Body

When cryoEM images are obtained from protein nanocrystals the images themselves can appear to be devoid of any contrast. A group of scientists from the Netherlands have now demonstrated that lattice information can be revealed and enhanced by a specialized filter.

URBANA, Ill. - Weeds are a major scourge for organic growers, who often must invest in multiple control methods to protect crop yields. A relatively new weed control method known as abrasive weeding, or "weed blasting," could give organic growers another tool. The method, recently field-tested at the University of Illinois, is surprisingly effective.

In conjunction with plastic mulch, abrasive weeding reduced final weed biomass by 69 to 97 percent compared to non-weeded control plots, said U of I agroecologist Samuel Wortman.

An estimated 15.7 percent of individuals 65 or older may have received nonrecommended screenings for prostate and breast cancers because they had limited life expectancies of less than 10 years, according to an article published online by JAMA Oncology.

Existing guidelines recommend against screening for these tumors in individuals with limited life expectancy. Overdiagnosis may cost the U.S. health care system as much as $1.2 billion annually.

A new study suggests detection of human papillomavirus (HPV)-16 in the oral cavity was associated with 22-times increased risk of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. The study by Ilir Agalliu, M.D., Sc.D., of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, and coauthors also reports positive associations of other oral HPVs usually detected on the skin with the risk of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), which suggests the role of HPV in HNSCC may be more important than currently recognized.

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine have found that when human papillomavirus (HPV)-16 is detected in peoples' mouths, they are 22 times more likely than those without HPV-16 to develop a type of head and neck cancer.

Chronic kidney disease can develop in response to a variety of insults and is characterized by progressive renal fibrosis and atrophy of kidney tubule. Therapeutic options are limited and the disease is often not detected until later stages. A new study in the inaugural issue of JCI Insight identifies the Wnt pathway modulator Dickkopf-3 (DKK3) as a driver of kidney fibrosis.

Clinically, kidney fibrosis can be used to assess stage, progression, and prognosis for both kidney transplants and kidney disease. There is debate as to whether kidney fibrosis is a maladaptive, injury-triggered process that inherently progresses to kidney failure or an adaptive wound-healing process that stabilizes the injury site. A new study in the inaugural issue of JCI Insight supports the hypothesis that fibrosis in kidney transplants is driven by continuous injury and not the result of an unstoppable cascade of events.

ATLANTA -- Researchers have discovered gene-targets (biomarkers) that may enable alternative treatments or the potential design of new drugs that target metastasis-promoting tumor genes.

This is the key finding in a study led by researchers from Georgia State University in collaboration with the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and published in journal Oncotarget.

If you've ever blown up a balloon or pulled at a pair of pantyhose, you may have noticed that the more the material stretches, the more transparent it becomes. It's a simple enough observation: the thinner a material, the more light shines through.

Now MIT scientists have come up with a theory to predict exactly how much light is transmitted through a material, given its thickness and degree of stretch. Using this theory, they accurately predicted the changing transparency of a rubber-like polymer structure as it was stretched like a spring and inflated like a balloon.

To decide whether and where to move in the body, cells must read chemical signals in their environment. Individual cells do not act alone during this process, two new studies on mouse mammary tissue show. Instead, the cells make decisions collectively after exchanging information about the chemical messages they are receiving.

HANOVER, N.H. - Nerve damage from neurodegenerative disease and spinal cord injury has largely been considered irreversible, but Dartmouth researchers report progress in the effort to synthesize rare natural products that promote regeneration and growth of injured nerve cells.

The findings appear in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. A PDF is available on request.

A pioneering three-year project to learn some of the secrets of Scotland's basking sharks by using satellite tag technology has shown an area off the west coast to be truly important for these giant fish.

Sharks tracked during the Basking Shark Satellite Tagging Project tended to spend most of their summer in the Sea of the Hebrides and returned to the same area the following year, according to the final project report published by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) today (Thursday).

Our ability to fight off recurrent infections, such as colds or flu, may lie in the 'immunological memory' found in a newly discovered class of gene regulatory elements, according to research from the University of Birmingham, supported by the BBSRC and Bloodwise.

The research, published in The EMBO J, identifies one way in which the immune system is able to provide a quick and successful response to infections that the body has previously encountered, ensuring that long term immunity is built up.

RICHLAND, Wash. - Microbes need their vitamins just like people do. Vitamins help keep both organisms healthy and energetic by enabling proteins to do their work. For bacteria, a dearth of vitamins can spell death.

College students whose parents lay on the guilt or try to manipulate them may translate feelings of stress into similar mean behavior with their own friends, a new study by a University of Vermont psychologist has found.

Those students' physical response to stress influences the way they will carry out that hostility - either immediately and impulsively or in a cold, calculated way, concluded Jamie Abaied, a UVM assistant professor of psychological science.