Body

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have carried out the first ever genome-wide survey of heritable molecular changes that regulate gene activity in wheat, in what could become a new tool to improve crop breeding technologies.

Epigenetic marks are chemical tags which physically attach themselves to DNA, and modify its function without changing the genetic code. DNA methylation is one such mechanism of epigenetic gene expression control that can be passed down to future generations.

More resources and evidence-based guidelines are needed by health practitioners internationally to provide culturally sensitive medical and psychological treatment for women and girls that have had female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C), according to a systematic review of the evidence published today in the open access journal BMC International Health and Human Rights. The review's authors say more research is needed to assess the attitudes and knowledge of health professionals, and to raise awareness, thereby preventing this harmful practice.

Scientists have developed a new imaging test that could enable doctors to identify more dangerous tumours before they spread around the body - and tailor treatment accordingly.

Teams at The University of Manchester and The Institute of Cancer Research, London describe detailed development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology to map areas of oxygen deprivation within tumours.

Sophia Antipolis, 10 December 2015: Heart function in morbidly obese patients returns to normal after bariatric surgery but not after lifestyle intervention, reveals research published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.1 The results suggest that bariatric surgery2 may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in morbidly obese patients.

A study of a million UK women, published today in The Lancet, has shown that happiness itself has no direct effect on mortality, and that the widespread but mistaken belief that unhappiness and stress directly cause ill health came from studies that had simply confused cause and effect.

Syracuse Earth sciences professor Christopher Scholz and former Ph.D. student Robert Lyons have an unprecedented glimpse into the past of a lake with explosive biodiversity. Along with colleagues from six other universities, Scholz and Lyons have unearthed a 380-meter-deep time capsule from Lake Malawi.

Lyons says the core shows that "East African moisture history over the last 1.3 million years is a lot more complicated than was previously postulated."

A new study led by Johns Hopkins researchers shows wide racial and economic disparities in access to minimally invasive hysterectomies for early uterine cancer in the United States. This is despite years of accumulating evidence that the procedures to remove the uterus are linked to fewer postoperative complications, the researchers say.

Climate change can influence everything from pine beetle outbreaks in the Rocky Mountains to rising sea levels in Papua New Guinea. In the face of a rapidly changing earth, plants and animals are forced to quickly deal with new challenges if they hope to survive. According to a recent paper by Jason Fridley, associate professor of biology in Syracuse University's College of Arts and Sciences, recently minted SU Ph.D. Catherine Ravenscroft, and University of Liverpool professor Raj Whitlock some species may be able to handle environmental changes better than others.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Researchers have developed a new three-drug delivery system for cancer treatment, especially metastatic melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer - and shown that the system may have particular value with cancers like this that often spread through the lymphatic system.

The new technology takes advantage of nanoparticles that can migrate to, and increase the effectiveness of an attack on cancer cells in the body's lymph nodes. This can also reduce the development of drug resistance and the broader toxicity often associated with this type of chemotherapy.

DETROIT - Considerable racial disparities exist in surgical outcomes for black and Hispanic patients undergoing major cancer and non-cancer surgeries in U.S. hospitals, even among institutions that have already enrolled in a national surgical quality improvement initiative.

Those findings, from a new Henry Ford Hospital research study, contrast with prior investigations that suggest there has been an easing of racial disparities in American health care.

The research is published online this month in Annals of Surgery.

HOUSTON - (Dec. 9, 2015) - A new class of superhydrophobic nanomaterials might simplify the process of protecting surfaces from water.

A material made by scientists at Rice University, the University of Swansea, the University of Bristol and the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis is inexpensive, nontoxic and can be applied to a variety of surfaces via spray- or spin-coating.

The researchers led by Rice chemist Andrew Barron reported their find in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.

A 15 million year-old fossil sperm whale specimen from California belongs to a new genus, according to a study published December 9, 2015 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Alexandra Boersma and Nicholas Pyenson from the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

A new tree frog species, Dendropsophus bromeliaceus, spends its tadpole stage in pooled water that collects in bromeliad plants in the Brazilian Atlantic forest, according to a study published December 9, 2015 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Rodrigo Ferreira from the Utah State University and Universidade Vila Velha and colleagues.

Scientists describe a new, ~160 million year-old ceratopsian dinosaur with "ornamental" texture on the skull from the Late Jurassic period in China, according to a study published December 9, 2015 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Fenglu Han from the China University of Geosciences and colleagues.

ITHACA, N.Y. - For the first time, a litter of puppies was born by in vitro fertilization, thanks to work by Cornell University researchers.

The breakthrough, described in a study to be published online Dec. 9 in the journal Public Library of Science ONE, opens the door for conserving endangered canid species, using gene-editing technologies to eradicate heritable diseases in dogs and for study of genetic diseases. Canines share more than 350 similar heritable disorders and traits with humans, almost twice the number as any other species.