Body

To find out what activates SIRT6, the researchers alternately applied chemical inhibitors to human skin cells to determine which proteins were essential in getting the gene to repair the broken DNA strands. They discovered that one protein was involved in activating the gene in response to oxidative stress--c-Jun N-terminal kinase, which goes by the simpler term JNK. When JNK was inhibited, SIRT6 was not activated and the broken strands of DNA were not repaired efficiently.

The findings have been published in the journal Cell Reports.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - Turns out bacteria may transfer to candy that has fallen on the floor no matter how fast you pick it up.

A study led by Loyola Medicine researchers found that female triathletes are at higher risk for pelvic floor disorders, among other health issues.

The study, published in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery, found that female triathletes suffered from a high rate of stress urinary and anal incontinence.

PHILADELPHIA, PA, September 8, 2016 - Healthy Eating standards represent a means of increasing fruit, vegetable, whole grain, and water intake among adolescents by providing healthy snacks in conjunction with education on healthy eating. For these reasons, the YMCA of the US adopted these standards for all its after-school programs in November of 2011. However, a study of YMCAs in South Carolina found that none of the programs were meeting every aspect of the Healthy Eating standards and many were deficient in several areas.

The world's best-selling insecticide may impair the ability of a queen honey bee and her subjects to maintain a healthy colony, says new research led by a University of Nebraska-Lincoln entomologist.

The research examined the effects of imidacloprid, which belongs to a popular class of nicotine-based insecticides known as neonicotinoids. Honey bees often become exposed to neonicotinoids in the process of pollinating crops and ornamental plants while foraging for the nectar and pollen that feed their colonies.

Oakland, CA (September 9, 2016) - A study conducted by UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI) scientists shows greatly improved protective antibody responses to a new mutant vaccine antigen for prevention of disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis - also known as meningococcus - that has the potential to improve the current vaccines for meningitis.

Experts from the V. I. Kulakov Research Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) have devised a method that uses the urinary proteome to diagnose conditions in newborn babies. In the future, this urine-based diagnostic method will enable specialists not only to detect a disease, but also to control the therapeutic response and rehabilitation periods without causing pain. The findings have been published in the Journal of Proteomics.

High-resolution aerial Photographs provides information that is both up-to-date and tailored for the task at hand--information that could previously only be obtained by observations in the field and only for a limited spatial area. For the very first time, a team of scientists led by Jan C. Habel at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has used drones to predict suitable microhabitats for the larvae of endangered butterfly species (larval habitats), recently published in Landscape Ecology.

The genome of the ocean sunfish (Mola mola), the world's largest bony fish, has been sequenced for the first time by researchers from China National Genebank at BGI-Shenzhen and A*STAR, Singapore. The researchers, who include Nobel Laureate Sydney Brenner, publish their results in the open access journal GigaScience. The ocean sunfish genome revealed several altered genes that may explain the fast growth rate and large size of the fish as well as its unusual endoskeleton.

Public confidence in vaccines varies widely between countries and regions around the world, and the European region is the most sceptical about vaccine safety, according to the largest ever global survey of confidence in vaccines. [1] With recent disease outbreaks triggered by people refusing vaccination, the authors believe the findings provide valuable insights, which could help policymakers identify and address issues.

Three out of four (75 percent) people in the UK are unaware of the link between obesity and cancer, according to a new Cancer Research UK report. The nationwide survey found that people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are less likely to know about the link. And men are less likely than women to be aware of the increased risk of cancer caused by obesity.

Cape Town, South Africa 9 Sept 2016: A novel heart valve replacement method is revealed today that offers hope for the thousands of patients with rheumatic heart disease who need the procedure each year. The research is being presented at the SA Heart Congress 2016.

The annual congress of the South African Heart Association is held in Cape Town from 8 to 11 September 2016 and is jointly organised with the annual congress of the World Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons. Experts from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) will present a special programme.1

Highlights

With global temperatures rising, an international group of 22 top biologists is calling for a coordinated effort to gather important species information that is urgently needed to improve predictions for the impact of climate change on future biodiversity.

In a creative stroke inspired by Hollywood wizardry, scientists from Harvard Medical School and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have designed a simple way to observe how bacteria move as they become impervious to drugs.

The experiments, described in the Sept. 9 issue of Science, are thought to provide the first large-scale glimpse of the maneuvers of bacteria as they encounter increasingly higher doses of antibiotics and adapt to survive--and thrive--in them.