Scientists have unraveled a mystery on how genes are activated. Genes are blocked by structures known as nucleosomes, which package DNA. How do these roadblocks clear out to allow genes to turn on? Scientists have identified a key factor that unravels nucleosomes and clears the way. They say the finding is useful in understanding diseases such as cancer.
There are probably 303 species of mammals left to be discovered by science, most of which are likely to live in tropical regions, according to a predictive model developed by a team of University of Georgia ecologists.
Researchers at the IU Center for the Exploration of Energy and Matter have developed a highly accurate way to measure neutron decay rates. It could provide new insight into the state of the universe after the Big Bang.
Researchers found that four species of mice evolved from a common ancestor on Mindoro Island in the Philippines, making it the smallest known island where one kind of mammal has branched out into many more species.
Drug-resistant staph infections continue to be deadlier than those that are not resistant and treatable with traditional antibiotics, but treatment costs surprisingly are the same or slightly less, a new national analysis shows.
The battle between the human immune system and long-term, persisting infections and other chronic diseases such as cancer results in a prolonged stalemate. Over time battle-weary T cells become exhausted, giving germs or tumors an edge. Using data from multiple molecular databases, researchers have found nine distinct types of exhausted T cells, which could have implications for fighting chronic infections, autoimmunity, and cancer.
An analysis of federal data by University of Iowa researchers published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that more American adults have tried e-cigarettes, but the rate of current use appears to be declining.
Scientists exploring how to tame random gene fluctuations as the embryos that become our bodies start to form have identified a control switch in the vertebrate segmentation clock of developing zebrafish. The researchers report in Cell Reports their findings could uncover methods for modulating genetic signals to prevent birth defects or cancers rooted at the earliest stages of development.
Findings suggest that children do not retain safety skills when encountering a firearm in a real-world scenario
Two recent studies by a Johns Hopkins Carey Business School researcher conclude that our misperceptions based on deadlines have a direct and negative impact on how we perform certain tasks. Both papers appeared recently in the Journal of Consumer Research.
Scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine and the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan say they have found a fast way to manipulate a cell’s cilia, the tiny, fingerlike protrusions that “feel” and sense their microscopic environment. The experiments, performed in mouse cells, may advance scientists’ efforts to not only understand how the nanosized antennae work, but also how to repair them.
Janice DeCosmo—associate vice provost for undergraduate research, associate dean of undergraduate academic affairs, and affiliate faculty member in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington—has been elected as the 2019-2020 president of the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR).
Optimizing lithium-sulfur battery electrolytes for long life.
By analyzing reported physical activity levels over time in more than 11,000 American adults, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers conclude that increasing physical activity to recommended levels over as few as six years in middle age is associated with a significantly decreased risk of heart failure, a condition that affects an estimated 5 million to 6 million Americans.
Corporate programs aimed at offsetting the negative societal impacts caused by their profit-seeking tend to devalue the very people they intend to help.
A new study reveals that essential fats in the diet may play a role in regulating protein secretion in the muscles by changing the way genes associated with secretion act. The study is published ahead of print in Physiological Genomics.
Using new analytic tools, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have decoded the epigenetic landscape for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a common autoimmune disease that affects more than 1.3 million Americans.
Aspects of an otherwise Earthlike planet’s tilt and orbital dynamics can severely affect its potential habitability — even triggering abrupt “snowball states” where oceans freeze and surface life is impossible, according to new research from astronomers at the University of Washington.
Mutations in genes that help repair damage to DNA may aid in predicting the prognosis of patients with bladder and other related cancers, according to researchers.
For veterans undergoing surgery in the VA healthcare system, homelessness is an important risk factor for unplanned hospital readmission, reports a study in the June issue of Medical Care, published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.
From burning your palm on a hot pan handle to memorizing the name of a new acquaintance, “anytime you experience something, your neurons are active,” says Kelsey Tyssowski, a graduate student in genetics at Harvard Medical School. Different experiences stimulate different patterns of activity in brain cells. Researchers want to track these activity patterns to better understand how the brain makes sense of the world, but they’ve been limited by the transient nature of the activity and by the tiny fraction of neurons they’re able to study at once—only a few thousand out of an estimated 100 billion.
While some clinicians may not always prioritize depression screening in patients with coronary artery disease, an early diagnosis could be a matter of life and death.
Newly published research shows that a protein long known to play pivotal roles in cell secretion—the basis of cell-to-cell communication—also ensures that a key lipid is present when needed to ensure efficient cell communication. The observations can help explain what allows cells to secrete chemicals at the right place when they receive a “fire away” signal. The findings may have implications for neurologic and other diseases marked by impaired cellular secretion.
A research team from Mass. Eye and Ear has shown that the “outer hair cells” within the ear can only be effective in amplifying sound when they are configured in a Y-shaped arrangement with respect to their supporting cells.
A recently identified pig virus can readily find its way into laboratory-cultured cells of people and other species, a discovery that raises concerns about the potential for outbreaks that threaten human and animal health.
A team of biologists and computer scientists has adopted a time-based machine-learning approach to deduce the temporal logic of nitrogen signaling in plants from genome-wide expression data. The work potentially offers new ways to monitor and enhance crop growth using less nitrogen fertilizer, which would benefit human nutrition and the environment.
Do metastatic cancer tumors "break bad" or are they "born bad"? In a study publishing the week of May 14 scientists found that in the colorectal tumors they examined, invasive cancers are born to be bad, and this tendency can potentially be identified at early diagnosis.
Research conducted in vitro shows two human antibodies made in response to vaccination against one hemorrhagic fever virus can disarm a related virus, for which there is currently no vaccine. The proof-of-principle finding identifies a common molecular chink in the two viruses’ armor that renders both vulnerable to the same antibodies. The results set the stage for a single vaccine and other antibody-based treatments that work against multiple viral “cousins” despite key differences in their genetic makeup. Such therapies can alleviate challenges posed by current lack of vaccines and prevent outbreaks of viral hemorrhagic fevers.
Preclinical and early clinical research conducted by teams at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and in Australia suggests that patients with rheumatoid arthritis could lower their risk of cardiovascular disease through cholesterol-lowering therapies.
Children who underwent cardiac surgery were less likely to develop acute kidney injury if they had been treated with acetaminophen in the first 48 hours after their procedures, according to a Vanderbilt study just published in JAMA Pediatrics.
New spectroscopic technique measures heat in itty-bitty volumes that could reveal insights for electronics and energy technology.
UC San Francisco researchers have discovered a promising new line of attack against lethal, treatment-resistant prostate cancer. Analysis of hundreds of human prostate tumors revealed that the most aggressive cancers depend on a built-in cellular stress response to put a brake on their own hot-wired physiology.
The viruses that cause Ebola and Zika, daunting diseases that inspire concern at every outbreak, share a strong similarity in how they first infiltrate a host’s cells.
The most common heart medications may get an assist from nitric oxide circulating in the body, according to a new study out of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Researchers showed that nitric oxide may help commonly used heart drugs maximize their benefits while improving heart function. In turn, the study found nitric oxide deficiencies could underlie heart failure while tilting drug effects toward more harmful pathways and side effects.
A new tool developed by researchers at the National Institutes of Health has determined, for the first time, how two distinct sets of neurons in the mouse brain work together to control movement. The method, called spectrally resolved fiber photometry (SRFP), can be used to measure the activity of these neuron groups in both healthy mice and those with brain disease. The scientists plan to use the technique to better understand what goes wrong in neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease (PD). The study appeared online May 3 in the journal Neuron.
The world’s cutting-edge particle accelerators are pushing the extremes in high-brightness beams and ultrashort pulses to explore matter in new ways. To optimize their performance – and to prepare for next-generation facilities that will push these extremes further – scientists have devised a new tool that can measure how bright these beams are, even for pulses that last only quadrillionths or even quintillionths of a second.
Scientists use new X-ray technique to see how water moves at the molecular level.
For years, researchers have known that a gene called EAK-7 plays an important role in determining how long worms will live. But it remained unclear whether the gene had a counterpart in humans and – if it did – how that human version would work. Now, researchers led by UCLA’s Dr. Paul Krebsbach are the first to characterize the mechanism of the human equivalent, which they call mammalian EAK-7, or mEAK-7.
Recent articles in the Journal of Lipid Research found a surprising insight into healthy octogenarians’ arteries; a microRNA key to the puzzle of killing fat cells; and a change in cultured cell signaling that may affect experimental outcomes.
A new model for improving how clinical trials are developed and conducted by bringing together academic cancer experts and pharmaceutical companies is being tested by research experts at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
A meditation and stress reduction program may be as effective at getting people to move as structured exercise programs, according to a study led by an Iowa State researcher. Jacob Meyer is part of another study that found resistance training reduces symptoms of depression.
Mathematicians and cancer scientists have found a way to simplify complex biomolecular data about tumors, in principle making it easier to prescribe the appropriate treatment for a specific patient.
Mechanical engineering researchers have developed a method that could extend the life of an artificial hip by adding an array of microscopic indentations that increase the thickness of a lubricating film on its surface.
The technique makes use of tiny, three-dimensional ball-like aggregates of cells called spheroids.
Georgios Margonis, M.D., Ph.D., a surgical oncology fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Matthew Weiss, M.D., surgical director of the Johns Hopkins Liver and Pancreas Cancer Multidisciplinary Clinics, report advances in efforts to improve the treatment and prognosis of colorectal cancers
Fewer individuals across the globe would be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) under proposed changes to the most widely used diagnostic tool – potentially impacting clinical practice, national data reporting and research, according to an international analytical study led by NYU School of Medicine.
A new strategy has been devised that enables scientists to precisely create bulk, multi-component nanomaterials with the desired structures of constituents.
During disasters, active Twitter users are likely to spread falsehoods. That’s according to new research that examined false tweets from Hurricane Sandy and the Boston Marathon bombing. Researchers found that 86 to 91 percent of active Twitter users spread misinformation, and that nearly as many did nothing to correct it.
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and collaborators have published the first major results from the American Gut Project, a crowdsourced, global citizen science effort. The project, described May 15 in mSystems, is the largest published study to date of the human microbiome — the unique microbial communities that inhabit our bodies.
A new study provides a surprising model of the process by which signals enter and influence a cancer cell. The finding could open up a potential new avenue to pursue new therapies against cancer.
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