms. The study is published in a recent issue of Nature Communications.

A tension-sensitive "fail safe" protein helps make sure that when our cells divide the two resulting cells inherit the normal number of chromosomes, researchers from the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center report today, May 5, in the journal Cell.

When a cell divides, in a process called mitosis, the dividing cell makes a copy of each of its chromosomes. It then distributes them so that each daughter cell inherits one copy of each chromosome.

COLLEGE STATION -- A team of researchers who two years ago announced a "Trojan horse" method of entering a cell without harming it have now found, in effect, the lock to the cellular "trap door."

The research, led by Dr. Jean-Philippe Pellois, appears in the May 5 issue of the journal Cell Chemical Biology.

"We had the key to the cell from the previous research, and now we understand the lock," said Pellois, a Texas A&M AgriLife Research biochemist in College Station.

Every process that sustains life is carried out by proteins.

But understanding how these complex molecules do their jobs depends on learning the arrangement of their atoms -- and how the structure changes -- as they interact. No effective method for observing molecular movement with such detail and speed had been available, until now.

EUGENE, Ore. -- May 5, 2016 -- A cell-to-cell signaling network that serves as a developmental timer could provide a framework for better understanding the mechanisms underlying human heart valve disease, say University of Oregon scientists.

The research, which appeared in the journal Development, examined a process called Wnt/beta-catenin signaling in mice during heart valve development. The UO team showed how the process, which mediates communication between cells, ensures that stages of valve development unfold in a coordinated manner.

Small, non-coding molecules called microRNAs are known to play an important role in cancer development. Researchers now have shown their significance is greater than previously thought, a finding that could lead to new therapeutic approaches for the most common and deadly form of ovarian cancer.

The study results, published in the May 5 online issue of Cell Reports, were reported by a team led by Gordon Mills, Ph.D., chair of Systems Biology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

A study providing new information about neuropathic pain afflicting some 90 percent of cancer patients who have had nerve damage caused by tumors, surgery, chemotherapy or radiation indicates gene therapy as a possible treatment.

The study in rats showed transfer of a gene known as KCC2 into the spinal canal restored chloride levels gone awry after nerve injury. Results from the research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, were published in the May 5 online issue of Cell Reports.

Drinking tart Montmorency cherry juice significantly reduces high blood pressure at a level comparable to that achieved by medication, according to new research from Northumbria University, Newcastle.

The findings, which are published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition today (Wednesday 4 May), found that men with early signs of hypertension - more commonly known as high blood pressure - saw a 7% reduction in blood pressure after drinking Montmorency cherry concentrate when compared to drinking a fruit-flavoured cordial.

ORLANDO, FL - May 5, 2016 - Four new studies surrounding the effects of mango consumption suggest this superfruit has the potential to help combat adverse effects associated with high fat diets and obesity (animal study), as well inhibit growth of fat cells (anti-lipogenic properties in an in-vivo study), slow advancement of breast cancer tumors (animal study), as well as improve regularity and decrease inflammation associated with constipation (human subject study). The research was presented at the 2016 Experimental Biology conference in San Diego.