Body

(TORONTO, Canada - Aug. 29, 2016) - Breast cancer researchers have discovered that mutations found outside of genes that accumulate in estrogen receptor positive breast tumours throughout their development act as dominant culprits driving the disease.

Researchers from MIPT, the Institute of Biomedical Chemistry, the Institute for Energy Problems of Chemical Physics, and the Research Institute of Physico-Chemical Medicine have presented an algorithm to detect mutant proteins based on mass spectrometry data and the results of exome sequencing. Using this new approach, the scientists have discovered unique genome variants, some of which are linked to cancer development. Studying mutant peptides will help to detect weaknesses in tumor cells in search for more effective drug treatments.

Scientists at the University of Basel, ETH Zurich, and NCCR Molecular Systems Engineering have developed an artificial metalloenzyme that catalyses a reaction inside of cells without equivalent in nature. This could be a prime example for creating new non-natural metabolic pathways inside living cells, as reported today in Nature.

Violent thunderstorms can often cause torrential rain, which pose a threat for both humans and the infrastructure. Until now such extreme weather phenomena have been very poorly understood. However, using advanced simulations for cloud systems, researchers also from the Niels Bohr Institute have determined how complex cloud systems build up in the atmosphere, which then interact with each other and strengthen the further build up of heavy rain and severe thunderstorms. The results are published in the scientific journal, Nature Geoscience.

People with blood type O often get more severely ill from cholera than people of other blood types. New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis may explain why.

In people with blood type O, scientists found that cholera toxin hyperactivates a key signaling molecule in intestinal cells. High levels of that signaling molecule lead to excretion of electrolytes and water - in other words, diarrhea. Cholera is marked by severe diarrhea that can lead to dehydration, shock and even death.

BOSTON (August 29, 2016) - Pediatric stem cell transplant and cancer patients often are discharged from the hospital with an external central venous line for medications that parents or other caregivers must clean and flush daily to avoid potentially life-threatening infections.

More than 550,000 adults 55-years-old and older are arrested and detained every year--and that number is increasing rapidly. Yet we know very little about the special health burdens in this population. In a first of its kind study, researchers report that two-thirds of incarcerated older adults experience at least one health-related distressing symptom, such as a chronic disease, physical pain, or emotional suffering.

Lucy, the most famous fossil of a human ancestor, probably died after falling from a tree, according to a study appearing in Nature led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.

Rome, Italy - 28 Aug 2016: Automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) fail to save lives when the public does not have basic life support education, according to research presented today at ESC Congress 2016.1 The study found that public access defibrillation (PAD) programmes are unevenly deployed across France, with an obvious impact on out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survival rate.

Rome, Italy - 27 Aug 2016: The European Society of Cardiology has launched a novel position paper, under the auspices of its Committee for Practice Guidelines, on tackling the cardiac toxicity of anticancer therapies. The cardio-oncology paper is published online today in European Heart Journal1 and on the ESC Website.2

Human noroviruses - the leading viral cause of acute diarrhea around the world - have been difficult to study because scientists had not found a way to grow them in the lab. Now, more than 40 years after Dr. Albert Kapikian identified human noroviruses as a cause of severe diarrhea, scientists at Baylor College of Medicine have, for the first time, succeeded at growing noroviruses in laboratory cultures of human intestinal epithelial cells.

James Cook University, University of Sydney and Queensland University of Technology scientists working with laser data from the Royal Australian Navy have discovered a vast reef behind the familiar Great Barrier Reef.

JCU's Dr Robin Beaman says the high-resolution seafloor data provided by LiDAR-equipped aircraft have revealed great fields of unusual donut-shaped circular mounds, each 200-300 metres across and up to 10 metres deep at the centre.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Recycled wastewater is increasingly touted as part of the solution to California's water woes, particularly for agricultural use, as the state's historic drought continues. The cost of treating wastewater to meet state health standards for reuse and to reduce salt levels that damage crops presents a new set of challenges, however.

Women in Egypt are seeking out doctors' opinions on whether they should circumcise their daughters and, though it is illegal there, physicians are not discouraging the practice, giving legitimacy to a procedure that has serious medical risks, according to a new study led by a former Stanford University School of Medicine researcher.

Washington, DC - August 26, 2016 - Several species of bacteria found in smokeless tobacco products have been associated with opportunistic infections, according to a paper published August 26 in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus pumilus could potentially cause inflammation of the lungs, as well as opportunistic infections, said coauthor Steven Foley, PhD, research microbiologist, the National Center for Toxicological Research, US Food and Drug Administration.