Body

WASHINGTON (Nov. 25, 2015) -- Overweight and obesity throughout adulthood, and especially elevated weight in early adulthood, were associated with increased risk of sudden cardiac death in a 32-year study of more than 72,000 women published today in JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology.

The Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is an inter-governmental organisation of 57 Muslim-majority countries with a mission to promote human rights and advance science and technology development. In a new PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases Editorial, Drs. Peter Hotez and Jennifer R. Herricks from the Baylor College of Medicine review the current state of neglected tropical diseases in OIC countries and how this corresponds to human development and poverty.

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Researchers in the College of Engineering at Oregon State University have discovered a new approach to "vitrification," or ice-free cryopreservation, that could ultimately allow a much wider use of extreme cold to preserve tissues and even organs for later use.

The findings were announced today in PLOS ONE, in work supported by the National Science Foundation.

PHILADELPHIA (Nov. 25, 2015) - A new study from scientists at the Monell Center and collaborators reveals that while foods such as vanilla pudding taste sweeter following three months on a low-sugar diet, the level of sweetness most preferred in foods and beverages does not change. The findings may inform public health efforts to decrease the amount of added sugars that people consume in their diets.

Seasonal migrations may help lower infection levels in wild North American monarch butterfly populations, according to a study published November 25, 2015 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Sonia Altizer from the University of Georgia, and colleagues.

In the first U.S. safety trial of a new form of immunotherapy for type 1 diabetes (T1D), led by UC San Francisco scientists and physicians, patients experienced no serious adverse reactions after receiving infusions of as many as 2.6 billion cells that had been specially selected to protect the body's ability to produce insulin.

To more efficiently treat breast cancer, scientists have been researching molecules that selectively bind to cancer cells and deliver a substance that can kill the tumor cells, for several years. Researchers from the University and University Hospital Basel have now for the first time successfully combined such an antibody-drug conjugate with a therapy that stimulates the immune system to attack tumor cells. This opens the door to new therapeutic options in the treatment of breast cancer, report the researchers in the scientific journal Science Translational Medicine.

HOUSTON -- (Nov. 25, 2015) - Gene duplications are a common cause of intellectual disabilities and autism as well as various other neurological disorders. In a new study that appears online in the journal Nature, Dr. Huda Zoghbi, professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, and director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital, and her team showed that there is a new potential way to treat such disorders.

The methyl CpG binding protein 2 gene (MECP2) produces a protein of the same name, the level of which is critical for normal brain function. Mutations leading to protein under-expression cause Rett Syndrome while gene duplication causing over-expression lead to MECP2 Duplication Syndrome. Both disorders are severely debilitating childhood neurological diseases.

Many birds travel in flocks, sometimes migrating over thousands of miles. But how do the birds decide who will lead the way? Researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on November 25 now have some new insight based on studies in homing pigeons. For pigeons, it seems, leadership is largely a question of speed.

"This changes our understanding of how the flocks are structured and why flocks of this species have consistent leadership hierarchies," says Dora Biro of the University of Oxford.

In sub-Saharan Africa, dozens of major 'development corridors,' including roads, railroads, pipelines, and port facilities, are in the works to increase agricultural production, mineral exports, and economic integration. And, if all goes according to plan, it's going to be a disaster, say researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on Nov. 25. They assessed the potential environmental impacts of 33 planned or existing corridors -- spanning 53,000 kilometers -- that would crisscross much of the African continent, opening up vast areas of sparsely populated land.

Dietary restriction enhances the expression of the circadian clock genes in the peripheral tissue of fruit flies, according to research from the Kapahi lab at the Buck Institute. Publishing in Cell Metabolism, the researchers show that dietary restriction, induced by reducing protein in the diet, increased the amplitude of circadian clocks and enhanced the cycles of fat breakdown and fat synthesis. This improvement in fat metabolism may be a key mechanism in explaining why dietary restriction extends lifespan in several species, including the flies in this study.

Fruit fly windpipes are much more like human blood vessels than the entryway to human lungs. To create that intricate network, fly embryonic cells must sprout "fingers" and crawl into place. Now researchers at The Johns Hopkins University have discovered that a protein called Mipp1 is key to cells' ability to grow these fingers.

A summary of the research, which has implications for understanding normal and abnormal development of human and other animal tissues, will be published online on Nov. 25 in the journal Cell Reports.

Stem cell scientists have made a key find that aids the quest to produce therapies for patients with liver damage.

They have developed a new technique for growing liver cells from stem cells that is cost-effective and could be adapted for mass production of clinical grade cells.

The process involves growing cells on defined materials - without the need for animal products - which scientists say makes therapies safer for use in people.

A latticework of tiny tubes called microtubules gives your cells their shape and also acts like a railroad track that essential proteins travel on. But if there is a glitch in the connection between train and track, diseases can occur.