Body

UAlberta medical researchers and their American colleagues have discovered that the "gateway" known to control the movement of molecules in and out of a cell's nucleus appears to play another critically important role – one no one had noticed until now.

Geneva, Switzerland (07 March, 2013) – A new survey reveals that more than half of British women did not play competitive sport or spend any time on intensive workouts such as running or cycling, in a given week. Seven months on from the 2012 Olympics, British women are still less likely than their European counterparts to devote any time to competitive sport, with Britain trailing behind Germany, Denmark, Sweden and France, according to a new multi-national survey on sport and exercise habits.

Geneva, Switzerland (07 March, 2013) – A new survey reveals that 1 in 3 Danish women did not play competitive sport or spend any time on intensive workouts such as running or cycling, in a given week. However, more Danish women were physically active than their European counterparts in Germany, France, Sweden and the UK, according to a new multi-national survey on sport and exercise habits.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Weight loss study participants who received financial incentives were more likely to stick with a weight loss program and lost more weight than study participants who received no incentives, according to Mayo Clinic research that will be presented Saturday, March 9 at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session.

Scientists at A*STAR's Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) have developed a novel technique to precisely monitor and study the evolution of micro-organisms such as viruses and bacteria. This is an extremely important capability as it allows scientists to investigate if new drugs designed to kill them are working, and catch the development of resistance early on.

"We estimate that three percent of all premature deaths can be attributed to the high consumption of processed meat," summarizes Sabine Rohrmann from the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Zurich. Teaming up with research colleagues from ten countries, she has been studying the link between the consumption of processed meat and the risk of mortality as part of a Europe-wide study with around 450,000 participants.

Anyone whose hand or foot has "fallen asleep" has an idea of the numbness and tingling often experienced by people with peripheral nerve damage. The condition also can cause a range of other symptoms, including unrelenting pain, stinging, burning, itching and sensitivity to touch.

Although peripheral neuropathies afflict some 20 million Americans, their underlying causes are not completely understood. Much research has focused on the breakdown of cellular energy factories in nerve cells as a contributing factor.

A research team at the University of Guelph has developed a new line of transgenic "Enviropigs." The new line of pigs is called the Cassie line, and it is known for passing genes on more reliably. The results of this project were published ahead of print in the Journal of Animal Science.

Flu viruses are a major cause of death and sickness around the world, and antiviral drugs currently do not protect the most seriously ill patients. A study published March 7th by Cell Press in the journal Cell reveals that a compound derived from fats found in fish oils prevents death in influenza-virus-infected mice, even at advanced stages of disease. The study offers a promising strategy for the treatment of patients with severe influenza virus infections.

When animals like dogs or rats sniff one another, there might be more going on than you'd think. Research reported in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, on March 7th finds in rats that those sniffing behaviors communicate information about an individual's social status. In those encounters, more dominant rats act as primary sniffers, while subordinate sniffees actually slow their breath.

An Australian researcher has found the third and final missing piece in the genetic puzzle of an unusual form of hemophilia, more than 20 year after he discovered the first two pieces.

Professor Merlin Crossley, of the University of New South Wales, and his international team studied the blood-clotting disorder, hemophilia B Leyden, which is unusual because symptoms improve after puberty.

USC scientists have discovered how two different structural apparatuses collaborate to protect repetitive DNA when it is at its most vulnerable – while it is being unzipped for replication.

Using the technique that created Dolly the sheep, researchers from the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan have identified a way to produce healthy mouse clones that live a normal lifespan and can be sequentially cloned indefinitely.

Their study is published today in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

In an experiment that started in 2005, the team led by Dr. Teruhiko Wakayama has used a technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SNCT) to produce 581 clones of one original 'donor' mouse, through 25 consecutive rounds of cloning.

PHILADELPHIA – It happens to everyone: You stay up late one night to finish an assignment, and the next day, you're exhausted. Humans aren't unique in that; all animals need sleep, and if they don't get it, they must make it up.

The biological term for that pay-the-piper behavior is "sleep homeostasis," and now, thanks to a research team at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, one of the molecular players in this process has been identified – at least in nematode round worms.