PHILADELPHIA - Sometimes a full-on assault isn't the best approach when dealing with a powerful enemy. A more effective approach, in the long run, may be to target the support system replenishing the supplies that keep your foe strong and ready for battle. A group of researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania is pursuing this strategy by employing a novel DNA vaccine to kill cancer, not by attacking tumor cells, but targeting the blood vessels that keep them alive. The vaccine also indirectly creates ...

A study tracing the evolution of HIV in North America involving researchers at Simon Fraser University has found evidence that the virus is slowly adapting over time to its human hosts. However, this change is so gradual that it is unlikely to have an impact on vaccine design. "Much research has focused on how HIV adapts to antiviral drugs—we wanted to investigate how HIV adapts to us, its human hosts, over time," says lead author Zabrina Brumme, an assistant professor in SFU's Faculty of Health Sciences. The study, published today in PLOS Genetics, was led by Brumme's ...

A "brown dwarf" star that appears to be the coldest of its kind -- as frosty as Earth's North Pole -- has been discovered by a Penn State University astronomer using NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and Spitzer Space Telescopes. Images from the space telescopes also pinpointed the object's distance at 7.2 light-years away, making it the fourth closest system to our Sun. "It is very exciting to discover a new neighbor of our solar system that is so close," said Kevin Luhman, an associate professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State and a researcher ...

A next-generation genome editing system developed by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators substantially decreases the risk of producing unwanted, off-target gene mutations. In a paper receiving online publication in Nature Biotechnology, the researchers report a new CRISPR-based RNA-guided nuclease technology that uses two guide RNAs, significantly reducing the chance of cutting through DNA strands at mismatched sites. "This system combines the ease of use of the widely adopted CRISPR/Cas system with a dimerization-dependent nuclease activity that confers ...

A team of researchers in the University of Arizona's College of Pharmacy has discovered a molecular pathway that could be key to creating new therapeutics that would slow or even reverse the progression of end-stage liver disease. Although cirrhosis of the liver is most commonly associated with alcohol or drug abuse, the condition – marked by scar tissue replacing healthy liver tissue – also can result from viral hepatitis, obesity and diabetes, as well as certain inherited diseases. According to the National Institutes of Health, cirrhosis is the 12th leading cause of ...

Biologists have discovered how an outer shield over T-type channels change the electrochemical signaling of heart and brain cells. Understanding how these shields work will help researchers eventually develop a new class of drugs for treating epilepsy, cardiovascular disease and cancer. The study from the University of Waterloo is published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry today and is featured as the "Paper of the Week" for its significance. The researchers discovered T-type channels in the pond snail, Lymnaea stagnalis, can shift from using calcium ions to ...

TORONTO, April 25, 2014—Almost half of all homeless men who took part in a study by St. Michael's Hospital had suffered at least one traumatic brain injury in their life and 87 per cent of those injuries occurred before the men lost their homes. While assaults were a major cause of those traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, (60 per cent) many were caused by potentially non-violent mechanisms such as sports and recreation (44 per cent) and motor vehicle collisions and falls (42 per cent). The study, led by Dr. Jane Topolovec-Vranic, a clinical researcher in the hospital's ...

Large sections of the genome that were once referred to as "junk" DNA have been linked to human heart failure, according to research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. So-called junk DNA was long thought to have no important role in heredity or disease because it doesn't code for proteins. But emerging research in recent years has revealed that many of these sections of the genome produce RNA molecules that, despite not being proteins, still have important functions in the body. RNA is a close chemical cousin to DNA. Molecules now associated ...

Inflammation has long been considered an integral part of the biological process that leads to deadly scarring in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. New research at National Jewish Health, however, suggests that a little inflammation may also be crucial to the healing and repair processes in the lungs. Elizabeth Redente, PhD, assistant professor of cell biology at National Jewish Health, and her colleagues report in the April 2014 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology that the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α can speed recovery of injured ...

Chocolate Moose Media's Buzz and Bite public service announcements (PSA) have had a profound effect combatting the spread of malaria around the world. Now the series will be featured in a new museum in Dublin, Ireland, dedicated to malaria. Buzz and Bite comprises 30 animated spots of either 30 or 60 seconds that feature two female anopheles (malaria-carrying) mosquitos. Creator and company president Firdaus Kharas uses humour as the two winged characters try to infect every human on the planet. The series teaches about the value of insecticide-treated sleeping nets ...

Philadelphia, Pa. (April 25, 2014) – The development of graphene—a highly advanced metamaterial with many unique and varied properties—may lead to exciting new applications in the diagnosis and treatment of neurological diseases, according to a report in the May issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. Tobias A. Mattei, MD, of Invision Health/Brain & Spine Center – Buffalo, New York and Azeem A. Rehman, BS, of The University of Illinois ...

MADISON, Wis. – Marital stress may make people more vulnerable to depression, according to a recent study by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers and their colleagues. The long-term study, published in the April 2014 Journal of Psychophysiology, shows that people who experience chronic marital stress are less able to savor positive experiences, a hallmark of depression. They are also more likely to report other depressive symptoms. The findings are important, says study leader Richard Davidson, UW-Madison William James and Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, ...

April is in the middle of the dry season, which runs from January through May in this region, and naturally coincides with fire season. Farmers often use fire to return nutrients to the soil and to clear the ground of unwanted plants. Fire helps enhance crops and grasses for pasture. Some of the fires in this image may be wildfires, with natural (lightning) or accidental (human) sources. As the dry season progresses, the number of fires tend to grow, as does the blanket of smoke which settles over the land, and although the fire may help the farmers get their lands ready ...

OTTAWA, April 24, 2014 - A new study from researchers at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI), published today in Cell Reports, sheds light on a mysterious gene that likely influences cardiovascular health. After five years, UOHI researchers now know how one genetic variant works and suspect that it contributes to the development of heart disease through processes that promote chronic inflammation and cell division. Researchers at the Ruddy Canadian Cardiovascular Genetics Centre had initially identified a variant in a gene called SPG7 as a potential contributor ...

TORONTO, April 25, 2014—Almost half of all homeless men who took part in a study by St. Michael's Hospital had suffered at least one traumatic brain injury in their life and 87 per cent of those injuries occurred before the men lost their homes. While assaults were a major cause of those traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, (60 per cent) many were caused by potentially non-violent mechanisms such as sports and recreation (44 per cent) and motor vehicle collisions and falls (42 per cent). The study, led by Dr. Jane Topolovec-Vranic, a clinical researcher in the hospital's ...

April 24, 2014 CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The evidence for what causes aging has typically been limited to the study of a single organism's lifespan; our cells divide many times throughout our lives and eventually cause organs and our bodies to age and break down. But new research from the UNC School of Medicine suggests that how we age might depend on cellular interactions that we inherit from ancestors throughout many generations. By studying the reproductive cells of nematodes – tiny worms found in soil and compost bins – Shawn Ahmed, PhD, an associate professor of genetics, ...

JUPITER, FL – April 25, 2014 – Scientists have known that abnormal brain growth is associated with autism spectrum disorder. However, the relationship between the two has not been well understood. Now, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have shown that mutations in a specific gene that is disrupted in some individuals with autism results in too much growth throughout the brain, and yet surprisingly specific problems in social interactions, at least in mouse models that mimic this risk factor in humans. "What was striking is ...

Modesto, CA (April 25, 2014) - Six new almond-related research studies will be presented next week in San Diego at the American Society of Nutrition (ASN)'s Scientific Sessions and Annual Meeting, held in conjunction with Experimental Biology 2014 (EB). The conference attracts an international audience of approximately 13,000 leading scientists specializing in various health disciplines. The science presented will reveal new insights on the effects of almond consumption on overall diet quality and health status, abdominal adiposity, measures of appetite and satiety, and ...

A research team lead by Academy Professor Kari Rissanen at the University of Jyväskylä has discovered a new water-soluble fluorescent detection system that is extremely sensitive to pyrophosphate (PPi). Pyrophosphate has a key role in energy transduction, DNA replication and other metabolic processes that are dysregulated in cancer cells. The discovery might lead to the development of a method for early detection of cancer cells. The team developed a simple metal complex which shows an intense orange fluorescent color in the presence of very low concentration of pyrophosphate ...

Researchers from LSTM are among those who have sequenced the genome of a species of tsetse fly (Glossina morsitans). The outcomes of this research will be invaluable to understanding more about the tsetse and other insect vector biology, knowledge which can be applied to improving the current vector control methods and may lead to more effective and affordable control strategies. A paper summarising some of the findings will be published in the journal Science today, with more specific and in depth analyses of various aspects of tsetse biology being published as a collection ...

Researchers at Aarhus University, Denmark, have drawn up the most detailed 'image of the enemy' to date of one of the body's most important players in the development of Parkinson's disease. This provides much greater understanding of the battle taking place when the disease occurs – knowledge that is necessary if we are to understand and treat Parkinsonism. However, it also raises an existential question because part of the conclusion is that we do not live forever! Parkinson's disease is one of the most common neurological disorders, with about 7000 people suffering ...

Drexel's Wei Sun, PhD, Albert Soffa chair professor in the College of Engineering, has devised a method for 3D printing tumors that could soon be taking cancer research out of the petri dish. Using a mixture of cervical cancer cells and a hydrogel substance that resembles an ointment balm, Sun can print out a tumor model that can be used for studying their growth and response to treatment. This living model will give cancer researchers a better look at how tumors behave and a more accurate measure of how they respond to treatment. "This is the first time to report ...

A new study published online in the Journal of Applied Physiology shows additional benefits of consuming a blend of soy and dairy proteins after resistance exercise for building muscle mass. Researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch found that using a protein blend of soy, casein and whey post-workout prolongs the delivery of select amino acids to the muscle for an hour longer than using whey alone. It also shows a prolonged increase in amino acid net balance across the leg muscle during early post-exercise recovery, suggesting prolonged muscle building. ...

A new report quantifies for the first time how much our food choices affect pollutant nitrogen emissions, climate change and land-use across Europe. The executive summary of the European Nitrogen Assessment Special Report on Nitrogen and Food, 'Nitrogen on the Table', was released today (Friday 25 April 2014). The Special report provides an assessment of what would happen if Europe were to decrease its consumption of meat and dairy products. It shows how much cutting down on meat and dairy in our diets would reduce nitrogen air and water pollution, and greenhouse gas ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — There's a civil war going on inside every one of the 37 trillion cells in your body. Now, University of Michigan scientists have uncovered how your cells keep this war from causing too much collateral damage. On one side of the battle: your "regular" DNA, which provides the day-to-day instructions for life. On the other side: tiny bits of rogue DNA that hide like spies between genes in your own DNA. From time to time, these rogue bits of DNA spin off a copy of themselves and "jump" to another DNA location – often causing harmful mutations when they ...