Body

DURHAM, N.C. -- When a child comes home from preschool with a stomach bug that threatens to sideline the whole family for days, why do some members of the family get sick while others are unscathed?

According to a Duke Health study published Jan. 19, 2016 in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, a person's resistance to certain germs, specifically E. coli bacteria, could come down to their very DNA.

A recent study from the University of Helsinki shows that the social gazing behavior of domestic dogs resembles that of humans: dogs view facial expressions systematically, preferring eyes. In addition, the facial expression alters their viewing behavior, especially in the face of threat. The study was published in the science journal PLOS ONE 13.1.2016.

Threatening faces evoke unique responses in dogs

A breakthrough in the transformation of human cells by an international team led by researchers at the University of Bristol could open the door to a new range of treatments for a variety of medical conditions. Their paper, published today in Nature Genetics, demonstrates the creation of a system that predicts how to create any human cell type from another cell type directly, without the need for experimental trial and error.

Jan. 18, 2016 - Based on new evidence, the age of introduction of gluten into the infant diet -- or the practice of introducing gluten during breast-feeding -- does not reduce the risk of celiac disease in infants at risk, according to a Position Paper in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition<.

Using strands of nucleic acid, scientists have demonstrated basic computing operations inside a living mammalian cell. The research could lead to an artificial sensing system that could control a cell's behavior in response to such stimuli as the presence of toxins or the development of cancer.

The researchers analysed genomes of individuals across four continents while former studies had only been carried out on two populations. The study has now been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Plasticisers such as phthalates are always found in plastics. They can get into our bodies through the skin or by the diet. They affect our hormone system and are suspected of having an influence on our body weight. The exact correlations and mechanisms have been unclear thus far.

Reduced meat consumption might not lower greenhouse gas emissions from one of the world's biggest beef producing regions, new research has found. The finding may seem incongruous, as intensive agriculture is responsible for such a large proportion of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Amsterdam, Jan. 18, 2016 - If you're scared of the dentist's needles you're not alone -- but new research means you might not have to put off that appointment again. A study published in Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces reveals how the dentist could give you anesthetic using a tiny electric current instead of a needle.

Kyoto, Japan -- A new study uncovering the mechanism behind amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or also Lou Gehrig's disease) has brought doctors a step closer to identifying drug targets for the malady. Tsukasa Uchida and collaborators at Kyoto University have identified proteins associated with cancer suppression and prevention of hypoxia as key players in the progression of ALS.

Melbourne researchers have showed that they can stop leukaemia in its tracks by targeting a protein that puts the handbrake on cancer cell growth.

The researchers discovered that targeting a protein called Hhex could cure acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) in preclinical disease models, and could be a key target for new therapies for human leukaemia.

The present snout moth list contains a ten-percent increase in the number of species since 1983. For the last thirty-three years snout moth specialists in the United States and Canada have been describing species new to science and recording species new to these two countries. Scientists have also published studies resulting in major changes to the classification above the species level, for example by studying snout moth "ears" (tympanal organs) and utilizing genes to study their relationships.

But, in a surprise finding, both the real and sham treatments showed a 40 per cent improvement in the severity and frequency of hot flushes at the end of eight weeks of treatment. The benefits were sustained at six months after treatment.

The University of Melbourne study, funded by the NHMRC and supported by Jean Hailes for Women, is the largest of its kind to date.

A team of scientists from Germany, USA, and Russia, including Dr. Mark Borodovsky, a Chair of the Department of Bioinformatics at MIPT, have proposed an algorithm to automate the process of searching for genes, making it more efficient. The new development combines the advantages of the most advanced tools for working with genomic data. The new method will enable scientists to analyse DNA sequences faster and more accurately and identify the full set of genes in a genome.

The first study to evaluate the biodiversity of arthropods in U.S. homes finds that humans share their houses with any of more than 500 different kinds of arthropods - at least on a short-term basis. Arthropods are invertebrate animals with exoskeletons, segmented bodies and jointed limbs, such as insects, spiders, mites and centipedes.