Boston, Mass., August 12, 2013 – In a new paper in Cancer Cell, a team led by Judy Lieberman, PhD, of Boston Children's Hospital's Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine reports "triple-negative" breast cancers may be vulnerable to drugs that attack the proteasome. This cellular structure acts as the cell's waste disposal, breaking down damaged or unneeded proteins. These cancers, which lack the three major therapeutic markers for breast cancer—the estrogen, progesterone and HER2 receptors—are very aggressive and difficult to treat. They mostly affect younger women ...

What's good for adults is not always best for the young, and vice versa. At least that is the case with song sparrows and how they experience the effects of climate change, according to two recent studies by scientists at the University of California, Davis, and Point Blue Conservation Science. Both studies show the importance of considering the various stages and ages of individuals in a species -- from babies to juveniles to adults -- to best predict not only how climate change could affect a species as a whole, but also why. "To learn how climate change is expected ...

Singapore, 12 August 2013 – A team of scientists from the National Cancer Centre Singapore, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore, and Taiwan's Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, LinKou, have made a breakthrough in understanding the cancer-promoting action of Aristolochic Acid (AA), a natural product of Aristolochia plants traditionally used in some Asian herbal remedies for weight loss and slimming. Using advanced DNA sequencing technologies, the team, led by Professors Teh Bin Tean, See-Tong Pang, Patrick Tan and Steve Rozen discovered that AA is the most potent carcinogen ...

NEW YORK, August 11 – Neurologists and epilepsy researchers from NYU Langone Medical Center were among scientists who have 329 random genetic mutations associated with two of the most severe forms of epilepsy, according to a paper published today in Nature. Though well-known that many forms of epilepsy are strongly influenced by genetics, there has been relatively little progress in identifying the genetic differences that contribute to most forms of epilepsy. This study sheds light on why some with an elevated risk for epilepsy never get the disease and why certain medications ...

The findings by the University of Michigan Frankel Cardiovascular Center will be published in the September issue of Pediatrics. While some habits were the same for all overweight and obese children, the study found some gender differences in the habits influencing body weight. Data from 1,714 sixth grade students enrolled in Project Healthy Schools showed girls who drank two servings of milk each day were less likely to be obese, and boys who played on a sports team were also at a healthier weight. "Additional work is needed to help us understand the beneficial impact ...

Research groups at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and the Physical-Technical Federal Institute (PTB) in Braunschweig, working in collaboration with scientists at the University of Ulm and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, have been investigating the formation of defects occurring when a Coulomb crystal of ions is driven through a second-order phase transition. For this purpose, they compressed one-dimensional linear chains of ions at high speeds to form a two-dimensional zigzag structure with a form similar to that of an accordion. This process can lead to ...

Humans originated in Africa. But what route did they take as they began to disperse around the world 60,000 years ago? A new professor at the University of Huddersfield has played a key role in finding the answer to one of the most fundamental questions in the history of mankind. Professor Richards, who moved to Huddersfield from the University of Leeds, is a pioneer in the field -- one of just two professors of archaeogenetics in the world. He uses DNA evidence to study human origins, comparing data from modern samples across the world and occasionally to that which ...

Just under a third of young Swiss men prefer beer when they drink alcohol, taking in at least two thirds of their alcohol consumption in the form of the beverage. Far fewer (around five percent) prefer wine. Is there an association between the preference for particular alcoholic beverages and a riskier approach to alcohol or other substances? This is what researchers from the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Zurich and Lausanne University Hospital wanted to find out by conducting a survey of around 5,400 men with an average age of 20 as part ...

A Professor from The University of Manchester has had his name immortalised as a new species of fly. Professor Richard Preziosi, from the Faculty of Life Sciences, said he was delighted with the unusual tribute from researcher Dr. Dave Penney. It follows his continued support of Dr. Penney's unfunded research into amber rocks which he has been investigating for around 20 years. Dr. Penney discovered the new species of fly, which he has named Proceroplatus preziosii, on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, after finding a fossil in 16 million-year-old amber from the ...

Alan Carleton's team from the Neuroscience Department at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) Faculty of Medicine has just shown that the representation of an odor evolves after the first breath, and that an olfactory retentivity persists at the central level. The phenomenon is comparable to what occurs in other sensory systems, such as vision or hearing. These movements undoubtedly enable the identification of new odors in complex environments or participate in the process of odor memorization. This research is the subject of a publication in the latest online edition of the ...

This news release is available in German. Scientists would love to know which forces created our universe some 14 billion years ago. How could – due to a breaking of symmetry – matter, and thus stars and galaxies, be created from an originally symmetrical universe in which the same conditions prevailed everywhere shortly after the Big Bang. Now, the Big Bang is an experiment that cannot be repeated. But the principle of symmetry and its disturbance can definitely be investigated under controlled laboratory conditions. For this purpose, scientists from the Excellence ...

Washington D.C., August 12, 2013 – A study published in the August 2013 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry demonstrates support for the changes in autism symptom structure for toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD found in the newly released Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5)). Using a sample of 237 toddlers (aged 12-30 months) diagnosed with ASD by expert clinicians, a group of researchers from Florida State University (FSU), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and ...

The relationship between body mass index (BMI) and mortality appears to be stronger in adults without diabetes than those with existing diabetes. These findings¹ are published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine² in a study by Chandra Jackson of the Harvard School of Public Health and colleagues. The researchers suggest that studies on body weight and mortality should take into account the impact of diabetes status in the population. In their analysis, Jackson's team used data from a nationally representative sample of 74,710 Black and White American adults between ...

Preliminary research out of the University of Cincinnati is providing a rare look at the construction of masculinity on the covers of mainstream and gay-themed sports magazines. The research by Jodi Stooksberry and J. A. Carter, both doctoral students in the UC Department of Sociology, was presented at the 108th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in New York, N.Y. Stooksberry and Carter did a comparative analysis of two sports magazines: Sports Illustrated, one of the nation's most recognized mainstream sports magazines, and Compete. Published out ...

The synapses in the brain act as key communication points between approximately one hundred billion neurons. They form a complex network connecting various centres in the brain through electrical impulses. New research from Lund University suggests that it is precisely here, in the synapses, that Huntington's disease might begin. The researchers at Lund University looked into the brains of mice with real-time imaging methods, following some of the very first stages of the disease through advanced microscopes. What they discovered was an unprecedented degradation of synaptic ...

Todd Callais, an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati's Blue Ash College, is one of the select sociologists from across the world to be named to present at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association. Professor Callais' presentation, Music and Social Movements: Historical Hip-Hop Participation Frames and Modern Rap as Social Movement Participation, explores the evolution of hip-hop from party music into a political platform. Callais focused on this particular music industry because of its impact on society and because there is a clear ...

It is possible to see how advanced a bowel cancer is by looking at its metabolic 'fingerprint', according to new research. Bowel cancer is the third most common type of cancer globally, with over one million new cases diagnosed every year. Accurately determining the stage that a tumour has reached is crucial for deciding which treatments to offer. Metabolic fingerprinting looks at the levels of many different metabolites, which are the products of chemical reactions in the body's cells, in a sample of blood, urine or tissue. This mix of metabolites alters as cancer ...

Morning sickness, shiny hair and bizarre and intense cravings for pickles and ice cream -- what expectations do pregnant women impose on their bodies, and how are those expectations influenced by cultural perspectives on pregnancy? University of Cincinnati researcher Danielle Bessett, an assistant professor of sociology, presented her research at the 108th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in New York, N.Y. Although previous surveys have indicated that women turn to medical sources to find out what to expect when they're expecting, Bessett's research, ...

Discussions surrounding race and racism are prevalent in an online community in which users can hide their own race, gender and any other identifying information. Russell Spiker, a doctoral student in the University of Cincinnati's Department of Sociology, will presented his research at the 108th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in New York, N.Y. Spiker's presentation, "From My Living Room to Yours: A Grounded Theory of Typology of Racial Discussions on YouTube.com," examined English-language comments posted from YouTube's top 10 most viewed videos ...

A new study out of the University of Cincinnati not only finds that parents feel responsible about taking action when their children struggle with social issues, but also that parents are influenced by their own childhood memories. Jennifer Davis Bowman, a recent graduate of the special education doctoral program at the University of Cincinnati, will present her research on Aug. 12, at the 108th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in New York, N.Y. Bowman's study examined parents' use of what's called bibliotherapy -- using books as interventions for ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass-- Designing products for the developing world can be a hit-or-miss endeavor: While there may be a dire need for products addressing problems, such as access to clean water, sanitation and electricity, designing a product that consumers will actually buy is a complicated process. More often than not, such products — even those that are distributed at no charge — go unused due to poor quality, unreliability or differences in cultural expectations. And yet, an increasing number of organizations, companies and startups are targeting products at developing ...

Ancient Egyptian mummies revealed that humans have been hosting parasitic flatworms called schistosomes for more than 5,000 years. Today these parasites continue to plague millions of people across the world, causing roughly 250,000 deaths each year. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign believe that one key to controlling this destructive parasite is being able to control their incredibly prolific life cycle that can produce tens to hundreds of thousands of schistosomes each generation. In a recent study published in the journal eLife, they ...

Bethesda, MD (August 12, 2013) — Patients with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS-D, treated with eluxadoline achieved better clinical response and experienced more symptom improvement than those using placebo, according to a recent study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association. Eluxadoline, which is currently in phase 3 trials, is under development as a potential treatment for IBS-D. "There is a critical need for a safe and effective treatment for IBS-D, a disorder affecting approximately 10 to 15 percent ...

In 1958 a group of scientists working in Denmark made the striking observation that bacterial cells are about twice as large when they are cultured on a rich nutrient source than when they are cultured on a meager one. When they are shifted from a nutrient-poor environment to a nutrient-rich one, they bulk up until they have achieved a size more appropriate to their new growth conditions. It has taken 60 years to figure out how the bacteria are able to sample their surroundings and alter their cell cycles so that they grow to a size suited to the environment. In 2007 ...

CHD5 has previously been proposed as a tumour suppressor, acting as a brake that prevents healthy cells from developing into cancer cells. But the part played by the protein in healthy tissue, and whether this role is important for its ability to counter tumour growth, has remained largely uncharted. Working with colleagues at Trinity College in Dublin and BRIC in Copenhagen, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have revealed its function in normal nervous system development and as a tumour suppressor. The recently published study shows that when stem cells approach the ...