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Showing posts from September, 2015

Sections of DNA that control the menopause have been identified by scientists

Their report, in the journal Nature Genetics, identified genes involved in how the body repairs itself. Ultimately the findings could contribute to a fertility or menopause test, or lead to new drugs. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said the results were important for those at risk of an early menopause. Most women go through the menopause between the ages of 40 and 60. However, what controls that timescale is not completely clear.Comparing the DNA of nearly 70,000 women allowed the researchers to identify the differences between those starting the menopause early and late. The team at Exeter and Cambridge universities showed that at least two repair mechanisms were involved. The first is used when the eggs are being formed and the woman's DNA is being broken, rearranged and repaired. The second corrects damage, caused by factors such as smoking or alcohol, throughout a woman's life. Both would influence the number o...

Google announced a device lets old hi-fis and speaker systems stream music and podcasts over wi-fi

Owners can use it to listen to Spotify, iPlayer Radio and other selected apps on Android and iOS devices, and audio streamed via the Chrome browser on PCs. The Chromecast Audio dongle costs £30, making it cheaper than many other similar streaming add-ons. It also poses a challenge to speakers with built-in wi-fi, whose makers often charge a premium for their products. At an event in San Francisco, Google said it had sold more than 20 million units of the original Chromecast, which streams media to TVs."The original Chromecast did really well because of Google's brand, which meant people trusted it would do what it said on the tin," said Stuart Miles, founder of the Pocket-lint tech website. "We have seen similar devices to this before. "But it will probably be quite successful because it will encourage people to upgrade their old hi-fis - which are still very good from an audio perspective." The launch coincides with the release of a flagship "sma...

UK scientists successfully germinated seeds of endangered Japanese Birch

UK scientists have successfully germinated seeds from the critically endangered Japanese Birch, a species that has just 21 known trees remaining. The seeds were collected last year during an expedition to a remote location in mountains near Tokyo. Experts suggest that the remaining wild population of Betula chichibuensis is too small to sustain itself unaided.The young trees will be shared with other arboretums in an effort to help conserve the threatened species. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) forecasts a bleak outlook for the tree species in the wild. In its Red List of Threatened Species, it observes: "The small population and restricted distribution... make it susceptible to natural disaster or disease. The species is also self-incompatible, requiring two individuals to be close enough to cross-pollinate one another, making seed production uncertain in small subpopulations." It adds that there was also evidence of deforestati...

Neuroscientists recorded the first video footage of a tiny killer fly catching its prey

They were investigating how the 4mm-long insect decides when to pounce. Apparently the flies are not much good at judging the size of a target, so they use a strategy based partly on how fast a potential meal is buzzing past. That means the researchers could trick the flies into going for targets that were far too big, but further away and faster-moving than expected. The experiments, published in the journal Brain, Behaviour and Evolution , used a species called Coenosia attenuata, which is so good at killing other airborne critters - including fruit flies - that organic farmers use it as a biological control mechanism. C. attenuata is an unfussy eating machine, explained Dr Paloma Gonzalez-Bellido - and that was partly why she started to study the little predators. It didn't look like they have a template for what they're looking for," she told. They go after things that are very slow, after things that are fast, after things that are white, th...

Genetic clue to breast cancer relapses, which could lead to better treatment

A research team from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge found that cancers that return were more likely to contain certain genes or combinations of genes. Targeting these genes with early treatments could be key, they said. The study is being presented at the European Cancer Congress in Vienna. In around one in five people with breast cancer, the disease will return - either to the same place as the original tumour or another part of the body. Dr Lucy Yates, clinical research oncologist from the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, and her colleagues analysed data from the tumours of 1,000 breast cancer patients including 161 people whose cancer had recurred or spread. When comparing primary and secondary tumours, they found noticeable genetic differences and several of the mutations present in the secondary cancers were relatively uncommon in cancers diagnosed for the first time. Dr Yates said the patterns they found suggested that t...

The mystery of people appear to have healthy lungs despite a lifetime of smoking, explained by UK scientists

The examination of more than 50,000 individuals indicated ideal transformations in individuals' DNA-upgraded lung work and conceal the savage effect of smoking. The Medical Research Council researchers say the discoveries could prompt new medications to enhance lung capacity. In any case, not smoking will dependably be the best choice, they say. Numerous, yet not all, smokers will create lung sickness. In any case so too will some who have never touched a cigarette in their lives. The analysts broke down the tremendous sum measure of wellbeing and hereditary information from volunteers to the UK's Biobank project.They took a gander at Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) which prompts shortness of breath, hacking and rehash mid-section contaminations. The condition is thought to influence three million individuals in the UK and incorporates illnesses, for example, bronchitis and emphysema. By contrasting smokers and non-smokers and those ...

Two new therapies of advanced kidney cancer could change treatment of the disease, say experts

Both drugs increased survival in trials which are also published in the New England Journal of Medicine.One drug takes the brakes off the immune system while the other stops growth signals in the tumour. Cancer Research UK said the developments will "greatly expand the arsenal" of available drugs. Kidney cancer is the eighth most common cancer in the UK and survival rates plummet if it is caught late. Once the tumour has spread to other parts of the body then only one-in-10 people live for five years after diagnosis. It's another big day for immunotherapy for cancerDr James Larkin, Royal Marsden Hospital The first trial, called Checkmate 025, used the immunotherapy drug nivolumab. It is one of a suite of "checkpoint inhibitors" being developed by pharmaceutical companies that stop cancers turning off the immune system. They have already been proven effective in skin and lung cancers. The trial on 821 patients showed average...