Body

Baltimore, MD – July 19, 2011. Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have discovered a novel interaction between two proteins involved in regulating cell growth that could provide possible new drug targets for treating diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the most common type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Durham, NC — The shape of a hummingbird's beak allows for a "controlled elastic snap" that allows it to snatch up flying insects in a mere fraction of a second —with greater speed and power than could be achieved by jaw muscles alone, says a new study in a forthcoming issue of Journal of Theoretical Biology.

Hummingbird beaks are built to feed on flowers, but hummingbirds can't live on nectar alone. To get enough protein and nutrients they need to eat small insects too, said co-author Gregor Yanega of the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in Durham, North Carolina.

Vigorous sports activities, like basketball, during childhood and adolescence can cause abnormal development of the femur in young athletes, resulting in a deformed hip with reduced rotation and pain during movement. This may explain why athletes are more likely to develop osteoarthritis than more sedentary individuals, according to Dr. Klaus Siebenrock, from the University of Bern in Switzerland, and colleagues, whose work is published online in Springer's journal Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research.

FRANKFURT. Only one in twenty cancer drugs makes its way from the laboratory to become an approved pharmaceutical product. The majority of new agents are only shown to be unsuitable in the later phases of clinical development which would explain the exorbitantly high development costs of 500 to 600 million euros per new cancer drug. In order to recognize at an earlier stage which side effects are associated with the use of new cancer drugs, a research group under the guidance of the Goethe University has developed a new mouse model.

Jerusalem, July 19, 2011 - Scientists from the Hebrew University have identified the molecular basis for DNA breakage, a hallmark of cancer cells. The findings of this research have just been published in the journal Molecular Cell.

The DNA encodes the entire genetic information required for building the proteins of the cell. Hence, DNA breaks disrupt the proteins and lead to changes in the cell function. These changes can lead to defects in the control of cellular proliferation resulting in cancer development.

Jerusalem, July 19, 2011 -- How is it that a disc-like cluster of cells transforms within the first month of pregnancy into an elongated embryo? This mechanism is a mystery that man has tried to unravel for millennia.

The first significant step towards understanding the issue was made nearly a century ago in experiments conducted by the German embryologists Hans Spemann and Hilde Mangold. The two used early newt embryos and identified a group of cells within them which, upon transplantation, formed a two-headed tadpole.

A group of French scientists (from the Unit of Research on Nutritional Epidemiology, French National Institute for Agricultural Research, Bobigny, France; the French Institute for Prevention and Health Education, St. Denis, France; and the French National Cancer Institute) have published a paper in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) on guidelines for drinking and the relation of alcohol to cancer. They conclude that:

The 2011 MAK and BAT Values List compiled by the Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area, a Senate Commission of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), recommends reducing the general threshold limit value for dust for the alveolar fraction in light of recent studies and classifies such dusts as carcinogenic when these thresholds are exceeded. In addition, classifications for uranium and its inorganic compounds are now available.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A new study by researchers from Rhode Island Hospital has found that stress testing with myocardial perfusion imaging as part of a pre-operative workup for bariatric surgery candidates may be unnecessary. The research is published in the Journal of Nuclear Cardiology, and is now available online in advance of print.

A new Baylor University study has found that some bird species in the desert southwest are less affected, and in some cases positively influenced, by widespread fire through their habitat. In fact, the Baylor researchers say that fire actually helps some bird species because of the habitat that is formed after a fire is positive for the bird's prey needs.

Tuesday, 19 July, 2011 (Rome, Italy) -- Researchers speaking in the second plenary session of the 6th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2011) have today provided insights into the future direction of HIV/AIDS policy making and alerted delegates to the challenges that developing countries continue to face in the delivery of large- scale antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage.

Researchers of the University of Granada and Edimbourgh have developed a new therapy for cancer based on nanotechnology that might improve significantly chemotherapy, as it has not cause side effects.

Populations of spur-thighed tortoises (Testudo graeca), a species classified as vulnerable and at risk of extinction, can withstand fires if outbreaks occur once every three decades or more. However, the youngest tortoises are more vulnerable, and disappear after each fire. These are the results of a study by Spanish researchers, who analysed the impact of a 2004 forest fire in the Sierra de la Carrasquilla mountains in Murcia (Spain) on these reptiles.

Recent botanical exploration efforts in the rugged Marquesas Islands (French Polynesia) have increased the known flora of the archipelago by an impressive 20%. Field research and collecting in conjunction with the Vascular Flora of the Marquesas Islands and Flore de la Polynesie française projects have yielded 62 new species of ferns and flowering plants bringing the total native species to 360, of which 18 are newly described and illustrated in a special issue of PhytoKeys.

SEATTLE, WA — Birth control pills may reduce a woman's bone density, according to a study published online July 13 in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism by Group Health Research Institute (GHRI) scientists. Impacts on bone were small, depended on the woman's age and the pill's hormone dose, and did not appear until about two years of use. The study size and design allowed the researchers to focus on 14- to 18-year-old teenagers, and to look at how bone density might change when a woman stops using the pill.