Obesity rates are continuing to rise among both children and adults worldwide. Obesity is a risk factor for development of a variety of complications, including type 2 diabetes, and an increase in the rates of such obesity-associated diseases has been seen among adults. However, a review article in the May issue of The Journal of Pediatrics reports that the rate of type 2 diabetes among children worldwide also appears to have increased significantly over the last 15 years.

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Embryos distinguish vibrational differences, hatching early to snake attacks but not to rain

At the edge of Ocelot Pond, Panama, red-eyed tree frog embryos still in their eggs are about to make a life-or-death decision. The egg clutch, a gelatinous blob clinging to a leaf overhanging the water, has been spied by a bright green parrot snake. In a twinkling, the snake tears a few eggs from the clutch.

With that bite, the embryos start to wiggle frantically. As the snake

New research on a bacterium that can survive encounters with specific immune system cells has strengthened scientists’ belief that these plentiful white blood cells, known as neutrophils, dictate whether our immune system will permit or prevent bacterial infections. A paper describing the research was released today online in The Journal of Immunology. Frank R. DeLeo, Ph.D., of Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML), part of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the N

Discovery of new location in a key protein that activates genetic activity aided with use of mass spectrometry at UCR

Researcher Kangling Zhang at the University of California, Riverside is part of a team that has discovered a new way that yeast governs genetic expression and repression, a finding that could be repeated in cells of other organisms.

Zhang, an academic coordinator at the Mass Spectrometry Facility of the Department of Chemistry at UCR, worked with Feng Xu

Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center have found promising new molecular targets and treatment approaches for some of the most malignant brain tumors.

Results of three separate studies were presented at the World Federation of NeuroOncology meeting and the European Association for NeuroOncology meeting, both in Edinburgh, Scotland, on May 6 and 7. The research involved glioblastoma multiforme, the most common form of brain tumor and the least curable of

MANCHESTER Metropolitan University has launched Biomove – a new European research consortium based in its 5* Institute for Human Movement.

The European Consortium for Research into Biological Movement (Biomove) brings together research scientists from across Europe who study the strengths and weaknesses of the human body from both athletic and clinical perspectives.

More than 100 delegates attended the inaugural meeting in Cheshire including 65 scientists from the Nether

Agriculture is not unique to humans: some insect groups have also evolved this way of life. One such group is the fungus-farming termites, which cultivate fungi as food inside their nests. Such termites can be found in both rain forest and savannah habitats in the Old World tropics, from Africa to Asia. But as researchers report this week, a combination of DNA sequence analysis and computer modelling suggests that termite agriculture originated in the African rain forest, and gave rise to

Discovery provides keys to evolution of neuronal signalling, ’left-right asymmetry’

Boston–Forsyth Institute researchers have found that serotonin-the chemical substance involved in transmitting signals between neurons and which plays a role in anxiety and mood disorders– is present in vertebrate embryos long before neurons form. The scientists also found that serotonin plays a key role in determining where organs are positioned in the body during embryonic develop

A biologist at Washington University in St. Louis has shown that for some fish species, females prefer males with larger sexual organs, and actually choose them for mating. That does not exclude males with an average-sized sex organ, called a gonopodium. These fish out-compete the larger-endowed males in a predator-laden environment because they have a faster burst speed than the males with larger genitalia, who lose out because the size of their organ slows them down, making them ripe for cap

Bacterial genome sheds light on synthesizing cancer-fighting compounds

Sea squirts around the world are breathing a sigh of relief, as they no longer run the risk of being harvested for their natural disease-fighting substances. Scientists recently discovered that the bacterium Prochloron didemnii, which lives symbiotically inside the sea squirt, actually produces the desired patellamides, compounds that may one day be used in cancer treatment.

Despite decades of attemp

Potential therapy for up to 30 percent of human tumors

By studying mice with skin cancer, researchers at the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah discovered a way to inhibit a mutant gene found in up to 30 percent of human tumors.

Called Ras, normal copies of this gene are important in cell signaling, or communication among cells. When mutated, however, Ras is an “oncogene” or cancer-causing gene that has been shown to promote the growth of cancers in the

In a challenge to conventional wisdom, scientists have found that buckyballs dissolve in water and could have a negative impact on soil bacteria. The findings raise new questions about how the nanoparticles might behave in the environment and how they should be regulated, according to a report scheduled to appear in the June 1 print issue of the American Chemical Society’s peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science & Technology. ACS is the world’s largest scientific society.

Models with complete human immune system derived from hematopoietic stem cells produce functional white blood cells for studies of immune responses against cancer and infection with help from St. Jude

Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have joined with colleagues at several other institutions to develop a laboratory model of the human immune system. This model will allow scientists to study ways for improving the results of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) trans

University of Iowa Biological Sciences Professor Daniel F. Eberl and his colleagues at Duke University have uncovered genetic defects leading to deafness in fruit flies that may shed light on deafness in humans. Their research paper, “Myosin VIIA Defects, which Underlie the Usher 1B Syndrome in Humans, Lead to Deafness in Drosophila,” is scheduled for publication in the May 10 issue of the journal Current Biology.

Eberl says their recent work — showing that loss of function i

The University Hospital of the University of Navarra has carried out a complicated surgical operation on a child who had a particularly large benign tumour located in the mandibular region. The procedure involved the extraction of the lower jaw and its substitution by a bone transplant from the fibula of the patient.

The pathology, known as cherubism or familial fibrous dysplasia of the jaws, is a fairly rare condition (although not unheard of) and congenital. It shows itself

A ‘polypill’ made up of a combination of drugs could extend the lives of thousands of patients with coronary heart disease, say researchers at The University of Nottingham.

The study, published in the latest British Medical Journal, found that combinations of cholesterol lowering drugs (statins), aspirin and beta-blockers, which lower blood pressure, improve survival rates in high-risk patients with cardiovascular disease.

However, despite proposals in the past that these d