Body

CORVALLIS, Ore. – According to a new study, there is no direct link between parents' own level of physical activity, and how much their child may exercise. In fact, parents' perceptions of their children's athleticism are what have a direct impact on the children's activity.

Taxanes, a group of cancer drugs that includes paclitaxel (Taxol®) and docetaxel (Taxotere®), have become front-line therapy for a variety of metastatic cancers. But as with many chemotherapy agents, resistance can develop, a frequent problem in breast, ovarian, prostate and other cancers. Now, cancer researchers at Children's Hospital Boston report a protein previously unknown to be involved in taxane resistance and that could potentially be targeted with drugs, making a cancer more susceptible to chemotherapy.

Contrary to prevailing wisdom, a new study from plant biologists at UC Davis shows that proteins of the Hsp70 family do indeed chaperone proteins across the membranes of chloroplasts, just as they do for other cellular structures.

The findings are published online in the January issue of the journal The Plant Cell.

One of the most crucial tasks in a living cell is to move things across membranes, both in and out of the cell and between different compartments inside.

SALT LAKE CITY – University of Utah researchers led an international team of scientists that is the first to report on the previously undescribed ability of platelets to reproduce themselves in the circulation. Their revolutionary findings were published online Jan. 19, 2010, in the journal Blood.

A recent case study by doctors at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York examined the ethical issues posed by transplant tourism, an offshoot of medical tourism, which focuses solely on transplantation surgery. Many American transplant professionals frown on the practice of transplant tourism where patients travel to countries such as China, India, and the Philippines for their transplantation. These transplant tourists may be subject to sub-standard surgical techniques, poor organ matching, unhealthy donors, and post transplant infections, prompting U.S.

Berkeley – Women with higher blood levels of PBDEs, a type of flame retardant commonly found in household consumer products, took longer to become pregnant compared with women who have lower PBDE levels, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

The study, to be published Jan. 26 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, found that each 10-fold increase in the blood concentration of four PBDE chemicals was linked to a 30 percent decrease in the odds of becoming pregnant each month.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — As scientists work to find new treatments for Pompe disease — the devastating genetic "villain" that drives the efforts of the main characters in the new film "Extraordinary Measures" — University of Florida researchers are hopeful that gene therapy will help patients in the late stages of the disease breathe on their own.

Clinical trials of a gene therapy for Pompe-related breathing problems in six infants are expected to begin at UF this summer.

Biodiversity in freshwater systems is impacted as much or more by environmental change than tropical rain forests, according to University of Oklahoma Professor Caryn Vaughn, who serves as director of the Oklahoma Biological Survey. "When we think about species becoming extinct, we don't necessarily think of the common species in freshwater systems, many of which are declining," says Vaughn.

Hamburg, 26 January 2010 – Cells rely on a range of signaling systems to communicate with each other and to control their own internal workings. Scientists from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Hamburg, Germany, have now found a way to hack into a vital communications system, raising the possibility of developing new drugs to tackle disorders like neurodegeneration, cancer and cardiovascular disease. In a study published today in Science Signaling, they have pieced together the first snapshot of what two of the system's components look like while interacting.

The same evolutionary genetic advantages that have helped increase human lifespans also make us uniquely susceptible to diseases of aging such as cancer, heart disease and dementia, reveals a study to be published in a special PNAS collection on "Evolution in Health and Medicine" on Tuesday, Jan. 26.

By as early as 7 years of age, being obese may raise a child's risk of future heart disease and stroke, even in the absence of other cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

According to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), women taking commonly used forms of antidepressant drugs may experience delayed lactation after giving birth and may need additional support to achieve their breastfeeding goals.

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Preoperative computed tomography (CT) may help reduce unnecessary surgeries in women of reproductive age with suspected acute appendicitis, according to a new study appearing in the February issue of the journal Radiology.

Scientists at the Babraham Institute have discovered a novel survival factor whose rapid transport along nerve cells is crucial for keeping them alive. The same factor seems likely to be needed to keep our nerves healthy as we age. These findings, published today in the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology, show that a molecule known as Nmnat2 provides a protective function; in its absence healthy, uninjured nerve cells start to degenerate and boosting levels of Nmnat2 can delay degeneration when the cells are injured.

DURHAM, N.C. – Scientists at Duke University Medical Center say they are now convinced that rare genetic variants – as opposed to more common ones – lie at the heart of the genetic component of most common diseases.