Body

HOUSTON -- (March 7, 2016) -- Cancer cells are well-known as voracious energy consumers, but even veteran cancer-metabolism researcher Deepak Nagrath was surprised by their latest exploit: Experiments in his lab at Rice University show that some cancer cells get 30-60 percent of their fuel from eating their neighbors' "words."

New research suggests that a compound based on a spider toxin may be effective for treating pain.

Experiments conducted in rats revealed that the compound, called PnPP-19, provided pain relief most likely by acting on receptors in the nervous system that also bind opioids and cannabis (or marijuana). Interestingly, PnPP-19 is also being studied as a drug candidate to treat erectile dysfunction.

New research from the Epilepsy Phenome/Genome Project shows that genetics plays a role in sleep/wake timing of seizures. Researchers studied 1,395 individuals with epilepsy in families containing multiple people with epilepsy to determine whether sleep/wake timing of seizures runs in families.

CAMBRIDGE, MA - Cancer cells are notorious for their ability to divide uncontrollably and generate hordes of new tumor cells. Most of the fuel consumed by these rapidly proliferating cells is glucose, a type of sugar.

Scientists had believed that most of the cell mass that makes up new cells, including cancer cells, comes from that glucose. However, MIT biologists have now found, to their surprise, that the largest source for new cell material is amino acids, which cells consume in much smaller quantities.

Many Australian mammalian species of conservation significance have attracted little research effort, little recognition, and little funding, new research shows. The overlooked non-charismatic species such as fruit bats and tree rats may be most in need of scientific and management research effort.

March 7, 2016 (Washington, D.C.) - American University School of Communication's Center for Media & Social Impact (CMSI) announces new research on the rise of the nationwide Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.

In a recently published study, providing advice over a 5-year period about leading a healthy lifestyle reduced the risk of heart-related deaths over the next 40 years.

Participants were advised to decrease the intake of saturated fats and increase fish and vegetable products. In addition, overweight individuals were advised to reduce their weight and smokers were advised to stop smoking.

People with a specific gene mutation have a 50 percent lower risk of suffering a heart attack. This is what an international team of researchers headed by the cardiologist Prof. Heribert Schunkert, medical director of the German Heart Center at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), discovered in a broad comparative study. If this gene were switched off with medications it could reduce the risk of coronary disease significantly.

Three years ago, the research team directed by Óscar Fernández-Capetillo, head of the Genomic Instability Group at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), obtained, for the first time, a panoramic view of the proteins that intervene in one of the most important and delicate cellular processes: the copying of genetic material during cellular division.

An audio interview with Dr Daniel Ladley about the research is available here: https://soundcloud.com/university-of-leicester/how-do-hormones-affect-traders

Millions of people - particularly infants in underdeveloped countries -- suffer from the serious life threatening illnesses of meningitis, pneumonia and influenza. These are due to infection by microbes such as N. meninigitidis, S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae b.

Accumulated evidence does not indicate superiority of N95 respirators over surgical masks in protecting health care workers from contracting acute respiratory infections from patients, according to a systematic review in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Adults aged 55-74 years who are at high risk of lung cancer -- current or former smokers (i.e., have quit within the past 15 years) with at least a 30 pack-year history or more -- should be screened annually up to three times using low-dose computed tomography (CT), according to a new guideline from the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

One tornado alone can cause intense destruction, but the largest impact on both death rates and economic losses stems from "outbreaks," in which six or more tornadoes occur within a limited time.

A new study of gut bacteria in premature infants reveals the vast scope of the problem of antibiotic resistance and gives new insight into the extreme vulnerability of these young patients, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The study appears online March 7 in the journal Nature Microbiology.