Body

HOUSTON - (Jan. 26, 2016) - Combined whole exome tumor and blood sequencing in pediatric cancer patients revealed mutations that could help explain the cause of cancer or have the potential to impact clinical cancer care in 40 percent of patients in a study led by researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Cancer Center.

Local modifications in histone proteins alter DNA packing density in the cell nucleus to regulate gene activity. They also form the basis of a code in which the significance of a given pattern or motif depends on its broader context.

People who use marijuana for medical purposes are much more likely to vaporize or consume edible forms of the drug than recreational users, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

The study, which surveyed people from four western states that have legalized medical marijuana, also found that those who use marijuana for medicinal purposes are more likely to report daily or near-daily use and consume more as measured by grams per day.

An international public-private research consortium has identified and validated a cellular role of a primary Parkinson's disease drug target, the LRRK2 kinase. This important finding, published in the online, open-access eLife journal, illuminates a novel route for therapeutic development and intervention testing for Parkinson's, the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's.

What bones are to bodies, the cytoskeleton is to cells. The cytoskeleton maintains cellular structure, builds appendages like flagella and, together with motor proteins, powers cellular movement, transport, and division. Microtubules are a critical component of the cytoskeleton, vital for cell division and, because of that, an excellent target for chemotherapy drugs.

Corporate philanthropy benefits organizations in many ways: Giving enhances a business's reputation and strengthens a business's efforts toward corporate social responsibility. But does corporate philanthropy do anything to benefit a business's employees?

Blood serum proteins have been observed combining one-to-one with gold nanoparticles and prompting them to aggregate, scientists at Rice University reported.

This is unexpected, according to Rice researchers Stephan Link and Christy Landes, who have led studies of the proteins most responsible for keeping solids in blood separated. In low concentrations, they said, the proteins irreversibly attach, unfold and then bring nanoparticles together.

This is counter to the purpose of albumin proteins, the most abundant in the blood stream, they said.

A joint study by University of Colorado Cancer Center and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology shows two distinct causes of HER2 activation in lung cancer: mutation of the gene and amplification of the gene. In patient samples of lung adenocarcinoma, 3 percent were found to have HER2 amplification and another 3 percent were found to have HER2 mutation. No samples were found to have both. These distinct causes of HER2 positivity imply the use of different targeted therapies to combat these related but possibly distinct diseases.

THE languages known as Austronesian are spoken by more than 380 million people in territories that include Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Madagascar and the islands of the Pacific. How did the population¬s of such a large and diverse area come to share a similar tongue? It is one of the most controversial questions in genetics, archaeology and anthropology.

Researchers report the catalysis of a highly specific chemical reaction where oxygen from the air is one ingredient and the other, an organic molecule, is selectively "oxidised". A simple manganese compound catalyses this reaction. This type of methodology is an important step for the discovery of new catalysts for e.g. conversion of methane into methanol or greener chemical processes for pharmaceutical production.

Rabies could be eradicated from street dogs in India with the help of a new smartphone app, a study has shown.

Researchers are using the app to track free-roaming dogs that have been vaccinated against rabies.

Monitoring them in this way has enabled vets to vaccinate 70 per cent of the dog population in the City of Ranchi - the threshold needed to minimise the risk that the disease is passed to people.

Adopting the approach more widely could help to eliminate rabies from people and animals, the researchers say.

(BOSTON) - Synthetically engineered biosensors, which can be designed to detect and signal the presence of specific small molecule compounds, have already unlocked many potential applications by harnessing bacterial cells such as E. coli to sense toxins or enable bioproduction of valuable commodities including fuel, plastics, and pharmaceuticals.

Origami, the ancient art of paper folding, may soon provide a foundation for antennas that can reconfigure themselves to operate at different frequencies, microfluidic devices whose properties can change in operation -- and even heating and air-conditioning ductwork that adjusts to demand.

Queen bees and ants emit a chemical that alters the DNA of their daughters and keeps them as sterile and industrious workers, scientists have found.

"When deprived of the pheromone that queens emit, worker bees and ants become more self-centred and lazy, and they begin to lay eggs," said lead researcher Dr Luke Holman from The Australian National University (ANU).

"Amazingly, it looks like the queen pheromone works by chemically altering workers' genes," said Dr Holman, a biologist in the ANU Research School of Biology.

European scientists have gathered tiny fungi that take shelter in Antarctic rocks and sent them to the International Space Station. After 18 months on board in conditions similar to those on Mars, more than 60% of their cells remained intact, with stable DNA. The results provide new information for the search for life on the red planet. Lichens from the Sierra de Gredos (Spain) and the Alps (Austria) also travelled into space for the same experiment.