Body

Chromosome is a structure inside the cell nucleus that carries a large part of the genetic information and is responsible for its storage, transfer and implementation. Chromosome is formed from a very long DNA molecule - a double chain of a plurality of genes. Given that the diameter of the cell nucleus is usually around hundredth of a millimeter or even less, while the total length of DNA constituting human genome is about two meters, it is clear that DNA must be packaged very tightly.

San Francisco, CA, November 23, 2015 - Children with amblyopia, commonly known as "lazy eye," may have impaired ocular motor function. This can result in difficulties in activities for which sequential eye movements are important, such as reading. A new study conducted at the Retina Foundation of the Southwest determined that children with amblyopia read more slowly than children with normal vision or with strabismus alone. Their findings are published in the Journal of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS).

Genetic material from ancient viral infections is critical to human development, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

They've identified several noncoding RNA molecules of viral origins that are necessary for a fertilized human egg to acquire the ability in early development to become all the cells and tissues of the body. Blocking the production of this RNA molecule stops development in its tracks, they found.

A pair of RNA molecules originally thought to be no more than cellular housekeepers are deleted in over a quarter of common human cancers, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Breast cancer patients whose tumors lack the RNA molecules have poorer survival rates than their peers.

The RNA molecules directly associate with and inhibit a well-known, cancer-associated protein called KRAS, the researchers found. In their absence, KRAS becomes hyperactive and issues continued signals to the cell to divide.

Young women who survive a heart attack or stroke still face long-term risks of death and illness, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.

While death rates from the acute phase of cardiovascular events have decreased, the disease burden remains high in the increasing number of survivors, which is especially important for those affected at a young age. But little information is available about the long-term outcomes of young patients, especially women, who survive cardiovascular events.

Washington, D.C.--New observations from an international geophysics team, including Carnegie's Lara Wagner, suggest that the standard belief that the Earth's rigid tectonic plates stay strong when they slide under another plate and sink into the deep Earth may not be universal. Instead, the new work suggests that the Nazca slab in Perú may be relatively weak and deforms easily. The research is published in the November 23, issue of Nature Geoscience.

A new study suggests that the common belief that the Earth's rigid tectonic plates stay strong when they slide under another plate, known as subduction, may not be universal.

Typically during subduction, plates slide down at a constant rate into the warmer, less-dense mantle at a fairly steep angle. However, in a process called flat-slab subduction, the lower plate moves almost horizontally underneath the upper plate.

The introduction of agriculture into Europe about 8,500 years ago changed the way people lived right down to their DNA.

Until recently, scientists could try to understand the way humans adapted genetically to changes that occurred thousands of years ago only by looking at DNA variation in today's populations. But our modern genomes contain mere echoes of the past that can't be connected to specific events.

Now, an international team reports in Nature that researchers can see how natural selection happened by analyzing ancient human DNA.

Distinguished contributions to understanding p53 tumor suppression in stem cells and breakthrough advances in treating breast cancer have earned two scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center membership in a notable association of scholars.

The innate immune response, which is the body's non-specific response to pathogens, was once believed to be a simple system relying on short-lived effector cells alone, but it is now known to be more complex, involving long-lived lymphoid cells. Researchers from the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences (IMS) in Japan have now shown how the body suppresses the activation of the long-lived cells after infection, preventing the response for continuing when it is no longer needed.

A team of U of T engineers is unrolling the mysteries of cancer -- literally. They have developed a way to grow cancer cells in the form of a rolled-up sheet that mimics the 3D environment of a tumour, yet can also be taken apart in seconds. The platform, described in a new Nature Materials paper, offers a way to speed up the development of new drugs and therapies and ask new questions about how cancer cells behave.

• University of Surrey scientists discover ancient set of proteins suggesting new links between gene regulation and metabolisms
• Findings could help development of more effective treatments for diseases such as cancer

Joe Davis is an artist who works not only with paints or pastels, but also with genes and bacteria. In 1986, he collaborated with geneticist Dan Boyd to encode a symbol for life and femininity into an E. coli bacterium. The piece, called Microvenus, was the first artwork to use the tools and techniques of molecular biology. Since then, bioart has become one of several contemporary art forms (including reclamation art and nanoart) that apply scientific methods and technology to explore living systems as artistic subjects.

Fairfax, Va., November 23, 2015 - A new template published by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) standardizes and streamlines the creation of patient-focused plans for long-term cancer survivor care following radiation therapy (RT). As the number of cancer patients and survivors in the U. S. continues to grow - the American Cancer Society predicts a 37 percent increase in the number of cancer patients surviving five years or longer over the next decade - so does the need for greater attention to long-term survivorship care.

If Pleistocene megafauna -- mastodons, mammoths, giant sloths and others -- had not become extinct, humans might not be eating pumpkin pie and squash for the holidays, according to an international team of anthropologists.