When astronauts launch into space, a microbial entourage follows. And the sheer number of these followers would give celebrities on Twitter a run for their money. The estimate is that normal, healthy adults have ten times as many microbial cells as human cells within their bodies; countless more populate the environment around us. Although invisible to the naked eye, microorganisms – some friend, some foe – are found practically everywhere. Microorganisms like bacteria often are found attached to surfaces living in communities known as biofilms. Bacteria within biofilms ...

Researchers at the University of East Anglia have identified a rapid response which could help halt infectious diseases such as bird flu, swine flu and SARS before they take hold. Focusing on the avian flu virus strain H5N1, research published today in the journal PLOS ONE identifies key stages in the poultry trade chain which lead to its transmission to other birds, animals and humans. High risk times for the disease to spread include during transportation, slaughter, preparation and consumption. It is hoped that the findings and recommendations will help stop the ...

Chronic liver disease is a leading cause of death in the United States, in part because it often causes the formation of harmful scar tissue—a process known as fibrosis. A study published by Cell Press August 15 in the journal Immunity reveals the central role the immune molecule interleukin 33 (IL-33) plays in the formation of liver fibrosis. The findings suggest that drugs targeting this molecule could serve as a new treatment strategy to protect against liver fibrosis. "Currently, the therapeutic options for liver fibrosis are limited and not curative," says senior ...

Exposure to low oxygen levels, such as those present at high altitudes, can wreak havoc on the body. Now researchers reporting August 15 in the American Journal of Human Genetics, published by Cell Press, have uncovered genes that play a role in causing this damage, making them attractive targets for treatments against chronic mountain sickness and other conditions that involve oxygen deprivation. There are approximately140 million people living permanently at high altitudes, where oxygen levels are low. Many of them have adapted to their environment, but others have ...

When something gets in the way of our ability to see, we quickly pick up a new way to look, in much the same way that we would learn to ride a bike, according to a new study published in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on August 15. Our eyes are constantly on the move, darting this way and that four to five times per second. Now researchers have found that the precise manner of those eye movements can change within a matter of hours. This discovery by researchers from the University of Southern California might suggest a way to help those with macular degeneration ...

VIDEO: Part 1: Swarming by the ancestral (wild type) strain, Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14, shows the typical branching pattern of swarming colonies. Part 2: Swarming by a hyperswarmer mutant, clone #10, shows... Click here for more information. The evolution of hyperswarming, pathogenic bacteria might sound like the plot of a horror film, but such bugs really have repeatedly evolved in a lab, and the good news is that they should be less of a problem to us than their less ...

Ovarian cancer often remains undetected until it is at an advanced stage. Despite positive responses to initial treatment, many patients are at risk of tumor recurrence. A multitude of genetic markers have been implicated in ovarian cancer prognosis. However, the genetic testing required is not practical or affordable in a clinical setting. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Roel Verchaak and colleagues at the MD Anderson Cancer Center identify protein biomarkers that are predictive for time of ovarian cancer recurrence and develop a PRotein-driven ...

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by poor airflow due to the breakdown of lung tissue, mucus accumulation and airway dysfunction. Development of COPD is most commonly associated with smoking tobacco, however, it also occurs after acute respiratory infections such as influenza. It is unclear how prior lung disease leads to COPD. In the current issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Michael Holtzman and colleagues at the Washington University School of Medicine report that expression of an inflammatory molecule, interleukin-33 (IL-33), ...

Biomarkers predict time to ovarian cancer recurrence Ovarian cancer often remains undetected until it is at an advanced stage. Despite positive responses to initial treatment, many patients are at risk of tumor recurrence. A multitude of genetic markers have been implicated in ovarian cancer prognosis. However, the genetic testing required is not practical or affordable in a clinical setting. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Roel Verchaak and colleagues at the MD Anderson Cancer Center identify protein biomarkers that are predictive for time of ...

LA JOLLA, CA – August 15, 2013 – Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered the molecular mechanism by which the deadly Ebola virus assembles, providing potential new drug targets. Surprisingly, the study showed that the same molecule that assembles and releases new viruses also rearranges itself into different shapes, with each shape controlling a different step of the virus's life cycle. "Like a 'Transformer', this protein of the Ebola virus adopts different shapes for different functions," said Erica Ollmann Saphire, Ph.D., professor in the ...

Research led by scientists from the University of California, San Diego has decoded the genetic basis of chronic mountain sickness (CMS) or Monge's disease. Their study provides important information that validates the genetic basis of adaptation to high altitudes, and provides potential targets for CMS treatment. It will be published online August 15 in advance of print in the September 5 issue of American Journal of Human Genetics. More than 140 million people have permanently settled on high-altitude regions, on continents ranging from African and Asia to South America. ...

Researchers at King's College London have for the first time highlighted the natural regenerative capacity of a group of stem cells that reside in the heart. This new study shows that these cells are responsible for repairing and regenerating muscle tissue damaged by a heart attack which leads to heart failure. The study, published today in the journal Cell, shows that if the stem cells are eliminated, the heart is unable to repair after damage. If the cardiac stem cells are replaced the heart repairs itself, leading to complete cellular, anatomical and functional heart ...

Observed in the wild, tucked away in museum collections, and even exhibited in zoos around the world;there is one mysterious creature that has been a victim of mistaken identity for more than 100 years. A team of Smithsonian scientists, however, uncovered overlooked museum specimens of this remarkable animal, which took them on a journey from museum cabinets in Chicago to cloud forests in South America to genetics labs in Washington, D.C. The result: the olinguito (Bassaricyon neblina);the first carnivore species to be discovered in the Western Hemisphere in 35 years. The ...

Observed in the wild, tucked away in museum collections, and even exhibited in zoos around the world--there is one mysterious creature that has been a victim of mistaken identity for more than 100 years. A team of Smithsonian scientists, however, uncovered overlooked museum specimens of this remarkable animal, which took them on a journey from museum cabinets in Chicago to cloud forests in South America to genetics labs in Washington, D.C. The result: the olinguito (Bassaricyon neblina)--the first carnivore species to be discovered in the Western Hemisphere in 35 years. ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (August 15, 2013) – By studying the planarian flatworm, a master of regenerating missing tissue and repairing wounds, Whitehead Institute Member Peter Reddien and his lab have identified an unexpected source of position instruction: the muscle cells in the planarian body wall. "I was completely surprised. We had no idea it would be muscle," says Reddien, who is also an associate professor of biology at MIT. "Finding such a cellular system for positional control in an adult regenerative animal was unanticipated and is very informative for understanding ...

Investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have described another link in the chain of events that connect acute viral infections to the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Their discovery points to a new therapeutic target for COPD, an extremely common disease of the lower airways that is seen in chronic bronchitis and emphysema. COPD affects about 12 million people in the United States, where it is the third leading cause of death. Worldwide, it is the fifth leading cause of death. It is characterized by inflammation ...

The Hubble Sequence classifies galaxies according to their morphology and star-forming activity, organising them into a cosmic zoo of spiral, elliptical, and irregular shapes with whirling arms, fuzzy haloes and bright central bulges. Two main types of galaxy are identified in this sequence: elliptical and spiral, with a third type, lenticular, settling somewhere between the two. This accurately describes what we see in the region of space around us, but how does galaxy morphology change as we look further back in time, to when the Universe was very young? "This is ...

All organs in our body rely on stem cells in order to maintain their function. The skin is our largest organ and forms a shield against the environment. New research results from BRIC, University of Copenhagen and Cambridge University, challenge current stem cell models and explains how the skin is maintained throughout life. The results have just been published in the recognized journal Cell Stem Cell. New knowledge challenge stem cell models The skin consists of many different cell types, including hair cells, fat- and sweat glands. It protects us against microbial ...

PHILADELPHIA – Cancer metastasis requires tumor cells to acquire properties that allow them to escape from the primary tumor site, travel to a distant place in the body, and form secondary tumors. But first, an advance team of molecules produced by the primary tumor sets off a series of events that create a network of nurturing blood vessels for arriving primary tumor cells to set up shop. In lung cancer, the formation of that niche likely involves immune cells and moderate levels of VEGF and other molecules that promote the formation of new blood vessels, or angiogenesis. ...

Canadian high schools with anti-homophobia policies or gay-straight alliances (GSAs) that have been in place for three years or more have a positive effect on both gay and straight students' problem alcohol use, according to a new study by University of British Columbia researchers. GSAs are student-led clubs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning (LGBTQ) youth and their straight allies. Their purpose is to provide support and advocacy and help make schools more inclusive. "These strategies appear to be helpful not only for LGBTQ students, but ...

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. – In two recently published papers, Tufts University School of Engineering researchers have established new techniques for predicting the severity of seasonal cholera epidemics months before they occur and with a greater degree of accuracy than other methods based on remote satellite imaging. Taken together, findings from these two papers may provide the essential lead time to strengthen intervention efforts before the outbreak of cholera in endemic regions. Cholera is an acute diarrheal disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. It occurs ...

August 15, 2013, Shenzhen, China--An international team, consisting of scientists from University of California San Diego, BGI and other institutes, has investigated the entire DNA code of Andean individuals with chronic mountain sickness (CMS), or Monge's disease to unravel the puzzle of genetic mutations associated with CMS from whole-genome level. The study published online today in American Journal of Human Genetics, provides evidence to support whole-genome sequencing as an ultimate approach to advance the understanding of the genetic basis of CMS and its treatment. More ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., August 15, 2013 – Aileron Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that is developing first-in-class therapeutics based on its proprietary Stapled Peptide drug platform, announced today the publication of preclinical data on ATSP-7041, a potent and selective stapled peptide re-activator of the wild type p53 tumor suppressor protein. P53, known as "the guardian of the genome" because it repairs damaged DNA or triggers cell death in pre-cancerous cells, is one of the most important known tumor suppressors, as it is shown to be inactivated ...

Children with a particularly lethal cancer could benefit from potentially life-saving treatment, following breakthrough work led by researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). A whole new class of drugs has been developed that, for the first time, targets the structure of the cancer cell. UNSW researchers have provided proof that the therapy is effective in two types of cancers in the animal model. They are neuroblastoma, a cancer that affects children, and melanoma. The resulting paper has been published in Cancer Research. "It is much like what happens ...

Recently, the importance of the neurovascular unit, which is comprised of neurons, endothelial cells and astrocytes, has received great attention in the field of stroke, because stroke affects not only neurons, but also astrocytes and microvessels. Within the neurovascular unit, endothelial cells are critical for maintaining normal hemodynamic and metabolic homeostasis. Vascular damage during ischemia often leads to the disruption of the blood-brain barrier and dysregulation of vascular tonus, eventually causing substantial cell death. The Chinese herbs Rhodiolase, Notoginseng, ...