Messenger RNA (mRNA) is made up of exons and introns, that is, portions of genetic information that are "switched on" and "switched off", respectively. In order to reach maturation and be sent to the cellular "machine" that deals with protein synthesis, the non-coding fragments contained in the mRNA, the introns, need to be removed, whereas the coding sequences, the exons, have to be linked together. In humans, this "snipping and stitching" process, known as splicing, is governed by a huge machinery consisting of proteins and RNA, the spliceosome.
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Antibiotics and the immune system are the two forces that cope with bacterial infections. Now, two studies from Isabel Gordo's laboratory, at Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC, Portugal), show for the first time that resistance to antibiotics and to the immune system is interconnected in bacteria.
La Jolla, Calif., June 30, 2016 (embargoed until 5:00 A.M. EST) -- A research advance from the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) and Stanford University could lead to new drugs that minimize the damage caused by heart attacks. The discovery, published today in Nature Communications, reveals a key control point in controlling the formation of new blood vessels in the heart, and offers a novel approach to treat heart disease patients.
Philadelphia, PA, June 30, 2016 - Fruit and vegetable availability is often assumed to be a purchase barrier, yet fruit and vegetable availability does not necessarily result in frequent purchases. Rather, in-store marketing of less-healthy foods may be a major influencing factor in consumer spending habits regarding fruits and vegetables. A new study, in which in-store marketing focused attention on fruits and vegetables, resulted in an increased proportion of produce purchases keeping overall food spending the same.
ARLINGTON, Va. - New therapies are improving care, but early diagnosis remains critical in the effective treatment of invasive, a potentially deadly fungal infection, according to new guidelines released by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
The updated guidelines focus on the diagnosis and treatment of the major forms of aspergillosis: allergic, chronic and invasive, the latter which kills 40 percent to 80 percent of those with widespread infection.
ANN ARBOR--Free radicals cause cell damage and death, aging and disease, and scientists have sought new ways to repel them for years.
Now, a new University of Michigan study outlines the discovery of a protein that acts as a powerful protectant against free radicals. Ironically, the protein is activated by excessive free radicals. Human mutations of the gene for this protein are previously known to cause a rare, neurodegenerative disease.
TORONTO, June 30, 2016 - Fruit flies may seem simple, but these common visitors to the fruit bowl can drastically alter their gene expression and metabolism to respond to temperature changes in their environment, an international team of researchers have shown.
DALLAS, June 29, 2016 -- Patients who experience high cholesterol due to an inherited genetic disorder from one of their parents -- heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia -- are much more likely than those with average cholesterol levels to have diseases caused by hardening of the arteries, including an accelerated onset of coronary heart disease by up to 30 years, according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.
DALLAS, June 29, 2016 -- About one in every nine men will experience sudden cardiac death, most before age 70, as well as about one in 30 women, according to research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.
Sudden cardiac death claims up to 450,000 American lives each year, according to the study and most commonly occurs in people with no prior symptoms of cardiovascular disease.
Zap a tumor with radiation to trigger expression of a molecule, then attack that molecule with a drug-loaded nanoparticle. That's the approach researchers working in mice have taken in a new study that aims to make delivery of chemotherapy to metastatic tumors more effective. The researchers say that the radiation-guided nanoparticles may offer a new approach for penetrating the vascular barrier that often thwarts current nanomedicines from reaching metastatic tumors.
Viruses must avoid a host's immune system to establish successful infections--and scientists have discovered another tool that viruses use to frustrate host defenses. Researchers from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania demonstrate a novel mechanism by which viruses shut down alarm signals that trigger immune responses. This finding may open the door to future tools for controlling unwanted inflammation in severe infections, cancers and other settings.
In what is believed to be the largest study of its kind, scientists at The Johns Hopkins University and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory led a study that examined the proteomes of 169 ovarian cancer patients to identify critical proteins expressed by their tumors.
By integrating their findings with the tumors' genetic data -- the cancer genome -- the investigators report the potential for new insights into the progress of the most malignant form of the disease.
Women in the United States increasingly groom their pubic hair, especially those who are younger, white and have partners who prefer it, according to an article published online by JAMA Dermatology.
Previous research has suggested that most women report engaging in pubic hair grooming and pubic hair removal. Knowledge of grooming behaviors is important for health care professionals because these behaviors reflect cultural norms and can be a source of patient morbidity.
In a study published online by JAMA Cardiology, Stephen Sidney, M.D., M.P.H., of Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, and colleagues examined recent national trends in death rates due to all cardiovascular disease (CVD), heart disease (HD), stroke, and cancer, and also evaluated the gap between mortality rates from HD and cancer.
Crucial new evidence has revealed modern humans (Homo sapiens) were likely using fire at Liang Bua 41,000 years ago, narrowing the time gap between the last hobbits (Homo floresiensis) and the first modern humans at this site on the Indonesian island of Flores.
The research, led by the University of Wollongong Australia (UOW) and Indonesia's National Research Centre for Archaeology and published in the Journal of Archaeological Science today (June 30, 2016), is among the earliest evidence of modern humans in Southeast Asia.