Body

Over the years, researchers have described how some of the body's cells have giant channels – a kind of holes that completely uncritically allow both small and large molecules to penetrate into and out of the cell. The hypothesis is that these normally closed gatekeeper proteins in the cell membrane allow unrestricted access in the event of diseases such as myocardial infarction, stroke or Alzheimer's. If the hypothesis was correct, the obvious choice would be to look for novel drugs to block the relevant membrane proteins and in this way cure or prevent disease.

For millennia, bacteria and other microbes have engaged in intense battles of chemical warfare, attempting to edge each other out of comfortable ecological niches. Doctors fight pathogens with an arsenal of weapons—antibiotics—co-opted from these microbial wars, but their efforts are frustrated by the development of drug resistance that outpaces drug discovery.

A solitary cell containing a unique abnormality can result in certain types of blood cancers known as myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN), according to a study published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.

Reducing community transmission and changing behaviour in communities is key to containing Ebola outbreaks, according to new research into the first known outbreak of the virus in 1976 by researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health.

By studying identical twins, researchers from Lund University in Sweden have identified mechanisms that could be behind the development of type 2 diabetes. This may explain cases where one identical twin develops type 2 diabetes while the other remains healthy.

The study involved 14 pairs of identical twins in Sweden and Denmark. One twin had type 2 diabetes and the other was healthy.

"Twins are a good model for finding mechanisms, but the results are applicable to all", said Emma Nilsson, who carried out the study with Charlotte Ling.

Worldwide there have been 71 documented cases of patients with anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) in which researchers suspected breast implants to be the cause. ALCL is normally found in the lymph nodes, as well as in skin, lung, liver and soft tissue, but not usually in the breast. Cases in which ALCL developed in the breast region almost exclusively involved patients who have had breast surgery. In these cases, ALCL developed around ten years after the operation. The tumours grew in the scar tissue around the implant.

Mimicking organisms

In their study, scientists around Prof. Olivier Pertz from the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Basel gained novel insights into the regulation of directional cell migration: Using a special procedure, 20 micrometer wide lines were fabricated on glass thereby mimicking the connective tissue environment – creating a highway for cells. In addition, cells were stimulated with a growth factor (PDGF) which led to fast cell migration in only one direction lasting for many hours.

Since the first human fetal surgery was reported in 1965, several different fetal surgical procedures have been developed and perfected, resulting in significantly improved outcomes for many fetuses. However, the significant investments associated with this highly specialized service and quality metrics must be considered as more fetal treatment programs are developed.

New research by scientists at the University of Bristol has challenged one of the key axioms in biology - that enzymes need water to function. The breakthrough could eventually lead to the development of new industrial catalysts for processing biodiesel.

Enzymes are large biological molecules that catalyse thousands of different chemical reactions that are essential for all life, from converting food into energy, to controlling how our cells replicate DNA.

Plants that come under attack from pathogens have an automatic immune response. Fungi get around this plant immunity by injecting proteins into the host plant cells. These 'effector proteins' enable the fungi to escape the plant's immune system and allow the fungal cells to enter the plant unrecognised.

PITTSBURGH—One way to combat the rising level of errors and fraud in life sciences research is through massive online laboratories, which use videogames to engage large numbers of non-professional investigators and prevent scientists from manually testing their own hypotheses, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and Stanford University say.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Within our fat lives a variety of cells with the potential to become bone, cartilage, or more fat if properly prompted. This makes adipose tissue, in theory, a readily available reservoir for regenerative therapies such as bone healing if doctors can get enough of those cells and compel them to produce bone.

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston say that sexting may be the new "normal" part of adolescent sexual development and is not strictly limited to at-risk teens. The findings, published in the journal Pediatrics, are from the first study on the relationship between teenage sexting, or sending sexually explicit images to another electronically, and future sexual activity.

Scientists have taken pictures of the BRCA2 protein for the first time, showing how it works to repair damaged DNA.

Mutations in the gene that encodes BRCA2 are well known for raising the risk of breast cancer and other cancers. Although the protein was known to be involved in DNA repair, its shape and mechanism have been unclear, making it impossible to target with therapies.

An international collaboration of scientists has identified a fifth of the genetic factors that cause height to vary between individuals.

A study which examined data on DNA from more than 250,000 people, published on October 6 in Nature Genetics, roughly doubles the number of known genome regions involved in height to more than 400. It also revealed that more than half of the factors involved in determining height are explained by simple common genetic variation - the sort of genetic variation that exists in more than 1 in 10 people.