Body

Genetically engineering any organism requires first getting its cells to take in foreign DNA. To do this, scientists often perform a process called electroporation, in which they expose cells to an electric field.

If that field is at just the right magnitude, it will open up pores within the cell membrane, through which DNA can flow. But it can take scientists months or even years to figure out the exact electric field conditions to reversibly unlock a membrane's pores.

Huntsville, TX (2/19/16) -- Synthetic cathinones are derived from cathinone which is present in the khat plant. These recreational drugs produce effects similar to amphetamines and have been associated with numerous fatalities. Although the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) banned some synthetic cathinones in 2011, new designer drugs continue to appear, presenting a real challenge for forensic laboratories.

Sending general practitioners (GPs) in England a letter giving feedback on their antibiotic prescribing habits could cut unnecessary prescriptions of antibiotics, according to the first nationwide randomised trial of its kind involving over 1500 GP practices, published in The Lancet.

In the medical journal The Lancet, the INTERGROWTH-21st Consortium, led by researchers at the University of Oxford, publish the final set of charts that enable healthcare professionals worldwide to assess the weight, length and head circumference of newborns from 24 to 42 weeks of gestation, and which apply to all babies, regardless of race or ethnicity.

A new survey finds that homeopathic medicines are primarily used by a small segment of the U.S. population for common, self-limited conditions such as the common cold or back pain. The report published in the American Journal of Public Health also finds that homeopathy users, particularly those who also report visiting homeopathic practitioners, find the use of these products helpful and that they tend to use a greater variety of complementary and integrative medicine (CIM) modalities than do users of supplements and other CIMs.

Obesity is not only a risk factor for developing knee arthritis. It is also linked to less favorable outcomes after joint replacement surgery. A study at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City finds that bariatric surgery prior to total knee replacement (TKR) is a cost-effective option to improve outcomes. The research appeared in the January issue of The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery.

The majority of the alcohol industry's actions around the world to reduce drinking and driving either lack evidence of effectiveness or haven't been studied, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests.

Reporting Feb. 18 in the American Journal of Public Health, the researchers analyzed the content of 266 initiatives the alcohol industry implemented around the world to reduce drinking and driving between 1982 and 2015.

NEW YORK and INDIANAPOLIS - A new randomized controlled study conducted by Indiana University School of Medicine researchers and published online today in the American Journal of Public Health found that adults with prediabetes who followed a nationally-available weight management program with a prediabetes-specific component, Weight Watchers, lost significantly more weight and experienced better blood glucose control than those following a self- initiated program using supplemental counseling materials.

Researchers at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center have developed a new nanoparticle that uses a tumor cell's protective mechanism against itself -- short-circuiting tumor cell metabolism and killing tumor cells.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., February 18, 2016--Compared to patients with non-Medicaid insurance, uninsured patients and patients with Medicaid are more likely to present with advanced stages of head and neck cancer and have higher overall and cancer-specific mortality rates, according to research presented at the 2016 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium. The study of patients in a large, national cancer registry also found less use radiation therapy (RT) for uninsured and Medicaid patients and less use of cancer-related surgery for uninsured patients.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., February 18, 2016--Head and neck cancer patients who receive induction chemotherapy (IC; chemotherapy administered prior to radiation therapy) rather than the standard treatment of concurrent chemoradiation (CRT) do not benefit from increased survival rates and are less likely to receive a full course of radiation, according to research presented at the 2016 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium.

They're among the oldest fungi on Earth, yet they could hold the keys to solving some modern problems: Anaerobic gut fungi, being studied by UC Santa Barbara chemical engineer Michelle O'Malley, have proven especially effective at breaking down plant material and unlocking sugars that can be processed into compounds that can be used in a variety of applications.

"We've gotten a global view into how these really old fungi work," said O'Malley, corresponding author of a paper that appears today in the journal Science.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., February 18, 2016--Throat cancer patients exposed to both human papillomavirus (HPV) and tobacco smoke demonstrate a pattern of mutations along several key cancer genes, according to research presented today at the 2016 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium. These distinct molecular profiles of heavy and light smokers who develop HPV-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) may inform decisions related to treatment intensity by establishing additional prognostic criteria for this subset of patients.

Aedes aegypti mosquitoes transmit a number of pathogens, including the Dengue, Chikungunya, and Zika viruses. Wolbachia, a bacterium that naturally infects many insect species but not Aedes aegypti, can nonetheless be introduced into the Aedes aegypti population and then block virus replication in the infected mosquito host. As with any antiviral strategy, the potential development of resistance by the virus is a concern. A study published on Feb. 18, in PLOS Pathogens reports on a strategy to make it harder for Dengue (and possibly other viruses) to develop Wolbachia resistance.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Stenting and surgery are equally effective at lowering the long-term risk of stroke from a narrowed carotid artery, according to results of CREST -- a 10-year, federally funded clinical trial led by researchers at Mayo Clinic's campus in Florida. The results are being published today online in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the American Heart Association's International Stroke Conference in Los Angeles.