Body

Clemson University biological sciences student Meghan Stelly and her father, Alabama cardiovascular surgeon Terry Stelly, investigated a biomedical application following a coronary artery bypass surgery and found that the application allowed the human body to regenerate its own tissue.

Their findings were published in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

A common soil dwelling bacterium appears to possess a sense of touch, researchers have shown.

A study, by Dr James Stratford at The University of Nottingham and Dr Simon Park at the University of Surrey, has found that Bacillus mycoides, which has been known to science since 1842, responds to forces and curvature in the medium on which it's growing.

The microbe's ability to respond to subtle changes in its environment, as revealed in the journal PLOS ONE, could signal potential useful scientific, engineering and medical applications for B. mycoides.

Bananas are a major food staple for about 400 million people in the tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa and Latin America. However, banana yields worldwide are severely threatened by pests. Dirk Hölscher from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, and an international team of researchers have discovered that some banana varieties accumulate specific plant toxins in the immediate vicinity of root tissue that has been attacked by the parasitic nematode Radopholus similis.

African-American women who get breast cancer often get more aggressive forms of the disease and at younger ages than other women.

But a Georgia State University researcher has found a way to identify these aggressive cancers in black women, which would let their doctors customize their treatment.

First, the number of chromosomes in a cell changes, then an avalanche of further mutations occur that transform the cell into a cancer cell, according to a well-known - but untested - theory. A research group at Lund University in Sweden has now shown that the theory is not correct and constitutes a dead end for research.

Researchers at the Cell Cycle Research Group of the Bellvitge Institute of Biomedical Research (IDIBELL) led by Ethel Queralt have reported in the journal PLoS Genetics an article which delve into the regulator mechanisms of mitosis, a key stage of the cell-cycle for the correct transmision of genetic information from parents to sons.

(PHILADELPHIA) A drug now used to treat a type of lymphoma has shown surprising benefit in preclinical studies of inflammatory breast cancer, according to a researcher at Thomas Jefferson University's Kimmel Cancer Center.

JUPITER, FL, December 10, 2013 – An experimental compound synthesized and developed by scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has the capacity to significantly reduce joint inflammation in animal models of rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that affects more than two million Americans.

The study was published recently online ahead of print by the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism.

We know more about wildlife this week, thanks to research by two Canadian teens. Teens from Ottawa and rural British Columbia published their research in this week's issue of a scientific journal, The Canadian Field-Naturalist. Their research on wasps and leaf disease reveal that a Canadian wasp is an efficient killer of an agricultural pest, and a little-known fungus is hurting Highbush Cranberries. Both research articles were subject to the same peer-review process and met the same scientific standards as articles authored by professors and other professional scientists.

Viruses are like small vessels containing an active component, the genetic material, that can infect a host cell. The vessel, called capsid or vector, is basically a shell that changes its shape when it penetrates a cell to infect it, and may even break into pieces. The research team, that includes Guido Polles and Cristian Micheletti of SISSA, carried out computer simulations and used theoretical models to understand how such 'vessel' responds to thermal and mechanic stimulations. In such a way they identified the weak points of capsids and inferred their spontaneous assembly process.

The Leuven-based VIB researchers have revealed a mechanism that explains why the anti-tumor activity of specific immune cells called macrophages is suppressed during tumor growth. They have also demonstrated that blocking the protein Nrp1 can restore this anti-tumor immune response. This is a first. Nrp1 may provide an important hub for the development of new therapies against cancer.

December 10, 2013, Shenzhen, China - Chinese researchers from Rui-Jin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao-Tong University School of Medicine, BGI and other institutes identified the recurrent T372R mutation in the transcription factor YY1 (Yin Yang 1) are related with insulinoma oncogenesis, implicating a potential marker for the diagnosis and treatment of functional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs). The latest study was published online in Nature Communications.

NEW YORK, NY –- December 10, 2013 –– Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai reported that a virulent new strain of influenza – the virus that causes the flu – appears to retain its ability to cause serious disease in humans even after it develops resistance to antiviral medications. The finding was included in a study that was published today in the journal Nature Communications.

An article published in the journal Nutricion Hospitalaria reveals that the attitude of healthcare personnel, along with starting early breast-feeding, are another two factors that help in increasing the mothers' level of satisfaction

The research was carried out by scientists from the University of Granada Nursing Dept. and the "San Cecilio" University Hospital (Granada, Spain)

Cancer cells have an exceptional ability to repair damage to their DNA caused during uncontrolled cell division. Scientists have now unveiled a novel piece of the puzzle of cancer cell DNA repair mechanisms that explain the mechanistic changes in the genetic code of cancer cells. These findings result from application of the cell microarray screening method developed by Juha Rantala, Senior Scientist at VTT. Research with a material impact on cancer drug development was published in Science magazine on 5 December 2013.