Body

For the first time, the complete genomes of three populations of aye-ayes--a type of lemur--have been sequenced and analyzed.

The results of the genome-sequence analyses are published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The research was led by George Perry, an anthropologist and biologist at Penn State University; Webb Miller, a biologist and computer scientist and engineer at Penn State; and Edward Louis of the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in Omaha, Neb., and Director of the Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership.

Bringing scientists a step closer to new treatments for diabetes, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and The Mount Sinai Medical Center have discovered a novel mechanism that regulates the replication of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. The findings were recently published online ahead of print in Diabetes, a journal of the American Diabetes Association.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Childhood and adolescent obesity rates in the United States have increased dramatically in the past three decades. Being obese puts individuals at greater risk for developing Type 2 diabetes, a disease in which individuals have too much sugar in their blood. Now, University of Missouri researchers found vitamin D supplements can help obese children and teens control their blood-sugar levels, which may help them stave off the disease.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – New research explains how certain traits can pass down from one generation to the next – at least in plants – without following the accepted rules of genetics.

Scientists have shown that an enzyme in corn responsible for reading information from DNA can prompt unexpected changes in gene activity – an example of epigenetics.

The welfare of poultry could be improved by a discovery about how chickens regulate their appetites.

Scientists have identified how a chicken's genetic make-up can affect the signals sent from its stomach to its brain that tell a chicken when it has had enough to eat.

Poultry farmers often have to restrict food for chickens because some birds are insensitive to feelings of fullness and can overeat, affecting their ability to reproduce.

The study could make it easier to develop methods to develop diets that reduce excess growth more naturally in these birds.

A new study looking at the potential health benefits of organic versus non-organic food found that fruit flies fed an organic diet recorded better health outcomes than flies fed a nonorganic diet.

The study from the lab of SMU biologist Johannes H. Bauer, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, found that fruit flies raised on diets of organic foods performed better on several tests for general health.

DETROIT – In a nationwide study of patients undergoing surgery for cancer, Henry Ford Hospital researchers have found that while infections during hospital stays increased during a 10-year period, the death rate from those infections dropped.

The findings suggest that diagnosis and management of healthcare-associated infection, or HAI, have improved over time.

The study appears in the current issue of the journal Cancer.

Solar cells are just like leaves, capturing the sunlight and turning it into energy. It's fitting that they can now be made partially from trees.

Georgia Institute of Technology and Purdue University researchers have developed efficient solar cells using natural substrates derived from plants such as trees. Just as importantly, by fabricating them on cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) substrates, the solar cells can be quickly recycled in water at the end of their lifecycle.

BOSTON (March 26, 2013) — As public health authorities across the globe grapple with the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, Tufts University School of Medicine microbiologists and colleagues have identified the unique resistance mechanisms of a clinical isolate of E. coli resistant to carbapenems. Carbapenems are a class of antibiotics used as a last resort for the treatment of disease-causing bacteria, including E. coli and Klebsiella pneumonia, which can cause serious illness and even death.

Charlottesville, VA (March 26, 2013). Researchers at the University of Virginia (UVA) Health System recommend radiosurgery for treating unruptured arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), because the procedure has a reasonable benefit-to-risk profile. They base this recommendation on an evaluation of clinical and radiographic outcomes in 444 patients treated with radiosurgery for unruptured AVMs at their institution. Detailed findings in this single-institution patient cohort are reported and discussed in "Radiosurgery for patients with unruptured intracranial arteriovenous malformations.

Previous research has shown that obesity runs in families, and twin studies suggest that this is largely due to genetic factors, with heritability estimates over 50%. 32 genes have been identified as risk factors for obesity but previous analyses suggest that these genes alone cannot fully explain the high level of heritability in childhood obesity, as together they explain only 2% of individual differences in childhood body weight. This has led to a problem of 'missing heritability'.

March 25, 2013, Shenzhen, China – The advanced online publication version of Nature today presents two manuscripts that provide an unprecedented glimpse into the adaptation and domestication of wheat. These achievements are the results of joint efforts led by the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (IGDB), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), and BGI.

JUPITER, FL, March 25, 2013 – Using a broad spectrum of analytical tools, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have uncovered a class of novel compounds that can alter cell signaling activity, resulting in a variety of responses including a strong anti-inflammatory effect. These findings could lead to new strategies for treating diseases such as breast cancer.

Viewed from the outside, our body looks completely symmetrical. However, most internal organs – including the heart – are formed asymmetrically. The right side of the heart is responsible for pulmonary circulation; the left side supplies the rest of the body. This asymmetry allows the heart to do its job effectively. In a study on zebrafish embryos, the researchers Dr. Justus Veerkamp and PD Dr. Salim Seyfried from the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch have now shown how the left and right sides of the heart develop differently.

NEW YORK (March 25, 2013) -- Humans don't "own" their own genes, the cellular chemicals that define who they are and what diseases they might be at risk for. Through more than 40,000 patents on DNA molecules, companies have essentially claimed the entire human genome for profit, report two researchers who analyzed the patents on human DNA. Their study, published March 25 in the journal Genome Medicine, raises an alarm about the loss of individual "genomic liberty."