Body

Montreal, Nov. 19, 2015 - A new injectable 'biogel' is effective in delivering anti-cancer agents directly into cancerous tumours and killing them. This technology, developed by researchers at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM), has already been successfully tested in the laboratory. If it works in patients, the therapy could one day revolutionize treatment for many forms of cancer.

There's an ancient group of algae that evolved in the world's oceans before our backboned ancestors crawled onto land. They are so numerous that their gigantic blooms can affect the weather, and they account for 30 to 40 percent of all photosynthesis in the world's oceans.

But until recently, scientists interested in these single-celled creatures knew next to nothing about their genes.

JAMA Oncology published two studies and a related editorial focused on long-term outcomes in survivors of childhood or young adult cancer.

Research efforts on the intestine have increased in recent years. Owing to its enormous surface area - comparable to that of a one-bedroom apartment - and the huge number of neurons it contains - comparable to that in the brain - the intestine is sometimes referred to as the abdominal brain. In addition to absorbing nutrients from the foods we eat, it influences our immune status and metabolism. With the help of sensors, specialized cells in the intestinal wall determine which hormones, if any, should be released into the bloodstream.

(Boston)--There is strong evidence that inflammation promotes obesity-associated type 2 diabetes and diabetes complications. However, clinical trials with anti-inflammatory drugs have only been modestly effective for treating Type 2 diabetes. A new fingerprint of inflammation that may be able to predict which patients with obesity may also develop type 2 diabetes has been identified by Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) researchers.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Regularly attending child care may have numerous developmental benefits for children who live in chaotic, disorganized home environments, suggests a new study.

Numerous studies have linked chaotic households - homes that are overcrowded, noisy, unclean and lacking predictable routines - with low academic achievement and attention, social and behavioral problems among children in poverty.

A muscly fossil fireworm, discovered by scientists from the University of Bristol and the Natural History Museum, has been named Rollinschaeta myoplena in honour of punk musician and spoken word artist, Henry Rollins.

The fossil worm is a polychaete annelid, a marine relative of earthworms and leeches. Polychaetes are entirely soft bodied and thus seldom occur as fossils. When conditions are right, however, some remarkable and surprising details of such creatures can be preserved, as in the case of Rollinschaeta which is preserved mostly as three dimensional muscle tissue.

Both in materials science and in biomedical research it is important to be able to view minute nanostructures, for example in carbon-fiber materials and bones. A team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the University of Lund, Charite hospital in Berlin and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) have now developed a new computed tomography method based on the scattering, rather than on the absorption, of X-rays.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- In a recently published paper, Indiana University biologists have calculated the lifetime energy requirements of multiple types of cells, as well as the energy required to replicate and express the genes within these cells.

"The Bioenergetic Costs of a Gene," reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describes for the first time how much total energy is needed to build and maintain a cell, and how this scales with cell size.

Researchers at Brigham Young University have devised a system to speed up the process of making life-saving vaccines for new viruses.

Their concept is to create the biological machinery for vaccine production en masse, put it in a freeze-dried state and stockpile it around the country. Then, when a new virus hits, labs can simply add water to a 'kit' to rapidly produce vaccines.

"You could just pull it off the shelf and make it," said senior author Brad Bundy, associate professor of chemical engineering. "We could make the vaccine and be ready for distribution in a day."

Proteins are often referred to as the building blocks of life, and make up about 15 per cent of the mass of the average person, performing a wide variety of essential functions in the body.

Scientists have long speculated about the nature of the dark proteome, the area of proteins that are completely unknown, but a recent study by CSIRO has mapped the boundaries of these dark regions, bringing us one step closer to discovering the complete structure and function of all proteins.

Previous research has shown that the sugar sucrose plays a role in controlling key fruit genes involved in sugar metabolism. Efforts to control these genes succeeded in increasing the sugar content in fruit but also resulted in stunted growth.

Folsom, Calif., (Nov. 19, 2015) - A new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that consuming tree nuts, such as walnuts, may lower the risk of cardiovascular disease.1 After conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of 61 controlled trials, one of the authors, Michael Falk, PhD, Life Sciences Research Organization, found that consuming tree nuts lowers total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, and ApoB, the primary protein found in LDL cholesterol. These are key factors that are used to evaluate a person's risk of cardiovascular disease.

Having collected thousands of moth and butterfly species from across Costa Rica, famous ecologist Daniel Janzen, University of Pennsylvania, and his team were yet to find out many of their names. When they sought help from Dr. Gunnar Brehm, the taxonomist realised he needed too much time to describe species in the framework of an extensive revision of the genus, especially as there are still only a few biologists skilled to do this.

ITHACA, NY -- New research from the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI), the USDA Agricultural Research Service and the University of Washington finds that helpful bacteria living inside the insect that transmits the bacterial pathogen associated with citrus greening disease - -an outbreak that is devastating Florida's citrus industry -- may be playing a role in the insect's spread of the pathogen.