Body

ETH Zurich biologists, led by Professors Martin Ackermann and Wolf-Dietrich Hardt, in collaboration with Michael Doebeli of the University of British Colombia in Vancouver (CN), have been able to describe how random molecular processes during cell division allow some cells to engage in a self-destructive act to generate a greater common good, thereby improving the situation of the surviving siblings.

Survival strategy

Although post-reproductive life in humans is often associated with decline and a loss of powers, an analogous state in certain cells -- called senescence -- is proving to be one of ironic potency. Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) today reported that a particular class of senescent liver cells orchestrates a sequence of events in living mice that can limit fibrosis, a natural response of the liver to acute damage.

A bus stop that grows its own foliage as shade? A children's playground, made entirely from trees? A shelter made from living tree roots that could provide natural protection against earthquakes in California?

Human cells somehow squeeze two meters of double-stranded DNA into the space of a typical chromosome, a package 10,000 times smaller than the volume of genetic material it contains.

"It is like compacting your entire wardrobe into a shoebox," said Riccardo Levi-Setti, Professor Emeritus in Physics at the University of Chicago.

WASHINGTON -- The growing use of animal dietary supplements has raised several concerns, including the safety of specific supplements and the approaches taken to determine their safeness. A new National Research Council report, requested by the Center for Veterinary Medicine of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, assesses whether the addition of three dietary supplements -- lutein, evening primrose oil, and garlic -- to the diets of horses, dogs, or cats may cause significant adverse health effects.

Unusually high levels of physical exertion do cause oxidative stress, but this does not result in any long-term damage to DNA. This is just one of the many outcomes revealed by an extraordinary research project funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF that are now published. As part of this project, 42 male athletes took part both in a triathlon and an extensive biomedical study, which examined numerous physiological values parameters during the period from two days before to 19 days after the triathlon.

Researchers from the University of Hawaii, the Wildlife Conservation Society, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, National Marine Fisheries Service and Projecto Meros do Brazil discovered a new species of fish—a grouper that reaches more than six feet in length and can weigh nearly 1,000 pounds. This newly discovered species can be found roaming the tropical reefs of the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

Research carried out at the Peninsula Medical School in the South West of England has discovered that obesity in later life does not make a substantial difference to risks of death among older people but that it is a major contributor to increased disability in later life – creating a ticking time bomb for health services in developed countries.

The research is published in the August 2008 edition of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Some of the drugs given to many men during their fight against prostate cancer can actually spur some cancer cells to grow, researchers have found. The findings were published online this week in a pair of papers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

PHILADELPHIA—Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) isn't just for capturing detailed images of the body's anatomy. Thanks to novel imaging reagents and technology developed by Carnegie Mellon University scientist Eric Ahrens, MRI can be used to visualize — with "exquisite" specificity — cell populations of interest in the living body.

A new Chinese study has reported a dramatic spike in rabies infections. The research, published today in the open access journal BMC Infectious Diseases, shows that in some provinces of China the number of human rabies cases has jumped dramatically since the new millennium.

A famous Neolithic Iceman is dressed in clothes made from sheep and cattle hair, a new study shows. The researchers say their findings support the idea that the Iceman was a herdsman, and that their technique, reported today in the journal Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, has use in the modern clothing industry.

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ – August 20, 2008 – New phase 2 data published today in The Lancet show that the investigational oral drug PTC124 demonstrates activity in nonsense-mutation cystic fibrosis (CF). The data show that treatment with PTC124 results in statistically significant improvements in the chloride channel function of patients with nonsense-mutation CF. The study was conducted at the Hadassah Hebrew University Hospital in Jerusalem, Israel and sponsored by PTC Therapeutics (PTC).