Tag Archives: performance

Natural selection is furthering mutations that are making skin paler

The first hominids that appeared in Africa probably had pale skin covered with hair, like other primates. They are thought to have lost their hair when they became bipedal, and that natural selection subsequently furthered darker skins in Africa as they protect against ultraviolet (UV)light. However, when humans left Africa (about 100,000 years ago) and headed for Asia or Europe, where UV intensity was lower, they once again acquired a less pigmented skin colour. What caused the depigmentation of these populations is not clear, and two hypotheses have in fact been put forward: firstly, it could be due to a relaxing in natural selection that keeps the skin dark in Africa, since when leaving Africa, UV levels are lower; secondly, it could be due to the fact that natural selection furthers certain mutations so that individuals can have paler skin, since at these latitudes having a skin with a dark pigmentation prevents the synthesis of adequate levels of vitamin D, essential for our survival. …

Young Puerto Rican women and their mothers know little about HPV, cervical cancer

According to the study published in Preventing Chronic Disease, a publication of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HPV vaccination rates are low among Puerto Rican women. Fifty one percent of Puerto Rican girls aged 11 to 18 have started the 3-step vaccination process and only 21 percent have completed the series. “Our study is the first to provide insight into common psychosocial barriers affecting HPV vaccination in Puerto Rico,” said Mar�a E…

Older breast cancer patients still get radiation despite limited benefit

The study suggests that doctors and patients may find it difficult to withhold treatment previously considered standard of care, even in the setting of high quality data demonstrating that the advantages are small. “The onus is on physicians to critically analyze data to shape our treatment recommendations for patients, weighing the potential toxicities of treatment against clinical benefit,” said Rachel Blitzblau, M.D., Ph.D., the Butler Harris Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at Duke University Medical Center. Blitzblau was the senior author of a study published online Dec. 8, 2014, in the journal Cancer. …

Study offers future hope for tackling signs of aging

The research, which has shown promise in clinical samples, has been published in the scientific journal, Cell Death and Disease. The group of scientists coordinated by Dr Salvador Macip from the Mechanisms of Cancer and aging Lab and the Department of Biochemistry of the University of Leicester carried out the study to find new ways of identifying old cells in the body…

An unholy alliance: Colon cancer cells in situ co-opt fibroblasts in surrounding tissue to break out

The question becomes who is invading whom — do cancer cells invade the basement membrane or do some fibroblasts help invading cancers? Researchers at the Institut Curie in Paris now say that they have evidence of a coordinated attack on the basement membrane by cancer cells in situ and CAF cells in the extracellular matrix that begins long before the actual translocation of cancer cells. …

Circulating RNA may provide prognostic tool for multiple myeloma

The findings — to be presented in poster form on December 6, from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM, in the West Building, Level 1 — may ultimately guide doctors in deciding which therapies are best for individual patients with myeloma, the study authors say. The study focused on exosomes, tiny sacs that cells release into the bloodstream as a way of communicating with other cells. The exosomes contain microRNA molecules, fragments of RNA that help control the activity of genes…

Older cancer patients missing out on surgery

The new report by Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Intelligence Network reveals the difference in rates of surgery across 21 different cancer types. While many factors might be at play — frailty, suffering more than one illness, being diagnosed at a late stage, patients choosing not to undergo surgery — these statistics paint a worrying picture. Younger cancer patients were more likely to have surgery for 19 cancer types, with the largest differences between age groups seen in kidney and ovarian cancers. …

New signaling role for key protein may contribute to wound healing, tumor growth

The current study results revolve around proteinases, enzymes that break down proteins as part of cellular life. Matrix metalloproteinases or MMPs specifically target the extracellular matrix, the non-cell, structural framework within tissues. Beyond that role, the new study found that one member of this family, MMP-2, has another signaling role related to the human immune system. It may shift a set of cells to become part of immune response that accelerates healing in some cases, but may worsen inflammatory disease in others. …

Boosting length of breastfeeding could save NHS more than �40 million every year — ScienceDaily

The numbers add up to a strong economic case to invest in services to support mums to carry on breastfeeding, they conclude. In common with many other high income countries, breastfeeding rates in the UK are low, and to find out if boosting these could cut healthcare costs by improving mother and child health, the researchers focused on five priority diseases. They looked at the financial impact of not breastfeeding on gastrointestinal and lower respiratory tract infections; the ear infection otitis media in infants; the potentially lethal gut disorder necrotising enterocolitis in preterm babies; and lifetime risk of breast cancer in mothers…