Genes make proteins and proteins tell your body's cells what to do: one talks to the next, which talks to the next, and to the next. Like a game of telephone, researchers call these "signaling pathways". Abnormalities in these signaling pathways can cause the growth and survival of cancer cells. Commonly, mutations or rearrangements of genes in the MAPK signaling pathway create cancer's fast growth, and alterations in the PI3K signaling pathway allow cancer cells to survive into virtual immortality. Of course, researchers have extensively targeted these two signaling ...

FRANKFURT/GIESSEN. Healthy cells reduce their growth when there is a lack of oxygen (hypoxia). This makes it even more surprising that hypoxia is a characteristic feature of malignant tumours. In two publications in the current edition of the "Nature Communications" journal, researchers from Goethe University and Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen report on how cancer cells succeed at circumventing the genetic program of growth inhibition. It has long been known that PHD proteins (prolyl-hydroxylase domain proteins) play a key role among the regulators of hypoxia. They ...

CHICAGO - Researchers have developed a new device that may result in more comfortable mammography for women. According to a study being presented next week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), standardizing the pressure applied in mammography would reduce pain associated with breast compression without sacrificing image quality. Compression of the breast is necessary in mammography to optimize image quality and minimize absorbed radiation dose. However, mechanical compression of the breast in mammography often causes discomfort and ...

CHICAGO - In a study of nearly 2,000 adults, researchers found that a buildup of plaque in the body's major arteries was associated with mild cognitive impairment. Results of the study conducted at the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center will be presented next week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). "It is well established that plaque buildup in the arteries is a predictor of heart disease, but the relationship between atherosclerosis and brain health is less clear," said Christopher D. Maroules, M.D., radiology ...

Expensive tests for measuring everything from sperm motility to cancer diagnosis have just been made hundreds of thousands of pounds cheaper by a PhD student from Brunel University London who hacked his own microscope. Adam Lynch, from the university's College of Health and Life Sciences, created his own inverted microscope by adapting a cheap instrument he bought online to save himself time and money. The tool is used to measure cell motility - how fast cells move from one place to another - but the high-quality equipment, used to automatically test multiple samples, ...

Extreme weather events, such as El Niño, can have long-lasting effects on health, according to research published in the open access journal Climate Change Responses. The study, in coastal Peru, shows that children born during and after the 1997-98 El Niño have a lower height-for-age than others born before the event. Short stature, otherwise known as stunting, is a measure of chronic malnutrition and this generally persists through to adulthood. The research highlights the need for better understanding of the global health issues that may arise and for the ...

A high intake of yogurt has been found to be associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to research published in open access journal BMC Medicine. This highlights the importance of having yogurt as part of a healthy diet. Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition that occurs when the body doesn't produce enough insulin, or the body's cells develop resistance to insulin. There is an increased risk of developing it if a relative has the condition or if an individual has an unhealthy lifestyle. Approximately 366 million people are affected by type ...

San Mateo, California, November 25, 2014 - Afferent Pharmaceuticals today announced publication of results from a Phase 2 clinical trial demonstrating that the company's novel drug candidate, AF-219, reduced daytime cough frequency by 75% compared to placebo in patients with treatment-refractory chronic cough. These data are featured in an article titled, "P2X3 Receptor Antagonist (AF-219) in Refractory Chronic Cough: A Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Phase 2 Study," which is appearing online in The Lancet. These results support Afferent's current development ...

Task Force finds insufficient evidence to recommend for or against routine vitamin D screening Free content The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) found insufficient evidence to assess the benefits and harms of screening for vitamin D deficiency in asymptomatic adults. The recommendation statement and systematic evidence review are being published together in Annals of Internal Medicine. Vitamin D is obtained through diet (fatty fish, cod liver oil, dairy products, fortified beverages and food, and supplements) and synthesis triggered by sun exposure. There ...

Boston, MA (November 24, 2014)--Lights flash, a siren wails and an ambulance races to help a person whose heart has stopped beating. In most cases, a 911 dispatcher will have sent an advanced life support, or ALS, ambulance to the scene, equipped with sophisticated gear and staffed with a crew of highly trained paramedics who can deliver specialized care in the field, including intubations and IV interventions. Unfortunately, according to a new study by health policy researchers at Harvard, those advanced techniques actually increase the patient's risk of death. People ...

In many countries outside the United States, decisions on when to start treatment for HIV infection are based on the level of certain white blood cells called CD4+ T cells, which are commonly measured to determine immune health. A study by National Institutes of Health grantees suggests that the best time to start treatment also should be based on how much time has elapsed since becoming HIV-infected. The researchers found that starting treatment within a year of seroconversion--the period within a few weeks of HIV infection when antibodies to the virus are first produced ...

Study: Breakfast in Classroom Program Linked to Better Breakfast Participation, Attendance Schools offering Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC) had higher participation in the national school breakfast program and attendance, but math and reading achievement did not differ between schools with or without BIC, according to a study published online by JAMA Pediatrics. BIC is usually served in the classroom at the start of the school day and is typically a universal free meal. Evidence suggests breakfast may improve cognitive function and other outcomes for children and has ...

A larger percentage of patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) achieved normalization of CD4+ T-cell counts when they started antiretroviral therapy (ART) within 12 months of the estimated dates of seroconversion (EDS) rather than later, according to a report published online by JAMA Internal Medicine. The goal of ART has been focused primarily on achieving an undetectable HIV viral load (VL) because not doing so has been associated with impaired immune recovery. However, a specific CD4+ T-cell count as a target for optimal immunologic health has not been validated ...

Patients who had cardiac arrest at home or elsewhere outside of a hospital had greater survival to hospital discharge and to 90 days beyond if they received basic life support (BLS) vs. advanced life support (ALS) from ambulance personnel, according to a report published online by JAMA Internal Medicine. Emergency medical services (EMS) respond to an estimated 380,000 cardiac arrests that happen annually out of the hospital. ALS providers, or paramedics, are trained to use sophisticated, invasive interventions (such as intubation - the placement of a breathing tube) to ...

SAN ANTONIO (Nov. 24, 2014) -- HIV-1-infected U.S. military members and beneficiaries treated with antiretroviral therapy (ART) soon after infection were half as likely to develop AIDS and were more likely to reconstitute their immune-fighting CD4+ T-cells to normal levels, researchers reported Nov. 24 in JAMA Internal Medicine. Other immune benefits of starting treatment early and reaching a normal CD4+ T-cell count on therapy were also reported, including reductions in the activation state of T-cells, which influences HIV disease course, and improvements in the ability ...

MADISON, Wis. -- Sixty years ago, the plows ended their reign and the fields were allowed to return to nature -- allowed to become the woodland forests they once were. But even now, the ghosts of land-use past haunt these woods. New research by Philip Hahn and John Orrock at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on the recovery of South Carolina longleaf pine woodlands once used for cropland shows just how long lasting the legacy of agriculture can be in the recovery of natural places. By comparing grasshoppers found at woodland sites once used for agriculture to similar ...

UCLA neurophysicists have found that space-mapping neurons in the brain react differently to virtual reality than they do to real-world environments. Their findings could be significant for people who use virtual reality for gaming, military, commercial, scientific or other purposes. "The pattern of activity in a brain region involved in spatial learning in the virtual world is completely different than when it processes activity in the real world," said Mayank Mehta, a UCLA professor of physics, neurology and neurobiology in the UCLA College and the study's senior author. ...

Single-cell phytoplankton in the ocean are responsible for roughly half of global oxygen production, despite vast tracts of the open ocean that are devoid of life-sustaining nutrients. While phytoplankton's ability to adjust their physiology to exploit limited nutrients in the open ocean has been well documented, little is understood about how variations in microbial biodiversity -- the number and variety of marine microbes - affects global ocean function. In a paper published in PNAS on Monday November 24, scientists laid out a robust new framework based on in situ observations ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Nearly four decades of observations of Tanzanian chimpanzees has revealed that the mothers of sons are about 25 percent more social than the mothers of daughters. Boy moms were found to spend about two hours more per day with other chimpanzees than the girl moms did. Chimpanzees have a male-dominated society in which rank is a constant struggle and females with infants might face physical violence and even infanticide. It would be safer in general to just avoid groups where aggressive males are present, yet the mothers of sons choose to do so anyway. "It ...

A National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded research team has successfully tested an autonomous underwater vehicle, AUV, that can produce high-resolution, three-dimensional maps of Antarctic sea ice. SeaBED, as the vehicle is known, measured and mapped the underside of sea-ice floes in three areas off the Antarctic Peninsula that were previously inaccessible. The results of the research were published this week in the journal Nature Geoscience. Scientists at the Institute of Antarctic and Marine Science (Australia), Antarctic Climate and Ecosystem Cooperative Research ...

Coral reefs persist in a balance between reef construction and reef breakdown. As corals grow, they construct the complex calcium carbonate framework that provides habitat for fish and other reef organisms. Simultaneously, bioeroders, such as parrotfish and boring marine worms, breakdown the reef structure into rubble and the sand that nourishes our beaches. For reefs to persist, rates of reef construction must exceed reef breakdown. This balance is threatened by increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide, which causes ocean acidification (decreasing ocean pH). Prior research ...

LIND, Wash. - In the world's driest rainfed wheat region, Washington State University researchers have identified summer fallow management practices that can make all the difference for farmers, water and soil conservation, and air quality. Wheat growers in the Horse Heaven Hills of south-central Washington farm with an average of 6-8 inches of rain a year. Wind erosion has caused blowing dust that exceeded federal air quality standards 20 times in the past 10 years. "Some of these events caused complete brown outs, zero visibility, closed freeways," said WSU research ...

Researchers from North Carolina State University have created a model that mimics how differently adapted populations may respond to rapid climate change. Their findings demonstrate that depending on a population's adaptive strategy, even tiny changes in climate variability can create a "tipping point" that sends the population into extinction. Carlos Botero, postdoctoral fellow with the Initiative on Biological Complexity and the Southeast Climate Science Center at NC State and assistant professor of biology at Washington State University, wanted to find out how diverse ...

Last year, University of Pennsylvania researchers Alexander J. Stewart and Joshua B. Plotkin published a mathematical explanation for why cooperation and generosity have evolved in nature. Using the classical game theory match-up known as the Prisoner's Dilemma, they found that generous strategies were the only ones that could persist and succeed in a multi-player, iterated version of the game over the long term. But now they've come out with a somewhat less rosy view of evolution. With a new analysis of the Prisoner's Dilemma played in a large, evolving population, they ...

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. (Nov. 24, 2014, 3 P.M.) -- Researchers at Tufts University, in collaboration with a team at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, have demonstrated a resorbable electronic implant that eliminated bacterial infection in mice by delivering heat to infected tissue when triggered by a remote wireless signal. The silk and magnesium devices then harmlessly dissolved in the test animals. The technique had previously been demonstrated only in vitro. The research is published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early ...