Body

If you have a soft spot for unsung heroes, you'll love a DNA repair protein called XPG. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) discovered that XPG plays a previously unknown and critical role helping to maintain genome stability in human cells. Their findings also raise the possibility that the protein helps prevent breast, ovarian, and other cancers associated with defective BRCA genes.

One of the big questions for which there is still no clear answer in biology is how, based on the four universal letters that make up DNA, it is possible to generate such different organisms as a fly or a human, or the different organs and tissues they comprise. In recent years, researchers have discovered that the system is much more complicated than was originally thought. The letters are important, but histones and nucleotide chemical modifications can make up genetic instructions to reinterpret the information contained in the DNA.

An international collaborative study has revealed detailed new information about diffuse glioma, the most common type of tumor found in some 80 percent of adult brain cancer patients, raising hopes that better understanding of these disease groups may aid improved clinical outcomes.

The study, led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, and the University of Sao Paulo's Ribeirao Preto Medical School, Brazil, analyzed data from 1,122 samples of diffuse glioma from lower to higher grades.

It is well known that a predisposition to adiposity lies in our genes. A new study by researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg now shows that it is also crucial how these genes are regulated. The scientists led by Andrew Pospisilik discovered a novel regulatory, epigenetic switch, which causes individuals with identical genetic material, such as monozygotic twins, to either be lean or obese.

WASHINGTON--A new paper published in Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, co-authored by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, calls for ongoing development and regulatory acceptance of adverse outcome pathways (AOPs), a framework for improving chemical hazard assessment by prioritizing modern test methods that reduce animal use.

EUGENE, Ore. -- Jan. 28, 2016 -- Deploying multiple videos in a University of Oregon lab, scientists have documented never-before-seen views of leafcutter ants at work processing leaves and growing their food supply in their nests.

In a paper published online Jan. 27 by the journal Royal Society Open Science, Robert Schofield and colleagues detail the ants' prehensile skills and shed new insights on the various behaviors associated with gathering leaves, delivering them to their nests and processing them grow the fungus that nourishes a colony.

One of the most of the most widely used commercial chemicals to kill bedbugs are not effective because the pesky insects have built up a tolerance to them, according to a team of researchers from Virginia Tech and New Mexico State University.

Millions of dollars have been spent on insecticides to kill the bugs that have wreaked havoc on everything from hotels in New York City to homes in Los Angeles. But this is the first study to show that overuse of certain insecticides has led to an increased resistance to the compounds, making them much less effective than advertised.

Newly published research that started as a high school science project confirms that the density of sea turtle nests on Florida beaches is reduced where artificial lights along the coast deter nesting females.

But the data also show that the network of sea turtle-friendly lighting ordinances along Florida's coast seems to be working.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Exposure to second-hand smoke is associated with a larger waist and poorer cognition in children, researchers say.

"The take-home message is that for these children, smoke exposure was connected to two major adverse health outcomes, one above the neck and one below the neck," said Dr. Catherine Davis, clinical health psychologist at the Georgia Prevention Institute at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., January 27, 2016 - A new study from the Forsyth Institute and the Marine Biological Laboratory provides a detailed look at how the microbes in the mouth coexist. Using a novel fluorescence imaging technique and DNA sequencing, the scientists have created a high-resolution map of the bacteria in dental plaque. For the first time, scientists can see where the bacteria are in relation to each other. This research is critical for gaining new understanding of how the bacteria interact and will ultimately clarify their role in health and disease.

Crystal formation plays a defining role in the pathogenesis of a range of common diseases, such as gout and atherosclerosis. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich researchers led by Hans-Joachim Anders have now elucidated how the insoluble deposits induce cell death.

When family difficulties mean that children are at risk of abuse or neglect and face being taken into care or becoming candidates for adoption, how can their fathers be brought back into the equation? Instead of being marginalised, might they be part of a solution? A conference at the University of Huddersfield enabled social workers involved in child protection to hear and discuss the very latest research in the field of fatherhood.

BOSTON (January 28, 2016) - Clinical genomic sequencing is feasible in pediatric oncology and can be used to recommend therapy or pinpoint diagnosis in children with solid tumors, according to the multicenter Individualized CAncer Therapy (iCat) study led by investigators from Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. The study, published today in JAMA Oncology, is one of the first of its kind to be conducted in pediatric oncology.

A collection of articles published online by JAMA Oncology examines fertility issues, both regarding clinical care and legal questions, in patients with cancer.

Ehren M. Fournier, J.D., of the Foley & Lardner law firm in Chicago, wrote a special communication entitled "Oncofertility and the Rights to Future Fertility."

Genomics assessments of childhood and young adulthood cancers are the subject of two new studies, an editorial and an author audio interview published online by JAMA Oncology.

In the first study, Katherine A. Janeway, M.D., M.Sc., of the Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Boston, and coauthors assessed the feasibility of identifying actionable genetic alterations and making individualized cancer therapy recommendations in pediatric patients with extracranial solid tumors.