UEA scientists make breast cancer advance that turns previous thinking on its head Scientists at the University of East Anglia have made an advance in breast cancer research which shows how some enzymes released by cancerous cells could have a protective function. New research published today in the Journal of Biological Chemistry reveals that an enzyme called MMP-8 (matrix metalloproteinase-8) could be acting as a locator to the immune system, which then becomes activated to attack tumours. It was originally thought that the production of MMPs by breast cancer cells ...

Canada and other countries should reassess guidelines that prohibit offering economic incentives such as gift cards to potential blood donors, says a study from the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM). "Blood donation guidelines recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and many blood collection agencies are largely based on research that assessed only what study participants said they would do – not their observed behaviour when donating blood," says Nicola Lacetera, Assistant Professor in UTM's Department of Management. "These are two very different things." Using ...

Frontiers in Plant Science Automated conserved noncoding sequence (CNS) discovery reveals differences in gene content and promoter evolution among grasses Within the genome of each species, there are thousands of stretches of DNA that undergo little change in position and sequence over millions of years, but do not code for any proteins. Some of these evolutionarily stable sequences, so-called conserved noncoding sequences (CNSs), are known to regulate the expression of other genes or the condensation of chromosomes, but the function of many CNSs remains unknown. Michael ...

A billon-frames-per-second film has captured the vibrations of gold nanocrystals in stunning detail for the first time. The film, which was made using 3D imaging pioneered at the London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN) at UCL, reveals important information about the composition of gold. The findings are published in the journal Science. Jesse Clark, from the LCN and lead author of the paper said: "Just as the sound quality of a musical instrument can provide great detail about its construction, so too can the vibrations seen in materials provide important information ...

An academic paper on the archaeology of the Search for Richard III reveals for the first time specific details of the grave dug for King Richard III and discovered under a car park in Leicester. University of Leicester archaeologists have published the first peer-reviewed paper on the University-led archaeological Search for Richard III in the prestigious journal Antiquity. The paper reveals: Richard III was casually placed in a badly prepared grave – suggesting gravediggers were in a hurry to bury him He was placed in an 'odd position' and the torso crammed in The ...

Treatment with high potency statins (especially atorvastatin and simvastatin) may increase the risk of developing diabetes, suggests a paper published today on bmj.com. Statins are among the most widely prescribed medications for the prevention of cardiovascular events. Although tolerated well, an association with new-onset diabetes has recently been suggested. One trial suggested a 27% increased risk of diabetes with rosuvastatin whereas another suggested patients taking pravastatin benefitted from a 30% lower risk. As there is limited data on this subject, researchers ...

People eating at fast food restaurants largely underestimate the calorie content of meals, especially large ones, according to a paper published today on bmj.com. From 2006 to 2010 many American states and cities passed laws requiring chain restaurants to print calorie content on menus. The US Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 included a provision that will require all restaurant chains with more than 20 US sites to print calorie content on menus. Previous research has shown that adults and children underestimate calorie content often by large amounts. ...

STANFORD, Calif. - Ethnic background plays a surprisingly large role in how diabetes develops on a cellular level, according to two new studies led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The researchers reanalyzed disease data to demonstrate that the physiological pathways to diabetes vary between Africa and East Asia and that those differences are reflected in part by genetic differences. The studies will be published online simultaneously May 23 in the journals PLoS Genetics and Diabetes Care. "We have new insights into the differences in diabetes ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., – May 23, 2013 – Two out of five medical students have an unconscious bias against obese people, according to a new study by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. The study is published online ahead of print in the Journal of Academic Medicine. "Bias can affect clinical care and the doctor-patient relationship, and even a patient's willingness or desire to go see their physician, so it is crucial that we try to deal with any bias during medical school," said David Miller, M.D., associate professor of internal medicine at Wake Forest Baptist ...

(Edmonton) A University of Alberta physicist brought together back-yard astronomers and professionals to confirm the mysterious behaviour of two stars more than 300 light years from Earth. U of A astrophysics researcher Gregory Sivakoff was part of an international team that re-examined an established theory about periodic bursts of light coming from a binary star. The two stars are called a binary star because they rotate around each other. The accepted theory on why the binary star, named SS Cygni, emits periodic bursts of light involves an interaction between the ...

Physicists understand perfectly well why a fridge magnet sticks to certain metallic surfaces. But there are more exotic forms of magnetism whose properties remain unclear, despite decades of intense research. An important step towards filling these gaps comes now from Tilman Esslinger and his group at the Department of Physics. The team has developed a new kind of device that uses laser beams and atoms to emulate magnetic materials. Their approach promises fundamental insights beyond what can be obtained with current theoretical and computational methods. Moreover, the ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. (May 23, 2013) – Aortic arch pulse wave velocity, a measure of arterial stiffness, is a strong independent predictor of disease of the vessels that supply blood to the brain, according to a new study published in the June issue the journal Radiology. "Pulse wave velocity from the aortic arch provides functional information about vessel compliance that may help determine a patient's risk for cerebrovascular disease down the road," said Kevin S. King, M.D., assistant professor of radiology at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Recent studies have ...

By discovering the new mechanism by which estrogen suppresses lipid synthesis in the liver, UC Irvine endocrinologists have revealed a potential new approach toward treating certain liver diseases. With this finding, Dr. Ellis Levin and colleagues believe they are changing long-held views in the field. Study results appear in the May 21 issue of the journal Science Signaling. "The dogma in the steroid receptor field for 50 years has been that only receptors located in the nucleus respond to steroid hormones by regulating genes that produce the developmental, functional ...

DETROIT — Commitment to the job by correctional staff members cannot be bought but must be earned by an organization, a Wayne State University researcher believes. A study by Eric Lambert, Ph.D., professor and chair of criminal justice in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, describes three types of commitment and the effects of three organizational concepts on them, based on a survey of 450 staff members at a maximum-security correctional institution in Michigan. "Loyalty, Love, and Investments: The Impact of Job Outcomes on the Organizational Commitment of Correctional ...

A team of researchers has captured images of green alga consuming bacteria, offering a glimpse at how early organisms dating back more than 1 billion years may have acquired free-living photosynthetic cells. This acquisition is thought to have been a critical first step in the evolution of photosynthetic algae and land plants, which, in turn, contributed to the increase in oxygen levels in Earth's atmosphere and ocean and provided one of the conditions necessary for animal evolution. In a paper that appears in the June 17 issue of Current Biology and is available online ...

UCLA researchers examining outcomes for advanced heart-failure patients over the past two decades have found that, coinciding with the increased availability and use of new therapies, overall mortality has decreased and sudden cardiac death, caused by the rapid onset of severe abnormal heart rhythms, has declined. However, the team found that even today, with these significant improvements, one-third of patients don't survive more than three years after being diagnosed with advanced disease. Heart failure is increasingly common, affecting close to 6 million individuals ...

From Virginia to Florida, there is a prehistoric shoreline that, in some parts, rests more than 280 feet above modern sea level. The shoreline was carved by waves more than 3 million years ago—possible evidence of a once higher sea level, triggered by ice-sheet melting. But new findings by a team of researchers, including Robert Moucha, assistant professor of Earth Sciences in Syracuse University's College of Arts and Sciences, reveal that the shoreline has been uplifted by more than 210 feet, meaning less ice melted than expected. Equally compelling is the fact that ...

Toronto – May 23, 2013 – Embargoed until 2:00 PM – An international team of scientists has proved that the H7N9 influenza virus is efficiently transmitted when animals are in close contact -- defined in the study as touching, coughing and the exchange of bodily fluids. "This study was designed to give us clues about the transmission of H7N9 which has affected some humans in China," said David Kelvin, PhD, a senior scientist at the Toronto General Research Institute and Professor at the University of Toronto. "The animals used in the study had very mild clinical symptoms ...

Cells in the human body do not function in isolation. Living cells rely on communication with their environment—neighboring cells and the surrounding matrix—to activate a wide range of cellular functions, including reproduction of new cells, differentiation of stem cells into distinct cell types, cell adhesion, and migration of white blood cells to fight bodily infections. This cellular communication occurs on the molecular level and it is reciprocal: a cell receives cues from and also transmits function-activating cues to its neighbors. The mechanics of this type of ...

Cinnamon: Can the red-brown spice with the unmistakable fragrance and variety of uses offer an important benefit? The common baking spice might hold the key to delaying the onset of –– or warding off –– the effects of Alzheimer's disease. That is, according to Roshni George and Donald Graves, scientists at UC Santa Barbara. The results of their study, "Interaction of Cinnamaldehyde and Epicatechin with Tau: Implications of Beneficial Effects in Modulating Alzheimer's Disease Pathogenesis," appears in the online early edition of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, and ...

Chinese and U.S. scientists have used virus isolated from a person who died from H7N9 avian influenza infection to determine whether the virus could infect and be transmitted between ferrets. Ferrets are often used as a mammalian model in influenza research, and efficient transmission of influenza virus between ferrets can provide clues as to how well the same process might occur in people. The research was supported, in part, by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. The researchers dropped H7N9 virus into ...

More than 13,000 ships per year, carrying more than 284 million tons of cargo, transit the Panama Canal each year, generating roughly $1.8 billion dollars in toll fees for the Panama Canal Authority. Each time a ship passes through, more than 55 million gallons of water are used from Gatun Lake, which is also a source of water for the 2 million people living in the isthmus. However, the advent of very large "super" cargo ships, now more than 20 percent of the ships at sea, has demanded change. The Panama Canal is being expanded to create channels and locks three times ...

A newly synthesized material might provide a dramatically improved method for separating the highest-octane components of gasoline. Measurements at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have clarified* why. The research team, which included scientists from NIST and several other universities, has published its findings in the journal Science.* Created in the laboratory of Jeffrey Long, professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, the material is a metal-organic framework, or MOF, which can be imagined as a sponge with microscopic ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers and physicians in the field could soon run on-the-spot tests for environmental toxins, medical diagnostics, food safety and more with their smartphones. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers have developed a cradle and app for the iPhone that uses the phone's built-in camera and processing power as a biosensor to detect toxins, proteins, bacteria, viruses and other molecules. Having such sensitive biosensing capabilities in the field could enable on-the-spot tracking of groundwater contamination, combine the phone's GPS ...

Scientists at Emory Vaccine Center have shown that an immune regulatory molecule called IL-21 is needed for long-lasting antibody responses in mice against viral infections. The results are published in the Journal of Virology. "Our findings highlight how IL-21 could be important in the development of antiviral vaccines," says research associate Ata Ur Rasheed Mohammed, PhD, the first author of the paper. The senior author is Rafi Ahmed, PhD, director of the Emory Vaccine Center and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar. The findings could lead scientists designing ...