Body

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The home team holds the advantage over visitors – at least in the plant world. However, a mere handful of genetic adaptations could even the playing field.

In the current issue of the Proceedings for the National Academy of Sciences, Michigan State University researchers and their collaborators found that plant adaptation to different environments involves tradeoffs in performance.

The patient first visualizes in his or her mind a prior traumatic experience, which typically elicits uncomfortable physiological sensations like tightness of the chest, increased heart rate and sweating. Then, through talk therapy and a series of rapid left-to-right eye movements in which the patient follows the clinician's hand back and forth, the sensations are minimized. In the second phase, and with similar clinician input, the patient "replaces" the distressing images they have seen with positive ones in a way that the original distressing images can no longer be accessed.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – In a world where animals often take the place of humans, sugar-sweetened beverages, exaggerated portion sizes and unhealthy snacks are common. So is TV watching, computer use and video games.

But this world is not kind to those who are overweight. A panda that aspires to be a martial arts master is told he'll never make it because of his "fat butt," "flabby arms" and "ridiculous belly." A chipmunk is called "fatty ratty." A donkey is called a "bloated roadside piñata" and told "you really should think about going on a diet."

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — With a deluge of promising new drug treatments for advanced prostate cancer on the market, a new model of care is needed that emphasizes collaboration between urologists and medical oncologists, according to UC Davis prostate cancer experts.

Michigan State University researchers have uncovered a genetic deficiency in males that can trigger the development of one of the most common types of liver cancer and forms of diabetes.

The research, published in the online issue of Cancer Cell, found that when the NCOA5 gene, present in both men and women, was altered in male mice to a deficient level, a spontaneous reaction occurred producing cells that can lead to hepatocellular carcinoma, a type of liver cancer found to be two-to-four times more prevalent in men than women.

Breast cancer prognosis associated with oncometabolite accumulation

The metabolic profile of cancer cells can be used to develop therapies and identify biomarkers associated with cancer outcome. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation Stefan Ambs and colleagues at the National Cancer Institute discovered an association between the oncometabolite 2-hydroxyglutarate (2-HG) levels, DNA methylation patterns, and breast cancer prognosis. The authors identified a breast cancer subtype with high levels of 2-HG, and a district DNA methylation pattern that was associated with reduced survival.

Bone homeostasis requires precise balance between deposition of new bone by osteoblasts and resorption of old bone by osteoclasts. Bone diseases, including osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis, are the result of increased osteoclast activity and formation, which allows bone resorption to outpace deposition. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Brendan Boyce and colleagues at the University of Rochester evaluated the role of TNF receptor–associated receptor 3 (TRAF3) in promoting osteoclast formation.

Scientists are digging deep into the Earth's surface collecting census data on the microbial denizens of the hardened rocks. What they're finding is that, even miles deep and halfway across the globe, many of these communities are somehow quite similar.

The results, which were presented at the American Geophysical Union conference Dec. 8, suggest that these communities may be connected, said Matthew Schrenk, Michigan State University geomicrobiologist.

Coronary heart disease accounts for 18% of deaths in the United States every year. The disease results from a blockage of one or more arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle. This occurs as a result of a complex inflammatory condition called artherosclerosis, which leads to progressive buildup of fatty plaque near the surface of the arterial wall.

Children hospitalized for pneumonia have similar outcomes, including length of stay and costs, regardless of whether they are treated with "big gun" antibiotics such as ceftriaxone or cefotaxime or more narrowly focused antibiotics such as ampicillin or penicillin, according to a Vanderbilt study published in Pediatrics.

Study authors said the findings are important because pneumonia is one of the most common reasons for hospitalization among U.S. children and because broad-spectrum antibiotics are frequently overprescribed, leading to antibiotic resistance.

HOUSTON – (Dec. 9, 2013) – Heating a sheet of plastic may not bring it to life – but it sure looks like it does in new experiments at Rice University.

The materials created by Rice polymer scientist Rafael Verduzco and his colleagues start as flat slabs, but they morph into shapes that can be controlled by patterns written into their layers.

The research is the subject of a new paper in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Soft Matter.

HOUSTON – (Dec. 9, 2013) – Carbon nanotubes carry plasmonic signals in the terahertz range of the electromagnetic spectrum, but only if they're metallic by nature or doped.

In new research, the Rice University laboratory of physicist Junichiro Kono disproved previous theories that dominant terahertz response comes from narrow-gap semiconducting nanotubes.

Researchers from Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science have developed the world's highest quantum efficiency ultraviolet (UV) photodetector, an advance in technology that could aid in the detection of missiles and chemical and biological threats.

Scientists at Rutgers University have developed a targeted drug delivery system that they believe could make ovarian cancer more treatable and increase survival rates for the most deadly gynecological cancer in the United States.