Body

New research from the University of Southampton shows that copper can destroy MRSA spread by touching and fingertip contamination of surfaces.

Children should be given more support to enable them to be more active during the winter, particularly at weekends, say researchers from the University of Cambridge. Their call comes in response to their findings that children are less active and spend more time sitting in autumn and winter compared to other times of the year.

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at North Carolina State University has developed a composite material that emits light and heat when exposed to specific wavelengths of radiation and that can be customized to have specific mechanical characteristics. The composite holds promise for use in biomedical imaging, drug delivery and therapeutic treatments.

The molecule has proved in preclinical trials to be up to four times more effective than the only pharmacological treatment currently available for familial transthyretin amyloidosis, a rare degenerative disease, and has already been tested in a clinical trial with patients.It acts as a powerful inhibitor of the protein deposits that cause the disease, thus slowing its advance.

Researchers have made an advance in the fight against a deadly virus that affects pigs.

The team used advanced genetic techniques to produce pigs that are potentially resilient to African Swine Fever -- a highly contagious disease that kills up to two-thirds of infected animals.

The new pigs carry a version of a gene that is usually found in warthogs and bush pigs, which researchers believe may stop them from becoming ill from the infection.

BOSTON, MA ( February 23, 2016) - Among children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common pediatric cancer, those who live in high-poverty areas are substantially more likely to suffer early relapse than other patients, despite having received the same treatment, according to new research from Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. The findings, published today in the journal Pediatric Blood & Cancer, are significant because ALL that relapses early is more difficult to successfully treat.

The cells of an organism interact not only with each other but with the extracellular matrix that surrounds them. Increasing evidence is unveiling the relevance of this structure--which is secreted by the cells themselves-- for the correct function of the organism and also for the development of various diseases.

(Jena) A high concentration of carbon dioxide gas in the soil can change the community of organisms living in the soil in the long term. At the same time it changes processes in this ecosystem like the subterranean carbon cycle and carbon storage. These are the research results of a team from the Universities of Jena and Greifswald (Germany), Vienna (Austria), Oslo (Norway), the Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), both Germany.

Stress and urgency incontinence are the two most frequent and the most bothersome urinary symptoms among women. It has been estimated that about twelve percent of women report significant bother from stress incontinence and eight percent from urgency incontinence. Urinary incontinence affects hundreds of millions of women worldwide. The costs caused by these symptoms are remarkable.

Ageing, obesity and childbirth increase the risk of urinary incontinence. The long-term effects of the delivery mode on urinary incontinence remains uncertain.

The classic stethoscope has entered the digital age. Medical researchers have created a computer program that connects to an electronic stethoscope to classify lung sounds into five common diagnostic categories.

The Respiratory Sounds Visualizer computer program and the new electronic stethoscope with a high sensitivity for lung sounds were developed by a team of three physician researchers at Hiroshima University and Fukushima Medical University, in collaboration with the industrial company Pioneer Corporation (Head Office: Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa; President: Susumu Kotani).

Kyoto, Japan -- A sweeter version of a widely used plant-derived sweetener is on the way. Researchers have found a way to make thaumatin -- one of the sweetest natural sugar substitutes on the market -- even sweeter.

"Making natural sweeteners stronger could be a huge plus to the food industry, especially as there are concerns regarding the consumption of low-calorie sugar substitutes to prevent life style-related diseases," says lead author Tetsuya Masuda of Kyoto University.

Just three years after crayfish were introduced to a B.C. lake, two species of fish that had existed in the lake for thousands of years were suddenly extinct. But it's what took their place that has scientists fascinated.

EUGENE, Ore. -- Feb. 23, 2016 -- Scientists have unlocked the mystery of mimicry used by Dracula orchids to attract flies and ensure their survival. A team led by University of Oregon researchers did it using a 3-D printer.

The research, done in Ecuador, is a win in the field of evolutionary biology, and the approach used in the project is readily applicable to studies of other plant-pollinator systems, said the UO's Barbara "Bitty" Roy, a professor of biology. Information gleaned from such research, she added, should help improve conservation efforts in endangered habitats.

AMES, Iowa - The decision to give to charity or develop a more sustainable product should not depend solely on a corporation's bottom line, but it is certainly a factor. That can complicate the situation for managers who must balance between doing good and keeping shareholders happy, said Sachin Modi, an associate professor in Iowa State University's College of Business.

Dresden, Hamburg. Researchers at the Medical Faculty of the Technische Universität Dresden (TUD) and the Heinrich Pette Institute (HPI), Leibniz Institute for Experimental Virology succeeded in developing a designer recombinase (Brec1) that is capable of specifically removing the provirus from infected cells of most primary HIV-1 isolates. The results have now been published in the renowned Journal Nature Biotechnology.