Researchers from the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) have shown that overactivation of the RANK signalling pathway promotes the initiation, progression and metastasis of tumours in human breast epithelial cells by dedifferentiation of breast cells to stem cells. The results of this study have been advanced in the electronic edition of the journal Cancer Research. RANK signalling pathway The study was coordinated by Eva Gonzalez-Suarez, head of the IDIBELL research group on Transformation and Metastasis. A year ago, the team published a paper which ...

Queen Mary scientists working with images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft have discovered strange half-mile-sized objects punching through parts of Saturn's F ring, leaving glittering trails behind them. These trails in the rings, which scientists are calling 'mini-jets', fill in a missing link in our understanding of the curious behaviour of the F ring. The results will be presented today (24 April) at the European Geosciences Union meeting in Vienna, Austria. Scientists have known that relatively large objects like the moon Prometheus (as long as 92 miles across) ...

Toxic prions in the brain can be detected with self-illuminating polymers. The originators, at Linköping University in Sweden, has now shown that the same molecules can also render the prions harmless, and potentially cure fatal nerve-destroying illnesses. Linköping researchers and their colleagues at the University Hospital in Zürich tested the luminescent conjugated polymers, or LCPs, on tissue sections from the brains of mice that had been infected with prions. The results show that the number of prions, as well as their toxicity and infectibility, decreased drastically. ...

Where do viruses dangerous to humans come from, and how have they evolved? Scientists working with Prof. Dr. Christian Drosten, Head of the In¬stitute for Virology at the Universitätsklinikum Bonn, have made significant progress in answering this question. "We already knew from prior studies that bats and rodents play a role as carriers of paramyxoviruses," said Prof. Drosten. The many varied members of this large virus family cause, e.g., measles, mumps, pneumonias and colds. The highly dangerous Hendra and Nipah viruses cause types of encephalitis that result in death ...

Around 450 million years ago, shallow seas covered the Cincinnati region and harbored one very large and now very mysterious organism. Despite its size, no one has ever found a fossil of this "monster" until its discovery by an amateur paleontologist last year. The fossilized specimen, a roughly elliptical shape with multiple lobes, totaling almost seven feet in length, will be unveiled at the North-Central Section 46th Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America, April 24, in Dayton, Ohio. Participating in the presentation will be amateur paleontologist Ron ...

Humans that populated the banks of the river Manzanares (Madrid, Spain) during the Middle Palaeolithic (between 127,000 and 40,000 years ago) fed themselves on pachyderm meat and bone marrow. This is what a Spanish study shows and has found percussion and cut marks on elephant remains in the site of Preresa (Madrid). In prehistoric times, hunting animals implied a risk and required a considerable amount of energy. Therefore, when the people of the Middle Palaeolithic (between 127,000 and 40,000 years ago) had an elephant in the larder, they did not leave a scrap. Humans ...

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Yale University have developed a new concept for use in a high-speed genomic sequencing device that may have the potential to substantially drive down costs. "The low cost--if it can be achieved--would enable genomic sequencing to be used in everyday clinical practice for medical treatments and preventions," said Predrag Krstic, project director and former ORNL physicist now at the University of Tennessee-ORNL Joint Institute for Computational Sciences. The research is part of a nearly decade-long drive by the National ...

Northridge, Calif. (April 24, 2012) – A dose of 10 milligrams (mg) daily of S-equol delivered via a newly developed fermented soy germ-based nutritional supplement is as effective as a standard dose of soy isoflavones at reducing hot flash frequency significantly and is even more effective for relieving muscle and joint pain, according to a peer-reviewed study in US postmenopausal women published in the June Journal of Women's Health, available now as a Fast Track article online ahead of print. "This study provides evidence that daily doses of the supplement S-equol, ...

VIDEO: A research group at Linköping University has built five different molecular models of the voltage sensor in an ion channel, which together can explain all the experimental data. The five... Click here for more information. Every thought, every movement, every heartbeat is controlled by lightning-quick electrical impulses in the brain, the muscles, and the heart. But too much electrical excitability in the membranes of the cells can cause things like epilepsy and cardiac ...

This press release is available in German. The new method is based on the natural repair mechanism of plants. So-called homologous recombination repairs the genome when the genome strands in the cell break. "Using an appropriate enzyme, i.e. molecular scissors, we first make a cut at the right point in the genome and then supply the necessary patch to repair this cut," says Friedrich Fauser from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, who is the first author of the PNAS publication. "A part of this patch is the new gene piece we want to install. The rest is done by the ...

Staying motivated is always tough, but it certainly gets easier when you start seeing results. That's why keeping your spirits up during a job search can be extremely difficult. Candidates often face repeated rejection and rarely receive any feedback. A new study that focuses on finding work following a job layoff reveals just how important managing negative thoughts and effort over time are while looking for employment. The research shows that having a more positive, motivational outlook had a beneficial effect on job pursuit, especially at the outset of the search. ...

A family history of liver cancer is reported to increase risk of developing hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC), independent of hepatitis according to findings published in the May issue of Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. The study also shows 70-fold elevated risk of HCC in those with liver cancer in the family and markers for hepatitis B (HBV) or hepatitis C (HCV). Liver cancer ranks sixth in incidence and the third cause of mortality worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) liver cancer was responsible ...

Italian researchers report that severe fibrosis increases the early atherosclerosis risk in patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. A second study found that fatty liver disease also increases risk of developing atherosclerosis at an earlier period. Both studies appear in the May issue of Hepatology, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. In the first study, researchers led by Dr. Salvatore Petta from the Di.Bi.M.I.S. University of Palermo in Italy evaluated 174 patients ...

For many people with gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD, acid reflux drugs are the answer to their woes, curbing the chronic heartburn and regurgitation of food or sour liquid characteristic of the disorder. But when it comes to Barrett's esophagus, a condition commonly found in people with GERD, acid control may be less important than beating back another bodily fluid – bile. A new study published in the Annals of Surgery shows that bile – a digestive fluid that leaks backwards from the stomach into the esophagus along with acid in patients with GERD – plays a ...

AMES, Iowa -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory have designed a method to evaluate different conductors for use in metamaterial structures, which are engineered to exhibit properties not possible in natural materials. The work was reported this month in Nature Photonics. Cloaking devices that hide planes from RADAR, microscopes that can see inside a single cell, and miniature antennae that measure only a few millimeters all sound like parts of a science fiction movie. But, within the span of the decade since they began their work, Ames Laboratory ...

HERSHEY, Pa. -- A history of binge eating -- consuming large amounts of food in a short period of time -- may make an individual more likely to show other addiction-like behaviors, including substance abuse, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. In the short term, this finding may shed light on the factors that promote substance abuse, addiction, and relapse. In the long term, may help clinicians treat individuals suffering from this devastating disease. "Drug addiction persists as a major problem in the United States," said Patricia Sue Grigson, Ph.D., ...

Princeton University researchers have observed a self-degradation response to the antidepressant Zoloft in yeast cells that could help provide new answers to lingering questions among scientists about how antidepressants work, as well as support the idea that depression is not solely linked to the neurotransmitter serotonin. In findings published in the journal PLoS ONE, researchers based in the lab of Ethan Perlstein, an associate research scholar in Princeton's Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics and senior lecturer in molecular biology, report that sertraline ...

This press release is available in German. In a variant of maize known as pod corn, or tunicate maize, the maize kernels on the cob are not 'naked' but covered by long membranous husks known as glumes. According to scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne and Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, this variant arises from the activity of a leaf gene in the maize cob that is not usually active there. Thus, pod corn is not a wild ancestor of maize, but a mutant that forms leaves in the wrong place. Pod corn has a spectacular ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A Rhode Island Hospital psychiatrist and researcher explains the negative impact of broadening the diagnostic criteria for bipolar disorder in the upcoming Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). In a newly published commentary in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Mark Zimmerman, M.D., explains that lowering the diagnostic threshold for bipolar disorder will likely do more harm than good for patients. As the debate continues over the revisions to DSM-IV, Zimmerman, the director of outpatient psychiatry at Rhode ...

Together with child and adolescent psychiatrists, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have just completed an extensive report which reviews the studies which have been done so far on the significance of diet for children and young people with ADHD. The report shows that there are potential benefits in changing the diets of children with ADHD, but that key knowledge in the area is still lacking. The comprehensive report covers the scientific literature on the significance of diet for children with ADHD: "Our conclusion is that more research is required in the ...

New Rochelle, NY, April 23, 2012— Nearly 8 of 10 Americans will experience lower back pain at some time in their lives. Persistent low back pain is a common, incapacitating, costly, and difficult to treat condition. Many patients might benefit significantly from an individualized, multidisciplinary, team-based model of care that includes access to licensed complementary care practitioners (e.g., chiropractors, massage therapists, and acupuncturists) in addition to conventional care providers, as demonstrated in a study published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The rate of workplace deaths in Michigan remained steady in 2011, as 141 workers died on the job compared with 145 in 2010, according to an annual report from Michigan State University. The construction industry had the most deaths at 24, while the agriculture industry had the second most at 22, according to the Michigan Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation program, or MIFACE. The program – administered by MSU's Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, part of the College of Human Medicine – investigates work-related deaths and ...

Once considered unimportant "junk DNA," scientists have learned that non-coding RNA (ncRNA) — RNA molecules that do not translate into proteins — play a crucial role in cellular function. Mutations in ncRNA are associated with a number of conditions, such as cancer, autism, and Alzheimer's disease. Now, through the use of "deep sequencing," a technology used to sequence the genetic materials of the human genome, Dr. Noam Shomron of Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine has discovered that when infected with a virus, ncRNA gives off biological signals that ...

Demand for car hire around the 2012 Olympic Games has surged recently according to leading online car hire comparator Carrentals.co.uk. The website is advising people to book rentals well in advance if they want to get plenty of choice and availability of cars this coming summer. Carrentals.co.uk reports that rental bookings for between 20 July and 12 August are up by around four times on the same period in 2011, with 40% of total bookings around the Olympics set for collection at Gatwick or Heathrow airport. July 20 and 21 will see the most cars being collected as ...

Fibronectin plays a major role in wound healing and embryonic development. The protein, which is located in the extracellular matrix of cells, has also been linked to pathological conditions including cancer and fibrosis. During physiological processes, fibronectin fibers are believed to experience mechanical forces that strain the fibers and cause dramatic structural modifications that change their biological activity. While understanding the role of fibronectin strain events in development and disease progression is becoming increasingly important, detecting and interrogating ...