Body

Similar to stem cells differentiating to make your body's tissues, the immune system's macrophages pick a life path, differentiating into macrophages that recruit resources for wound repair or macrophages that recruit resources for wound sterilization. An article in the journal Cancer Research describes the relevance of macrophages to cancer: Cancers encourage macrophages to pick the path of wound-repair, making what are called "M2" or "repair-type" macrophages. Cancers use these M2 macrophages to promote their own growth.

In a paper published today in Nature: Scientific Reports a group of researchers led by LSTM have found that the key to an inherited deficiency, predisposing people to emphysema and other lung conditions, could lie in their Viking roots.

Researchers at the University of Delaware are one step closer to developing an online map that would help Mid-Atlantic fishermen avoid catching Atlantic sturgeon.

The research team, led by Matthew J. Oliver, Patricia and Charles Robertson Professor of Marine Science and Policy, found they could make useful predictions about sturgeon locations using satellite measurements of ocean color and temperature. They reported their findings Feb. 3 in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution.

With over half the U.S. population infected, most people are familiar with the pesky cold sore outbreaks caused by the herpes virus. The virus outsmarts the immune system by interfering with the process that normally allows immune cells to recognize and destroy foreign invaders. How exactly the herpes simplex 1 virus pulls off its nifty scheme has long been elusive to scientists.

More should be done to stop the use of endangered species in traditional Chinese medicines, with snow leopard, tiger and rhinoceros DNA still being found in remedies, according to a leading University of Adelaide pathologist.

Women undergo more cesarean sections each year in the United States than any other major surgery, with the procedure carrying a significant rate of infection at the incision site.

Potential new approaches to treating eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are described in a new study, "IL-33 amplifies an innate immune response in the degenerating retina," in the February Journal of Experimental Medicine.

NEW YORK, NY (February 4, 2016)--A multicenter clinical trial led by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) and NewYork-Presbyterian has found that the use of corticosteroids in mothers at risk for late preterm delivery significantly reduced the incidence of severe respiratory complications in their babies.

An international team of scientists has for the first time shown that mitochondria, the batteries of the cells, are essential for ageing.

In a study, published today in the EMBO Journal and led by Dr João Passos at Newcastle University, they found that when mitochondria were eliminated from ageing cells they became much more similar to younger cells. This experiment was able for the first time to conclusively prove that mitochondria are major triggers of cell ageing.

Scientists at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) are a step closer to preventing the kind of injuries that affect ageing race horses like champion hurdler Rock on Ruby, the winner of Coral Hurdle at Ascot in 2015.

For the first time, the team at QMUL's School of Engineering and Materials Science were able to show how the types of proteins differ in parts of the tendon, and importantly how this changes as the tendon ages.

Over the past few years, body mass index, a ratio of a person's height and weight, has effectively become a proxy for whether a person is considered healthy. Many U.S. companies use their employees' BMIs as a factor in determining workers' health care costs. And people with higher BMIs could soon have to pay higher health insurance premiums, if a rule proposed in April by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is adopted.

Pregnant women are at higher risk for serious illness and complications, including death, from influenza. For expectant mothers hospitalized with flu, early treatment with the influenza antiviral drug oseltamivir may shorten their time in the hospital, especially in severe cases, suggests a new study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases and available online. The findings also underscore the importance of flu vaccination for this risk group.

How much you eat when you're not really hungry may depend on how well off your family was when you were a child, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Dallas, Texas -February 4, 2016 - MorNuCo Laboratories of West Lafayette, Indiana, and their ONCOblot® Test recently completed a retrospective clinical trial focusing on the early detection of malignant mesothelioma, with the exciting results that the ONCOblot® test detected a molecular marker that is indicative of the presence of mesothelioma, 4-10 years in advance of clinical symptoms appearing. MorNuCo Laboratories is elated to share these results with the public, as early detection is widely considered the corner stone of an effective strategy to reduce cancer-related deaths.

The most robust evidence yet, published today in the Cochrane Library, suggests that national smoking legislation does reduce the harms of passive smoking, and particularly risks from heart disease.The updated Cochrane review containing more up-to-date research found that countries who imposed smoking bans found their populations benefited from reduced exposure to passive smoke, specifically cardiovascular disease.