Body

PARIS, France and SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, March 20, 2014 – Institut Pasteur and Myriad RBM, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Myriad Genetics, Inc., today announced they have published an initial data analysis from the landmark Milieu Interieur Project in the journal Immunity, which provided new insights into the healthy human immune response.

A three-year study of ancient clam gardens in the Pacific Northwest has led researchers, including three from Simon Fraser University, to make a discovery that could benefit coastal communities' food production. PLOS ONE, a peer-reviewed science journal, has just published their study.

Amy Groesbeck, an SFU alumna, SFU professors Anne Salomon, an ecologist, and Dana Lepofsky, an archaeologist, and Kirsten Rowell, a University of Washington biologist are the authors.

Although genome-wide association studies have linked DNA variants in the gene SCN10A with increased risk for cardiac arrhythmia, efforts to determine the gene's direct influence on the heart's electrical activity have been unproductive. Now, scientists from the University of Chicago have discovered that these SCN10A variants regulate the function of a different gene, SCN5A, which appears to be the primary gene responsible for cardiac arrhythmia risk.

Bethesda, MD (March 20, 2014)—We all know the type: The friend or colleague who stays slim and trim without much effort and despite eating the same high-calorie fare that causes everyone else to gain weight. As it turns out, the way the muscles of the inherently thin work may give them the edge.

SALT LAKE CITY—About 6 percent of colorectal cancers are diagnosed within three to five years after the patient receives a clean colonoscopy report, according to a population-based study by researchers from Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah.

(Edmonton) Digits on a scale can help determine a child's weight, but their overall health status can be influenced by other factors such as physical activity, diet and screen time, according to new research from the University of Alberta and Alberta Health Services.

A study of 181 children with obesity aged eight to 17 years old showed that up to a third could be classified as "metabolically healthy," meaning they're not imminently at risk of developing insulin resistance—a precursor to Type 2 diabetes—high blood pressure, high cholesterol or other obesity-related diseases.

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — Researchers at UC Davis have found that the investigational cancer vaccine tecemotide, when administered with the chemotherapeutic cisplatin, boosted immune response and reduced the number of tumors in mice with lung cancer. The study also found that radiation treatments did not significantly impair the immune response. The paper was published on March 10 in the journal Cancer Immunology Research, an American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) publication.

Johns Hopkins biologists have discovered that when biological signals hit cells in rhythmic waves, the magnitude of the cells' response can depend on the number of signaling cycles — not their strength or duration. Because such so-called "oscillating signaling cycles" are common in many biological systems, the scientists expect their findings in single-celled organisms to help explain the molecular workings of phenomena such as tissue and organ formation and fundamental forms of learning.

TORONTO – The paradox of a cell that shuts down its DNA repair processes during cell division has been solved, according to research published in Science on March 20, 2014. The problem had eluded science for six decades.

"We now know why a crucial DNA-repair process shuts down just when the cell starts to divide into two daughter cells," says Dr. Daniel Durocher, a Senior Investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada.

Proteins that regulate energy metabolism are essential for stem cell formation, University of Washington researchers find.

Two proteins that control how cells metabolize glucose play a key role in the formation of human stem cells, UW researchers report.

The findings advance scientists' understanding of stem cell development but also suggest that the proteins, which also play a role in the process that transforms normal cells into cancer stem cells, might also be targets for new cancer therapies, the researchers write.

Washington, DC—Childhood abuse or neglect can lead to long-term hormone impairment that raises the risk of developing obesity, diabetes or other metabolic disorders in adulthood, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

The top predators of the Southern Ocean, far-ranging seabirds, are tied both to the health of the ocean ecosystem and to global climate regulation through a mutual relationship with phytoplankton, according to newly published work from the University of California, Davis.

STANFORD, Calif. — Scientists and parents have worked together to identify a new genetic disease that causes neurologic, muscle, eye and liver problems in children. The discovery was unusually fast thanks to a combination of modern gene-sequencing techniques, social media and old-fashioned detective work.

One important clue was that affected children cry without making tears.

From smart phones to smart cars, both public and private entities must consider the needs of older adults in order to help them optimize the use of new technologies, according to the latest issue of Public Policy & Aging Report (PP&AR), titled "Aging and Technology: The Promise and the Paradox." A total of eight articles all from authors affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ag

The surface of immune system cells is home to a number of receptors which are able to detect pathogens. As soon as these receptors are activated, inflammation occurs and the body's defense mechanisms kick in. Immune cells also have receptors that regulate or even suppress immunological responses to prevent damage to individual cells.