Body

As the number of children battling obesity continues to grow, researchers are racing to identify causes and possible interventions. Now, a new paper publishing October 24 in the journal Cell identifies a possible genetic root to the insatiable appetite and slow metabolism of some obese patients. The study, which sequenced 2,101 individuals with severe early-onset obesity, found that patients harboring mutations in a particular gene, KSR2, had an increased appetite and a slower metabolism than people with a normal copy of the gene.

STANFORD, Calif. — For most people, a bee sting causes temporary pain and discomfort, but for those with a bee venom allergy, the consequences can be devastating: They experience anaphylactic shock, including a drop in blood pressure, itchy hives and breathing problems, and may die if not promptly treated.

In the fight to cure human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), researchers have been dealt a blow. A new study by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) scientists discovered that the pool of inactive HIV viruses that lingers silently in a patient's body is larger than expected. The new findings show that the virus reservoir may be up to 60 times larger than previous estimates. These viruses continue to be a threat because they retain the ability to become active even after treatment with the best HIV drugs.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge have discovered a novel genetic cause of severe obesity which, although relatively rare, demonstrates for the first time that genes can reduce basal metabolic rate – how the body burns calories.

Johns Hopkins researchers have demonstrated that levels of certain proteins in the bloodstream may be used to estimate levels of essential vitamins and minerals without directly testing for each nutritional factor. The team's use of a new strategy allowed them to indirectly measure amounts of multiple nutrients in multiple people at the same time, an advance that should make it possible in the future to rapidly detect nutritional deficiencies of an entire population, apply remediation efforts and test their worth within months instead of years.

For 10 years, Patrick Cramer and his colleagues at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have probed the structure of RNA polymerase I, a crucial cog in the machinery of all cells. Now they unveil the full three-dimensional conformation of the enzyme – at atomic resolution.

(Boston)--Researchers from Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have identified obesity as a possible risk factor for clostridium difficile infection (CDI). These findings, which appear online in Emerging Infectious Diseases, may contribute to improved clinical surveillance of those at highest risk of disease.

Developing psychiatric medications is a long and complex process. Candidate drugs are evaluated and assessed based on their effects on the behavior of animals, usually rats or mice. Each class of drugs, from antidepressants to antipsychotics, is tested differently — often in a labor-intensive process that leaves plenty of room for human error. And there is a growing consensus that current procedures fail to effectively produce new medications.

Human genes in immunity-related pathways are likely associated with the composition of an individual's microbiome, which refers to the bacteria and other microbes that live in and on the body, scientists reported today, Oct. 24, at the American Society of Human Genetics 2013 annual meeting in Boston.

This news release is available in French and German.

This news release is available in French.

It has long been believed that coyotes were incapable of taking down an adult moose, but researchers have recently discovered that eastern coyotes and coyote × wolf hybrids (canids) have preyed on adult moose in central Ontario. Their findings were published today in the Canadian Journal of Zoology.

A male spider that gives its selected female a nuptial gift is allowed to mate with her for a longer period of time and provide more sperm than a male that fails to come with a gift.

Culinary gifts

The male's nuptial gift consists of something deliciously edible, such as a fly, which he wraps up nicely in white silk prior to offering it to the female. He can then transfer sperm while she is eating the gift. If he remembers to bring a gift, he is allowed to provide her with more sperm than if he forgot, and the duration of the copulation is longer.

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Uterine fibroids cause significant fear and morbidity and can compromise workplace performance, according to a recently published survey of nearly 1,000 women in the U.S. The results were published this month in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Journal of Women's Health. The findings shed new light on the impact, prevalence and treatment concerns related to uterine leiomyomas (fibroids), which affect up to 80 percent of women by age 50.

Chevy Chase, MD—The Endocrine Society today issued a Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) for the diagnosis and treatment of polycystic ovary syndrome, the most common hormone disorder in women of reproductive age and a leading cause of infertility.

The CPG, entitled "Diagnosis and Treatment of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline" will appear in the December 2013 issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (JCEM), a publication of The Endocrine Society.

Over the past three years, 300,000 gamers have helped scientists with genomic research by playing Phylo, an online puzzle game. Now Jérôme Waldispühl, the McGill computer science professor and his colleagues, who developed the game are making this crowd of players available to scientists around the globe. The idea is to put human talent to work to improve on what is already being done by computers in the field of comparative genomics.