Body

Scientists have revealed that a key molecule in breast and lung cancer cells can help switch off the cancers' ability to spread around the body.

The findings by researchers at Imperial College London, published in the journal EMBO Reports, may help scientists develop treatments that prevent cancer travelling around the body -- or produce some kind of test that allows doctors to gauge how likely a cancer is to spread.

An important element in getting blood stem cells to multiply outside the body is to understand which of the approximately 20 000 genes in the human body control their growth. A research team at Lund University in Sweden has studied close to 15 000 of these genes alongside each other. The researchers have succeeded in identifying four key genes which, together, govern the growth and multiplication of the stem cells. The study is now being published in the journal Cell Reports.

EMBL scientists have observed how an egg cell gets rid of its centrioles - structures that play a crucial role in cell division - to ensure the proper development of the embryo. The study, published today in Journal of Cell Biology, is the first time the whole process has been seen in its entirety, in real time.

Researchers at the University of Southampton have discovered specific markers on DNA that link the season of birth to risk of allergy in later life.

The season a person is born in influences a wide range of things: from risk of allergic disease, to height and lifespan. Yet little is known about how a one-time exposure like the season of birth has such lasting effects.

Colorful, low-intensity grasslands do not only look attractive, but also offer valuable habitat for many plants and animals. Yet they have become rare in many places. To create more environments that contain grass and herbs, it is usually necessary to sow the appropriate plants. But which seeds should be used? Many scientists and environmentalists are speaking out in favour of seed from the same region as that in which the future grassland will lie.

Truck drivers who have obstructive sleep apnea and who do not attempt to adhere to a mandated treatment program have a fivefold increase in the risk of a severe crash, according to a new study co-authored by Virginia Tech Transportation Institute researchers and featured in the March 21, 2016 online edition of the journal Sleep.

Cell biologists from the Lomonosov Moscow State University discovered a new way of regulating of cell motility -- this discovery will make possible development of new drugs for curing onco- and vessel diseases. The study was published in the Cytoskeleton journal.

They look like small, translucent gems but these tiny 'gel' slivers hold the world of a patient's tumour in microcosm ready for trials of anti-cancer drugs to find the best match between treatment and tumour.

The 'gel' is a new 3D printable material developed by QUT researchers that opens the way to rapid, personalised cancer treatment by enabling multiple, simultaneous tests to find the correct therapy to target a particular tumour.

There are many millions of undescribed fungi, and public DNA sequence databases contain thousands of fungal sequences that cannot be assigned to any known fungal group with confidence. Many of these sequences have defied robust taxonomic assignment for more than 10 years.

FAIRFAX, Va., March 21, 2016 -- Increased travel distance to a cancer treatment facility negatively impacts the likelihood that patients with stage II/III rectal cancer will receive radiation therapy (RT) to treat their disease, according to a study analyzing 26,845 patient records from the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) that was published in the March 2016 issue of International Journal of Radiation Oncology * Biology * Physics (Red Journal), the official scientific journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

DARIEN, IL - Truck drivers who fail to adhere to treatment for obstructive sleep apnea are a public safety threat on U.S. roadways, according to results from the largest study of sleep apnea and crash risk among commercial motor vehicle drivers.

Boston, MA - Truck drivers with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) who failed to adhere to treatment had a rate of preventable crashes five times higher than that of truckers without the ailment, according to researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Morris, Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and colleagues.

Economically more backward countries are more likely to experience both violent and non-violent civil unrest, according to research by the University of East Anglia (UEA).

The study looked at how economic backwardness has affected the likelihood of social tension and mass movements, from peaceful demonstrations to civil wars, since the end of the Second World War.

Los Angeles, Calif., USA - Today at the 45th Annual Meeting & Exhibition of the American Association for Dental Research, researcher Shihai Jia, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA, will present a study titled "Small Molecule Replacement Therapy to Rescue Craniofacial Defects." The AADR Annual Meeting is being held in conjunction with the 40th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research.

Los Angeles, Calif., USA - Today at the 45th Annual Meeting & Exhibition of the American Association for Dental Research, researcher Lexie Holliday, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA, will present a study titled "MicroRNA-146a is Abundant in Extracellular Vesicles Released by Osteoclasts." The AADR Annual Meeting is being held in conjunction with the 40th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research.