Cancer genetics

Cancer risk linked to DNA ‘wormholes’

February 25, 2015

Single-letter genetic variations within parts of the genome once dismissed as “junk DNA” can increase cancer risk through remote effects on far-off genes, new research by scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London shows.

The researchers found that DNA sequences within “gene deserts” — so called because they are completely devoid of genes — can regulate gene activity elsewhere by forming DNA loops across relatively large distances.

The study helps solve a mystery about how genetic variations in parts of the genome that don’t appear to be doing very much can increase cancer risk.

Their study, published in Nature Communications, also has implications for the study of other complex genetic diseases.

Emotions

Hard Feelings: Science’s Struggle to Define Emotions

While it's possible for researchers to study facial expressions, brain patterns,
behavior, and more, each of these is only part of a more elusive whole.

---

Julie Beck

FEBRUARY 24, 2015

• 93 Comments

When Paul Ekman was a grad student in the 1950s, psychologists were mostly ignoring emotions. Most psychology research at the time was focused on behaviorism—classical conditioningand the like. Silvan Tomkins was the one other person Ekman knew of who was studying emotions, and he’d done a little work on facial expressions that Ekman saw as extremely promising.
“To me it was obvious,” Ekman says. “There’s gold in those hills; I have to find a way to mine it.”/.../

Mosquitoes sexual traits

EVOLUTION

An unexpected cost of sex

1. Suzanne H. Alonzo

+Author Affiliations

1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, CA, USA.

1. E-mail: shalonzo@ucsc.edu

Related Resources

In Science Magazine

• REPORTEvolution of sexual traits influencing vectorial capacity in anopheline mosquitoes
  

  • Sara N. Mitchell et al.

  Science 27 February 2015: 985-988.

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Coevolved sexual traits in male and female mosquitoes.

Mitchell et al. show that as anophelene mosquitoes evolved, so have the traits that affect interactions between the sexes, and likely also their capacity as vectors of human malaria.

PHOTO: SAM COTTON

Selection arising from interactions between the sexes is responsible for some of the most striking diversity on the planet. These interactions generate coevolutionary dynamics between males and females that have shaped traits such as the striking courtship displays of male birds and the less winsome mating appendages of some male insects (1). But research on sexual selection has relevance beyond understanding the weird sex lives of animals. For example, human disturbance of sexual selection can lead to the loss of native species (2) and sexually selected male harassment of females can increase a species' risk of extinction (3). On page 985 of this issue, Mitchell et al. (4) show that sexual selection can also be relevant to human health./.../

biosecurity

As new botulism threat implodes, more questions

1. Martin Enserink

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Clostridium botulinum produces the most lethal toxin in the world.

PHOTO: EYE OF SCIENCE/SCIENCE SOURCE

It appeared to be a serious new threat to biosecurity that justified an unusual level of scientific secrecy—until, suddenly, it wasn't. In 2013, Stephen Arnon of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) reported finding a novel type of botulinum toxin against which no existing antitoxins offered protection, leaving society defenseless against bioterrorists who might manage to produce the compound and spread it through food or air. To protect against the threat, Arnon decided not to reveal the genetic sequence of the microbe that produced the toxin in his papers, a move that attracted considerable media attention.

But late last year, U.S. government researchers concluded that the secrecy was unnecessary because the toxin poses no special threat at all. They went on to post the entire sequence in GenBank. Their as-yet-unpublished findings were met with a sigh of relief in biodefense circles. But even today, many in the small field of botulinum research wonder how two labs could arrive at such radically different conclusions. And many say the episode could have ended much earlier—or been prevented altogether—if Arnon had been willing to share the strain of Clostridium botulinum with other labs sooner/.../

Medicine's top opinions

 From: KevinMD Today: Medicine's top opinions - Feb. 26, 2015

A guide to the Joint Commission’s communication goal: 4 tips. Poor communication among caregivers is a leading root cause of sentinel events in hospitals. This eye-opening guide has tips to improve how caregivers share information.Read the guide now.

Are you ready for ePrescribing of controlled substances? Make sure your providers are prepared with this quick guide. Read it now.

Secure texting plus a whole lot more with Spok Mobile. Learn more and download free app now.

more than thirteen thousand years ago

from maize to corn -- 2/25/15

Today's selection -- from The American Plate by Libby H. O'Connell. Corn, an American dietary staple:

"People started farming in the Americas more than thirteen thousand years ago. In Mexico, archaeologists have found evidence of the cultivation of maize -- what most Americans today call corn -- since 7000 BC when ancient people domesticated and hybridized a wild grass called teosinte, the genetic ancestor of this versatile grain. Dispersed by wind, rain, and farmers sharing seeds hand to hand, the maize seeds traveled in all directions./.../

Fit For Work

MICROBIOMA

Scientific American Magazine

Microbes in the Gut Are Essential to Our Well-Being

• Scientific American Magazine

  Among Trillions of Microbes in the Gut, a Few Are Special

  Amid the trillions of microbes that live in the intestines, scientists have found a few species that seem to play a key role in keeping us healthy
• Scientific American Magazine

  Mental Health May Depend on Creatures in the Gut

  The microbiome may yield a new class of psychobiotics for the treatment of anxiety, depression and other mood disorders
• Scientific American Magazine

  Engineering the Human Microbiome Shows Promise for Treating Disease

  Synthetic biology may lead to the creation of smart microbes that can detect and treat disease
• Scientific American Magazine

  Shortchanged at Birth and Infancy

  Modern assaults on the human microbiome may deprive some infants of coevolved microorganisms that shape their immune systems as well as lead to other developmental problems

Scientific American Magazine

Genes and Microbes Influence One Another, Scientists Find

Evidence that genes shape the microbiome may point to new treatments for common diseases

Scientific American Magazine

Microbiome Research May Soon Pay Off Big

Effective interventions may come before all the research is in

SPONSOR CONTENT

Nestlé's Research on Nutrition and the Human Gut Microbiome

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Scientific American Magazine

Treasure Trove

The microbes that live in our gut could prove to be a fertile source for new antibiotics and other useful drugs

Scientific American Magazine

How Microbes Keep Us Healthy

Scientific American Magazine

Hunter–Gatherers Have Diverse Gut Microbes

The Hadza of Tanzania offer a snapshot of the co-adaptive capacity of the gut ecosystem

State of the Heart 2015

História de AMOR de 5.800 anos...

Embracing Stone Age Couple
Found in Greek Cave

Rare double burials discovered at one of the largest Neolithic burial sites in Europe.

A man appears to hold a woman in a double burial that took place about 5,800 years ago at Alepotrypa Cave, the site of ancient funerary rites.

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY GREEK MINSTRY OF CULTURE, EDUCATION AND RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS

Nick Romeo

for National Geographic

PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 20, 2015

Strange and surprising findings have been reported from ongoing excavations at Alepotrypa Cave, a site in the Peloponnesus that one archaeologist called "a Neolithic Pompeii," the Greek Ministry of Culture, Education, and Religious Affairs announced.

The most striking discovery was a burial from roughly 5,800 years ago containing two well-preserved adult human skeletons, one male and one female, with arms and legs interlocked in an embrace

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Superfish & Lenovo

U.S. urges removing Superfish program from Lenovo laptops

BY JIM FINKLE

BOSTON Fri Feb 20, 2015 6:07pm EST

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Boxes containing Lenovo desktop computers are seen in an office in Kiev March 12, 2012.

CREDIT: REUTERS/GLEB GARANICH

(Reuters) - The U.S. government on Friday advised Lenovo Group Ltd customers to remove a "Superfish," a program pre-installed on some Lenovo laptops, saying it makes users vulnerable to cyberattacks.

The Department of Homeland Security said in an alert that the program makes users vulnerable to a type of cyberattack known as SSL spoofing, in which remote attackers can read encrypted web traffic, redirect traffic from official websites to spoofs, and perform other attacks./.../