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Smoking kills more than 7 million people worldwide annually and is one of the most important risk factors for six of world's eight leading causes of premature death, according to the World Health Organization. But, soon after a person quits the body begins to repair some of accumulated damage caused by smoking. In fact, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, within two to three months of quitting, lung function begins to improve and the risk of heart attack begins to diminish. A previous study published in 2013 suggested that metabolic changes which occur after smoking cessation may kick start these physiological improvements. Building on this work, Nikola Pluym and colleagues sought to hone in on what alterations smoking causes in the body's metabolic pathways and whether any of these changes are reversible after quitting. The researchers regularly collected blood, urine and saliva samples from male volunteers who were trying to quit smoking...

A new study led by Iowa State University researcher Megan Gilligan found that tension with our mothers and siblings, similar to our spouses, is associated with symptoms of depression. The research, published in the journal  Social Sciences , found all three relationships have a similar effect and one is not stronger than another. "Family scholars have focused a lot on the relationship we have with our spouse," said Gilligan, an assistant professor of human development and family studies. "There is this assumption that as you go through your life course, you leave these other relationships with your parents and siblings behind, but you don't. You carry those with you." The relationship between mothers and daughters is even more significant. The research shows tension between mothers and adult children was a stronger predictor of depression for daughters than it was for sons. However, gender did not make a difference in relationships with spouses and siblin...

The team used genome editing techniques to stop a key gene from producing a protein called OCT4, which normally becomes active in the first few days of human embryo development. After the egg is fertilised, it divides until at about 7 days it forms a ball of around 200 cells called the 'blastocyst'. The study found that human embryos need OCT4 to correctly form a blastocyst. "We were surprised to see just how crucial this gene is for human embryo development, but we need to continue our work to confirm its role" says Dr Norah Fogarty from the Francis Crick Institute, first author of the study. "Other research methods, including studies in mice, suggested a later and more focused role for OCT4, so our results highlight the need for human embryo research." Dr Kathy Niakan from the Francis Crick Institute, who led the research, adds: "One way to find out what a gene does in the developing embryo is to see what happens when it isn't working. Now...

A report on the study's findings, published Sept. 20 in  JAMA Surgery , highlights the importance of studying the effects of transport, EMS services and other prehospital interventions by specific injury type. "Time is truly of the essence when it comes to certain kinds of injuries and our analysis suggests that, for penetrating injuries such as knife and gun wounds, it might be better to just get to a trauma center as soon as possible in whatever way possible," says Elliott Haut, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor of surgery and emergency medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the paper's senior author. While Haut acknowledges that more research needs to be conducted before declaring one type of transport superior to another, he says, "For certain types of injury, it might be best to call the police, Uber or a cab -- however you can get to the trauma center fastest." Typically, policies and protocols for prehospital inter...

Is it better to do a task quickly and make mistakes, or to do it slowly but perfectly? When it comes to deciding how to fix breaks in DNA , cells face the same choice between two major repair pathways. The decision matters, because the wrong choice could cause even more DNA damage and lead to cancer. Salk Institute scientists found that a tiny protein called CYREN helps cells choose the right pathway at the right time, clarifying a longstanding mystery about DNA repair and offering researchers a powerful tool that could guide better treatments for cancer. The work appears in  Nature  on September 20, 2017. "Elucidating DNA repair pathways is critical to understanding how they can sometimes be toxic," says Jan Karlseder, a professor in Salk's Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory and the senior author of the new paper. "Our discovery of CYREN's function not only adds to our body of knowledge, it gives us a new tool with which to potentially fight cancer....

Credit score: © gwolters / Fotolia A brand new examine of the human microbiome -- the trillions of microbial organisms that dwell on and inside our our bodies -- has uncovered hundreds of thousands of beforehand unknown genes from microbial communities within the human intestine, pores and skin, mouth, and vaginal microbiome, permitting for brand spanking new insights into the function these microbes play in human well being and illness. The examine, from researchers on the College of Maryland Faculty of Medication (UM SOM), Harvard T.H. Chan Faculty of Public Well being, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and the College of California San Diego, triples the quantity of knowledge beforehand analyzed on this mission, and is the biggest human microbiome examine ever. This wor...