WIKIMEDIA, ASAKO NAKAMURA ET AL.Researchers from Pennsylvania State University have found that a stressful home life is associated with shorter telomeres in a group of nine-year-old boys, and presented evidence to suggest the effects of that stress may be tied to genetic variants. Their work was published in PNAS this week (April 7).
“This study demonstrated this type of differential sensitivity to stress, based on genotype, with telomere shortening early in life,” Elissa Epel from the University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved in the research, told The Scientist by e-mail. “Although the sample is quite small, the data fits theory, and we should pay attention to this alarming story and extend it to other large samples when possible.”
WIKIMEDIA, POLARLYSThe Scripps Research Institute scientists have identified a protein that may be a key piece of volume-regulated anion channels (VRACs), which work to control osmotic pressure and ensure that swelled cells don’t burst. The researchers published their analysis of the protein, which they call SWELL1, in Cell this week (April 10).
While there have been plenty of candidate VRAC proteins over the years, this study is the “first report about one molecule that’s likely forming an ion channel that is mediating this current,” ...
