The female sex hormone oestrogen can perform an important role in neuroblastoma, a form of cancer mainly affecting young children. In laboratory experiments, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden demonstrate that oestrogen treatment and overexpression of the oestrogen receptor cause malignant neuroblastoma cells to mature into neuron-like cells. The study, which is published in PNAS, gives hope of new treatment possibilities. Neuroblastoma forms in the peripheral nervous system and is one of the most common forms of solid cancer in young children. The disease mainly affects babies and young children, and while in some cases the tumours can disappear of their own accord, the majority are aggressive, metastasising cancer tumours that are resistant to modern combinations of surgery, radiotherapy and intensive chemotherapy. The most aggressive forms of neuroblastoma are often associated with a more active MYCN gene, which drives tumour cell growth and spread and inhibits the maturation of the cells.

A cosmic event not seen in 36 years—a rare "super blood blue moon"—may be glimpsed January 31 in parts of western North America, Asia, the Middle East, Russia and Australia. The event is causing a buzz because it combines three unusual lunar events—an extra big super moon, a blue moon and a total lunar eclipse. "It's an astronomical trifecta," said Kelly Beatty, a senior editor at Sky and Telescope magazine. A blue moon refers to the second full moon in a month. Typically, a blue moon happens every two years and eight months. This full moon is also the third in a series of "supermoons," which happen when the moon is closest to Earth in its orbit. This point, called the perigee, makes the moon appear 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter. During the eclipse, the moon will glide into Earth's shadow, gradually turning the white disk of light to orange or red. "That red light you see is sunlight that has skimmed and bent through Earth's atmosphere and continued on through space to the moon," said Alan MacRobert of Sky and Telescope magazine.

The benefits of low-intensity physical activity, such as standing, walking or doing household chores, can be more health beneficial than once thought. According to a study from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal Clinical Epidemiology, replacing half an hour’s sedentariness a day with everyday activity reduces the risk of fatal cardiovascular disease by 24 per cent. Cardiovascular diseases are the primary cause of death in Sweden, and while it is known that moderate to intense physical activity reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, the benefits of low-intensity activity have yet to be agreed upon. For the present study, the researchers analysed how different levels of physical activity in 1,200 people across Sweden affected the mortality rate due to cardiovascular disease (amongst other causes) 15 years later. Data were gathered from the ABC (Attitude, Behaviour and Change) study, in which the activity level of the participants is measured using motion trackers, and compared them with data on deaths and causes of death from Swedish registries.

L’Istituto di neuroscienze del Cnr e l’Istituto di biorobotica della Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna hanno individuato una strategia terapeutica che prevede l’impiego di strumenti robotici e il ripristino della normale comunicazione dei due emisferi cerebrali. Lo studio pubblicato su eLife

Un nuovo approccio integrato per il recupero delle funzioni motorie lesionate da ictus attraverso la riabilitazione robotica e il ripristino di una normale comunicazione tra i due emisferi cerebrali: questi i risultati dello studio realizzato congiuntamente dall’Istituto di neuroscienze del Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche (In-Cnr) di Pisa e dall’Istituto di biorobotica della Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, pubblicati sulla rivista eLife, che aprono a nuove possibilità terapeutiche per trattare l’emiparesi dovuta a ischemia cerebrale.  La ricerca, coordinata da Matteo Caleo dell’In-Cnr e da Silvestro Micera della Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, ha individuato una nuova strategia terapeutica capace di migliorare significativamente la funzione motoria dell’arto superiore colpito da paresi: il trattamento prevede un’inattivazione transitoria di una piccola porzione dell’emisfero sano, combinata con la riabilitazione fisica guidata da strumenti robotici, i quali a loro volta permettono un preciso controllo dell’esercizio svolto e la raccolta di dati su forze, velocità e traiettorie esercitate dal soggetto.

Diagram of the neoantigen vaccine. Credit: 2018 BrightPath Biotherapeutics Co., Ltd.

The University of Tokyo entered an agreement for developing a personalized cancer vaccine using a novel method involving the body's immune response. The collaborative research agreement was concluded with the Kanagawa Cancer Center in Yokohama and BrightPath Biotherapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company based in Tokyo. Recent progress in cancer immunotherapy has led to remarkable advances in the development of treatments for cancer patients. They include such treatments as immune checkpoint inhibitors, making use of the body's immune response to recognize and attack cancer cells, and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy, employing the body's own immune cells that have been genetically altered to better target tumor cells. To realize more effective therapies, researchers are now focusing on personalized medicine, which offers optimal treatment based on individual patients' pathology and immune responses. Rapid progress in genome sequencing and analysis technologies in recent years is making it possible to comprehensively analyze cancer-specific genetic mutations that are unique to each patient.

Il Tesoro di Antichità.

Winckelmann e il Museo Capitolino nella Roma del Settecento

7 Dicembre 2017 - 22 Aprile 2018

Una mostra per celebrare gli anniversari della nascita e della morte del fondatore dell’archeologia moderna, Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768) “Vivo come un artista e come tale sono accolto nei luoghi dove ai giovani è permesso di studiare, come nel Campidoglio. Qui è il Tesoro delle antichità di Roma e qui ci si può trattenere in tutta libertà dalla mattina alla sera”. È il 7 dicembre del 1755 ed è con queste parole che Johann Joachim Winckelmann, giunto a Roma da appena tre settimane grazie a una borsa di studio conferita dal principe Elettore di Sassonia, descrive a un amico la sua prima visita al Museo Capitolino, il primo museo pubblico d’Europa, luogo in cui il vitale rapporto con l’Antico può essere coltivato in assoluta libertà, “von Morgen bis in den Abend” (dalla mattina alla sera). Nei tredici anni successivi, fino alla tragica morte avvenuta a Trieste l’8 giugno del 1768, Winckelmann, nato a Stendal il 9 dicembre del 1717 in una famiglia molto modesta, definisce i contenuti fondamentali del Neoclassicismo tardo-settecentesco e getta le basi teoriche dell’archeologia moderna, dando vita a un raffinato sistema di valutazione cronologica e stilistica delle opere antiche fondato sull’osservazione diretta dei manufatti e l’attenta lettura delle fonti letterarie. “Novello Colombo”, “scopritore di una terra a lungo presagita, menzionata e discussa, e lo si può ben dire, un tempo conosciuta e poi nuovamente perduta”. Così Johann Wolfgang Goethe esprime l’impatto rivoluzionario dell’opera di Winckelmann, e in particolare della Storia dell’Arte nell’Antichità pubblicata a Dresda nel 1764. La mostra “Il Tesoro di Antichità. Winckelmann e il Museo Capitolino nella Roma del Settecento”, ai Musei Capitolini dal 7 dicembre 2017 al 22 aprile 2018, intende celebrare gli importanti anniversari winckelmanniani del 2017 (300 anni dalla nascita) e del 2018 (250 anni dalla morte) e si inserisce nel contesto delle manifestazioni europee coordinate dalla Winckelmann Gesellschaft di Stendal, dall’Istituto Archeologico Germanico di Roma e dai Musei Vaticani.

A study led by the University of Granada, in which the Andalusian Health Service (SAS) and researchers from the University of Jaen have taken part, reveals that 64% of pregnant women suffer from insomnia in the third trimester of pregnancy. This figure is ten times higher than that for women suffering from insomnia prior to pregnancy (6%). The research study was recently published in the prestigious European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology. 486 healthy pregnant women from Granada, Jaen, Huelva and Seville who had attended the Andalusian Health Service (SAS) before the 14th week of pregnancy (first trimester) participated in the study. The effects of pregnancy on these women were monitored throughout all three trimesters. The results reveal that 44% of pregnant women suffer from insomnia in the first trimester of pregnancy, which increases to 46% in the second trimester and 64% in the third trimester. These are very high figures which, according to the authors of the research, justify the need for a “systematic approach to this problem.”

Il gruppo di ricerca Quantum Lab della Sapienza, in collaborazione con le Università di Natal e Rio de Janeiro (Brasile), ha dimostrato come gli effetti della meccanica quantistica siano talmente radicati nella Natura da incidere sui modelli basilari della fisica classica, come le relazioni causa-effetto. Lo studio è pubblicato sulla rivista Nature Physics
“Perché alcune cose succedono e altre no?”, “Cosa determina gli eventi che osserviamo in Natura?”. Queste sono da sempre tra le più ricorrenti e affascinanti domande che si sono posti scienziati e filosofi. Tentare di dare una risposta definitiva resta tutt’oggi una sfida.

Un nuovo studio, condotto dal gruppo di ricerca Quantum Lab della Sapienza in collaborazione con le Università di Natal e Rio de Janeiro in Brasile e pubblicato su Nature Physics, ha dimostrato dal punto di vista teorico e verificato sperimentalmente che, quando entra in gioco, la fisica quantistica può offrire una predizione alternativa alla fisica classica degli schemi causa-effetto.

Endogenous viral elements are viral sequences integrated into the nuclear genome of their host. They are veritable molecular fossils that prove infections that may have happened millions of years ago, and studying them can serve to understand how viruses evolve over time. As part of an international collaboration, researchers from CIRAD and INRA looked into the endogenous elements of viruses of the family Caulimoviridae, which cause numerous infections in plants. They studied the genome of plants to assess the diversity of those viruses and their host spectrum.

Endogenous viral elements in vascular plants, from lycopods to flowering plants

The scientists used the most advanced genomics and bioinformatics tools to analyse the genome of 72 plants representative of the different phylogenetic groups characterized to date - from green algae to flowering plants -, to look for all or part of the sequences that code for a viral protein of the family Caulimoviridae that is both specific and highly conserved, retrotranscriptase. While the presence of such sequences was known in the genome of flowering plants, they also found some in most vascular plants, including the most primitive plants - ferns, conifers and lycopods -, a result that illustrates the capacity of Caulimoviridae to infect a wide, previously underestimated range of hosts. Of the 62 flowering plant species studied, it appeared that the number of endogenous Caulimoviridae was correlated with the size of the genomes, with thousands of sequences at the heart of the giant genomes of gymnosperms, and notable exceptions: the maize (Zea mays ) genome did not have any despite its size. On the other hand, the density was remarkably high in castor (Ricinus communis ) and orange (Citrus sinensis ). Endogenous viral elements associated with new genera of the family Caulimoviridae
An in-depth analysis of the endogenous viral elements identified in the plants studied revealed that most of the endogenous Caulimoviridae came from the genera Florendovirus and Petuvirus. It also led to the discovery of previously unknown evolutionary branches of Caulimoviridae : four new genera of the family Caulimoviridae were detected in conifers (Gymnendovirus 1 to 4), two in ferns (Fernendovirus 1 and 2) and five in flowering plants (eg Xendovirus or Yendovirus).

Endogenous viral elements dating back to the Devonian period

Based on an analysis of the distribution of different viral genera of the family Caulimoviridae in the plant species studied, the scientists were able to propose an evolutionary scenario in which this virus family apparently emerged in an ancestor shared by flowering plants and gymnosperms during the Devonian period (- 320 million years). There were apparently subsequent exchanges between hosts belonging to different divisions. It is worth noting that the large host spectrum of viruses in the family Caulimoviridae may be due to the presence in these viruses of a movement protein that facilitates the transport and circulation of viral particles between the cells via specific channels, or plasmodesmata, whose structure is characteristic of vascular plants. These results prove the substantial adaptability of viruses of the family Caulimoviridae and their influence on the evolution of vascular plants. They call for a more detailed study of the role and consequences of the presence of these viruses in the genome of plants.

http://www.cirad.fr/en/news/all-news-items/press-releases/2018/vascular-plant-genome-and-virus-evolution