Culture

Gene expression can be turned on and off like a switch, or it can be finely adjusted , as with a volume control knob. Dr Garth Ilsley, research scientist in Prof. Nick Luscombe's unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), has developed a mathematical model that shows how to predictably tune gene expression. This was validated experimentally using a technique for adjusting gene expression in fruit fly embryos pioneered by Dr Justin Crocker in the group of Dr David Stern at Janelia Research Campus in the U.S.

Medicare patients in hospice care were less likely to be visited by professional staff in the last two days of life if they were black, dying on a Sunday or receiving care in a nursing home, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.

PharmaMar (MSE:PHM) announced today that the Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC) has notified the Company of its recommendation that the Phase III (CORAIL) trial currently under way with PM1183 in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer patients should continue without any changes.

Doctors who treat patients suffering from chronic pain face a quandary, according to research from the University of Houston and the University of Texas Medical Branch. Monitoring patients through urine drug screenings, part of the standard protocol to ensure patient safety, is associated with an increase in the odds that the patients won't return for future treatment.

Stem cell-derived heart muscle cells may fail to effectively replace damaged cardiac tissue because they don't contract strongly enough, according to a study in The Journal of Cell Biology. The study, "Coupling Primary and Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes in an In Vitro Model of Cardiac Cell Therapy," by Yvonne Aratyn-Schaus and Francesco Pasqualini and colleagues, may help explain why stem cell-based therapies have so far shown limited benefits for heart attack patients in clinical trials.

By 2050, the number of older adults representing minority groups is projected to rise to 39%, up from nearly 21% in 2012. The largest increases in the proportion of older adults are projected to be among Asian, Native Hawaiian, and other Pacific Islander populations. What's more, the proportion of older Hispanic adults is projected to more than double over the next 40 years.

A recent study shows that encouraging nurses to work towards a collective goal within a supportive milieu--a style of management called transformational leadership--can have positive effects on the quality of the care given to patients. It was also a predictor of nurses' intentions to stay on at their current healthcare facilities. Conversely, abusive leadership practices potentially lead to poorer quality of care and to a strong intention to quit.

Philadelphia, PA, February 5, 2016 - The outcomes of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) have dramatically improved as the result of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) treatment. Use of a TKI regimen can lower the blood CML biomarker to levels imperceptible by current detection methods. For patients in "molecular remission," however, uncertainties remain regarding whether they will relapse or if treatment should be discontinued.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (Feb. 04, 2016) ? Randomized controlled trials often are considered the gold standard of research studies that help guide the medical care of patients across the world. However, in hospices, randomized controlled trials are difficult to conduct since patients are so close to the end of their lives, causing a gap in research that could improve the quality of hospice care overall. Now, a University of Missouri School of Medicine researcher has found that only 10 randomized controlled trials have taken place in U.S. hospices since 1985.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have discovered a molecular regulator that allows salmonella bacteria to switch from actively causing disease to lurking in a chronic but asymptomatic state called a biofilm.

Their findings are published in the online journal, eLife.

New Haven, Conn.-- Better quality of care may reduce the risk of death for patients who are prescribed opioid painkillers for chronic pain, say Yale researchers. Their study, published Feb. 4 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, offers evidence that supports recommendations from clinical practice guidelines encouraging physicians to engage patients with mental health services and substance abuse treatment, as well as to avoid co-prescriptions for sedatives.

Why people lose their locks in old age may be related to the aging of hair follicle stem cells, two new studies suggest. Though it is known that mammals that live for longer lifespans lose their hair, the mechanisms underlying this fate have been a mystery. Hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs), which generate the sacs or follicles that produce hair, keep hair growth going repeatedly over time. Surprisingly, they have even been shown, in mice experiments, to resist aging.

A new analysis of one of the most widespread honeybee viruses, deformed wing virus, or DWV, shows that the virus has gone from an endemic to a global epidemic because of greater movement of a major vector, the Varroa mite. The mite has spread in large part due to human trade of the bee colonies it infests. The study contributes greatly to scientists' understanding of the globally pressing issue of pollinator health by describing the worldwide transmission routes and dynamics of DWV based on analysis of a new and large molecular data set.

(BOSTON) -- Researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Harvard Medical School and the University of Crete have conducted a phase I/II clinical trial investigating the efficacy of statins (cholesterol-lowering medications) for the treatment of patients with the dry form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) -- the leading cause of blindness in the developed world. Although effective treatments are available for the wet form of AMD, they are currently lacking for the more prevalent dry form.

A parent's incarceration has immediate, devastating effects on a family. Now, Virginia Tech and University of Toronto researchers say there may be a longer term risk: Men who as children experienced a family member's incarceration are approximately twice as likely to have a heart attack in later adulthood in comparison with men who were not exposed to such a childhood trauma.