Body

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It has been known for its flavorful addition to soups and as a delicacy for dogs but bone marrow fat may also have untapped health benefits, new research finds.

A University of Michigan-led study shows that the fat tissue in bone marrow is a significant source of the hormone adiponectin, which helps maintain insulin sensitivity, break down fat, and has been linked to decreased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity-associated cancers. The findings appear in today's online-ahead-of-print issue of Cell Metabolism.

A research team from The University of Nottingham has carried out the first molecular characterisation of the African elephant's adipose tissue — body fat. This new information will form the basis of future studies aimed at securing the health and future survival of captive elephants.

Millions of microbial species populate the world, but so far only a few have been identified due to the inability of most microbes to grow in the laboratory. Edgar Goluch, an engineer, and Slava Epstein, a biologist, aim to change this. The pair, both researchers at Northeastern University, has developed a device that allows scientists to cultivate a single species of bacteria that can then be studied and identified.

Growing plants in a microscope is helping scientists to view roots developing in 3D and in real time. "With the growth conditions under our control, we can explore how roots respond to different environmental conditions", says Professor Ernst Stelzer (Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main, Germany). "This could help plant breeders to select crops which are more resistant to drought or flooding."

AURORA, Colo. (July 3, 2014) – Physicians from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in collaboration with an international team of researchers have demonstrated that screening of genetically susceptible infants can lead to the diagnosis of celiac disease at a very early age.

Every organism has one aim: to survive. Its body cells all work in concert to keep it alive. They do so through finely tuned means of communication. Together with cooperation partners from Berlin and Cambridge, scientists at the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) of the University of Luxembourg have now successfully revealed for the first time the laws by which cells translate signals from their surroundings into internal signals. Like an isolated note in a symphony orchestra, an isolated signal in the cell is of subordinate importance.

How nutrients are metabolised and how neurons communicate in the brain are just some of the messages coded by the 3 billion letters that make up the human genome. The detection and characterisation of the genes present in this mass of information is a complex task that has been a source of ongoing debate since the first systematic attempts by the Human Genome Project more than ten years ago.

Persons with reduced levels of the TREM2 protein could be at greater risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease or frontotemporal dementia, according to an international study which included the participation of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Sant Pau Biomedical Research Institute (IIB Sant Pau).

A new paper by Dr. Jeremy Ross from the University of Oklahoma describes the use of tiny devices strapped to birds' backs called geolocators, which capture the individual migration routes of lark sparrows in North America. By sensing the light levels, these backpacks can pinpoint the location of a bird anywhere in the world, even if retrieving the data-logger can sometimes pose a major problem.

Researchers from the University of Cadiz have made an unprecedented discovery: they have shown that there are five large accumulations of plastic debris in the open oceans, coinciding with the five main ocean gyres in the surface waters of the ocean. As well as the well-known accumulation of plastic rubbish in the North Pacific, these experts have proven the existence of similar accumulations in the centre of the North Atlantic, the South Pacific, the South Atlantic and the Indian Oceans.

Under the tutelage of Junior Professor Dr Simon Ebbinghaus, researchers from Bochum have demonstrated that the water surrounding the dissolved substances inside the cell plays a crucial role with regard to protein stability, which has frequently been neglected in the past. The researchers have published the results of their study, gained by means of simple model systems and thermodynamic analyses, in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS). The results have been obtained following a collaboration under the umbrella of the Excellence Cluster RESOLV.

Researchers at the Royal Veterinary College have identified a highly specialised ligament structure that is thought to prevent giraffes' legs from collapsing under the immense weight of these animals."Giraffes are heavy animals (around 1000 kg), but have unusually skinny limb bones for an animal of this size" explained lead investigator Christ Basu, a PhD student in the Structure & Motion Lab.

Contrary to what was thought, sequences of DNA called enhancers – which control a gene's output – find their targets long before they are activated during embryonic development, scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, have found. Their study, published online today in Nature, also reveals that, surprisingly, the degree of complexity of enhancers' interactions in the 'simple' fruit fly Drosophila is comparable to what is seen in vertebrates.

Paleontologists of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich are currently studying a new specimen of Archaeopteryx, which reveals previously unknown features of the plumage. The initial findings shed light on the original function of feathers and their recruitment for flight.

Researchers from the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group, hosted at LSTM, conducted an independent review of the effects of adding a single dose of primaquine (PQ) to malaria treatment to prevent the transmission of the disease.