Body

A female great tits' (Parus major) appearance is shown to signal healthy attributes in offspring in a paper in BioMed Central's open access journal Frontiers in Zoology. The black stripe across her breast and white patches on her cheeks correlate to a chick's weight at two weeks and immune strength respectively – though the former seems to signal a genetic benefit and the latter can affect an 'adopted' chick's health, suggesting nurture is involved.

Stem cells taken from amniotic fluid were used to restore gut structure and function following intestinal damage in rodents, in new research published in the journal Gut. The findings pave the way for a new form of cell therapy to reverse serious damage from inflammation in the intestines of babies.

Rapidly growing trees like poplars and willows are candidate "biofuel crops" from which it is expected that cellulosic ethanol and higher energy content fuels can be efficiently extracted. Domesticating these as crops requires a deep understanding of the physiology and genetics of trees, and scientists are turning to long-domesticated fruit trees for hints.

BOSTON—During the past 30 years, the number of patients with cancers that originate near the junction of the esophagus and stomach has increased approximately 600 percent in the United States.

HOUSTON -- A key building block of life, actin is one of the most abundant and highly conserved proteins in eukaryotic cells.

First discovered in muscle cells more than 70 years ago, actin has a well-established identity as a cytoplasmic protein that works by linking itself in chains to form filaments. Fibers formed by these actin polymers are crucial to muscle contraction.

So it came as a surprise when scientists discovered actin in the nucleus. Labs have been working for the past few decades to figure out exactly what it's doing there.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Every time a cell divides it makes a carbon copy of crucial ingredients, including the histone proteins that are responsible for spooling yards of DNA into tight little coils. When these spool-like proteins aren't made correctly, it can result in the genomic instability characteristic of most birth defects and cancers.

Assessing the risks and benefits of antibiotic use in a large cohort of patients consulting their physicians for respiratory infections, researchers find a small reduction in subsequent hospitalization for pneumonia and no increase in severe adverse drug reactions for those prescribed antibiotics.

CHICAGO, IL – Outcomes after surgery have always been difficult to determine. Now a new case study on more than 500 hip procedures highlights that complication rates may be even higher than previous reports, say researchers presenting at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's Specialty Day in Chicago, IL.

CHICAGO, IL – Research presented today at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's Specialty Day in Chicago, IL shows that biceps tenodesis surgery is safe and effective for individuals who suffer a SLAP (superior labral anterior posterior) tear of the shoulder. Patients examined had previously undergone unsuccessful arthroscopic repair for their injuries.

DETROIT – Nerve mapping technology allows surgeons to determine whether surgery has been effective for relieving pressure from compressed nerves, which often function poorly and cause sciatica or pain and weakness in muscles supplied by the nerve.

In a small study involving 42 patients at Henry Ford Hospital, lead author and orthopaedic surgeon Stephen Bartol, M.D., says that mechanomyography, or MMG, is effective with measuring nerve function and determining whether nerves are compressed.

For decades researchers have recorded sounds from whales and other marine mammals, using a variety of methods including passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) to better understand how these animals use sound to interact with each other and with the environment. Now, for the first time, researchers report using this technology to record spawning cod in the wild.

In August 2011, researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture were presented with a serious, and potentially very costly, puzzle in Kennewick, Wash. Since Kennewick lies within a region near the heart of Washington state's $1.5 billion apple-growing region, an annual survey of fruit trees is performed by the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) to look for any invading insects. This time the surveyors discovered a crabapple tree that had been infested by a fruit fly that they couldn't identify.

The notion that each gene can only codify for a single protein has been challenged for some years. Yet, the functional outcomes that may result from genes encoding more than one protein are still largely unknown.

An international study, involving researchers from Griffith University's Eskitis Institute, hasdiscovered a molecule which could form the basis of powerful new anti-malaria drugs.

Professor Vicky Avery from Griffith University's Eskitis Institute is co-author of the paper "Quinolone-3-Diarylethers: a new class of drugs for a new era of malaria eradication" which has been published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Your cells are social butterflies. They constantly interact with their surroundings, taking in cues on when to divide and where to anchor themselves, among other critical tasks.

This networking is driven in part by proteins called integrin, which reside in a cell's outer plasma membrane. Their job is to convert mechanical forces from outside the cell into internal chemical signals that tell the cell what to do. That is, when they work properly. When they misfire, integrins can cause diseases such as atherosclerosis and several types of cancer.