Body

(TORONTO, Canada - Dec. 9, 2015) - Scientists at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre have discovered that blocking the master regulator of bone renewal stops osteosarcoma - the most common primary bone cancer in children and teens, and the malignant disease that was fatal for Canadian icon Terry Fox.

WASHINGTON (Dec. 9, 2015)--The Ceratopsia family is growing again. Researchers have described a new species of plant-eating dinosaur, Hualianceratops wucaiwanensis, that stood on its hind feet and was about the size of a spaniel. It is similar in age to the oldest-known member of the "horned dinosaurs," Yinlong downsi, although both are hornless.

The findings will be published in PLOS ONE on Dec. 9.

CHICAGO (Dec. 9, 2015): To achieve better results for surgical patients, hospitals tend to focus on technical issues like surgeons' skills and operating room equipment. However, a non-technical factor, the so-called 'safety culture,' may be equally important in delivering high-quality patient care, a team of investigators report in a study published online in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons in advance of print publication.

NEW YORK, NY (December 9, 2015) -- Researchers from Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), NewYork-Presbyterian, the Pediatric Cardiac Genetics Consortium, and the Pediatric Heart Network have found a number of genetic mutations that explain why many children with congenital heart disease also have other significant health challenges, including neurodevelopmental disorders and other congenital problems.

The study was published in the December 3rd online edition of Science.

The concept of sharing is a basic social principle that most of us are taught from an early age on. In general, we are told to share equally with each other. Sharing is also a concept that applies to cells; they need to share information during cell division to function properly. But in the case of cells, the exchange of information does not always have to be equal. During asymmetric cell division, so-called endosomes, vesicles that store signalling molecules, only go to one daughter cell.

As microRNA biology has been implicated in everything from the development of cancer to virus infections, a new tool developed by scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai holds tremendous potential to develop new therapies that involve these small regulatory fragments of RNA. The scientists' findings are detailed in a study, titled "MicroRNA Function is Limited to Cytokine Control in the Acute Response to Virus Infection," published in the December issue of Cell Host & Microbe.

Athens, Ga. - Despite the large number of posts on visual social media platforms that suggest--and fuel--depressing or suicidal thoughts, there aren't many for users to read and share that would help them cope with their mental state more proactively, a University of Georgia study finds.

Melbourne researchers have discovered how a common parasite hijacks host cells and stockpiles food so it can lie dormant for decades, possibly changing its host's behaviour or personality in the process.

The findings could lead to a vaccine to protect pregnant women from Toxoplasma infection, which carries a serious risk of miscarriage or birth defects, as well as drugs to clear chronic infections in people with compromised immune systems, such as cancer patients.

CHAPEL HILL, NC - When we get cold sores, the reason is likely related to stress. In particular, the neurons in which the herpes simplex virus (HSV) reside, are under stress. For the first time, researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine discovered a cellular mechanism that allows the virus to reactivate. They also found how brain cells are duped into allowing bits of virus to escape the very repressive environment in neurons and cause disease.

La Jolla, Calif., and New York, N.Y., Dec. 9, 2015 - An international team of academic and pharmaceutical scientists have tapped into publically available large-scale 'Omics' databases to identify new targets to treat influenza -- the virus that causes annual epidemics and occasional pandemics. The study, published today in Cell Host and Microbe, reflects a breakthrough approach using advanced computational designs to identify new factors that can be targeted to prevent viruses from spreading.

Flu epidemics occur almost every year. Sometimes, novel virus strains can even spread into global pandemics. In recent years, influenza A viruses (IAV) have been discovered that are resistant to the drugs available to treat flu, which can result in patients not responding to the medication.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Seeing others drink alcohol or use drugs makes it more likely that teenagers will engage in antisocial behavior on the same day, according to new findings from Duke University.

The risk is significantly greater for young adolescents who have a 'risk-taking' gene associated with sensitivity to substance use exposure.

LA JOLLA, CA--Members of the TET (short for ten-eleven translocation) family have been known to function as tumor suppressors for many years, but how they keep a lid on the uncontrolled cell proliferation of cancer cells had remained uncertain. Now, researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology demonstrate that TET proteins collectively constitute a major class of tumor suppressors and are required to maintain genome instability.

A group of biophysicists from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) and their international colleagues have studied the crystallization of molecules of the membrane protein bacteriorhodopsin. The scientists have demonstrated that the larger crystals of the protein grow by "consuming" smaller crystals around them and creating "depletion zone" around themselves. The paper has been published in the scientific journal Crystal Growth & Design.

What are membrane proteins?

Viruses that attack bacteria - bacteriophages - can be fussy: they only inject their genetic material into the bacteria that suit them. The fussiness of bacteriophages can be exploited in order to detect specific species of bacteria. Scientists from Warsaw have just demonstrated that bacteriophage-based biosensors will be much more efficient if prior to the deposition on the surface of the bacteriophage sensor their orientation is ordered in electric field.