ONCOLOGY Lymphoma therapy could deliver a double punch | Back to top B cell lymphomas are a group of cancers of that originate in lymphoid tissue from B cells, the specialized immune cell type that produces antibodies. The development of B cell lymphoma is associated with several known genetic changes, including increased expression of MYC, a transcription factor that promotes cell growth and division. In this issue of the JCI, Andrei Thomas-Tikhonenko and his colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia report on their studies to better understand the ...

UC Davis researchers have found novel compounds that disrupt the formation of amyloid, the clumps of protein in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease believed to be important in causing the disease's characteristic mental decline. The so-called "spin-labeled fluorene compounds" are an important new target for researchers and physicians focused on diagnosing, treating and studying the disease. The study, published today in the online journal PLoS ONE, is entitled "The influence of spin-labeled fluorene compounds on the assembly and toxicity of the Aβ peptide." "We ...

Steep rises in taxes on alcohol do not necessarily reduce consumption, according to research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) into the history of intoxicants in 16th and 17th England. Dr Philip Withington at the University of Cambridge has found that affluence rather than poverty has tended to drive consumption levels, especially among the middle classes and higher,even though legislation and enforcement is often focused on the poorer parts of the population. "If alcohol consumption is traditionally an index of affluence, then minimum pricing ...

Everyone wants to present themselves in the best light - especially when it comes to finding a partner. Some rely on supplying honest information about their attributes while others exaggerate for good effect. A new study by researchers at the University of Bristol, published in PNAS, has discovered how male crickets could use similar tactics to attract a mate. Male crickets advertise for mates by singing loud repetitive songs at night. They rub their wings together, setting them into resonant vibration, making a loud and intense sound, which enables the female crickets ...

KANSAS CITY, MO—When stretched out, the genome of a single human cell can reach six feet. To package it all into a tiny nucleus, the DNA strand is tightly wrapped around a core of histone proteins in repeating units—each unit known as a nucleosome. To allow access for the gene expression machinery the nucleosomes must open up and regroup when the process is complete. In the May 1, 2012, issue of Genes & Development, researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research demonstrate how failure to restore order has lasting consequences. During the process of gene ...

CHICAGO – Between 2000 and 2009 in the United States, the annual rate of maternal opiate use increased nearly 5-fold, while diagnosis of the drug withdrawal syndrome among newborns, neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), increased almost 3-fold, accompanied by a substantial increase in hospital charges related to NAS, according to a study published online by JAMA. The study is being released early to coincide with its presentation at the Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting. A recent national study indicated that 16.2 percent of pregnant teens and 7.4 percent of ...

New evidence proves humans are continuing to evolve and that significant natural and sexual selection is still taking place in our species in the modern world. Despite advancements in medicine and technology, as well as an increased prevalence of monogamy, research reveals humans are continuing to evolve just like other species. Scientists in an international collaboration, which includes the University of Sheffield, analysed church records of about 6,000 Finnish people born between 1760-1849 to determine whether the demographic, cultural and technological changes ...

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. (April 30, 2012, 3 PM EDT) -- Biomedical engineers at Tufts University's School of Engineering have demonstrated the first all-polymeric bone scaffold material that is fully biodegradable and capable of providing significant mechanical support during repair. The new technology uses micron-sized silk fibers to reinforce a silk matrix, much as steel rebar reinforces concrete. It could improve the way bones and other tissues are repaired following accident or disease. The discovery is reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ...

Even low to moderate levels of exposure to the insecticide chlorpyrifos during pregnancy may lead to long-term, potentially irreversible changes in the brain structure of the child, according to a new brain imaging study by researchers from the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health at the Mailman School of Public Health, Duke University Medical Center, Emory University, and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. The changes in brain structure are consistent with cognitive deficits found in children exposed to this chemical. Results of the study appear ...

On 5 and 6 June this year, millions of people around the world will be able to see Venus pass across the face of the Sun in what will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It will take Venus about six hours to complete its transit, appearing as a small black dot on the Sun's surface, in an event that will not happen again until 2117. In this month's Physics World, Jay M Pasachoff, an astronomer at Williams College, Massachusetts, explores the science behind Venus's transit and gives an account of its fascinating history. Transits of Venus occur only on the very rare ...

WASHINGTON, April 30--Atomic clocks based on the oscillations of a cesium atom keep amazingly steady time and also define the precise length of a second. But cesium clocks are no longer the most accurate. That title has been transferred to an optical clock housed at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colo. that can keep time to within 1 second in 3.7 billion years. Before this newfound precision can redefine the second, or lead to new applications like ultra-precise navigation, the system used to communicate time around the globe ...

Knowing how a living cell works means knowing how the chemistry inside the cell changes as the functions of the cell change. Protein phosphorylation, for example, controls everything from cell proliferation to differentiation to metabolism to signaling, and even programmed cell death (apoptosis), in cells from bacteria to humans. It's a chemical process that has long been intensively studied, not least in hopes of treating or eliminating a wide range of diseases. But until now the close-up view – watching phosphorylation at work on the molecular level as individual cells ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Researchers studying multiple sclerosis(MS) have long been looking for the specific molecules in the body that cause lesions in myelin, the fatty, insulating cells that sheathe the nerves. Nearly a decade ago, a group at Mayo Clinic found a new enzyme, called Kallikrein 6, that is present in abundance in MS lesions and blood samples and is associated with inflammation and demyelination in other neurodegenerative diseases. In a study published this month in Brain Pathology, the same group found that an antibody that neutralizes Kallikrein 6 is capable ...

Scientists predict ocean temperatures will rise in the equatorial Pacific by the end of the century, wreaking havoc on coral reef ecosystems. But a new study shows that climate change could cause ocean currents to operate in a way that mitigates warming near a handful of islands right on the equator. Those islands include some of the 33 coral atolls that form the nation of Kiribati. This low-lying country is at risk from sea-level rise caused by global warming. Surprisingly, these Pacific islands within two degrees north and south of the equator may become isolated ...

Brand India is the name of the organisation that since the late 1990's has been tasked with convincing international corporations and heads of state that they should invest in new, modern India. In return for their investment, they get, among other things, access to cheap, well-educated labour. "The branding campaigns produce seductive images of 'new' India: In the beginning the ads placed traditional Indian motifs together with images of mobile phones, computers, and motor ways to show the investors how India has developed," says Ravinder Kaur, who is director of Centre ...

The common antibiotic, amoxicillin-clavulanate, may improve small bowel function in children experiencing motility disturbances, according to a study appearing in the June print edition of the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition from Nationwide Children's Hospital. Amoxicillan-clavulanate, also known as Augmentin, is most commonly prescribed to treat or prevent infections caused by bacteria. However, it has also been reported to increase small bowel motility in healthy individuals and has been used to treat bacterial overgrowth in patients with chronic ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Just 20 minutes of playing a violent shooting video game made players more accurate when firing a realistic gun at a mannequin – and more likely to aim for and hit the head, a new study found. Players who used a pistol-shaped controller in a shooting video game with human targets had 99 percent more completed head shots to the mannequin than did participants who played other video games, as well as 33 percent more shots that hit other parts of the body. In addition, the study found that participants who reported habitual playing of violent shooting ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - People aren't very good at media multitasking - like reading a book while watching TV - but do it anyway because it makes them feel good, a new study suggests. The findings provide clues as to why multitasking is so popular, even though many studies show it is not productive. Researchers had college students record all of their media use and other activities for 28 days, including why they used various media sources and what they got out of it. The findings showed that multitasking often gave the students an emotional boost, even when it hurt their ...

Boulder, Colo., USA – Studies in this Geology posting cover direct dating of brittle fault activity along the Dead Sea fault zone in Northern Israel; onset of the last deglaciation of valley glaciers in southern Patagonia; cutting-edge techniques, including NanoSIMS ion mapping, to identify the microbial metabolism involved in ooid cortex formation; slope failure at Scripps Canyon, California; and the continuing and relatively quick uplift of the U.S. Sierra Nevada, which gains 1-2 mm per year in elevation. Highlights are provided below. Geology articles published ahead ...

University of Iowa biologists have advanced the knowledge of human neurodevelopmental disorders by finding that a lack of a particular group of cell adhesion molecules in the cerebral cortex -- the outermost layer of the brain where language, thought and other higher functions take place -- disrupts the formation of neural circuitry. Andrew Garrett, former neuroscience graduate student and current postdoctoral fellow at the Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine; Dietmar Schreiner, former postdoctoral fellow currently at the University of Basel, Switzerland; Mark Lobas, ...

April 30, 2012 (Portland, Oregon)—Mexican-American women who participated in a culturally tailored weight management program lost weight, reduced their fat and sugar consumption and improved their eating habits according to a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health and published in the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health. At the end of the year-long De Por Vida ("For Life") program, the women had lost an average of nearly 16 pounds. "More than three-quarters of Mexican-American women in this country are overweight or obese, and they became that way ...

Neuropathic pain, caused by nerve or tissue damage, is the culprit behind many cases of chronic pain. It can be the result of an accident or caused by a variety of medical conditions and diseases such as tumors, lupus, and diabetes. Typically resistant to common types of pain management including ibuprofen and even morphine, neuropathic pain can lead to lifelong disability for many sufferers. Now a drug developed by Tel Aviv University researchers, known as BL-7050, is offering new hope to patients with neuropathic pain. Developed by Prof. Bernard Attali and Dr. Asher ...

Durham, NC — Not all acts of altruism are alike, says a new study. From bees and wasps that die defending their nests, to elephants that cooperate to care for young, a new mathematical model pinpoints the environmental conditions that favor one form of altruism over another. The model predicts that creatures will help each other in different ways depending on whether key resources such as food and habitat are scarce or abundant, say researchers from Indiana University and the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in Durham, North Carolina. Examples of creatures caring ...

PHILADELPHIA— To improve the quality of life in gay men and minorities treated for prostate cancer, a greater awareness of ethnic and sexual preference-related factors is needed to help men choose a more-suitable treatment plan, researchers from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital conclude in a literature review published May 1 in Nature Reviews Urology. Some of the factors to consider, for example, include increased risk of urinary and bowel function decline in African Americans regardless of treatment received and differing sexual expectations and social support in ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Every year, U.S. supermarkets lose roughly 10 percent of their fruits and vegetables to spoilage, according to the Department of Agriculture. To help combat those losses, MIT chemistry professor Timothy Swager and his students have built a new sensor that could help grocers and food distributors better monitor their produce. The new sensors, described in the journal Angewandte Chemie, can detect tiny amounts of ethylene, a gas that promotes ripening in plants. Swager envisions the inexpensive sensors attached to cardboard boxes of produce and scanned ...