Body

Scientists from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry in Prague, Czech Republic, and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, studied the pheromone chemistry of moths and discovered a new evolutionary mechanism: A single amino acid residue in desaturases − enzymes that introduce double bonds, of the tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta − switches the desaturase products from mono- and di-unsaturated to tri-unsaturated sex pheromone precursors.

A research group at Hiroshima University demonstrated the mechanism by which the Sendai virus (SeV) escapes the host immune system. The researchers examined the crystal structure of the complex of SeV C protein and transcription factor STAT1, and found that SeV C protein inhibits the signal transduction pathway of interferon gamma. This discovery will allow the design of drugs that can be used to overcome recover from damage caused by interferon, wherein the drug acts by inhibiting the binding between C protein and STAT1.

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Americans, on average, replace their mobile phones every 22 months, junking more than 150 million phones a year in the process. When it comes to recycling and processing all of this electronic waste, the World Health Organization reports that even low exposure to the electronic elements can cause significant health risks. Now, University of Missouri researchers are on the path to creating biodegradable electronics by using organic components in screen displays. The researchers' advancements could one day help reduce electronic waste in the world's landfills.

The pathway to market for new products utilizing synthetic biology can be difficult to navigate, posing a challenge for companies in their efforts to commercialize new ideas, while the novelty posed by some of these products can make it difficult for regulatory agencies to evaluate risks, according to a new report from the Synthetic Biology Project.

Were dinosaurs fast, aggressive hunters like those in the movie "Jurassic World"? Or did they have lower metabolic rates that made them more like today's alligators and crocodiles?

For 150 years, scientists have debated the nature of dinosaurs' body temperatures and how they influenced activity levels.

Research by National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded scientists, including John Eiler of the California Institute of Technology, indicates that some dinosaurs had the capacity to elevate their body temperatures using heat sources in the environment, such as the sun.

By combining three important palaeoclimatic records (small vertebrates, marine microfauna and stable isotopes of herbivores), a multidisciplinary team of the UPV/EHU has reconstructed past environments with the best resolution ever achieved. The study, led by Juan Rofes, currently a researcher at the Musèum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Paris, has been published in the prestigious British Scientific Reports, which is one of the Nature group journals.

A suspected case of sexual transmission of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Liberia was confirmed using genomic analysis, thanks to in-country laboratory capabilities established by U.S. Army scientists in collaboration with the Liberian Institute for Biomedical Research (LIBR).

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- Tests that can distinguish whether HIV-positive people are infected with a drug-resistant strain or a non-resistant strain allow patients to get the most effective treatment as quickly as possible. In the November edition of the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, a team of Brown University researchers describes a new method that works faster and more sensitively in lab testing than the current standard technologies.

Johannes Reiter, former PhD student in the group of Krishnendu Chatterjee at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria), is co-author of a Nature paper on genetic alterations that drive the progression and relapse of cancer. An international team of scientists from the US, Germany and Austria identified novel genes associated with chronic lymphocytic leukemia through the analysis of high-throughput sequencing data.

Scientists at the University of York have taken an important step in the search to find new antibiotics that are effective against resistant bacteria.

Research led by Professor Maggie Smith in the Department of Biology at York will provide new tools for creating stable genetically engineered strains which could lead to improvements to existing antibiotics and the development of new ones.

Light has been used for the first time to activate a receptor for which the compound binding and controlling it naturally is unknown, as reported in Nature Chemical Biology today.

Amsterdam, October 15, 2015 -Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announced the publication of the 2015 European Resuscitation Council (ERC) Guidelines, in the latest issue of journal Resuscitation. These guidelines are based on an extensive international review of all the science supporting cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The 2015 International Consensus on CPR Science, is also published in Resuscitation today. This year also marks the 55th anniversary since CPR was first developed.

A study published today shows that a newly studied class of water contaminants that is known to be toxic and hormone disrupting to marine animals is present likely due in part to indirect effects of human activity. The contaminants are more prevalent in populated areas in the San Francisco Bay, suggesting that human impacts on nutrient input or other changes in water quality may enhance natural production.

A study led by Johns Hopkins researchers has linked the immunosuppressive drug mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) to an increased risk of central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma in solid organ transplant patients. But the same study also found that another class of immunosuppressive drugs, called calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs), given alone or in combination with MMF, appears to protect transplant patients against this rare form of lymphoma.

MMF and CNIs are given to transplant patients to lower the body's natural immunity and to prevent the new organ from being rejected.

Nobel Laureate Dr. Robert J. Lefkowitz presented his latest research towards developing pharmacological applications for G-protein-coupled receptors (GCPRs) at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) today. "Dr. Lefkowitz work has revolutionized pharmacological research, since nearly half of all current drugs target these receptors. A better understanding of GPCRs is helping to create more effective and safer drugs, and today we have had the opportunity to discover the practical implications of his scientific breakthrough for our patients," explained Dr.