The barrel-shaped structures found by the thousands in most animal cells are one of biology’s biggest mysteries. But although researchers haven’t figured out the function of these “vaults,” they now report a new use for the puzzling particles.
Enigmatic ‘vaults’ can be engineered to eavesdrop on RNA, aiding cancer studies and more.
Regardless of which U.S. state you live in, we can all agree that electricity in the U.S. is quite expensive. Of course, prices may vary depending on where you live, but in general, investing in clean energy has never been more desirable than it is now. But with so many options to choose from, when are solar panels, for example, your best option? Well, if you live in a region with colder weather, your best option may be to invest in solar energy, as a PV expert believes that solar panels are more efficient in cold weather.
Investing in clean energy: Your options
The majority of Americans most likely got quite the fright when they opened their last utility bill, and things may not look up just yet this month. Beyond the fact that one’s heating and thus electricity bill skyrockets during the winter due to increased usage, other factors also play a significant role in driving up electricity prices.
Breakthrough in DNA sequencing offers clues to why most smokers do not develop lung cancer.
“Our data suggest that these individuals may have survived for so long in spite of their heavy smoking because they managed to suppress further mutation accumulation,” says pulmonologist and genetics researcher Simon Spivack, a co-author on the study. “This leveling off of mutations could stem from these people having very proficient systems for repairing DNA damage or detoxifying cigarette smoke.”
Researchers who study the health effects of cigarette smoke have used all kinds of methods — from giving lab animals high doses of chemicals found in tobacco to combing through archives to determine which diseases smokers get more often — to figure out how the habit affects the body. Those studies have made it clear that cigarettes contain hundreds of harmful chemicals, including dozens of carcinogens.
For decades, researchers didn’t have any way to measure the mutations in lung cells that actually cause lung cancer. Five years ago, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York found a way to overcome technical limitations that had made it impossible to sequence the genome. That is, they figured out how to determine the exact order of the A, T, C, and G molecules of the DNA within a single cell without introducing too many errors in the process.
Among patients with central nervous system (CNS) metastases at baseline, the 36-month OS rate was 57% (95% CI, 48%-66%) with osimertinib/chemotherapy and 40% (95% CI, 31%-49%) with osimertinib alone. The 36-month OS rates among patients without CNS metastases were 67% (95% CI, 59%-74%) vs 58% (95% CI, 50%-65%) in each respective arm. Additionally, the 36-month rates were 54% (95% CI, 44%-63%) vs 42% (95% CI, 32%-51%) among patients with EGFR L858R mutations and 69% (95% CI, 61%-75%) vs 57% (95% CI, 49%-64%) among those with EGFR exon 19 deletions.
When considering patients who discontinued frontline osimertinib following disease progression, 69% (n = 88/127) of patients in the combination therapy arm and 77% (n = 143/185) in the monotherapy arm received subsequent therapy. The most common types of first subsequent therapy in the combination arm included platinum-based chemotherapy (44%) and non–platinum-based chemotherapy (30%). Among patients who received osimertinib monotherapy, the most common kind of subsequent treatment was platinum-containing chemotherapy (72%).
“The combination therapy used in this trial was associated with a higher incidence of grade 3 or higher adverse events and of [AEs] leading to the discontinuation of treatment than osimertinib monotherapy. Most high-grade toxic effects associated with the combination therapy were related to myelosuppressive effects, which are generally dose-related and reversible, with supportive interventions available to ameliorate such effects,” lead study author Pasi A. Jänne, MD, PhD, senior vice president of Translational Medicine and professor in the Department of Medical Oncology at Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology of Dana–Farber Cancer Institute, wrote with coauthors in the publication.1 “Results from this trial provide evidence that first-line treatment with osimertinib plus platinum/pemetrexed led to significantly longer [OS] than osimertinib monotherapy among patients with EGFR-mutated advanced NSCLC.”
Paternal genetic risk is a robust predictor of offspring psychiatric disorders, with additional “indirect genetic effects” observed for internalizing and substance use conditions in adoptive and stepfather relationships. Rearing effects were most pronounced for substance use disorders.
Question In an adoption study of major psychiatric illness, what results would be obtained if offspring risk were predicted not from the phenotype of the parents but from their genetic risk?
Findings In this cohort study, paternal genetic risk was associated with offspring risk of illness for all disorders in genetically related father-offspring pairs. In an indirect pathway, genetic risk in adoptive and stepfathers predicted risk in their offspring for internalizing and substance use disorders but not for schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
Meaning Indirect genetic effects from the father may have an impact on offspring risk of internalizing and substance use disorders.
Researchers at the Children’s Cancer Institute and UNSW Sydney have tested a new way of treating childhood brain cancer by combining two medicines in lab studies. They found using the two treatments together may work better than using either on its own. The research is published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
In the new study, Children’s Cancer Institute and UNSW Sydney researchers lab-tested a combined therapy approach on a group of difficult-to-treat brain tumors: diffuse midline gliomas (DMG). This group includes diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a rare but fatal childhood brain cancer. Children diagnosed with DIPG usually survive for about 12 months.
UNSW Conjoint Professor David Ziegler and UNSW Conjoint Associate Professor Maria Tsoli led the study. They have been working for many years to find better treatments for DIPG.
The phenomenon where electron spins align in a specific direction after passing through chiral materials is a cornerstone for future spin-based electronics. Yet, the precise process behind this effect has remained a mystery—until now.
An international team of researchers, affiliated with UNIST, has directly observed how electron spins behave in real space, providing a fresh understanding of this complex interaction. The findings were published in ACS Nano.
Professors Noejung Park and Seon Namgung from the Department of Physics at UNIST, in collaboration with Professor Binghai Yan from Pennsylvania State University, conducted the study. Their work confirms that chiral materials actively change the spin orientation of electrons, overturning the long-held belief that these materials simply filter spins without affecting their direction.
This Research Letter describes a new molecular basis for lipodystrophy syndromes.
Abhimanyu Garg & team report on a variant in ACAA2 that causes hepatitis and hypoglycemia during infancy and lipodystrophy during adulthood accompanied by elevated plasma long chain acylcarnitines.
Address correspondence to: Abhimanyu Garg, 5,323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, Texas 75,390, USA. Phone: 214.648.2895; Email: abhimanyu.garg@utsouthwestern.edu.
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1Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.