Body

A group of scientists, based primarily at Stanford University School of Medicine, have introduced ethnicity-specific reference genome sequences in a study to be published in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics on September 15th. Their utility was demonstrated in analyzing the genomes of a four-person family and following the flow of genes, in particular those associated with disease risk, from one generation to the next.

STANFORD, Calif. — Stanford University School of Medicine researchers have predicted the inherited health risks of a four-person family by analyzing their whole genome sequences. With the DNA sequences of both parents and children, the team was able to better check for sequencing errors and more accurately predict how individual genetic variants affect each family member's risk for disease.

Alcohol is known to be carcinogenic to humans in the upper aerodigestive tract, liver, colorectum, and the female breast. Evidence suggests that acetaldehyde, the primary metabolite of alcohol, plays a major role in alcohol-related esophageal cancer. A new study using human cells has established linkages between alcohol metabolism and acetaldehyde-DNA damage that may have implications for breast and liver cancers.

Results will be published in the December 2011 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.

Apples and pears may keep strokes away.

That's the conclusion of a Dutch study published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association in which researchers found that eating a lot of fruits and vegetables with white flesh may protect against stroke.

While previous studies have linked high consumption of fruits and vegetables with lower stroke risk, the researchers' prospective work is the first to examine associations of fruits and vegetable color groups with stroke.

CHICAGO – Ovarian cancer is a rare but often deadly disease that can strike at any time in a woman's life. It affects one in 70 women and in the past was referred to as a silent killer, but researchers have found there are symptoms associated with ovarian cancer that can assist in early detection. Experts at Northwestern Memorial say the best defense is to make use of preventive methods, understand the risks and recognize potential warning signs of ovarian cancer.

GALVESTON — Researchers have found that a protein linked to cell division and migration and tied to increased cell proliferation in ovarian tumors is also present at high levels in breast cancer specimens and cell lines. The protein, dubbed "UNC-45A," was also determined to be more active in breast cancer cells than in normal breast cells.

University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston scientists describe these findings and others in a paper now online in the Journal of Molecular Biology.

COLLEGE STATION, Sept. 15, 2011 – In the next 20 years, more than 590,000 square miles of land globally — more than twice the size of Texas — will be gobbled up by cities, a trend that shows no signs of stopping and one that could pose threats on several levels, says a Texas A&M University geographer who is part of a national team studying the problem.

Just as cell phones and computers transmit data through electronic networks, the cells of your body send and receive chemical messages through molecular pathways. The term "cell signaling" was coined more than 30 years ago to describe this process.

Now, for the first time, scientists have quantified the data capacity of a biochemical signaling pathway and found a surprise – it's way lower than even an old-fashioned, dial-up modem.

When Arctic ground squirrels are getting ready to hibernate they don't just get fat – they pack on muscle at a rate that would make a bodybuilder jealous. And they do it without suffering the harmful effects that high levels of testosterone and other anabolic steroids usually cause. University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) researchers have started to untangle how the squirrels manage it, and their results could someday have implications for human health.

The theory of plate tectonics is at the centre of our understanding of how the Earth works. It has been known for decades that new crust is formed at mid-ocean ridges and that this crust is subducted as plates dive underneath other plates in regions such as the Pacific Ring of Fire and descend into the Earth's mantle. What is not so well known is the fate of these subducted plates.

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have uncovered a previously unknown fail-safe (compensatory) pathway that potentially protects the brain and other organs from genetic and environmental threats. The discovery could provide new ways to diminish the negative consequences of genetic mutations and environmental toxins that cause neurological diseases and other maladies.

The findings are published in the Sept. 16 issue of the journal Molecular Cell.

MADISON — The genome of even a single organism is packed with information. A new paper, building on recent advances in sequencing capability, now reports the complete genomes of 17 different strains of mice, creating an unparalleled genetic resource that will aid studies ranging from human disease to evolution.

The phrase "no guts, no glory" doesn't just apply to athletes who are striving to excel.

Salmon and other fish predators take the adage literally, by having up to three times the "gut" capacity they need on a daily basis just so they can "glory" when prey is abundant, University of Washington researchers have discovered.

SAN FRANCISCO — Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute have begun to uncover how the virus that causes most Merkel cell carcinoma – a rare and aggressive skin cancer – operates, meaning that a rational chemotherapeutic target for this cancer could be developed in the near future.

SAN FRANCISCO — Researchers are investigating a potential treatment and noninvasive imaging modality for pancreatic cancer that shows promise, according to researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, N.Y., and Genelux Corporation in San Diego, Calif.