Body

Two new studies reveal a way to increase the body's appetite for gobbling up the cancer stem cells responsible for acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a form of cancer with a particularly poor survival rate. The key is targeting a protein on the surface of those cells that sends a "don't eat me" signal to the macrophage immune cells that serve as a first line of defense, according to the reports in the July 24th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication.

Injured heart tissue normally can't regrow, but researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have now laid the groundwork for regenerating heart tissue after a heart attack, in patients with heart failure, or in children with congenital heart defects. In the July 24 issue of Cell, they show that a growth factor called neuregulin1 (NRG1), which is involved in the initial development of the heart and nervous system, can spur heart-muscle growth and recovery of cardiac function when injected systemically into animals after a heart attack.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The coevolutionary struggle between a New Zealand snail and its worm parasite makes sex advantageous for the snail, whose females favor asexual reproduction in the absence of parasites, say Indiana University Bloomington and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology biologists in this week's Current Biology.

The scientists' report represents direct experimental evidence for the "Red Queen Hypothesis" of sex, which suggests sexual reproduction allows host species to avoid infection by their coevolving parasites by producing genetically variable offspring.

This release is available in http://chinese..org/zh/emb_releases/2009-07/cp-rmf072309.php">Chinese.

In a paper publishing online July 23 in Cell Stem Cell, a Cell Press journal, Dr. Shaorong Gao and colleagues from the National Institute of Biological Sciences in Beijing, China, report an important advance in the characterization of reprogrammed induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs.

A new University of Colorado at Boulder study shows the strongest evidence yet that noise pollution negatively influences bird populations, findings with implications for the fate of ecological communities situated amid growing urban clamor.

The study also is the first to indicate that at least a few bird species opt for noisy areas over quiet ones, perhaps because of their vocalization pitches, a reduction in nest predators and less competition from other songbirds that prefer quiet environments.

Researchers from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center have discovered a new gene fusion that is highly expressed in a subset of prostate cancers. The results may lead to more accurate prostate cancer testing and new targets for potential treatments. Experts believe that gene fusions -- a hybrid gene formed from two previously separated genes -- may be at the root of what causes cancer cells to grow more quickly than normal cells.

The risk of developing deep vein thrombosis during a long flight is often overestimated. According to the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG), this condition is very unlikely in healthy travellers. When people wear a cast or splint after a sports accident, on the other hand, many are not aware that they have an increased risk of deep vein thrombosis in their leg and pelvic area. This is emphasised in information published today on IQWiG's website Informed Health Online.

KINGSTON, R.I. – July 23, 2009 – News reports last week about scuba divers off San Diego being menaced by large numbers of Humboldt's or jumbo squid have raised the ire of University of Rhode Island biologist Brad Seibel. As a leading expert on the species who has dived with them several times, he calls the reports "alarmist" and says the squid's man-eating reputation is seriously overblown.

For years Seibel has heard stories claiming that Humboldt squid will devour a dog in minutes and could kill or maim unsuspecting divers.

Rice is the world's most important food crop. Understanding its valuable genetic diversity and using it to breed new rice varieties will provide the foundation for improving rice production into the future and to secure global food supplies.

Recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an international research team of researchers scrutinized the genomes of twenty different types of genetically diverse rice used in international breeding with a wide range of different characteristics.

These organisms have inhabited the planet for many millions of years, in such a way that the variations observed within their populations help to describe environmental situations in the past.

The present is the key to the past

In the animal kingdom, everything is not as it seems. Individuals of the same species can look very different from each other – what biologists term 'polymorphism.'

Sometimes the number of distinct visible forms – 'exuberant polymorphisms' -- in a single animal population can reach double figures. But why?

Scientists at the University of York have developed computer models that may help to explain how this level of variation arises and persists. Their research is reported in the latest issue of Evolution.

Psychopharmaceutical use has risen over recent years. This is fact, but what is not clear is the reason why. Researchers from four Madrid-based health centres have shown that family conflict is not a significant factor. However, the results published in the journal Atención Primaria are striking: in Spain, 24% of women take antidepressants and more than 30% take tranquillisers.

LOS ANGELES (July 22, 2009) – Cancer stem-like cells have been implicated in the genesis of a variety of malignant cancers. Research scientists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute have isolated stem-like cells in benign (pituitary) tumors and used these "mother" cells to generate new tumors in laboratory mice. Targeting the cells of origin is seen as a possible strategy in the fight against malignant and benign tumors.

Thomas Marler recently published the results of his research that reveal some of the attributes of the long-lived leaves of Guam's Cycas micronesica plants. "These leaves are relatively large and are constructed of tough tissues," said Marler. "Both of these factors indicate the construction costs of this leaf form are substantial."

Researchers have identified a potential biological mechanism that could explain why oral contraceptives may be less effective at preventing pregnancy in obese women.

Although conventional oral contraceptives appear to eventually reach the effective blood concentrations needed in the body to prevent conception in obese women, it appears to take twice as long, leaving a “window of opportunity” every month where the contraceptive may not be at a high enough level to prevent a pregnancy.