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Scientists from the University of Notre Dame, Resources for the Future, and the U.S. Forest Service present their findings of the effectiveness of different Asian carp prevention barriers could be in a study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, January 29, 2014 – Robust partnerships between rural community health education centers and academic health care institutions can make substantial strides toward addressing race-, income- and geographically-based health disparities in underserved communities by empowering both the community and leading University institutions, according to newly published research from the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

A central question has been answered regarding a protein that plays an essential role in the bacterial immune system and is fast becoming a valuable tool for genetic engineering. A team of researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have determined how the bacterial enzyme known as Cas9, guided by RNA, is able to identify and degrade foreign DNA during viral infections, as well as induce site-specific genetic changes in animal and plant cells.

Preliminary results of a small clinical trial show that a vaccine used to treat women with high-grade precancerous cervical lesions triggers an immune cell response within the damaged tissue itself. The Johns Hopkins scientists who conducted the trial said the finding is significant because measuring immune system responses directly in the lesions may be a more accurate way to evaluate so-called "therapeutic" vaccines than by the conventional means of blood analysis.

Does giving a speech in public stress you out? Or writing a big presentation for your boss? What about skydiving?

One way to cope, according to a new study from Sarah Townsend, assistant professor of management and organization at the USC Marshall School of Business, is to share your feelings with someone who is having a similar emotional reaction to the same scenario.

As North American bats face a death toll approaching 7 million, University of Akron scientists reveal new clues about their killer, White Nose Syndrome, or WNS. The UA researchers reveal that the deadly WNS fungus can likely survive in caves with or without the presence of bats and threatens the regional extinction of North American bats.

Investigators with The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Research Network have identified new potential therapeutic targets for a major form of bladder cancer, including important genes and pathways that are disrupted in the disease. They also discovered that, at the molecular level, some subtypes of bladder cancer – also known as urothelial carcinoma – resemble subtypes of breast, head and neck and lung cancers, suggesting similar routes of development.

Remnants of Neanderthal DNA in modern humans are associated with genes affecting type 2 diabetes, Crohn's disease, lupus, biliary cirrhosis and smoking behavior. They also concentrate in genes that influence skin and hair characteristics. At the same time, Neanderthal DNA is conspicuously low in regions of the X chromosome and testes-specific genes.

Sponges are unique beings: they are invertebrates that live in symbiosis with sometimes hundreds of different types of bacteria; similar to lichens which are a biocoenosis of algae and fungi. "Put simply, many sponges are lumps of bacteria in which some sponge cells are found," says Jörn Piel, Professor of Microbiology at the ETH Zurich.

A substantial fraction of the Neanderthal genome persists in modern human populations. A new approach applied to analyzing whole-genome sequencing data from 665 people from Europe and East Asia shows that more than 20 percent of the Neanderthal genome survives in the DNA of this contemporary group, whose genetic information is part of the 1,000 Genomes Project.

More than thirty thousand years ago, Homo sapiens migrating out of Africa began encountering Neanderthals, a lineage that had diverged from modern humans hundreds of thousands of years before. Despite their differences, Homo sapiens and Neanderthals mingled, and over time, produced children with genes from both lineages. Today, the biological remnants of that collision between two distinct populations remain alive in the genomes of humans with European and Asian ancestry.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — University of Florida researchers have developed a simple immune-based screening test to identify the presence of a debilitating and usually fatal disease that strikes boas and pythons in captivity as well as those sold to the pet trade worldwide.

Dormant prostate cancer cells in bone tissue can be reawakened to cause secondary tumours, according to new research published in Endocrine-Related Cancer. Targeting the wake-up call could prevent metastasis and improve prostate cancer survival rates.

Metastasis is the spread of cancer from one organ to another and is a highly complex process, involving cancer cells breaking away from a primary tumour, travelling to a distant organ and colonising it. Cancer cells that fail to form a tumour in the newly-encountered tissue can fall into a dormant state.

Clemson University researcher Jimmy Sanderson was invited to present at a special session entitled "Communication with Student Athletes About Concussions" at The Connecticut Concussion Conference, featuring experts offering solutions for schools and youth sport organizations to manage concussions and legal risks.

URBANA, Ill. – While grain yield is economically important in field corn production, there are other metrics more important in sweet corn grown for processing, said Marty Williams, a USDA-ARS ecologist and University of Illinois crop sciences researcher.

In a study recently published in Field Crops Research, Williams questioned whether the crop yield responses that have been previously reported in sweet corn research are actually helpful to the industry.