An international team of scientists—including researchers at GENYO, the Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research (Pfizer-University of Granada- Andalusian Regional Government)—has described a molecular mechanism that facilitates the defence of the human genome against "bombarding" by mobile DNA sequences. Abnormalities in the mechanism could be responsible for some symptoms of DiGeorge syndrome, a rare disease. The research could in the future help develop new therapies against the disease, which is caused by the microdeletion of a small part of chromosome 22. The ...

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and their Danish colleagues have monitored HPV-vaccinated girls via patient data registries in order to examine the incidence of a wide range of diseases and thus determine if there are any serious adverse effects of the vaccine. Their results show no significant increase of the examined diseases in the vaccinated girls relative to their unvaccinated peers. The study included almost a million Swedish and Danish girls born between 1988 and 2000, and compared roughly 300,000 girls who had been HPV vaccinated with 700,000 who ...

PHILADELPHIA—Patients who received care at multiple HIV clinics—as opposed to only one— were less likely to take their medication and had higher HIV viral loads, a new study published in the journal AIDS and Behavior of almost 13,000 HIV patients in Philadelphia from Penn Medicine found. The findings reinforce the notion that continuous care with one provider/clinic is optimal for outcomes and even reducing transmissions, and can help cut down on duplicative HIV services that contribute to higher health care costs. "It's about retention in care, but also continuity, ...

HOUSTON – (Oct. 9, 2013) – With high-tech optical tools and sophisticated mathematics, Rice University researchers have found a way to pinpoint the location of specific sequences along single strands of DNA, a technique that could someday help diagnose genetic diseases. Proof-of-concept experiments in the Rice lab of chemist Christy Landes identified DNA sequences as short as 50 nucleotides at room temperature, a feat she said is impossible with standard microscopes that cannot see targets that small, or electron microscopes that require targets to be in a vacuum or cryogenically ...

A mathematician has calculated how peer pressure influences society. Professor Ernesto Estrada, of the University of Strathclyde's Department of Mathematics and Statistics, examined the effect of direct and indirect social influences – otherwise known as peer pressure – on how decisions are reached on important issues. Using mathematical models, he analysed data taken from 15 networks – including US school superintendents and Brazilian farmers – to outline peer pressure's crucial role in society. Professor Estrada said: "Our modern society is a highly-interconnected ...

A 2,700-year-old portico was discovered this summer on the site of the ancient city of Argilos in northern Greece, following an archaeological excavation led by Jacques Perreault, Professor at the University of Montreal's Centre of Classical Studies and Zisis Bonias, an archaeologist with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports. In ancient Greece, the portico—stoa in Greek—was a long, open structure that often housed shops and delineated public squares from the city—the agora. "Porticos are well known from the Hellenistic period, from the 3rd to 1st century BC, but ...

New Rochelle, NY, October 9, 2013—Cancer immunotherapy can successfully use the body's own immune system to kill tumor cells. But some current approaches to stimulate an antitumor immune response are short-lived, with limited clinical effectiveness. A new gene transfer strategy that introduces modified, immune-stimulating human stem cells is both feasible and effective for achieving persistent immunotherapy to treat leukemias and lymophomas, according to a study published in Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article ...

October 9, 2013 — (BRONX, NY) — Findings from a study involving thousands of postmenopausal women suggest that women who develop invasive breast cancer may benefit from taking supplements containing both multivitamins and minerals. The new research, published today in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, found that the risk of dying from invasive breast cancer was 30 percent lower among multivitamin/mineral users compared with nonusers. "Our study offers tentative but intriguing evidence that multivitamin/mineral supplements may help older women who develop invasive ...

Bethesda, Md. (Oct. 9, 2013)—There's no question that high levels of good cholesterol—also known as high-density lipoprotein (HDL)—seem to be protective against heart disease. Rather than depositing fat into the blood vessels the way the "bad" cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein (LDL)) does, HDL appears to carry cholesterol away from blood vessels to the liver. From there, the liver processes it for removal from the body. However, adequate levels of HDL might not be enough. Several recent studies have suggested that many cases of heart disease occur in people with ...

Male football players are at a greater risk of injury five minutes after a card has been given or after a goal has been scored. The frequency of player injuries also increases when their own team is in the lead. These are the findings of researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy, who, in collaboration with Fifa, have analysed injuries over the last three World Cup tournaments. Football players do not just injure themselves whenever and however. On the contrary, injury frequency follows a clear pattern that is dependent on how various events in the course of a match affect ...

Bethesda, Md. (Oct. 9, 2013)— In many modern societies, adults often sacrifice sleep during the workweek to make time for other demands, then snooze longer on the weekends to recoup that lost sleep. Research has shown that even a few days of lost sleep can have adverse effects, including increased daytime sleepiness, worsened daytime performance, an increase in molecules that are a sign of inflammation in the body, and impaired blood sugar regulation. These last two could be partially responsible for why sleeping less negatively affects health in other ways and shortens ...

New research published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology shows that a group of scientists, led by faculty at the University of Notre Dame, has made concrete progress toward the development of the first-ever inhibitory therapeutic for Type I hypersensitive allergic reactions. "Our allergy inhibition project is innovative and significant because we brought a novel molecular design approach to selectively inhibit mast cell degranulation — the key event in triggering a food allergic response — which has the potential to improve the quality of life for affected patients," ...

Case Western Reserve University researchers today published findings that point to a promising discovery for the treatment and prevention of prion diseases, rare neurodegenerative disorders that are always fatal. The researchers discovered that recombinant human prion protein stops the propagation of prions, the infectious pathogens that cause the diseases. "This is the very first time recombinant protein has been shown to inhibit diseased human prions," said Wen-Quan Zou, MD, PhD, senior author of the study and associate professor of pathology and neurology at Case Western ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Rocky pillars dotting Iceland's Skaelingar valley were projectiles tossed into the fields by warring trolls. That, at least, is the tale that University at Buffalo geologist Tracy Gregg heard from a tour guide and local hiker when she visited the site on two occasions. But Gregg and a colleague have a new explanation for the presence of the lava formations — this one also unexpected. In the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, she and former UB master's student Kenneth Christle report that the pillars, hollow and made from basalt, likely formed ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- The structure of the auditing business appears problematic: Typically, major companies pay auditors to examine their books under the so-called "third-party" audit system. But when an auditing firm's revenues come directly from its clients, the auditors have an incentive not to deliver bad news to them. So: Does this arrangement affect the actual performance of auditors? In an eye-opening experiment involving roughly 500 industrial plants in the state of Gujarat, in western India, changing the auditing system has indeed produced dramatically different ...

New brain imaging technology is helping researchers to bridge the gap between art and science by mapping the different ways in which the brain responds to poetry and prose. Scientists at the University of Exeter used state-of-the-art functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology, which allows them to visualise which parts of the brain are activated to process various activities. No one had previously looked specifically at the differing responses in the brain to poetry and prose. In research published in the Journal of Consciousness Studies, the team found ...

Two purportedly royal relics recently surfaced on the collectors' market in France: a mummified head and a handkerchief with blood residues. The head was said to be that of French king Henry IV and the blood on the handkerchief that of King Louis XVI. This was confirmed by Spanish and French researchers, who reported positive DNA matches. Several historians voiced doubts about these claims and enrolled the help of forensic identification specialist Professor Jean-Jacques Cassiman and his team to investigate the relics. Professor Cassiman's team compared the published ...

(Boston)-- A study by physicians at Boston Medical Center (BMC), has found that patients with a high degree of activation (possessing the knowledge, skills, confidence and inclination to assume responsibility for managing one's health and health-care needs) were less likely to be readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of discharge than those with a low level of activation. This study, which appears online in Journal of General Internal Medicine, is the first to evaluate patient activation and its effects on utilization of hospital services after discharge. Hospital ...

For the first time, researchers have created a model that could help unlock what causes adenomyosis, a common gynecological disease that is a major contributor to women having to undergo hysterectomies. In a two-step process, a team led by Michigan State University's Jae-Wook Jeong first identified a protein known as beta-catenin that may play a key role in the development of the disease. When activated, beta-catenin causes changes in certain cells in a woman's uterus, leading to adenomyosis. Then Jeong, an associate professor in the College of Human Medicine's Department ...

Philadelphia, PA, October 9, 2013 – Investigators who studied a group of recreational marathon runners have established that strenuous exercise such as running a marathon can damage the heart muscle. Although they found the effect is temporary and reversible, they warn that these effects are more widespread in less fit distance runners and that recreational distance runners should prepare properly before marathons. Their findings are published in the October issue of the Canadian Journal of Cardiology. Previous reports have established that a significant percentage of ...

(PHILADELPHIA) High levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL), also known as the "good cholesterol," are thought to protect against heart disease. However, what's good for one disease may not be good for another. High levels of HDL have also been linked to increased breast cancer risks and to enhanced cancer aggressiveness in animal experiments. Now, a team of researchers led by Philippe Frank, Ph.D., a cancer biologist in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Thomas Jefferson University, has shown that an HDL receptor found on breast cancer cells may be ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- As baby boomers enter their retirement years, health care costs for complex and debilitating conditions such as Alzheimer's disease are expected to soar. Not drawing as much attention is the likelihood of similarly rising expenses for common age-related medical procedures. A Mayo Clinic study looked at one of those -- cataract surgery-- and found that more people are getting the vision-improving procedure, seeking it at younger ages and having both eyes repaired within a few months, rather than only treating one eye. The demand shows no sign of leveling ...

(Boston) - Investigators at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have identified that lack of time and a paucity of trained faculty are perceived as the most significant barriers to incorporating complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and integrative medicine (IM) training into family medicine residency curricula and training programs. The study results, which are published online in Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing, were collected using data from an online survey completed by 212 national residency program directors. The study was led by Paula ...

As human life expectancy increases, so does the percentage of invasive and endangered birds and mammals, according to a new study by the University of California, Davis. The study, published in the September issue of Ecology and Society, examined a combination of 15 social and ecological variables -- from tourism and per capita gross domestic product to water stress and political stability. Then researchers analyzed their correlations with invasive and endangered birds and mammals, which are two indicators of what conservationist Aldo Leopold termed "land sickness," ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- It was a result so unexpected that MIT researchers initially thought it must be a mistake: Under certain conditions, putting a cracked piece of metal under tension -- that is, exerting a force that would be expected to pull it apart -- has the reverse effect, causing the crack to close and its edges to fuse together. The surprising finding could lead to self-healing materials that repair incipient damage before it has a chance to spread. The results were published in the journal Physical Review Letters in a paper by graduate student Guoqiang Xu and professor ...