Scientists have reported that an experimental vaccine targeting one of the most common genetic drivers of pancreatic cancer, called mutant KRAS, is safe and generated a durable immune responses aimed at preventing the cancer.
A new paper from the University of South Carolina says that mothers in the U.S. are far less physically active than they were in previous decades and now spend more time engaged in sedentary activities like watching television than in cooking, cleaning and exercising combined.
The "new genetics" promises to fix the faulty genes of future generations by introducing new, functioning genes using "designer sperm", according to a report appearing in The FASEB Journal.
In a mouse model, introducing new genetic material via a viral vector into the sperm of mice leads to the presence and activity of those genes in the resulting embryos. This new genetic material is actually inherited, present and functioning through three generations of the mice tested. This discovery—if successful in humans—could lead to a new frontier in genetic medicine in which diseases and disorders are effectively cured, and new human attributes, such as organ regeneration, may be possible.
JHidden underneath hilly grasslands studded with ocotillos and mesquite trees in southeastern Arizona lies a world shrouded in perpetual darkness - Kartchner Caverns, a limestone cave system known for its untouched cave formations, sculpted over millennia by groundwater dissolving the bedrock and carving out underground rooms. Its passages attract tourists from all over the world.
A physical examination is not complete without an assessment of whether a patient appears to be acutely or chronically ill but a new paper says how sick a patient appears to be may have limited value in diagnosing their actual state of health.
The researchers took photographs of patients who visited five of the hospital's primary care or general internal medicine clinics and asked them to fill out a survey regarding their general physical and mental health. General internal medicine physicians and residents looked at the photos, were told how old each patient was and were then asked "do you think this patient looks chronically ill?"
The study found that a physician accurately identified that a patient was chronically ill in only 45.5 per cent of cases.
Epidemiologists are saying exposure to air pollution appears to increase the risk for autism among people who carry a certain genotype genetic disposition for the neurodevelopmental disorder, a functional promoter variant (rs1858830) in the MET receptor tyrosine kinase (MET) gene.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a lifelong neurodevelopmental disability characterized by problems with social interaction, communication and repetitive behaviors. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in 88 children in the United States has an ASD and there are recent claims that it is highly heritable, which would suggest that genetics are an important contributing factor, but many questions about its causes remain. There currently is no cure for the disorder.
Gout, historically known as 'the king of diseases and the disease of kings' because it primarily happened to people with indulgent lifestyles, may have a genetic component after all, according to a new paper in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
Gout is a kind of inflammatory arthritis, with sudden onset of acute pain, redness and swelling in peripheral joints, most commonly the joint in the big toe. It is caused by the deposition of monosodium urate crystals, which is related to high uric acid in the blood. The resulting acute arthritis and lumps around the joint cause disability due to pain and loss of joint function.There is some evidence that gout is also associated with major cardiovascular (heart attack, stroke) and renal diseases (kidney failure).
Fish is good for you. While fish farming takes hold, the legacy way of providing fish, boats and nets, is still in use. But in most parts of the world, it's hard to know how much fish is being caught, and that makes it difficult to engage in proper resource management or justify farmed fish.
Google Earth may be here to help.
Large fish traps in the Persian Gulf could be catching up to six times more fish than what's being officially reported, according to the first investigation of fish catches from space conducted by University of British Columbia scientists.
A recent paper from North Carolina State University found that companies that screen the social media accounts of job applicants alienate potential employees – making it harder for them to attract top job candidates.
In some cases, social media screening might even increase the likelihood that job candidates may take legal action against the offending company. At least until the real world economy sets in.
In boxing a devastating puncher has heavy hands. On a cosmic scale, the high-speed 'jets' spat out by black holes pack a lot of power because they contain heavy atoms, astronomers have found. Black-hole jets recycle matter and energy into space and can affect when and where a galaxy forms stars.
Astronomers have known for decades that black-hole jets contain electrons, which are low-mass particles, but using the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton space telescope and CSIRO's Compact Array radio telescope in northwest NSW, a research team found the first evidence of heavy atoms — iron and nickel — in the jets from a 'typical' black hole known as 4U1630-47.
More pollution causes thunderstorms to leave behind larger, deeper, longer lasting clouds, according to a new paper which can help provide a gauge for the accuracy of weather and climate models.
Researchers had thought that pollution causes larger and longer-lasting storm clouds by making thunderheads draftier through a process known as convection. But atmospheric scientist Jiwen Fan and her colleagues show that pollution instead makes clouds linger by decreasing the size and increasing the lifespan of cloud and ice particles. The difference affects how scientists represent clouds in climate models.
A new paper says that two compounds derived from garlic, diallyl sulfide and ajoene, significantly reduce the contamination risk of Cronobacter sakazakii in the production of dry infant formula powder.
The discovery could make the product safer to consume, easing the minds of new mothers who can't or opt not to breastfeed.
"A trace dose of these two compounds is extremely effective in killing C. sakazakii in the food manufacturing process," says Xiaonan Lu, corresponding author and assistant professor of food safety engineering at the University of British Columbia. "They have the potential to eliminate the pathogen before it ever reaches the consumer."
Our Galaxy may have been swallowing "pills" — clouds of gas with a magnetic wrapper — to keep making stars for the past eight billion years, according to CSIRO astronomer Dr. Alex Hill and colleagues, in their study of the Smith Cloud, a large gas cloud falling into our Galaxy from intergalactic space.
Named after its discoverer, Gail Bieger (née Smith), the Smith Cloud is at least two million times the mass of our Sun. If it were visible to the naked eye, it would look 20 times wider than the full Moon. The Smith Cloud is one of thousands of "high velocity clouds" of hydrogen gas flying around the outskirts of our Galaxy.
