Body

September 26, 2012, Shenzhen, China – BGI announces the online publication in the international journal Nature of a novel metagenomic study on human gut microbiota and their potential impact on type 2 diabetes (T2D), the most common form of diabetes. This work lays an important foundation for comprehensively understanding the genetic characteristics of gut microbiota and their relationship to T2D risk, as well as providing a new way of classifying microbes detected by DNA sequence.

A research team led by investigators at New York University and NYU School of Medicine has determined how cells that cause inflammatory ailments, such as Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis, and arthritis, differentiate from stem cells and ultimately affect the clinical outcome of these diseases.

Exposure to school-age children raises the odds that a person with lung disease who catches a cold will actually suffer symptoms like a runny nose, sore throat and cough, according to a study just published in the Journal of Clinical Virology.

DETROIT– While more men than women develop kidney stones and other obstructions in the urinary tract, women are more than twice as likely to suffer infections related to the condition, according to a new study led by Henry Ford Hospital researchers.

The researchers also found significantly higher rates of complications following one of two urgent treatments for the effects of urolithiasis – or stones in the kidneys and urinary tract – but stressed that this finding is based on preliminary and more research is needed.

DNA extracted from the skins of koalas displayed in European and North American museums shows that a retrovirus has been a problem for the animals for much longer than was thought, according to Alfred Roca, an assistant professor of animal sciences at the University of Illinois, and Alex Greenwood of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (LZW) in Berlin.

New research showing how the HIV virus targets "veterans" or memory T-cells could change how drugs are used to stop the virus, according to new research by George Mason University.

The research will appear in the Journal of Biological Chemistry's October edition and currently is available online.

"It's a big breakthrough for us," says Yuntao Wu, an author of the study and professor at the Mason-based National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases. "I think this will impact the field."

A recent study in The Journal of General Physiology characterizes the movement of rhodopsin, a GPCR and member of a large family of transmembrane receptors responsible for many cellular responses and involved in many human diseases.

CFTR is an important protein that, when mutated, causes the life-threatening genetic disease cystic fibrosis. A study in The Journal of General Physiology (JGP) details how an accidental discovery has provided new understanding about CFTR functionality.

DURHAM, N.C. – The structures of key bacterial proteins have revealed one of the biochemical secrets that enables bacteria to outwit antibiotics.

The process for preparing frozen, par-fried potato strips — distributed to some food outlets for making french fries — can influence the formation of acrylamide in the fries that people eat, a new study has found. Published in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the study identifies potential ways of reducing levels of acrylamide, which the National Toxicology Program and the International Agency for Research on Cancer regard as a "probable human carcinogen."

Philadelphia, Pa. (September 26, 2012) – Same-sex partners and inconsistent condom use were among the major risk factors for HIV infection among U.S. Navy and Marines personnel during the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) era, reports a study in the October 1 issue of JAIDS: Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Researchers at Kansas State University have developed a simple blood test that can accurately detect the beginning stages of cancer.

In less than an hour, the test can detect breast cancer and non-small lung cancer -- the most common type of lung cancer -- before symptoms like coughing and weight loss start. The researchers anticipate testing for the early stages of pancreatic cancer shortly.

Over millions of years, biological organisms – from the chameleon and cuttlefish to the octopus and squid – have developed color-changing abilities for adaptive concealment (e.g., camouflage) and communication signaling (e.g., warning or mating cues).

Over the past two decades, humans have begun to develop sophisticated e-Paper technology in electronic devices that reflect and draw upon the ambient light around you to create multiple colors, contrast and diffusion to communicate text and images.

Jewish women who were severely exposed to hunger during World War Two were five times more likely to develop breast cancer than women who were mildly exposed, according to research in the October issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice.

The study also found that women who were up to seven-years-old during that period had a three times higher risk of developing breast cancer than women who were aged 14 years or over.

Ants that are held as slaves in nests of other ant species damage their oppressors through acts of sabotage. Ant researcher Professor Dr. Susanne Foitzik of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) in Germany first observed this "slave rebellion" phenomenon in 2009. According to the latest findings, however, this behavior now appears to be a widespread characteristic that is not limited to isolated occurrences. In fact, in three different populations in the U.S.