Body

Tumors become highly malignant when they acquire the ability to colonize other tissues and form metastases. Researchers at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have identified a factor that promotes metastasis of colon tumors – and presents a possible target for therapy.

Leicester scientists have mapped the "bouquet-like" structure of a key part of the body's immune system responsible for neutralising bacteria and viruses.

A team from the University of Leicester's Departments of Infection, Immunity, and Inflammation and Biochemistry led a project which has mapped the structure of complement component C1 - a large complex of the immune system.

The C1 complex is a protein which is responsible for spotting foreign agents in the blood which can cause disease - known as pathogens.

A cell is a complex environment in which substances (metabolites) must maintain a correct state of equilibrium, which may vary depending on specific needs. Cells can maintain the proper concentrations of metabolites by regulating gene protein encoding through specific "switches", called riboswitches, which are able to block or activate protein synthesis. The precise mechanism by which these short strands of RNA carry out this function is still poorly understood.

TEMPE, Ariz. – For decades, scientists have searched for treatments for myopathies — genetic muscular diseases such as muscular dystrophy and ALS, also called Lou Gehrig's disease. Now, an interdisciplinary team of researchers from Arizona State and Stanford Universities, and the University of Arizona, has discovered a new avenue to search for treatment possibilities.

The team's research findings are featured in an article in this week's early online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

AURORA, Colo. (Nov. 3, 2013) – Two new studies show that parents and students have highly positive views of school-based health centers (SBHCs) and suggest that they can serve as the `medical home' for an often low-income, at-risk population.

November 4, 2013, Shenzhen, China- As one of the most influential and fruitful annual conference in "Omics", the 8th International Conference on Genomics (ICG-8) was successfully concluded on November 1st with numerous updates provided on on-going research applying today's accurate and affordable technologies to advancing human health and agricultural breeding. The three-day conference, co-organized by BGI and GigaScience Journal, also provided an excellent platform for deeply discussing the challenges and opportunities brought by the continuing explosion of big data.

SOLOMONS, MD (November 4, 2013) – Growth in offshore wind generation is expected to play a major role in meeting carbon reduction targets around the world, but the impact of construction noise on marine species is yet unknown. A group of scientists from the United Kingdom and the United States have developed a method to assess the potential impacts of offshore wind farm construction on marine mammal populations, particularly the noise made while driving piles into the seabed to install wind turbine foundations.

Microbes are everywhere – thousands of species are in your mouth, and thousands are in a glass of tap water. The ones in your mouth are mostly harmless – as long as you brush and floss so they don't form a biofilm that allows gum disease a path into the blood stream.

Microbes in the tap water delivered by modern water systems in a developed country are also mostly harmless – with some notable exceptions.

CINCINNATI – New research in Pediatrics shows obesity is the largest predictor of earlier onset puberty in girls, which is affecting white girls much sooner than previously reported.

Published online Nov. 4, the multi-institutional study strengthens a growing body of research documenting the earlier onset of puberty in girls of all races.

PHILADELPHIA — Women vaccinated with one dose of a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine had antibodies against the viruses that remained stable in their blood for four years, suggesting that a single dose of vaccine may be sufficient to generate long-term immune responses and protection against new HPV infections, and ultimately cervical cancer, according to a study published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

It seems everyone is looking for a culprit when it comes to childhood obesity: fast food, sugary drinks, super-sized everything. But it turns out part of the blame may lie with the simple matter of turning out the lights and rolling into bed.

PHILADELPHIA - It's well established that humans maintain a symbiotic relationship with the trillions of beneficial microbes that colonize their bodies. These organisms, collectively called the microbiota, help digest food, maintain the immune system, fend off pathogens, and more. There exists a long and growing list of diseases associated with changes in the composition or diversity of these bacterial populations, including cancer, diabetes, obesity, asthma, and even autism.

November 3, 2013, New York, NY and San Diego, Calif. – A new technique successfully takes on a longstanding challenge in DNA sequencing – determining whether a particular genetic sequence comes from an individual's mother or father. The method, described in a Ludwig Cancer Research study in Nature Biotechnology, promises to accelerate studies of how genes contribute to disease, improve the process of matching donors with organs and help scientists better understand human migration patterns.

Hamilton, Nov. 3, 2013 – About 120 million people around the world with Type 2 diabetes – and two million in Canada – take the drug metformin to control their disease.

While doctors know metformin needs to interact with insulin to be effective, and that it can't lower blood sugar on its own, no one has been able to explain how and why this happens.

Researchers at McMaster University are the first to unlock that mystery with their discovery metformin works on fat in the liver. Their research is published in today's issue of the journal Nature Medicine.

SINGAPORE - A team of scientists from the National Cancer Centre Singapore, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore, Fundeni Clinical Institute (Romania) and Koen Kaen University (Thailand), have made a seminal breakthrough in understanding the molecular basis of bile duct cancer or cholangiocarcinoma, a rare but highly lethal form of liver cancer. The team, led by Professors Teh Bin Tean, Patrick Tan, Steve Rozen, Irinel Popescu and Vajaraphongsa Bhudhisawasdi, used advanced DNA sequencing technologies to map the complete repertoire of human genes disrupted in cholangiocarcinoma.