September 18, 2012, Shenzhen, China – BGI Tech Solutions Co., Ltd. (the "BGI Tech"), a subsidiary company of BGI, announced today that they have achieved whole exome sequencing analysis of total degraded DNA as low as 200 ng from formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) samples. This advancement enables researchers to efficiently uncover the genetic information from FFPE disease samples such as cancers and infectious diseases, with the advantages of high reliability, accuracy and fast turnaround time. FFPE samples are the most common biological materials for disease diagnoses ...

The p53 gene plays a key role in the prevention of cancer, by blocking cell growth and triggering programmed cell death or apoptosis. If, however, p53 has mutated and become defective, the cancer cells can acquire the ability to evade apoptosis and become more resistant to therapy. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden have now obtained results from the first tests using a new substance that can restore the function of defective p53 and activate apoptosis in cancer cells. The substance is known as APR-246 and has now been tested ...

Bariatric surgery reduces the long-term risk of developing diabetes by over 80 % among people with obesity. The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) has published the results of a study conducted at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. A study conducted by Professor Lars Sjöström, Professor Lena Carlsson and their team at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, has found that bariatric surgery is considerably more effective than traditional care and lifestyle changes in preventing diabetes among people with obesity. The treatment group consisted ...

Our values change as we age. This is the main conclusion of the 2011 SOM survey, from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, where Swedes were asked to rate the importance of different values. Young people want their lives to be exciting, whereas the older prioritise national security. Cultural life does not promote physical health, but does affect a person's perceived well-being. Three Swedes in five throw away clothes that are in usable condition. 'Our most interesting finding is that people born in the 1960s and 1970s seem to be adopting the values of their parents' ...

A Danish researcher has compared two of the most different welfare systems in the western world. Despite the differences, the research shows surprising similarities in the way in which people in the USA and Denmark perceive the deservingness of welfare recipients. This is one of the conclusions presented in a research article by the highly recognised American Journal of Political Science. - The question of whether a person deserves help or not triggers a number of deep psychological processes. No matter where we come from, whether we are right or left-wing - it is ...

Misfolded proteins can cause various neurodegenerative diseases such as spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) or Huntington's disease, which are characterized by a progressive loss of neurons in the brain. Researchers of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, Germany, together with their colleagues of the Université Paris Diderot, Paris, France, have now identified 21 proteins that specifically bind to a protein called ataxin-1. Twelve of these proteins enhance the misfolding of ataxin-1 and thus promote the formation of harmful protein aggregate structures, ...

A big international study has identified a special gene that regulates bone density and bone strength. The gene can be used as a risk marker for fractures and opens up opportunities for preventive medicine against fractures. The study, led by the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, was published in the journal PLoS Genetics. The international study, which involved more than 50 researchers from Europe, North America and Australia and was led by Associate Professor Mattias Lorentzon and Professor Claes Ohlsson at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of ...

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. In addition, the incidence and mortality rates of colorectal cancer are on the rise. Recently, metabolic genes have received increasing and specific attention due to their potential role in carcinogenesis. Previous studies have shown that alterations in ribonucleotide reductase (RR) levels may significantly influence the biological properties of cells, including tumor promotion and tumor progression, suggesting that RR may be implicated in tumorigenesis. Recent findings have established that ...

An international research group – with the participation of the University of Granada – has achieved to measure the effects of layers on super-heavy elements, which provides useful data on the nuclear structure of these as-yet undiscovered elements in Nature. These results might be useful to locate the so-called "Island of Stability" introduced by a theory that states the existence of highly stable super-heavy elements with very long average lives. The researchers measured the isotopes of nobelium and lawrence using a particle accelerator at the Center of for Heavy Ion ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Sept. 18, 2012 -- Adolescents who are tasered by law enforcement officers do not appear to be at higher risk for serious injury than adults, according to new a new study from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers. This latest research from Wake Forest Baptist is the first to specifically investigate Taser use on adolescents. Lead author Alison R. Gardner, M.D., an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Wake Forest Baptist, found no major differences in the injury rates or types of injuries to youth when compared to adults. "We were ...

The depth of explanation about novel products influences consumer preferences and willingness to pay, according to a study led by the University of Colorado Boulder and Brown University. When it comes to descriptions about the functions of new and unusual goods -- such as a self-watering plant system, special gloves for touchscreens or an eraser for wall scratches -- some people prefer minimal details. Dubbed "explanation foes" in the study, they gain a strong sense of understanding and desire for products through shallow explanations. In contrast, other people -- dubbed ...

WASHINGTON--U.S. Naval Research Laboratory electronics science and technology engineers demonstrate the ability of single walled carbon nanotube transistors (SWCNTs) to survive the harsh space environment, investigating the effects of ionizing radiation on the crystalline structures and further supporting the development of SWCNT-based nanoelectronics for use in harsh radiation environments. "One of the primary challenges for space electronics is mitigating the susceptibility of prolonged exposure to radiation that exists in the charged particle belts that encircle Earth," ...

A new study has found that some kinds of infection data may not be comparable across hospitals, and may not be suitable for use as a performance measure. Published in the leading US policy journal Milbank Quarterly, the research found huge variability in how English hospitals collected, recorded and reported their rates of central line infections to a patient safety programme. The study was funded by the Health Foundation, a major UK charitable foundation aiming to improve quality of care. "Central line infections occur in tubes used in treating seriously ill patients. ...

Scientists can't travel deep space the way Columbus sailed and charted the New World or Lewis and Clark mapped the west. But, researchers at Case Western Reserve University and two partnering institutions have found a possible way to map the spread and structure of the universe, guided by the light of quasars. The technique, combined with the expected discovery of millions more far-away quasars over the next decade, could yield an unprecedented look back to a time shortly after the Big Bang, when the universe was a fraction the size it is today. Researchers found the ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — CEOs are sometimes rewarded for taking excessive risks – a practice that helped fuel the recent recession but could be altered if companies are more strategic in how they compensate their chief executives, a Michigan State University scholar argues in a new study. Instead of issuing stock and stock options in predetermined quantities, boards of directors should vary a CEO's equity-based compensation through a plan that fosters the amount of risk-taking the firm desires, said Robert Wiseman, chairperson and professor in MSU's Department of Management. The ...

The majority of observational studies have shown that alcohol intake, especially heavy drinking, increases a number of upper-aero-digestive tract (UADT) and other cancers, and even moderate drinking is associated with a slight increase in the risk of breast cancer. A meta analysis published in the Annals of Oncology compares the effects between light drinkers (an average reported intake of up to 1 typical drink/day) versus "non-drinkers" in terms of relative risks for a number of types of cancer. The authors concluded that while the risk of these cancers was only slightly ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A study published online in the Journal of Consumer Research finds that people can differ widely on the level of detail makes them feel they understand something. In experiments, the very same explanations that some subjects required before they would pay top dollar seemed to drive down what others were willing to pay. The natural trick for a marketer would be to figure out which customers are which. The study does that, too. "The fact is that people differ," said Steven Sloman, professor of cognitive, linguistic, and psychological ...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Delirium, a common acute condition with significant short- and long-term effects on cognition and function, should be identified as an indicator of poor long-term prognosis, prompting immediate and effective management strategies, according to the authors of a new systematic evidence review. "Delirium is extremely common among older adults in intensive care units and is not uncommon in other hospital units and in nursing homes, but too often it's ignored or accepted as inevitable. Delirium significantly increases risk of developing dementia and triples ...

Why do people in deprived areas live life in the fast lane? It may be because of the age of people they observe in the street, according to a new study by Daniel Nettle and colleagues from Newcastle University in the UK. Their work suggests that because fewer older people are seen out in the street in deprived neighborhoods, younger generations assume that people die young. As a result, they may be adapting the speed at which they live their lives accordingly—for example, by having children earlier in life. Nettle and team's work is published online in Springer's journal ...

Women who go into early menopause are twice as likely to suffer from coronary heart disease and stroke, new Johns Hopkins-led research suggests. The association holds true in patients from a variety of different ethnic backgrounds, the study found, and is independent of traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors, the scientists say. "If physicians know a patient has entered menopause before her 46th birthday, they can be extra vigilant in making recommendations and providing treatments to help prevent heart attacks and stroke," says Dhananjay Vaidya, Ph.D., an ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A new study finds significant associations between antibodies for multiple oral bacteria and the risk of pancreatic cancer, adding support for the emerging idea that the ostensibly distant medical conditions are related. The study of blood samples from more than 800 European adults, published online Sept. 18 in the journal Gut, found that high antibody levels for one of the more infectious periodontal bacterium strains of Porphyromonas gingivalis were associated with a two-fold risk for pancreatic cancer. Meanwhile, study subjects ...

Veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder who are also battling drug or alcohol problems face a higher risk of death, according to new research from the University of Michigan Health System and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System. The new study is the first to examine the association between drug or alcohol use disorders and death in veterans with PTSD, and also includes data from the nation's youngest veterans who have returned from conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. Kipling Bohnert, Ph.D., the study's lead author, says the research sheds new light on the ...

Researchers have developed a new way to observe and track large numbers of rapidly moving objects under a microscope, capturing precise motion paths in three dimensions. Over the course of the study--reported online Sept. 17, 2012, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences--researchers followed an unprecedented 24,000 rapidly moving cells over wide fields of view and through large sample volumes, recording each cell's path for as long as 20 seconds. "We can very precisely track the motion of small things, more than a thousand of them at the same time, in ...

This press release is available in German.On Earth the atmosphere and the magnetic field weaken cosmic rays. But on Moon and Mars they pelt down unhamperdly. The cosmic radiation can harm astronauts and could cause cancer in the long run as a result of damage in DNA and cells. Chiara La Tessa is manager of experiments in GSI biophysics. She explains why Moon or Mars ground stations would not be built from terrestrial high tech material: "In space travels every gram counts. Transporting building material through space would lead to a cost explosion. That is why ground ...

Scientists at the Medical College of Wisconsin, in a team led by Carol Everson, Ph.D., professor of neurology, cell biology, neurobiology and anatomy, have discovered abnormalities in bone and bone marrow in rats undergoing chronic lack of sleep. They discovered abnormalities in serum markers of bone metabolism in sleep-deprived rats, which led them to conduct direct measurements of bone parameters; this time in rats experiencing recurrent sleep restriction during a large portion of their young adulthood. The results show a dramatic imbalance between bone apposition ...