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Experimental drug combination selectively destroys lymphoma cells

Laboratory experiments conducted by scientists at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center suggest that a novel combination of the drugs ibrutinib and bortezomib could potentially be an effective new therapy for several forms of blood cancer, including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

No clear evidence more gluten in new wheat is responsible for increase in celiac disease

No clear evidence exists to support the idea that celiac disease is increasing in prevalence because farmers are growing strains of wheat that contain more gluten. That's the conclusion of an article in the ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

When talk is free: The effects of pricing plans on consumer demand

NEW YORK February 6, 2012 From banks to telecom providers, various industries are moving to pricing plans that offer a certain amount of "free" service. Bank customers are allowed a certain number of free ATM withdrawals each month, and cell phone users receive free minutes. These three-part plans — which also include a regular (usually monthly) access fee as well as a usage fee if the customer exceeds the free allotment — are replacing older two-part plans that charged an access fee and a usage price for every unit of consumption.

ZooKeys opens the gates to America's moth diversity

Since its inception in 2009, the "Contributions to the systematics of New World macro-moths" series in ZooKeys has been playing an important role in publishing taxonomic changes and new discoveries concerning moth diversity in North America.

Study identifies skiers who can be successfully treated without surgery after an ACL tear

Roughly a quarter of recreational skiers who tear their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) while hitting the slopes can be successfully treated without surgery, according to a new study. The study, conducted by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, appears online ahead of print in the journal Knee Surgery Sports Traumatology Arthroscopy.

Study of a rare disease making people look like a woman but having male genitals under study

University of Granada researchers have designed a guideline for physicians and patients on the Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS), a rare disease that makes the subject develop reverse sex, which occurs when a subject looks like a woman but has male genes.

Being overweight linked to higher risk of gum disease

CHICAGO (Feb. 6, 2013)—Impacting approximately one-third of the U.S. population, obesity is a significant health concern for Americans. It's a risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and certain forms of cancer, and now, according to an article published in the January/February 2013 issue of General Dentistry, the peer-reviewed clinical journal of the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD), it also may be a risk factor for gum disease.

Learning from the linker

Mature cells can be reprogrammed to pluripotency and thus regain the ability to divide and differentiate into specialized cell types. Although these so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) represent a milestone in stem cell research, many of the biochemical processes that underlie reprogramming are still not understood. Scientists from the EMBL Hamburg and from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Münster, Germany now shed new light on this process.

Biocontrol research on Brazilian peppertree in Florida discovers new cryptic species

Dr Michael Pogue, a Research Entomologist in the ARS Systematic Entomology Laboratory, at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, was sent a series of moth specimens from Bahia, Brazil, for identification. The insects were under consideration as a possible biocontrol agent for the invasive Brazilian peppertree in Florida.

Pest uses plant hairs for protection

Everyone needs to eat. But it's a dog-eat-dog world, and with the exception of the top predators, everyone also gets eaten. To cope with this vicious reality, a tiny insect that eats plants has learned to employ the plant's hairs for physical protection from its beetle predator.

Environmental factors determine whether immigrants are accepted by cooperatively breeding animals

Cichlid fish are more likely to accept immigrants into their group when they are under threat from predators and need reinforcements, new research shows. The researcher suggests that there are parallels between cooperatively breeding fish's and humans' regulation of immigrants. The research was published today, 6 February 2013, in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Nothing fishy about swimming with same-sized mates

Have you ever wondered why, and how, shoals of fish are comprised of fish of the same size? According to new research by Ashley Ward, from the University of Sydney in Australia, and Suzanne Currie, from Mount Allison University in Canada, fish can use a variety of different sensory cues to locate shoal-mates, but they are able to use chemical cues to find other fish of the same size as themselves. Using these cues, they can form a group with strength in numbers. The work is published online in Springer's journal, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

Air pollution primes children for asthma-related cockroach allergy

An allergic reaction to cockroaches is a major contributor to asthma in urban children, but new research suggests that the insects are just one part of a more complex story. Very early exposure to certain components of air pollution can increase the risk of developing a cockroach allergy by age 7 and children with a common mutation in a gene called GSTM may be especially vulnerable.

Maternal exposure to outdoor air pollution associated with low birth weights worldwide

Mothers who are exposed to particulate air pollution of the type emitted by vehicles, urban heating and coal power plants are significantly more likely to bear children of low birth weight, according to an international study led by co-principal investigator Tracey J. Woodruff, PhD, MPH, professor of obstetrics and gynecology and reproductive sciences at UC San Francisco along with Jennifer Parker, PhD, of the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pirate-like flies connect symbiosis to diversity

After a year of studying up close the symbiotic relationship between a mosquito-sized bug and a fungus, a Simon Fraser University biologist has advanced the scientific understanding of biological diversity.

Jeffrey Joy has discovered that symbiosis — a relationship between two or more organisms that can be parasitic or mutualistic — is as much the mother of biological diversity as predation and competition.