Body

Amsterdam, February 10, 2016 - European honeybees are being poisoned with up to 57 different pesticides, according to new research published in the Journal of Chromatography A. A new method for detecting a whole range of pesticides in bees could help unravel the mystery behind the widespread decline of honeybees in recent years, and help develop an approach to saving them.

The dilemma of our immune system is comparable to the story of Icarus and Daedalus from Greek mythology. To escape their captivity, Daedalus built wings from feathers and wax for himself and his son. Daedalus warned his son that he must neither fly too high but also not too low, otherwise the sun's heat or the humidity of the sea would destroy his wings and he would crash. After they had successfully escaped, Icarus became boisterous and flew higher and higher until the sun began to melt the wax of his wings and he fell into the sea.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) March 10, 2016 -- Five years after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan, the disaster no longer dominates U.S. news headlines, although experts say it is a continuing disaster with broad implications. A new analysis by American University sociology professor Celine-Marie Pascale finds that U.S. news media coverage following the disaster minimized health risks to the general population.

An international team of researchers, with the participation of the University of Granada (UGR), has revealed new data on why breast cancer has a higher incidence and is more aggressive in obese people. The reason is that peritumoral fat (the fat around the tumor) facilitates the expansion and invasion of cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are responsible of the onset and growth of the tumor.

A team of researchers from India and the National University of Singapore (NUS) has discovered a new species of narrow-mouthed frog in the laterite rock formations of India's coastal plains. The frog, which is the size of a thumbnail, was named Microhyla laterite after its natural habitat.

The discovery by the research team, led by Mr Seshadri K S, a PhD student from the Department of Biological Sciences at the NUS Faculty of Science, was published in the prestigious journal PLOS ONE on 9 March 2016.

Tiny frog discovered in rocky wastelands

A group of Russian scientists, among them staff at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, have proposed a new method for the comparison of metagenome-coupled DNA sequences from all of the organisms in a sample of biological material being investigated. The method makes it possible to more effectively and quickly solve the task of comparing samples and can be easily embedded in the data-analysis process of any metagenome study. The study has been published in the BMC Bioinformatics journal.

Innovative software tools allowed the scientists to construct accurate "maps" of gene networks for about 400 different human cell and tissue types, ranging from immune cells to brain tissues, whereas previous studies were limited to just one or few tissues. Each of these networks describes hundreds of thousands of regulatory interactions among thousands of genes, giving the first global view of the "control system" of diverse cells and tissues.

Pollen tubes are attracted by LURE peptides, which are produced from ovules, to bring about fertilization. In their recent report published in Nature, a pair of plant biologists at Nagoya University has now revealed for the first time, the receptor in pollen tubes that is required to detect LURE. By uncovering this unknown mechanism in plant fertilization, this may lead to an improvement in the efficiency of pollen tube growth, which may thus result in an increased success rate of fertilization.

Male breast cancer (Male BC) has important biological differences that distinguish it from female breast cancer, but to date these have been little studied and Male BC patients have been excluded from many clinical trials in breast cancer. Male patients are also usually diagnosed later when their cancers are more advanced, leading to a worse outcome. New research has now uncovered some of the differences between the two types of breast cancer, and the researchers hope that this will help doctors to make better treatment choices for Male BC patients.

Los Angeles, CA (March 10, 2016) Hispanic women who identify as Black or another race have worse functional health than their counterparts who identify as White, according to new research. Out today, this research is part of a new special issue of Research on Aging (ROA, a journal from SAGE Publishing) focused on aging and health among Hispanic populations in the United States and in Latin America.

Cincinnati, OH, March 10, 2016 -- Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is typically diagnosed in childhood and manifests as an inability to sustain attention and control activity levels and impulse control. Some reports have indicated a prevalence of up to 15% in Western countries. Although the causes of ADHD are still unknown, a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics found that a child's age at school entry may have an effect on the diagnosis of ADHD.

Some patients with breast cancer, lung cancer and leukaemia seem to fare poorly after treatment because of the effects of a particular gene, a new study finds.

The gene, called CYP3A7, is normally only active in infancy, but in some people it continues to be switched on into adulthood, and over-activates their metabolism.

Adults with active copies of the gene produce enzymes that break down hormones and about half of all clinically used drugs - potentially reducing the effectiveness of some cancer treatments.

LA JOLLA, CA - March 10, 2016 - A new study led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) suggests that cells construct protein "clumps" to protect against neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a.k.a. ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease.

For the first time, researchers found that a specific enzyme can "tag" certain types of abnormal proteins to send them to join clumps, where they may be less toxic to the cell.

Someday soon, you may be able to log into your smartphone with sweeping gestures or doodling, using one or more fingers.

Rutgers University researchers have performed the first study of free-form gesture passwords for smartphones in the field. Free-form gesture passwords allow people to draw a password of any shape with any number of fingers, according to Janne Lindqvist, study coauthor and an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the School of Engineering and a member of WINLAB.

'Ultra-processed' foods make up more than half of all calories consumed in the US diet, and contribute nearly 90% of all added sugar intake, finds research published in the online journal BMJ Open.

Ultra-processed foods are formulations of several ingredients. Besides salt, sugar, oils and fats, they include substances not generally used in cooking, such as flavourings, emulsifiers, and other additives designed to mimic the qualities of 'real foods'.