HOUSTON -- A study led by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center furthered understanding about mitochondria, the cell components known as the "powerhouse of the cell." Knowing more about the genome is crucial given that mitochondria play important roles in tumorigenesis.
As society has progressed, the annals of human history have been recorded through text, art, and oral tradition. However, for hundreds of years tropical forests have also kept detailed records of the human activities that unfolded around them. In a Review published February 6 in the journal Trends in Plant Science, researchers describe how the rings, physical chemistry, and DNA of living tropical trees reveal the impacts of native culture as well as the scars of colonial occupation.
Most cells in the tissues of most organisms proliferate through somatic cell division (mitosis). This is a continuous cycle where a single cell doubles its genetic information (chromosomes) and divides equally to create two copies of the original cell. In contrast, germ (egg and sperm) cells are produced through a special type of cell division called meiosis, which takes place in the gonads. This process begins like normal mitosis but switches after some time to create four genetically dissimilar germ cells that have half the original cell's genetic material.
In a new article published in Trends in Plant Science, an international team of scientists presents the combined use of dendrochronology, radiocarbon dating and isotopic and genetic analysis as a means of investigating the effects of human activities on forest disturbances and the growth dynamics of tropical tree species.
NEW YORK -- The protein tau has long been implicated in Alzheimer's and a host of other debilitating brain diseases. But scientists have struggled to understand exactly how tau converts from its normal, functional form into a misfolded, harmful one. Now, researchers at Columbia University's Zuckerman Institute and Mayo Clinic in Florida have used cutting-edge technologies to see tau in unprecedented detail. By analyzing brain tissue from patients, this research team has revealed that modifications to the tau protein may influence the different ways it can misfold in a person's brain cells.
DURHAM, N.C. -- Biomedical engineers at Duke University have developed the most advanced disease model for blood vessels to date and used it to discover a unique role of the endothelium in Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome. Called progeria for short, the devastating and extremely rare genetic disease causes symptoms resembling accelerated aging in children.
ANN ARBOR, Michigan -- Women with early stage breast cancer who test positive for an inherited genetic variant are not always receiving cancer treatment that follows current guidelines, a new study finds.
An inherited gene can increase risk of developing a second breast cancer, so strategies such as removing a woman's breasts or ovaries are intended to prevent a future cancer. But women who have already been diagnosed with breast cancer must also consider how best to treat the existing tumor.
In mammalian adult brains, neural stem cells are only present in few specific parts, so called niches. Only these niches are capable of generating new neurons. For the first time, researchers defined the proteome of these niches, the entire set of expressed proteins, and compared it to other regions of the brain. The findings help to identify key regulators for neurogenesis, an important step towards activating neurogenesis after brain injuries.
Humanity's greatest risk: Cascading impacts of climate, biodiversity, food, water crises: scientists
The greatest threat to humanity hides in the potential cascading of impacts of five highly-related, highly-likely risks -- a collision that can amplify these effects catastrophically, according to a new survey of 222 leading scientists from 52 countries.
When illuminated by electromagnetic waves, subwavelength-scale particles of metasurface can couple the incident energy to free space with controllable amplitude, phase and polarizations, such that the transmitted wave can be manipulated flexibly with predesigned functionalities. In recent years, rapid developments of digital and information metasurfaces have stimulated many information processing applications, such as computational imaging, wireless communications, and performing mathematical operations.