Body

The arrival and subsequent dramatic increase in the number of the invasive alien harlequin ladybird in many countries has been met with considerable trepidation by the scientific community.

Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have found a new type of biomarker that can predict the risk of type 2 diabetes, by detecting epigenetic changes in specific genes through a simple blood test. The results are published today in Nature Communications.

"This could motivate a person at risk to change their lifestyle", says Karl Bacos, researcher in epigenetics at Lund University.

Insects known as treehoppers vary wildly in form, sporting many different shapes and colors.

Recently, Dr. Brendan O. Morris and Dr. Christopher H. Dietrich, of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, discovered a new treehopper genus (and its single species) that is found in Texas and northern Mexico, which they describe in an article in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America.

MIAMI, March 31, 2016 -- A recent study by researchers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine showed that a microRNA called miR-181a dampens signals from the cancer-driving NFκB protein pathway in the most aggressive large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCL). By reducing NFκB signaling, miR-181a controls tumor cell proliferation and survival and could be the target of novel therapies. The study was published in the journal Blood.

Scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have discovered that antibiotics can continue to be effective if bacteria's cell-to-cell communication and ability to latch on to each other are disrupted.

This research breakthrough is a major step forward in tackling the growing concern of antibiotic resistance, opening up new treatment options for doctors to help patients fight against chronic and persistent bacterial infections.

The mystery of a rare, debilitating disease that has afflicted generations of European families - and long baffled their doctors - has been solved by an international collaboration involving Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researchers.

Dr Seth Masters from the institute, working in conjunction with Dr Adrian Liston and Dr Carine Wouters from Belgium, studied families in France, Belgium and England who had been living with an unknown condition that caused severe skin lesions, fevers, pain and exhaustion.

Roadmap, a global data management advisory platform that links data management plans (DMPs) to other components of the research lifecycle is a new open science initiative from partners at the University of California Curation Center (UC3) of the California Digital Library (CDL), USA, and the Digital Curation Centre (DCC), United Kingdom.

Prof Dr Robert Kourist from the junior research group Microbial Biotechnology and Dr Marc Nowaczyk from the Chair for Plant Biochemistry have succeeded in genetically modifying cyanobacteria, thus creating cells that produce enzymes for the manufacture of basic and fine chemicals. The bacteria also supply the energy required by the enzymes - by performing photosynthesis. A report on their work has been published in the renowned journal Angewandte Chemie.

No external supply of chemical energy necessary

Scientists at EMBL have increased the efficiency of a genome-engineering tool called Sleeping Beauty, which is showing promise in clinical trials of therapies for leukaemia and lymphoma. In a study published today in Nature Communications, they reveal structural information that they hope will ultimately result in better patient outcomes.

Is there anyone out there who doesn't know Jaws, the film about the great white shark and the devastation it wreaked? But there have been even bigger and more dangerous sharks in the past: The largest shark in the history of the planet, Carcharocles megalodon, lived between 23 million and 2.6 million years ago, reaching body lengths of up to 18 meters and probably feeding on marine mammals. Then it became extinct. In the past, climate changes have generally been blamed for its disappearance.

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- A large study by researchers with the UC Davis MIND Institute has found that a gene whose role is to suppress cellular damage from environmental stressors is nearly twice as likely to be defective in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and that the deficit is also present in their fathers.

In a landmark proof-of-concept experiment, Australian researchers have used a handheld 3D printing pen to 'draw' human stem cells in freeform patterns with extremely high survival rates.

The device, developed out of collaboration between ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) researchers and orthopaedic surgeons at St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, is designed to allow surgeons to sculpt customised cartilage implants during surgery.

Scientists have identified DNA changes that can cut a person's lifespan by up to three years.

They have discovered two separate areas of the human genome where differences in the DNA code may affect how long a person lives.

The two changes - known as variants - are relatively common in the population. More than two thirds of us will inherit a single copy of one of them from either our mother or father.

Seasonal influenza vaccination may guard against stillbirth, a new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and available online suggests. Researchers in Western Australia analyzed data from nearly 60,000 births that occurred during the southern hemisphere's 2012 and 2013 seasonal influenza epidemics, and found that women who received the trivalent influenza vaccine during pregnancy were 51 percent less likely to experience a stillbirth than unvaccinated mothers.

Severe inequalities exist between countries regarding the availability of an essential lung cancer test and a drug which together can improve outcomes for patients through a personalised approach to treatment.

A new study, published in the European Respiratory Journal today (31 March, 2016), has found that despite the test and treatment being available to 70% of the world's population, there are large discrepancies in patient access.