Earlie

Unchecked DNA replication drives earliest steps toward cancer

Although not widely appreciated as a disease of the genes, cancer is always rooted in genetic errors or problems in gene regulation. Scientists have identified some of the first genetic triggers for cancer as mutations in specific oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes. Full-blown tumors and metastatic cancers, however, often exhibit many genetic mutations, sometimes dozens in a given tumor. An impo...

Asymptomatic HIV babies could use earlier treatment

Identifying and treating HIV-infected newborns is a race against the clock, according to a study from the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. Researchers found that HIV-infected infants treated with one or two antiretroviral drugs within two months of birth were less likely to develop AIDS by their third birthday than were infants who were 3 or 4 months...

The earliest animals had human-like genes

Species evolve at very different rates, and the evolutionary line that produced humans seems to be among the slowest. The result, according to a new study by scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), is that our species has retained characteristics of a very ancient ancestor that have been lost in more quickly-evolving animals. This overturns a commonly-held view of the natu...

Earliest European Farmers Left Little Genetic Mark On Modern Europe

Editor : Be sure to check out the There is new evidence that adult HIV infection rates have decreased in certain countries and that changes in behaviour to prevent infection—such as increased use of condoms, delay of first sexual experience and fewer sexua...

Embryos tell story of Earth's earliest animals

Much of what scientists learn about the evolution of Earth's first animals will have to be gleaned from spherical embryos fossilized under very specific conditions, according to a new study by Indiana University Bloomington and University of Bristol researchers in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Purported animal embryo fossils have been reported continuously o...

With cochlear implants, earlier use leads to better speech

"Bye-bye, bye-bye," said one 3 and a half-year old child, born deaf but with a cochlear implant that partially restored hearing nine months earlier. That's the most complex speech the child uttered during a testing session that involved play with a toy train set. In contrast, a child of the same age who had a cochlear implant 31 months earlier made more sophisticated statements: "OK, now...

Making a face: A new and earlier marker of neural crest development

The fate of cells that go on to form the face, skull and nerve centers of the head and neck in vertebrates is determined much earlier in development than previously thought, and is independent of interaction with other forming tissues, according to a recent study published in the journal Nature. The collaborators at Yale and Caltech demonstrate with three different technologies -- immunos...

Man's earliest direct ancestors looked more apelike than previously believed

Modern man"s earliest known close ancestor was significantly more apelike than previously believed, a New York University College of Dentistry professor has found. A computer-generated reconstruction by Dr. Timothy Bromage, a paleoanthropologist and Adjunct Professor of Biomaterials and of Basic Science and Craniofacial Biology, shows a 1.9 million-year-old skull belonging to Homo rudolf...

UI anthropologist, colleagues discover remains of earliest giant panda

The ancestor of today's giant panda really was a pygmy giant panda, says Russell Ciochon, UI professor of anthropolo...