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Scientists from The University of Manchester – part of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre (MCRC) - have discovered a new protein that is involved in cancer and inflammation in lung tissue.

The findings, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, could help in the development of new drugs to target lung cancer.

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death in Greater Manchester, with around 930 men and 790 women dying from the disease every year in the area.

A research breakthrough at Queen's University Belfast has sparked interest among aquatic biologists, zoologists and ecologists around the world.

The joint research between Queen's and several South African institutions centred on the behaviour of some of the "world's worst" invasive species, including the large-mouth bass, an invasive fish which typically devastates invertebrate and other fish communities wherever it is introduced.

Endocrine disrupters are not the only worrying chemicals that ordinary consumers are exposed to in everyday life. Also nanoparticles of silver, found in e.g. dietary supplements, cosmetics and food packaging, now worry scientists. A new study from the University of Southern Denmark shows that nano-silver can penetrate our cells and cause damage.

Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF) have developed a novel treatment for myocardial infarction. In a study carried out at the UEF, virus vectors were used in a mouse model to deliver small RNA molecules into the heart, and this significantly reduced the size of myocardial infarction. In the novel treatment method, RNA molecules are targeted at the regulatory area of the vascular endothelial growth factor gene (VEGF-A). These molecules use epigenetic mechanisms to enhance the production of the growth factor in cells.

Over the last ten years, a number of studies have suggested that, in animal cells, translation and protein turnover play a larger role in determining the different levels at which proteins are expressed than transcription. The major evidence supporting these claims is a weak correlation between system-wide protein and mRNA abundance measurements. A highly cited Nature article by Schwanhausser et al. in 2011 provides the most comprehensive example of such analyses. A new study just published in PeerJ by Li et al., however, questions the conclusions of these papers.

CINCINNATI—Cincinnati Cancer Center (CCC) and UC Cancer Institute researchers have found that a vaccine, targeting tumors that produce a certain protein and receptor responsible for communication between cells and the body's immune system, could initiate the immune response to fight cancer.

These findings, published in the Feb. 27 online edition of the journal Gene Therapy, build on previously reported research and could lead to new treatments for cancer.

Rochester, Minn. — Feb. 27, 2014 — To pull or not to pull? That is a common question when patients have the potentially dangerous combination of abscessed or infected teeth and the need for heart surgery. In such cases, problem teeth often are removed before surgery, to reduce the risk of infections including endocarditis, an infection of the inner lining of the heart that can prove deadly.

WASHINGTON, DC, February 24, 2014 — Greater childhood adversity helps to explain why black men are less healthy than white men, and some of this effect appears to operate through childhood adversity's enduring influence on the relationships black men have as adults, according to a new study in the March issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

(NEW YORK, NY, February 27, 2014) – Approximately one in five U.S. health facilities don't make alcohol-based hand sanitizer available at every point of care, missing a critical opportunity to prevent health care-associated infections, according to new research from Columbia University School of Nursing and the World Health Organization (WHO) published in the American Journal of Infection Control.

People in their 80s are often prescribed drugs to ward off a stroke when the risk of a stroke is not that high and the drugs have other side effects, finds a perspective published online in Evidence Based Medicine.

People in this age group are being "over-treated," and doctors need to actively rethink their priorities and beliefs about stroke prevention, argues Dr Kit Byatt of the Department of Geriatric Medicine, The County Hospital in Hereford, UK.

Passive smoking is linked to a significantly increased risk of miscarriage, stillbirth and ectopic pregnancy, finds a large observational study, published online in Tobacco Control.

The risk appears to be cumulative, with risk heightened in parallel with the length of time exposed to second hand smoke, the findings indicate.

Two spotted seals orphaned as pups in the Arctic are now thriving at UC Santa Cruz's Long Marine Laboratory, giving scientists a rare opportunity to learn about how these seals perceive their environment. In a comprehensive study of the hearing abilities of spotted seals, UCSC researchers found that the seals have remarkably sensitive hearing in both air and water.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Secondhand smoking is linked with pregnancy loss, including miscarriage, stillbirth and tubal ectopic pregnancy, according to new research from scientists at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) and the University at Buffalo (UB). The study findings, published online by the journal Tobacco Control, mark a significant step toward clarifying the risks of secondhand smoke exposure.

This news release is available in German.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – New research suggests that a protein only recently linked to cancer has a significant effect on the risk that breast cancer will spread, and that lowering the protein's level in cell cultures and mice reduces chances for the disease to extend beyond the initial tumor.

The team of medical and engineering researchers at The Ohio State University previously determined that modifying a single gene to reduce this protein's level in breast cancer cells lowered the cells' ability to migrate away from the tumor site.