BOSTON, June 18 -- An analysis of five families has revealed a previously unknown genetic immunodeficiency, says an international team led by researchers from Boston Children's Hospital. The condition, linked to mutations in a gene called DOCK2, deactivates many features of the immune system and leaves affected children open to a unique pattern of aggressive, potentially fatal infections early in life. As the researchers -- led by Kerry Dobbs and Luigi Notarangelo, M.D., of Boston Children's Division of Allergy and Immunology -- reported today in the New England Journal ...

Musicians don't just hear in tune, they also see in tune. That is the conclusion of the latest scientific experiment designed to puzzle out how the brain creates an apparently seamless view of the external world based on the information it receives from the eyes. "Our brain is remarkably efficient at putting us in touch with objects and events in our visual environment, indeed so good that the process seems automatic and effortless. In fact, the brain is continually operating like a clever detective, using clues to figure out what in the world we are looking at. And ...

A trio of studies being published today in the journals Science and Cell describes advances toward the development of an HIV vaccine. The three study teams all demonstrated techniques for stimulating animal cells to produce antibodies that either could stop HIV from infecting human cells in the laboratory or had the potential to evolve into such antibodies. Each of the research teams received funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. In one study, published in Science, researchers demonstrate ...

CHAPEL HILL, NC - Before there were cells on Earth, simple, tiny catalysts most likely evolved the ability to speed up and synchronize the chemical reactions necessary for life to rise from the primordial soup. But what those catalysts were, how they appeared at the same time, and how they evolved into the two modern superfamilies of enzymes that translate our genetic code have not been understood. In the Journal of Biological Chemistry, scientists from the UNC School of Medicine provide the first direct experimental evidence for how primordial proteins developed the ...

Parkinson disease (PD) appeared associated with 16 types of cancer in a study in Taiwan, an effort to explain the association in an East Asian population because most prior research has been conducted in Western populations, according to an article published online by JAMA Oncology. During the past 50 years, more than 25 epidemiological studies have been conducted on the association between PD and cancer, and most of those studies showed that individuals with PD had a decreased risk of cancer compared to those without PD. However, most of those studies were done in Western ...

A survey carried out earlier this year has found the first evidence of the 'superbug' bacteria Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in sausages and minced pork obtained from supermarkets in the UK. However, researchers stress that this does not pose a significant immediate risk to the public. In February, a team of researchers funded primarily by the Medical Research Council (MRC) bought and analysed a total of 103 (52 pork and 51 chicken) pre-packaged fresh meat products, labelled as being of UK farm origin, from supermarkets in five different locations ...

PITTSBURGH, June 17 -- Regardless of chronological age, people who live in neighborhoods with high crime, noise and vandalism are biologically more than a decade older than those who do not, according to a study led by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh. The findings were published online today in PLOS One. Strong research evidence supports that living in disadvantaged neighborhoods has an unfavorable impact on mental and physical health, explained lead author Mijung Park, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.N., assistant professor, University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing. ...

High in the sky where the cirrus ice crystal clouds form, jet contrails draw their crisscross patterns. Now researchers have found that these elevated ice cloud trails can influence temperatures on the ground and affect local climate, according to a team of Penn State geographers. "Research done regarding September 2001, during the three days following 9-11 when no commercial jets were in the sky, suggested that contrails had an effect," said Andrew M. Carleton, professor of geography. "But that was only three days. We needed to look longer, while jets were in the air, ...

Scientists at UCL have observed how a widespread polar wind is driving gas from the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan. The team analysed data gathered over seven years by the international Cassini probe, and found that the interactions between Titan's atmosphere, and the solar magnetic field and radiation, create a wind of hydrocarbons and nitriles being blown away from its polar regions into space. This is very similar to the wind observed coming from the Earth's polar regions. Titan is a remarkable object in the Solar System. Like Earth and Venus, and unlike any other ...

(WASHINGTON, June 18, 2015) - New research published online today in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), concludes that a blood clot in an abdominal vein may be an indicator of undiagnosed cancer. The study also suggests that these clots predict poorer survival in patients with liver and pancreatic cancer. Compared to the general population, individuals who develop blood clots in their legs (deep-vein thrombosis, or DVT) or lungs (pulmonary embolism, or PE) are two to four times more likely to be diagnosed with cancer within the next year. ...

Global warming leads to the ice sheets on land melting and flowing into the sea, which consequently rises. New calculations by researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute show that the sea level in Northern Europe may rise more than previously thought. There is a significant risk that the seas around Scandinavia, England, the Netherlands and northern Germany will rise by up to about 1½ meters in this century. The results are published in a special issue of the scientific journal Climate Research. Sea level rise is a significant threat to the world's coastal areas, ...

Astronomers making a detailed, multi-telescope study of a nearby galaxy have discovered a magnetic field coiled around the galaxy's main spiral arm. The discovery, they said, helps explain how galactic spiral arms are formed. The same study also shows how gas can be funneled inward toward the galaxy's center, which possibly hosts a black hole. 'This study helps resolve some major questions about how galaxies form and evolve,' said Rainer Beck, of the Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR), in Bonn, Germany. The scientists studied a galaxy called IC 342, some ...

Patients seeking certainty in genetic tests often receive a perplexing result. Many learn they carry a 'variant of unknown significance' of a disease-linked gene. Such variants might -- or equally might not -- increase disease risk. A study published in the June issue of the journal Genetics characterized nearly 2000 variants of the breast cancer-associated gene BRCA1, demonstrating the potential of a new approach for sorting out which variants are harmful and which are harmless. Because genetic tests increasingly use more comprehensive multi-gene and whole-genome sequencing ...

ALLENDALE, Mich. -- A Grand Valley State University biology professor and her team of scientists have determined new information about an endangered species in the U.S., which could impact its protection under the Endangered Species Act. The study, "Two Tickets to Paradise: Multiple Dispersal Events in the Founding of Hoary Bat Populations in Hawai'i," was recently published in PLOS ONE at http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0127912. The study, led by Amy Russell, associate professor of biology at Grand Valley, reveals that the Hawaiian ...

(Philadelphia, PA) - A little more than a decade ago, researchers discovered that all cells secrete tiny communications modules jammed with an entire work crew of messages for other cells. Today, a team of researchers, led by stem cell researcher Raj Kishore, PhD, Director of the Stem Cell Therapy Program at the Center for Translational Medicine at Temple University School of Medicine (TUSM), is harnessing the communications vesicles excreted by stem cells and using them to induce the damaged heart to repair itself. Their research is the June 19 cover story in the leading ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- An international team of scientists has found some of the best evidence yet that Venus, Earth's nearest neighbor, is volcanically active. In combing through data from the European Space Agency's Venus Express mission, the scientists found transient spikes in temperature at several spots on the planet's surface. The hotspots, which were found to flash and fade over the course of just a few days, appear to be generated by active flows of lava on the surface. "We were able to show strong evidence that Venus is volcanically, and thus ...

Currently, there are more than 350 million type 2 diabetics and according to the World Health Organization (WHO) by 2030 it will be the 7th leading cause of death worldwide. The hallmark of type 2 diabetes is insulin resistance, which is initially compensated for by an increase in beta cell size (responsible for producing insulin). However, the beta cells of such patients will eventually collapse and die, leading to full blown type 2 diabetes. Researchers from the Laboratory of Cancer Metabolism at IDIBELL, led by Sara Kozma, have shown in animal models that inhibition ...

NEW YORK (June 18, 2015) - Proper laundering and handling are important in achieving and maintaining the hygienically-clean quality of healthcare fabrics and textiles delivered to the point of care, according to a new review that highlights evidence-based strategies to inhibit potentially serious contamination. The review, based on findings and recommendations from peer-reviewed studies, as well as current standards and guidelines, is published online in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA). ...

Over 35 million people worldwide are currently infected by HIV. Antiviral therapies can keep the virus from multiplying. However, no drug can cure infection so far, because various cell types continue to carry the virus in a latent, i.e. quiescent, state. Scientists of Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen have now established a model for latent HIV infection of brain cells. The researchers used this model to identify various compounds that affect latency of the virus in the brain. This study was published in the journal AIDS. "Chronic infection is caused by long-lived cells with ...

Revisiting original types and DNA analysis exposed hidden diversity in minute non-biting midges. Two species new to science were discovered and one misapprehended species was removed by following the traces back to the source in Brussels. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys. "Nobody suspected a mystery until we solved it", says Elisabeth Stur, the senior author of the paper describing the misconception. - "Maybe even some will be upset that we discovered this long lasting misidentification". It all started with Elisabeth Stur and Torbjørn ...

Scientists at the University of Southampton think that Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) of invasive organisms holds the key to furthering our understanding of ecological and evolutionary processes. In a review of recent studies published in Current Zoology, the researchers say the technique is underutilised in the field of invasion biology. They believe NGS has the potential to transform our understanding of why non-native species adapt and thrive in new environments, often at the expense of their indigenous competitors. The key to the success of biological invasions ...

New research conducted by archaeologists from the University of York and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, in collaboration with members of Tel Aviv University, reveals striking insights into the living conditions and dietary choices of those who lived during the Middle Pleistocene some 300,000 - 400,000 years ago. The article, published in Quaternary International, describes the study in which samples of plaque were extracted from the teeth of three Lower Palaeolithic hominins who lived in Qesem Cave, Israel. Conducting optical and chemical analyses on the ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Researchers at the University at Buffalo have discovered a previously unknown neural pathway that can regulate changes made in the brain due to cocaine use, providing new insight into the molecular basis of cocaine addiction. "Addiction is a life-long affliction manifested by episodes of relapse, despite prolonged abstinence," says Amy Gancarz, PhD, lead author of the study, which was published on June 1 in an Advance Online Publication in Nature Neuroscience. "There is a need to more fully understand the long-term molecular changes in the brain involved ...

This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a gathering of four cosmic companions. This quartet forms part of a group of galaxies known as the Hickson Compact Group 16, or HCG 16 -- a galaxy group bursting with dramatic star formation, tidal tails, galactic mergers and black holes. This quartet is composed of (from left to right) NGC 839, NGC 838, NGC 835, and NGC 833 -- four of the seven galaxies that make up the entire group. They shine brightly with their glowing golden centres and wispy tails of gas [1], set against a background dotted with much more distant ...

A new study led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators found new diagnoses of prostate cancer in the U.S. declined 28 percent in the year following the draft recommendation from the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) against routine PSA screening for men. The new research, led by first author Daniel Barocas, M.D., MPH, assistant professor of urological surgery and medicine, was posted online in the June 15 issue of The Journal of Urology in advance of publication. In October 2011, the USPSTF issued a draft guideline discouraging ...