Body | Page 2526 | Science Codex

Genetics might determine which smokers get hooked

DURHAM, N.C. -- Researchers have identified genetic risk factors that may accelerate a teen's progression to becoming a lifelong heavy smoker.

The team of scientists from the U.S., the U.K. and New Zealand examined earlier studies by other research teams to develop a genetic risk profile for heavy smoking. Then they looked at their own long-term study of 1,000 New Zealanders from birth to age 38 to identify whether individuals at high genetic risk got hooked on cigarettes more quickly as teens and whether, as adults, they had a harder time quitting.

Study finds anti-smoking drug improves smokers' chances of stopping

HOUSTON -– Smokers have a higher probability of quitting smoking and a better overall cessation experience when taking varenicline compared to bupropion and to placebo – unmedicated assisted smoking cessation –according to a study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.

Cancer biologists find DNA-damaging toxins in common plant-based foods

In a laboratory study pairing food chemistry and cancer biology, scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center tested the potentially harmful effect of foods and flavorings on the DNA of cells. They found that liquid smoke flavoring, black and green teas and coffee activated the highest levels of a well-known, cancer-linked gene called p53.

The p53 gene becomes activated when DNA is damaged. Its gene product makes repair proteins that mend DNA. The higher the level of DNA damage, the more p53 becomes activated.

New bone survey method could aid long-term survival of Arctic caribou

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A study co-authored by a University of Florida scientist adds critical new data for understanding caribou calving grounds in an area under consideration for oil exploration in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The research may be used to create improved conservation strategies for an ecologically important area that has been under evaluation for natural resource exploration since enactment of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act in 1980.

The hunt for a successor to lithium for bipolar disorder

Toxicity problems and adverse side effects when taking lithium, the mainstay medication for treating bipolar disorder, are fostering a scientific hunt for insights into exactly how lithium works in the body — with an eye to developing a safer alternative. That's the topic of the cover story in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News. C&EN is the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.

University of Tennessee professor discovers how microbes survive at bare minimum

Beneath the ocean floor is a desolate place with no oxygen and sunlight. Yet microbes have thrived in this environment for millions of years.

Scientists have puzzled over how these microbes survive, but today there are more answers.

A study led by Karen Lloyd, a University of Tennessee, Knoxville, assistant professor of microbiology, reveals that these microscopic life-forms called archaea slowly eat tiny bits of protein. The study was released today in Nature.

Certain breast cancers have a trait that could be attacked by new therapies

More than 100 women per day die from breast cancer in the United States. The odds of developing breast cancer increase for women taking hormone replacement therapy to avoid the effects of menopause. New research by University of Missouri scientist Salman Hyder may lead to treatments for breast cancers associated with taking these synthetic hormones. Hyder, along with an international team, found that hormone-therapy-related breast cancer cells have a physical feature that could be attacked by cancer therapies.

Changes in gastrointestinal microbes may produce some benefits of gastric bypass

Changes in the population of microbial organisms in the gastrointestinal tract may underlie some of the benefits of gastric bypass surgery, reports a team of researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard University.

4 cells turn seabed microbiology upside down

Single-celled archaea are invisible to the naked eye, and even when using a microscope, great care must be taken to observe them. An international team of researchers led by the Center for Geomicrobiology, Aarhus University, Denmark, has nevertheless succeeded in retrieving four archaeal cells from seabed mud and mapping the genome of each one.

A new way to lose weight?

Scientists at Harvard may have new hope for anyone who's tried to fight the battle of the bulge.

New research, conducted in collaboration with researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, has found that the gut microbes of mice undergo drastic changes following gastric bypass surgery. Transfer of these microbes into sterile mice resulted in rapid weight loss. The study is described in a March 27 paper in Science Translational Medicine.

Dana-Farber Scientists find potential loophole in pancreatic cancer defenses

BOSTON--Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists and colleagues have discovered that pancreatic cancer cells' growth and spread are fueled by an unusual metabolic pathway that someday might be blocked with targeted drugs to control the deadly cancer.

Cancer cells are known to "rewire" their metabolic circuits differently from normal cells to provide energy for cancerous growth. A study published today in Nature reveals that pancreatic tumor cells are dependent on an amino acid, glutamine, which they utilize via a molecular pathway that has no apparent backup system.

Do intellectual property rights on existing technologies hinder subsequent innovation?

A recent study published in the Journal of Political Economy suggests that some types of intellectual property rights discourage subsequent scientific research.

Number of cancer survivors expected to increase to 18 million by 2022

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Association for Cancer Research released its second Annual Report on Cancer Survivorship in the United States in advance of the AACR Annual Meeting 2013, which will be held in Washington, D.C., April 6-10.

The report, published in the AACR's journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, shows that as of January 2012, there were approximately 13.7 million cancer survivors in the United States, a number that is expected to rise by 31 percent to 18 million by 2022.

Bulging eyes of Tarsiers shed light on evolution of human vision

After eons of wandering in the dark, primates developed highly acute, three-color vision that permitted them to shift to daytime living, a new Dartmouth College study suggests.

The findings challenge the prevailing view that trichromatic color vision, a hallmark of primate evolution, evolved only after they started getting up with the sun, a shift that gave rise to anthropoid (higher) primates, which, in turn, gave rise to the human lineage. The results are published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

New insights into how genes turn on and off

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — Researchers at UC Davis and the University of British Columbia have shed new light on methylation, a critical process that helps control how genes are expressed. Working with placentas, the team discovered that 37 percent of the placental genome has regions of lower methylation, called partially methylated domains (PMDs), in which gene expression is turned off. This differs from most human tissues, in which 70 percent of the genome is highly methylated.