Body

The gradual accumulation of cell damage plays a very important role in the origin of ageing. There are many sources of cellular damage, however, which ones are really responsible for ageing and which ones are inconsequential for ageing is a question that still lacks an answer.

SAN DIEGO, March 15, 2016 -- The ongoing debate about breast cancer diagnostics has left many women confused -- particularly over what age they should get mammograms and who needs treatment. An issue with current methods is that they often identify lumps but cannot conclusively pinpoint which ones are cancerous. To help resolve this uncertainty, researchers have developed a pill that could improve imaging techniques so that only cancerous tumors light up.

SAN DIEGO, March 15, 2016 -- Someday, cicadas and dragonflies might save your sight. The key to this power lies in their wings, which are coated with a forest of tiny pointed pillars that impale and kill bacterial cells unlucky enough to land on them. Now, scientists report they have replicated these antibacterial nanopillars on synthetic polymers that are being developed to restore vision.

Critically ill children are artificially fed soon after their arrival in intensive care. This common practice is based on the assumption that it will help them recover more quickly. An international study coordinated at KU Leuven, Belgium, has now disproven this theory. The study shows that receiving little to no nutrition during the first week in intensive care makes children recover faster.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - An elderly woman in Phoenix. A Toledo toddler. An accountant in Indianapolis. All poisoned by food. Quickly uncovering that their illnesses are connected can make all the difference in halting a deadly outbreak.

About 276,000 cases of foodborne illness are avoided each year because of PulseNet, a 20-year-old network coordinated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, new research has found. PulseNet links U.S. public health laboratories so that they can speedily share details about E. coli, Salmonella and other bacterial illnesses.

PHILADELPHIA - Financial incentives aimed at increasing physical activity among teams are most effective when the incentives are rewarded for a combination of individual and team performance, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The study, which examined the effectiveness of offering monetary rewards as part of workplace wellness programs, showed that people offered "a combined incentive" were nearly twice likely to achieve their goals as a control group.

A series of cell-based tests developed to compare the biological impact of cigarette smoke with e-cigarette vapour revealed no activity in cells exposed to vapour from Vype ePen, a commercially available e-cigarette. In contrast, when the cell culture systems were exposed to cigarette smoke, they exhibited a series of responses including stress responses, DNA damage and cellular transformation, depending on the assay used.

DENVER (March 15, 2016) - A new study from the University of Colorado Denver shows the length of time children and young adults live in poor neighborhoods is associated with obesity later in life.

CU Denver researcher Adam Lippert, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology, finds that adolescents who grow up and consistently live in poor neighborhoods are more likely to become or remain obese in adulthood than their peers who live in more affluent areas. These patterns are more pronounced for young women.

SALT LAKE CITY, March 15, 2016 - University of Utah scientists identified two genes that make some pigeon breeds develop feathered feet known as muffs, while others have scaled feet. The same or similar genes might explain scaled feet in chickens and other birds, and provide insight into how some dinosaurs got feathers before they evolved into birds.

A research team led by the University of Leeds has observed for the first time how HIV and Ebola viruses attach to cells to spread infection.

The findings, published today in the journal Angewandte Chemie, offer a new way of treating such viruses: instead of destroying the pathogens, introduce a block on how they interact with cells.

To meet the challenge of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, a concerted effort and long-term economic commitment is needed, according to a new expert report by internationally leading researchers in the field. The journal Lancet Neurology devotes its entire April issue to a detailed overview and recommendations about how patient care, as well as basic and clinical research on Alzheimer's disease and other dementias should be organised in the future.

Smokers who try to cut down the amount they smoke before stopping are less likely to quit than those who choose to quit all in one go, Oxford University researchers have found. Their study is published in journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

Most experts say that people should give up in one go, but most people who smoke seem to try to stop by gradually reducing the amount they smoke before stopping. This research helps to answer the questions 'Which approach is better?', and 'Are both as likely to help people quit in the short and long term?'.

HOUSTON, March 14, 2016 - A University of Houston researcher and his team have discovered an important link between alcohol and breast cancer by identifying a cancer-causing gene triggered by alcohol.

"Alcohol consumption is prevalent among women in the U.S. and is a risk factor for breast cancer," said UH cancer biologist Chin-Yo Lin. "Our research shows alcohol enhances the actions of estrogen in driving the growth of breast cancer cells and diminishes the effects of the cancer drug Tamoxifen on blocking estrogen by increasing the levels of a cancer-causing gene called BRAF."

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Researchers on Mayo Clinic's Florida campus have shut down one of the most common and lethal forms of lung cancer by combining the rheumatoid arthritis drug auranofin with an experimental targeted agent.

The combination therapy worked in a laboratory study to stop lung adenocarcinoma associated with mutation of the KRAS gene. The study will be published in the March 14, 2016 issue of Cancer Cell.

DALLAS, March 14, 2016 -- Genetically inherited high levels of cholesterol are twice as common in the United States as previously believed, affecting 1 in 250 adults, according to new research in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation.

The condition, familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), leads to severely elevated cholesterol levels from birth and is a leading cause of early heart attack.