Body

DURHAM, N.C. -- Max Scherzer leads Major League Baseball in wins. As a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, he hasn't lost a game this season.

His 6-foot, 3-inch frame is a telling example of constructal-law theory, said Duke University engineer Adrian Bejan. The theory predicts that elite pitchers will continue to be taller and thus throw faster and seems also to apply to athletes who compete in golf, hockey and boxing.

Cold Spring Harbor, NY – Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly and intractable forms of cancer, with a 5-year survival rate of only 6%. Novel therapies are urgently needed, as conventional and targeted approaches have not been successful and drug resistance is an increasing problem.

Previously it had been thought that poor penetration of the drugs into pancreas tumors was the main reason for treatment failure. But now a team of scientists led by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Professor David Tuveson M.D., Ph.D., shows there are other factors at work, too.

University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers have discovered that hydrogen sulfide — the pungent-smelling gas produced by rotten eggs — is a key player in colon cancer metabolism, and a potential target for therapies for the disease.

In a paper now online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the UTMB scientists describe cell-culture and mouse experiments demonstrating that colon cancer cells produce large amounts of hydrogen sulfide, and depend on the compound for survival and growth.

Corals may let certain bacteria get under its skin, according to a new study by researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and soon to be published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. The study offers the first direct evidence that Stylophora pistillata, a species of reef-building coral found throughout the Indian and west Pacific Oceans, harbors bacterial denizens deep within its tissues.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The tyrosine kinase MerTK plays a prominent role in the body's immune response. MerTK signaling helps "calm" the body's first line of immunity, the macrophage, while it performs the routine duties - clearing cells that die and healing damaged tissue.

CINCINNATI -- Scientists have successfully targeted a malfunctioning immune system enzyme to kill diseased cells from patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) -- a blood disorder and precursor to leukemia.

Reporting their results July 8 in Cancer Cell, researchers say their successful laboratory tests in human MDS cells and mouse models of MDS provide a molecular target for designing new drugs to battle a syndrome with few effective treatments.

Macrophages are white blood cells that help prevent and alert the immune system to the threat of a pathogenic infection. Interestingly, macrophages are present in the uterus and ovaries at the time of conception.

In the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Sarah Robertson and colleagues at the University of Adelaide investigated the role of macrophages in early pregnancy. The team utilized a mouse model in which macrophages could be depleted immediately after embryo implantation.

Macrophages are white blood cells that help prevent and alert the immune system to the threat of a pathogenic infection. Interestingly, macrophages are present in the uterus and ovaries at the time of conception. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Sarah Robertson and colleagues at the University of Adelaide investigated the role of macrophages in early pregnancy. The team utilized a mouse model in which macrophages could be depleted immediately after embryo implantation. They found that without macrophages, embryos were unable to implant in the uterus.

The number of tumor-associated immune cells is correlated with poor prognosis in cancer patients. Reducing these cells in mouse models of breast cancer reduces tumor metastasis, indicating that tumor-immune interactions are critical for cancer progression. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Shelley Earp and colleagues at the University of North Carolina a Chapel Hill demonstrate that removal of the protein MerTK from immune cells decreased tumor growth in mouse models of breast cancer, melanoma, and colon cancer.

Two drugs, telmisartan and valsartan, which are used to reduce blood pressure in people with diabetes, are associated with a lower risk of hospitalization for heart attack, stroke or heart failure, according to a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Researchers have discovered the genetic processes that cause specific types of bowel cancer. Using this knowledge, they identified cancer drugs that target these genes. Their findings offer the opportunity to develop personalised treatment based on a person's genetic profile.

Professor Visvader said there was a need to improve treatments for luminal B breast cancers, which are a more aggressive type of ER-positive breast cancer, associated with a poorer prognosis. In the study, the researchers used preclinical models of breast tumour samples donated by Melbourne women undergoing cancer surgery to understand how real human cancers would respond to the treatment.

New research from the University of Adelaide shows for the first time that immune cells known as macrophages are critical to fertility by creating a healthy hormone environment in the uterus.

Laboratory studies led by researchers in the University's Robinson Institute have shown that macrophages play an essential role in production of the hormone progesterone, which is crucial for embryo implantation and the initiation of pregnancy.

A 10-year study of Chesapeake Bay fishes by researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science provides the first quantitative evidence on a bay-wide scale that low-oxygen "dead zones" are impacting the distribution and abundance of "demersal" fishes—those that live and feed near the Bay bottom.

The affected species—which include Atlantic croaker, white perch, spot, striped bass, and summer flounder—are a key part of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem and support important commercial and recreational fisheries.

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- In the global war against disease-carrying mosquitoes, scientists have long believed that a single molecular door was the key target for insecticide. This door, however, is closing, giving mosquitoes the upper hand.

In this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of researchers led by Michigan State University has discovered a second gateway that could turn the tide against the mosquitoes' growing advantage.