Body

Everyone grows older, but scientists don't really understand why. Now a UCLA study has uncovered a biological clock embedded in our genomes that may shed light on why our bodies age and how we can slow the process. Published in the Oct. 21 edition of Genome Biology, the findings could offer valuable insights into cancer and stem cell research.

Domestic animals will choose to steer clear of dirt – but their wild cousins can't be so picky and may be at increased risk of disease as a result.

A study of wild mice has shown that they prefer to sleep and eat near to used nesting material and droppings left by other mice.

Choosing a safe place to sleep and taking the opportunity to eat outweighs an increased risk of disease from other animals' dirt, the findings suggest. The study is significant because it could help improve scientists' understanding of how disease spreads among wild animals.

Cell biologists at The Johns Hopkins University have teased apart two integral components of the machinery that causes cells to move. Their discovery shows that cellular projections, which act as hands to help a cell "crawl," are apparently always initiated by a network of message-relaying proteins inside the cell. It was already known that in directional movement, the network is activated by sensor proteins on the cell's surface in response to external cues. They now know that in random movement, the messenger network is also causative: It can self-activate spontaneously.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (October 20, 2013) -- Revealing influenza's truly insidious nature, Whitehead Institute scientists have discovered that the virus is able to infect its host by first killing off the cells of the immune system that are actually best equipped to neutralize the virus.

Scientists report in Nature they have found a novel and unexpected molecular switch that could become a key to slowing some of the ravages of getting older as it prompts blood stem cells to age.

The study is expected to help in the search for therapeutic strategies to slow or reverse the aging process, and possibly rejuvenate these critically important stem cells (called hematopoietic stem cells, or HSCs), said scientists from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the University of Ulm in Germany who conducted study.

UPTON, NY-Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a general approach for combining different types of nanoparticles to produce large-scale composite materials. The technique, described in a paper published online by Nature Nanotechnology on October 20, 2013, opens many opportunities for mixing and matching particles with different magnetic, optical, or chemical properties to form new, multifunctional materials or materials with enhanced performance for a wide range of potential applications.

Johns Hopkins researchers used suction to learn that individual "molecular muscles" within cells respond to different types of force, a finding that may explain how cells "feel" the environment and appropriately adapt their shapes and activities.

A summary of the discovery, published online Oct. 20 in the journal Nature Materials, specifically sheds light on how forces outside of cells are translated into internal signals.

Research led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists has linked an inherited gene variation to a nearly four-fold increased risk of developing a pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) subtype that is associated with a poor outcome. The study appears today in the online edition of the scientific journal Nature Genetics.

October 20, 2013, Shenzhen, China - In a collaborative study published online today in Nature Genetics, researchers from the Genome Centre of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), BGI, and other institutes present a cucumber genomic variation map that includes about 3.6 million variants revealed by deep resequencing of 115 cucumbers worldwide. This work provides new insights for understanding the genetic basis of domestication and diversity of this important crop, and provides guidance for breeders to harness genetic variation for crop improvement.

BOSTON — Patients with cancers driven by the protein KRAS, which are particularly hard to treat, may benefit from small molecules that attach to and disrupt the function of a KRAS-containing protein complex, according to results presented here at the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, held Oct. 19-23.

BOSTON — The investigational drug AZD9291, a third-generation EGFR inhibitor, showed promise in preclinical studies and provides hope for patients with advanced lung cancers that have become resistant to existing EGFR inhibitors, according to results presented here at the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, held Oct. 19-23.

BOSTON — PF-06463922, an investigational drug being developed by Pfizer Inc., has the potential to become a new treatment option for patients who have lung cancer harboring abnormalities in the ALK gene, according to preclinical results presented here at the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, held Oct. 19-23.

BOSTON — LEE011, a small-molecule inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) 4/6 being developed by Novartis Oncology, showed promising results in drug-resistant melanoma and drug-resistant breast cancer when tested in combination with other targeted therapies, and based on these preclinical results, several phase I clinical trials were launched recently, according to results presented here at the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, held October 19-23.

Montreal - Emergency Medical Service (EMS) staff are accustomed to responding to emergencies. A study presented today at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress finds they may be able to prevent many emergencies as well, judging by the preliminary success of a pilot project at a Hamilton building for seniors.

The subsidized housing complex in the study has about 280 residents, predominantly low income seniors. It's a group at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and falls. The local EMS receives frequent calls from the building.

One of the challenges of understanding cancer is trying to determine the mechanisms that drive metastasis, or the process by which tumor cells are able to spread throughout the body. In order to investigate metastasis, researchers at The Wistar Institute focused on a process involving the phenotypes – the outward, physical appearance based on genetic coding – of tumor cells.