Body

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Pathology have discovered a set of four biomarkers that will help predict which patients are more likely to develop aggressive colorectal cancer and which are not. The findings also shed light on the genetics that result in worse colorectal cancer-treatment outcomes for African-Americans, compared with Caucasians, the researchers said.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Pathology have discovered a set of four biomarkers that will help predict which patients are more likely to develop aggressive colorectal cancer and which are not. The findings also shed light on the genetics that result in worse colorectal cancer-treatment outcomes for African-Americans, compared with Caucasians, the researchers said.

The fifth Howler Monkey census at the Smithsonian's Barro Colorado Island research station in Panama, organized by Katie Milton, professor in the department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management at the University of California, Berkeley, revealed that monkey numbers have not changed significantly since the first census 33 years ago.

Long before dawn on March 19 and 20, Katie Milton and a group of stalwart volunteers, each armed with flashlight and compass, spread out into the jungle to find 35 predetermined listening stations marked on their maps of the island.

Kansas City, Mo – April 19, 2010 – Approximately 7 percent of elementary school children across the bi-state, Kansas City metropolitan area are infected with the fungus Trichophyton tonsurans (T. tonsurans), the leading cause of ringworm in the U.S., according to a new study published today in Pediatrics. This is the largest study to date aimed at defining infection prevalence of the scalp fungus in children living in a metropolitan area and has implications for children nationwide.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Vitamins and calcium supplements appear to reduce the risk of breast cancer, according to findings presented at the American Association for Cancer Research 101st Annual Meeting 2010.

"It is not an immediate effect. You don't take a vitamin today and your breast cancer risk is reduced tomorrow," said Jaime Matta, Ph.D., professor in the Ponce School of Medicine in Puerto Rico. "However, we did see a long-term effect in terms of breast cancer reduction."

Montreal, April 18, 2010 – A mystery about the mechanism behind sexual mate selection has been resolved. According to a new study published in the journal Nature, Université de Montréal researchers have discovered a molecular switch that becomes activated in response to a potential mate's signal. Simply put, an organism knows that a potential mate is close-by and healthy enough to mate.

Yeast cells decide whether to have sex with each other within two minutes of meeting, according to new research published today in Nature. One of the authors of the study, from Imperial College London, says the new insights into how yeast cells decide to mate could be helpful for researchers looking at how cancer cells and stem cells develop.

Ocean explorers are puzzling out Nature's purpose behind an astonishing variety of tiny ocean creatures like microbes and zooplankton animals - each perhaps a ticket-holder in life's lottery, awaiting conditions that will allow it to prosper and dominate.

The inventory and study of the hardest-to-see sea species -- tiny microbes, zooplankton, larvae and burrowers in the sea bed, which together underpin almost all other life on Earth -- is the focus of four of 14 field projects of the Census of Marine Life.

Results of a study presented today at the International Liver CongressTM 2010 demonstrate that a dual FXR and TGR5 agonist decreases liver damage and modulates hepatic inflammation and fibrosis in a mouse model of primary sclerosing chlolangitis. In contrast, selective FXR or TGR5 agonists have no beneficial effect.

FXR and TGR5 agonists are responsible for regulating bile acids, glucose, lipids and inflammation.

(Boston, Mass., April 14, 2010) Rising from the top surface of each of the specialized receptor cells in our inner ears is a bundle of sensory cilia that responds to the movement of sound. As sensitive as they are fragile, these cilia can move to wisps of sound no larger than a molecule—but can shear at sounds that are larger than life.

In a multidisciplinary approach, Professor Yves Barral, from the Biology Department at ETH Zurich and the computer scientists Dr. Gina Cannarozzi and Professor Gaston Gonnet, from the Computer Science Department of ETH Zurich and the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, joined forces to chase possible sub-codes in genomic information. The study, which will be published in today's issue of the journal Cell, led to the identification of novel sequence biases and their role in the control of genomic expression.

ADHD may be caused by alterations in the serotonin neurotransmission system combined with a tendency to experience psychosocial distress.

Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Behavioral and Brain Functions found that ADHD behaviors in children and adolescents were associated with interactions between low and high serotonin activity and self-blame in relation to inter-parental conflict.

CINCINNATI—The American Cancer Society estimates one man in six will get prostate cancer during his lifetime, making it the second-leading cause of cancer death in men. With a new partnership with Areva Med, UC researchers will investigate the use of a new drug in stopping the growth of prostate cancer tumors.

In the study, UC researchers in the lab of Zhongyun Dong, PhD, will test the efficacy of a new agent targeted against a specific protein on the surface of the tumor.

16 April 2010 -- A number of updated guidelines are presented at the Anniversary Congress of the European Association of Urology (EAU) held in Barcelona, from 16 through 20 April. The abridged versions - Pocket Guidelines – which are based on the extended text documents will also be available in Barcelona to all EAU members and press.

Small but mighty, a beneficial microbe called Muscodor albus may help protect fresh grapes from troublesome gray mold. Experiments conducted over the past several years by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) plant pathologist Joseph L. Smilanick and his ARS and industry colleagues have shown that M. albus can combat Botrytis cinerea, the organism that causes gray mold.

Gray mold can ruin the taste and appearance of fresh-market grapes, according to Smilanick.