body in Biological News

ESHRE launches international study of polar body screening

Amsterdam, The Netherlands: The efficacy of preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) has been one of the most hotly disputed subjects in assisted reproduction over the past few years. None of the trials carried out so far has shown conclusively whether it works or not. Now the European Society of H...

Wet ear wax and unpleasant body odors signal breast cancer risk

If having malodorous armpits (called osmidrosis) and goopy earwax isn't bad enough, a discovery by Japanese scientists may add a more serious problem for women facing these cosmetic calamities. That's because they've found that a gene responsible for breast cancer causes these physical symptoms. T...

Breastfeeding duration and weaning diet may shape child's body composition

Chevy Chase, MDVariations in both milk feeding and in the weaning diet are linked to differences in growth and development, and they have independent influences on body composition in early childhood, according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical...

Optimum running speed is stride toward understanding human body form

MADISON Runners, listen up: If your body is telling you that your pace feels a little too fast or a little too slow, it may be right. A new study, published online March 18 in the Journal of Human Evolution , shows that the efficiency of human running varies with speed and that each individu...

Freezing prostate cancer does a man's body good

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (March 9, 2009)The so-called "male lumpectomy"a minimally invasive interventional radiology treatment for prostate canceris as effective as surgery in destroying diseased tumors and can be considered a first-line treatment for patients of all risk levels and particularly those wh...

How your body clock avoids hitting the snooze button

Scientists from Queen Mary, University of London have discovered a new part of the mechanism which allows our bodyclocks to reset themselves on a molecular level. Circadian clocks regulate the daily fluctuations of many physiological and behavioural aspects in life, and are synchronised with o...

Brain background to body mass

A genetic study of more than 90,000 people has identified six new genetic variants that are associated with increased Body Mass Index (BMI), the most commonly used measure of obesity. Five of the genes are known to be active in the brain, suggesting that many genetic variants implicated in obesity...

Discovery of new gene associated with diabetes risk suggests link with body clock

A connection between the body clock and abnormalities in metabolism and diabetes has been suggested in new research by an international team involving the University of Oxford, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and the MRC Epidemiology Unit in Cambridge. The researchers have identified a gene...

Why the 'perfect' body isn't always perfect

Having an imperfect body may come with some substantial benefits for some women, according to a new article in the December issue of Current Anthropology . The hormones that make women physically stronger, more competitive and better able to deal with stress also tend to redistribute fat from...

Marked improvement in body image, physical stamina, post-surgical pectus patients report

Patients who have had the common chest wall deformity known as pectus excavatum corrected report improved body image and ability to exercise, according to a study published December in the journal Pediatrics . The study, conducted at 11 North American hospitals, involved telephone interviews o...

Vitamin D a key player in overall health of several body organs, says UC Riverside biochemist

RIVERSIDE, Calif. Essential for life in higher animals, vitamin D, once linked to only bone diseases such as rickets and osteoporosis, is now recognized as a major player in contributing to overall human health, emphasizes UC Riverside's Anthony Norman , an international expert on vitamin D. ...

TheVisualMD.com launches new animated 3-D views of human body in action

People around the world will soon have access to a powerful new type of medical informationa 3-D visual exploration of the cardiovascular system created from the seamless integration of state-of-the-art medical imaging and computer-generate animations. TheVisualMD.com , the latest effort from Ale...

Diabetes linked to male infertility; excess sugars in the body have direct effect on sperm quality

This release is available in Spanish . Barcelona, Spain: Diabetes in men has a direct effect on fertility, a scientist told the 24th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology today (Wednesday 9 July). Dr. Con Mallidis from Queen's University, Belfast, U...

Glypican-3 gene function in regulating body size helps inform novel cancer treatments

Toronto (May 13, 2008) - In a leading study that has implications for the development of novel therapies for a number of breast, lung and ovarian cancers that have lost the expression of a gene called glypican-3 (GPC3), Sunnybrook researchers have discovered how the loss of the GPC3 gene induces o...

How body size is regulated

This meta-analysis, published in the latest issue of Nature Genetics, is based on data from more than 26,000 study participants. It verifies two already known genes, but also discovered ten new genes. Altogether they explain a difference in body size of about 3.5 centimeters. The analysis produ...

New technique determines the number of fat cells remains constant in all body types

LIVERMORE, Calif. - The radioactive carbon-14 produced by above-ground nuclear testing in the 1950s and '60s has helped researchers determine that the number of fat cells in a human's body, whether lean or obese, is established during the teenage years. Changes in fat mass in adulthood can be attr...

A tall story: New research adds to growing body of knowledge of genetics of height

Scientists are beginning to develop a clearer picture of what makes some people stand head and shoulders above the rest. A team of researchers who last year identified the first common version of a gene influencing height has now identified a further twenty regions of the genome which together can...

Body part by body part, Sumatran tigers are being sold into extinction

Washington Laws protecting the critically endangered Sumatran Tiger have failed to prevent tiger body parts being openly sold in Indonesia, according to a TRAFFIC report launched today. Tiger body parts, including canine teeth, claws, skin pieces, whiskers and bones, were on sale in 10 percent...

Study examines genetic defects linked to body abnormalities in patients with childhood cancer

Children with cancer have a higher prevalence of body abnormalities, such as asymmetric lower limbs and curvature of the spine, suggesting that the genetic defect responsible for the abnormality may play a role in the development of cancer, according to a study in the January 2 issue of JAMA. ...

A mechanism to explain biological 'cross-talk' between 24-hour body cycle and metabolism

PHILADELPHIA Its well known that the bodys energy levels cycle on a 24-hour, or circadian, schedule, and that this metabolic process is fueled by oxygen. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that a protein called Rev-erb coordinates the daily cycles of ...

Why do males and females frequently differ in body size and structure?

RIVERSIDE, Calif. As even the most casual observer of nature knows, males and females frequently differ in body size, form and structure. But how these differences have developed a topic studied for decades by evolutionary biologists is not as clear. A new scholarly book now neatly brings t...

Simulation reveals how body repairs balance after damage

ATLANTA (September 25, 2007) Your body goes to a lot of trouble to make sure you stay upright. But when the brains neural pathways are impaired through injury, age or illness, muscles are deprived of the detailed sensory information they need to perform the constant yet delicate balancing act req...

Gene determines whether male body odor smells pleasant

To many, urine smells like urine and vanilla smells like vanilla. But androstenone, a derivative of testosterone that is a potent ingredient in male body odor, can smell like either - depending on your genes. While many people perceive a foul odor from androstenone, usually that of stale urine or ...

Researchers design first model motor nerve system that's insulated and organized like the human body

Amsterdam, 21 July 2009 - In the July issue of Biomaterials , published by Elsevier, researchers from the University of Central Florida (UCF) report on the first lab-grown motor nerves that are insulated and organized just like they are in the human body. The model system will drastically improv...

Magnetic nanoparticles navigate therapeutic genes through the body

Health professionals send genes and healthy cells on their way through the bloodstream so that they can, for example, repair tissue damage to arteries. But do they reach their destination in sufficient quantities? Scientists of the PTB have developed a highly sensitive measuring method with which ...

Researchers advance knowledge of little 'nano-machines' in our body

Montreal, December 18, 2008 A discovery by Canada-U.S. biophysicists will improve the understanding of ion channels, akin to little 'nano-machines' or 'nano-valves' in our body, which when they malfunction can cause genetic illnesses that attack muscles, the central nervous system and the heart. ...

Research shows Brazilian acai berry antioxidants absorbed by human body

A Brazilian palm berry, popular health food though little research has been done on it, now may have its purported benefits better understood. In the first research involving people, the acai (ah-sigh-EE) berry has proven its ability to be absorbed in the human body when consumed both as juice ...

Carnegie Mellon MRI technology that non-invasively locates, quantifies specific cells in the body

PHILADELPHIAMagnetic resonance imaging (MRI) isn't just for capturing detailed images of the body's anatomy. Thanks to novel imaging reagents and technology developed by Carnegie Mellon University scientist Eric Ahrens, MRI can be used to visualize with "exquisite" specificity cell populations o...

From foe to friend: Researchers use salmonella as a way to administer vaccines in the body

TEMPE, Ariz. Researchers at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University have made a major step forward in their work to develop a biologically engineered organism that can effectively deliver an antigen in the body. The researchers report that they have been able to use live salmonella ba...

Scientists 'paint' viruses to track their fate in the body

Bethesda, MDBiologists from Austria and Singapore developed a technique that adds a new twist on the relationship between biology and art. In an article recently published online in The FASEB Journal ( http://www.fasebj.org ) and scheduled for the August 2008 print issue, these researchers describ...

New book reveals an evolutionary journey of the human body

Paleontologist Neil Shubin unites the discoveries of fossils and the sciences of paleontology and genetics with his experience of teaching human anatomy into a written voyage of evolution, titled Your Inner Fish: A Journey Through the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body. The best road m...

Immune police recognize good and bad guys in the body

Immune system police are as good at recognizing bad guys, such as bacteria and viruses, as they are our own tissue, researchers say. The finding may cause a stir in the scientific community, which has long held that regulatory T cells or Tregs, preferentially respond to body proteins, or self a...

Male owls pitch their hoots to advertise body weight to competitors

Why do male owls hoot? Researchers from the Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé (France) and the University of Sussex (UK) have studied the vocal communication of male European Scops owls, one of the smallest living species of nocturnal raptors. The study, published in the April issue of the Ameri...

BMI not accurate indicator of body fat

Body mass index, or BMI, long considered the standard for measuring the amount of fat in a person's body, may not be as accurate as originally thought, according to new research. A research team from Michigan State University and Saginaw Valley State University measured the BMI of more than 400 c...

Scientists discover how body fights to control spread of cancer

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found how two molecules fight in the blood to control the spread of cancer cells. Researchers discovered that a large protein, which forms a protective shield around cancer cells and prevents them from causing secondary tumours, is attacked by a smal...

Keeping the body in sync -- The stability of cellular clocks

A study in Switzerland uses the tools of physics to show how our circadian clocks manage to keep accurate time in the noisy cellular environment. In an article appearing March 13 in the journal Molecular Systems Biology, researchers from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne demonstrate t...

'Smart' genetic therapy helps the body to heal itself

New approaches to genetic disease, based on cells' own ability to correct themselves, will be outlined today (Monday 8 May 2006) at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Instead of replacing a faulty gene (commonly referred to as gene th...

A surprise about our body clock

Researchers at the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine at Toronto General Hospital have discovered the 'SOS' distress signal that mobilizes specific heart repair cells from the bone marrow to the injured heart after a heart attack. While it has long been known that bone marrow cells have the ...

Gut microbes' partnership helps body extract energy from food, store it as fat

Researchers studying mutually beneficial interactions between members of our vast community of friendly gut microorganisms have shown that two common organisms collude and collaborate to increase the amount of calories harvested from a class of carbohydrates found in food sweeteners. In the stud...

New stem-cell findings can help the body to cure itself

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have identified an important mechanism that regulates how many new cells are produced by each intestinal stem cell. The study is published in the latest issue of the prestigious scientific journal, Cell. "This might eventually help us develop new drugs for thing...