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(Boston)--A team of local researchers has proposed a molecular mechanism that may be responsible for the development of life-threatening diseases called amyloidoses. The best known of such diseases is Alzheimer's disease (AD), but there are many others that are receiving increased scrutiny, in part because of mounting evidence linking them to atherosclerosis and aging.

The findings, which appear in the Journal of Molecular Biology, may ultimately lead to the development of therapeutic targets for one of these diseases.

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Researchers at Mayo Clinic have discovered an unexpected effect from a gene known to increase diabetes risk. They assumed that the specific allele in the gene TCF7L2 which increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, impairs insulin production in response to increased insulin resistance. Some slight evidence of that was found, but more significantly the researchers discovered that this variant impaired a person's ability to balance blood sugar (glucose) by suppressing glucagon - the hormone that raises the level of glucose in the bloodstream.

November 12, 2015 - A new study may alleviate concerns regarding increased cancer risk for patients undergoing spinal fusion surgery with recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein (rhBMP). The study appears in November 15 issue of Spine, published by Wolters Kluwer.

For successful salespeople, it's all about who you know - particularly within your own firm.

A new study, co-authored by a Michigan State University business scholar and published online in the Journal of Marketing, finds that developing strong internal relationships leads to a significant increase in sales volume.

The study of nearly 300 field salespeople is one of the first to investigate the effect of internal social networks on sales performance.

Bethesda, MD (Nov. 12, 2015) -- Intake of gluten up until two years of age increases risk of celiac disease at least two-fold in children with genetic risk factors for this disease, according a study published in ,1">Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association.

It's been about a decade since the promise of COX-2 inhibitors -- drugs that relieve arthritis pain and inflammation without the gastrointestinal side effects of other painkillers -- was tempered by the realization that they could cause heart problems in some patients.

Now a team of Vanderbilt University Medical Center scientists led by Ming-Zhi Zhang M.D., M.Sc., and Raymond C. Harris, M.D., are closer to understanding why. They have found that production of prostaglandins by macrophages may play a role, especially in the kidney and the skin.

The more effort one ploughs into one's company's success, the more enthusiastic about one's own entrepreneurial activity one becomes. Experiencing success on a regular basis and the the possibility of free choice are two factors that play an important role in this context. These are the findings of a research project led by the psychologist Prof. Dr. Michael Gielnik of Leuphana University of Lüneburg, recently published in the Academy of Management Journal.

Researchers led by Professor Jun-Fen Lin at Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention have found that reproductive history, an important modifier of estrogen exposure across women's lifetime, is associated with risk of cognitive impairment in postmenopausal women. These findings are published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

Being close relatives within the same genus, eight catfishes showed enough external differences, such as characteristic elongated mouths, hinting to their separate origin. Following a thorough morphological as well as molecular analysis, a team of researchers suggested that five previously known species along with three new ones, which they have found during their survey, need a new genus to accommodate for their specificity.

Most animals reproduce by laying eggs. As the embryo develops, its feeds on the egg yolk. No egg yolk, no offspring, then? Not always. Biologists from KU Leuven, Belgium, have discovered an exception to the rule: the eggs of nematodes (roundworms) can also hatch without egg yolk. The findings were published in Scientific Reports.

A QUT study into how women choose sperm donors online has revealed men who are intellectual, shy, calm and methodical are selected to produce more children than those who are extroverted.

The study, Determinants of online sperm donor success: how women choose by Stephen Whyte and Professor Benno Torgler from QUT's Queensland Behavioural Economics Group, has been published by the international journal Applied Economic Letters.

RMIT University researchers have developed artificial microflowers that self-assemble in water and mimic the natural blooming process, an important step for advances in frontier-edge electronics.

Flower-shaped structures have been the focus of research because their distinctive surfaces offer exciting potential for applications in a range of fields - from optoelectronics and chemosensors to nanotechnology, biotechnology, biomedicine and organic electronics.

University of Queensland research into the effects of dust mite and cockroach allergens has found that different types of asthma respond differently to a new experimental treatment.

School of Biomedical Sciences asthma expert Associate Professor Simon Phipps said two common asthma types were involved in the tests.

"Laboratory tests using mice showed that exposure to house dust mite allergens generated eosinophilic asthma, which affects half of all asthmatics," he said.

Backed by a growing body of research, investigators at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute are calling for all hospitals to establish bereavement programs for families of deceased patients.

Despite legal and ethical requirements, information on clinical trials for drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) varied widely among some of the world's largest drug companies, according to a new study led by a researcher at NYU Langone Medical Center's Division of Medical Ethics in the Department of Population Health.