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Engineering and biology professors at the University of Toronto have developed a new strategy for helping African farmers fight a parasitic plant that devastates crops.

One in three of all the young men in China will eventually be killed by tobacco, unless a substantial proportion stop smoking, according to new research published in The Lancet.

Two-thirds of the young men in China start to smoke, mostly before age 20, and the study, led by researchers from Oxford University, UK, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the Chinese Centre for Disease Control, shows that around half of those who start smoking cigarettes as young men will eventually be killed by tobacco, unless they stop permanently.

Despite manufacturing and legislative changes to improve workplace hygiene, the risk of occupational bladder cancer appears to be on the rise in some industries, although the profile of at-risk occupations has changed over time, according to an article published online by JAMA Oncology.

Bladder cancer is a common cancer and most tumors arise following exposure to carcinogens that enter the circulation through inhalation, ingestion or skin contact. The two most frequent routes are through tobacco smoking and occupation.

AMHERST, Mass. - Biochemists have long known that crucial cell processes depend on a highly regulated cleanup system known as proteolysis, where specialized proteins called proteases degrade damaged or no-longer-needed proteins. These proteases must destroy their specific targets without damaging other proteins, but how this orderly destruction works is unknown in many cases.

COLUMBUS, Ohio--Looking for a simple way to burn more calories while walking? Change up your pace.

In a study published in the September 2015 issue of the journal Biology Letters, engineering researchers at The Ohio State University found that walking at varying speeds can burn up to 20 percent more calories compared to maintaining a steady pace.

The study is one of the first to measure the metabolic cost, or calories burned, of changing walking speeds.

Scientists from New Zealand and Australia have created the first three-dimensional image of a key protein involved in the development of blood and other cancers.

The researchers have shown how the protein, called Trib1, plays a vital role in controlling how and when other proteins are degraded, which is essential for balancing protein levels in the cell.

Following an exhaustive, ten-year effort, scientists at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and the University of Washington have identified 238 genes that, when removed, increase the replicative lifespan of S. cerevisiae yeast cells. This is the first time 189 of these genes have been linked to aging. These results provide new genomic targets that could eventually be used to improve human health. The research was published online on October 8th in the journal Cell Metabolism.

First-born individuals in a sample of adults in the United Kingdom were more likely to be nearsighted than later-born individuals in a family, and the association was larger before adjusting for educational exposure, suggesting that reduced parental investment in the education of children with later birth orders may be partly responsible, according to a study published online by JAMA Ophthalmology.

SAN DIEGO - Gaps in measles vaccination rates place one in eight children at risk for becoming sick from the highly contagious illness, according to an analysis of national vaccination coverage being presented at IDWeek 2015™. Measles can lead to pneumonia, encephalitis, hospitalization and occasionally, death.

With their tiny forelimbs and long hindlimbs and feet, jerboas are oddly proportioned creatures that look something like a pint-size cross between a kangaroo and the common mouse.

How these 33 species of desert-dwelling rodents from Northern Africa and Asia evolved their remarkable limbs over the past 50 million years from a five-toed, quadrupedal ancestor shared with the modern mouse to the three-toed bipedal jerboa is detailed in a paper published in this week's issue of the journal Current Biology.

Using a genome-wide association study, EPFL scientists have identified subtle genetic changes that can cause substantial differences to how we fight viral infections.

Washington, D.C.--The pervasive plant fiber cellulose, which makes up cell walls, represents most of the biomass on Earth and is used to create everything from textiles and building materials, to renewable biofuels. Primary cell walls determine the shape of the plant, while secondary cell walls--most of the cellulose--are laid down later to strengthen the structure and vascular system that transports water and nutrients.

If you have diabetes, or cancer or even heart problems, maybe you should blame it on your dad's behaviour or environment. Or even your grandfather's. That's because, in recent years, scientists have shown that, before his offspring are even conceived, a father's life experiences involving food, drugs, exposure to toxic products and even stress can affect the development and health not only of his children, but even of his grandchildren.

NEW YORK, NY, OCTOBER 8, 2015 - Decades of research have shown that cancer survival outcomes can vary widely depending on where patients receive care. But efforts to rank hospitals by long-term survival rates have been hindered by the readily available administrative data derived from Medicare claims, which lacks information about cancer stage. Two hospitals providing equally good care may have different survival rates if one hospital treats sicker patients, for example.

October 8, 2015, New York - A team of Ludwig Cancer Research scientists has mapped out how a mutant version of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) known as EGFRvIII specifically drives critical processes that alter the reading of the genome to fuel the growth of the brain cancer glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and--most important--how each process is linked to the other.