Body

Lugano-CH, Brussels-BE, 2 May 2013 -- A test that measures the expression levels of 58 genes in oestrogen receptor-positive breast cancers can effectively differentiate between patients who are at higher and lower risk for having their cancer recur elsewhere in the body more than five years after diagnosis, researchers report.

The new findings show that better individual risk prediction for women with these cancers is getting nearer, says study author Prof Michael Gnant from the Medical University of Vienna, Austria.

BETHESDA, MD, MAY 2, 2013—Progress in American scientific research and reform in American immigration law must go hand in hand, the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) declared today in a position paper that outlines four recommendations for modernizing U.S. immigration policy.

Researchers have discovered the mechanism behind one of the Ebola virus' most dangerous attributes: its ability to disarm the adaptive immune system.

University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston scientists determined that Ebola short-circuits the immune system using proteins that work together to shut down cellular signaling related to interferon. Disruption of this activity, the researchers found, allows Ebola to prevent the full development of dendritic cells that would otherwise trigger an immune response to the virus.

HOUSTON – (May 2, 2013) – Stem cells drawn from amniotic fluid show promise for tissue engineering, but it's important to know what they can and cannot do. A new study by researchers at Rice University and Texas Children's Hospital has shown that these stem cells can communicate with mature heart cells and form electrical couplings with each other similar to those found in heart tissue. But these electrical connections alone do not prompt amniotic cells to become cardiac cells.

TORONTO, May 2, 2013—Prompt use of an automated external defibrillator, or AED, can greatly increase the survival rates of people who suffer a cardiac arrest.

Yet a new study has found that publicly registered AEDs in Toronto are not in the best positions to help victims of cardiac arrest. In fact, less than one in four of all cardiac arrests had an AED close by (within 100 metres is the required distance). The average distance to the nearest AED was closer to 300 meters.

Professor of Biochemistry Emad Tajkhorshid and colleagues have discovered that membrane transporters help not just sugars and other specific substrates cross from one side of a cellular membrane to the other—water also comes along for the ride.

HOUSTON – (May 2, 2013) – In an age where cybersecurity is of foremost interest for governments and businesses, public and private organizations must deploy risk-intelligence governance to secure their digital communications and resources from eavesdropping, theft or attack, according to a new paper from Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Researchers at the Epigenetics and Cancer Biology Program at IDIBELL led by Manel Esteller, ICREA researcher and professor of genetics at the University of Barcelona, have described alterations in noncoding long chain RNA sequences (lncRNA) in Rett syndrome.

These molecules act as supervisor agents responsible of 'switch on' or 'switch off' other genes in our genome that regulate the activity of neurons. The work has been published in the last issue of the journal RNA Biology.

Dark genome

TORONTO: Prompt use of an automated external defibrillator, or AED, can greatly increase the survival rates of people who suffer a cardiac arrest. And MIE Professor Tim Chan, working with Dr. Laurie Morrison at St. Michael's Hospital, has developed a formula to determine where best to place these costly but life-saving devices.

More than one-third of adults in the United States are obese, and some of these individuals undergo gastric bypass surgery to shed the extra pounds. A genome-wide association study published by Cell Press May 2nd in The American Journal of Human Genetics reveals that the amount of weight loss after this surgery can be predicted in part by a DNA sequence variation found on chromosome 15. The findings explain why the success of gastric bypass surgery varies so widely and could help clinicians identify those who would benefit the most from this type of surgery.

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have identified a gene variant that helps predict how much weight an individual will lose after gastric bypass surgery, a finding with the potential both to guide treatment planning and to facilitate the development of new therapeutic approaches to treating obesity and related conditions like diabetes. The report receiving advance online publication in The American Journal of Human Genetics is the first to identify genetic predictors of weight loss after bariatric surgery.

DURHAM, N.C. -- People have long taken for granted that glasses and contact lenses improve vision for nearsightedness, but the genetic factors behind the common condition have remained blurry. Now researchers at Duke Medicine are closer to clearing this up.

Mutations in a gene that helps regulate copper and oxygen levels in eye tissue are associated with a severe form of nearsightedness, according to a study published in the American Journal of Human Genetics on May 2, 2013.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (May 2, 2013) – Whitehead Institute Founding Member Rudolf Jaenisch, who helped transform the study of genetics by creating the first transgenic mouse in 1974, is again revolutionizing how genetically altered animal models are created and perhaps even redefining what species may serve as models.

Scientists have made a fundamental discovery about how the properties of embryonic stem cells are controlled.

The study, which focuses on the process by which these cells renew and increase in number, could help research to find new treatments.

Researchers have found that a protein, which switches on genes to allow embryonic stem cells to self-renew, works better when the natural occurring level of the protein is reduced.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The HPV vaccine can prevent both cervical cancer and a nasty sexually transmitted disease in women. But emphasizing the STD prevention will persuade more young women to get the vaccine, a new study suggests.

These results go against the conventional wisdom that scaring women about the possibility of cancer is the best way to get them vaccinated.