BioMed Central Blog
Inflammatory cytokines have a negative effect on myoblast differentiation
Myoblast differentiation is a process that is required for the regeneration of myofibres post injury. In old age this is impaired and contributes to the onset of sarcopenia, and the resulting loss of muscle mass and strength.
A research paper
publi
shed this week in Skeletal
Muscle explores the effects
of IL-1α and TNF-α on myotube differentiation, and the signalling cascades
through which they act. Despite the ongoing debate into whether
pro-inflammatory cytokines have a positive or negative effect on muscle cell
differentiation, the results from this article clearly demonstrate the
anti-differentiation effects of IL-1α and TNF-α.
Trendelenburg et al. show that human myoblasts treated with IL-1α and TNF-α induce Activin A de novo synthesis via the TAK-1/p38/NFκB pathway. TAK-1 and p38 are both required for Activin A induction – with the inhibition of TAK-1 blocking both the increase in Activin A and the downstream activation of p38, and the inhibition of p38 resulting in increased differentiation. NFκB also contributes to Activin A induction, though inhibition of NFκB is less effective than inhibition of p38 in rescuing myoblast differentiation. This induction of Activin A then results in the activation of downstream Activin receptor signalling via SMAD2/3 transcription factors, and the inhibition of myoblast differentiation.
“This study establishes the mechanism for an additional anti-muscle effect of cytokines – the blockade of differentiation by Activin A secretion” explain the authors. “The induction of Activin A by TNF-α and IL-1α may help to explain some of the phenotypes previously reported in aging animals, including humans”.
Visit the Skeletal Muscle homepage to read the article in full.
Posted by Laura Winton at 15:41 Comments (0)
Cancer is the leading cause of death in the world and second most prolific cause of death in developing countries. GLOBOCAN estimates that around 12.7 million cancer cases and 7.6 million cancer deaths occurred in 2008 and these numbers are expected to increase as a result of an ageing, and growing, population as well as an increase in cancer-associated lifestyle choices such as smoking, physical inactivity, and westernised diets. Of these deaths attributed to cancer, 30-40% are thought to be preventable, through the adoption of healthier lifestyles and immunizations, and around one third of cases can be cured through early diagnosis and treatment strategies.
It is with the prevention of cancer in mind that World Cancer Day 2012 takes place, this year on 4 February. Falling almost six months after the first UN High-level Meeting on Non Communicable diseases (NCDs), and the signing of a political declaration supporting prevention and control of these conditions, this year’s World Cancer Day aims to encourage everyone to do their part in reducing premature deaths from cancer and other NCDs by 25% by 2025.
To find out more on the latest in cancer research visit our Cancer gateway or read our most recent articles on cancer prevention.
Posted by Philip Dooner at 17:02 Comments (0)
From Baconian to Popperian Neuroscience
In the first in a series of opinion pieces for Neural Systems & Circuits, David Gamez argues for a greater use of mathematical modelling in order to study the brain (From Baconian to Popperian Neuroscience). The piece likens the recent technological advances in neuroscience with the development of physics in the 17th century, and suggests that the same principles (e.g. the systematic gathering of experimental data in order to elucidate the scientific truth) should hold true in this evolving field.
David states “This opinion piece argues that the gathering of facts about the brain needs to be complemented by a greater focus on mathematical models whose predictions can be experimentally tested. These models should not be fitted to a particular set of brain measurements, but based on general laws that could in principle be applied to any intelligent creature.”
This piece marks the first of our Opinionated Neuroscientists series, in which we invited contributions from early career neuroscientists on a wide variety of subjects within the field. For more information on this series, please read the Editorial Wanted: opinionated neuroscientists, or submit your opinion piece via our online system.
Posted by Anna Webb at 09:17 Comments (0)
Invitation to submit to Cancer Bioinformatics thematic series
“Cancer Bioinformatics: Bioinformatic Methods, Network Biomarkers and Precision Medicine” is a special thematic series to be published across BMC Bioinformatics, BMC Cancer, Genome Medicine and Journal of Clinical Bioinformatics (JCBi).
Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death across the globe. Most cancer treatments work for only a subset of patients and there is still a great need for disease-specific biomarkers and individualized medicine, since a large proportion of patients receive ineffective treatments. It is essential that we develop accurate tools for delivering the right treatment to the right patient in the right time, based on biological characterization of each patient’s tumor. There is still a lack of tools for aiding early diagnosis, prognosis prediction, or predicting response to treatment. Increasing evidence that genomic, proteomic, and metabolomic analyses can be utilized to understand molecular mechanisms of cancer has led to increasing work within this area.
This series will specifically focus on new developments in cancer bioinformatics and computational systems biology and will present biologically interesting discoveries on cancer using computational methods, in addition to exploring the potential of clinical applications to improve the outcomes of patients with cancer.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- Algorithms for clinical biomarker selection
- Integrative approaches
- Systems biology and network-based approaches
- Novel approaches to clinical trials
- Deep sequencing and proteomic profiling
- Epigenetic mechanisms and RNAs
- Drug discovery and development
- Individualized medicine
Submission of original research, methodology, software, and database articles are encouraged until 1st November 2012 but will be processed as soon as they come in.
Please direct any questions to Xiangdong Wang (Series Editor) at editorial@jclinbioinformatics.com. Please submit your manuscript here: BMC Bioinformatics, BMC Cancer, Genome Medicine and Journal of Clinical Bioinformatics, and state clearly in the covering letter that it is intended for this thematic series.
Posted by Helen Whitaker at 17:12 Comments (0)
The increasing strength of Skeletal Muscle
The start of 2012 marked one year since the launch of Skeletal Muscle. In January 2011, the journal set out to provide a home for the increasing amounts of research being conducted into skeletal muscle - from the genes responsible for muscular dystrophies, to the contribution of skeletal muscle to insulin and fatty acid signalling.
To mark this anniversary, Skeletal Muscle published an Editorial
written by the journal's Editors-in-Chief; Profs David Glass, Kevin Campbell and
Michael Rudnicki. The Editorial, which can be read in full here, looks
back over a successful first year, with 20 original research articles and 16
reviews being published, as well as the journal’s inclusion in PubMed. In this
article, the Editors state “The bottom line is that this is truly a group endeavor; Skeletal Muscle is here for the
scientist interested in this dynamic tissue. Like its namesake, it can
only gather strength with use and exercise - perhaps you can start by including
us in your New Year’s resolution for 2012... to help grow the journal by your
support.”
To view the journals aims and scope, or to submit an article, visit the Skeletal Muscle journal homepage.
Posted by Laura Winton at 09:10 Comments (0)
In an Editorial to mark the 1st birthday of Neural Systems & Circuits, Peter Latham and Venkatesh Murthy (Editors-in-Chief) reflect upon the goals and achievements of this new journal aiming to bridge the gap between theory and experiment in the neurosciences.
2011 saw the journal’s inclusion in PubMed, the initiation of the Invertebrate Circuitry thematic series, and the start of the Opinionated Neuroscientists series. Commenting on the range of articles published in the journal, Latham and Murthy write “In our inaugural Editorial, we noted our desire to foster communication among theorists and experimentalists. Promisingly, computational and experimental papers have taken residence side by side in the first year. Research articles spanned a broad range, both in technique and organism. Computational work has included analysis of electrical coupling among neurons in the cerebellum and papers on visual cortical circuits.”
To read the article in full and for more information about the journal,
visit the Neural Systems & Circuits homepage.
Posted by Laura Winton at 10:02 Comments (0)
Going mobile: BioMed Central mobile internet access survey
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Posted by Rachel Craven at 14:15 Comments (0)
Conferences: from bone to brain
November was a busy month for conferences, and two of those attended by BioMed Central included the 75th annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology and the Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals (ACR/ARHP), and Neuroscience 2011, the Society for Neuroscience's (SfN) 41st annual meeting.
This year, ACR/ARHP was held in Chicago, Illinois from 5th-9th November and was attended by over 16,000 delegates. The conference themes covered all aspects of rheumatology from basic science to clinical applications, and popular topics included advances in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), advances in treatment of gout, osteoarthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, as well as non-pharmacological interventions for musculoskeletal disorders. We met with many of our board members for Arthritis Research and Therapy, BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, Pediatric Rheumatology and Journal of Foot and Ankle Research. Some of our Editorial Board members delivered stimulating talks on the clinical phenotypes of JIA (Alberto Martini, Editor-in-Chief of Pediatric Rheumatology), heart disease and updated guidelines on rheumatoid arthritis (Jasvinder Singh, Section Editor of BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders) and Yusuf Yazici (Section Editor of BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders) discussed the comparative efficacy of biologic agents in rheumatoid arthritis. In addition, Editorial Adviser Anthony Woolf who is the current chairman for the Bone and Joint Decade group, spoke about how to encourage policymakers to take musculoskeletal conditions seriously.
Neuroscience 2011 was held on the following week, from 12th-16th November in Washington, DC and was attended by over 32,000 people.This is the ‘must-attend’ event for neuroscientists from all over the world, and was overseen by the current president of SfN, Susan G Amara, who is also Editorial Adviser for BMC Neuroscience. Presidential lectures were delivered by Editorial Advisers for BMC Neuroscience Cori Bargmann and Mu-ming Poo, and a very well received special lecture on neuronal networks of motor control was given by Thomas Jessel.This annual SfN event is always a great place to meet with our Editorial Board members, and this year we had the pleasure of meeting many of them, including (but not limited to) Section Editors for BMC Neuroscience (Robert Gerlai, Anthony Kline, Maurizio Popoli, Mark Rasenick and Ramesh Raghupathi), as well as Editors-in-Chief of Journal of Neuroinflammation, Molecular Autism, Molecular Brain, Molecular Neurodegeneration, Molecular Pain and Neural Development.
We hope to see you all again at key conferences next year!
Posted by Lin Lee at 10:45 Comments (0)
Archives of Public Health now published by BioMed Central
Formerly known as Belgian Archives of Social Medicine, Hygiene, Occupational Health and Forensic Medicine, Archives of Public Health is now publishing with BioMed Central. Editors-in-Chief Professor Herman Van Oyen and Professor Olivier Bruyère will continue to publish articles that ‘compile public health knowledge for action’ as they had with their previous publisher.
“We expect authors to take the time to think and to highlight in their manuscript the implications of the findings for public health policy, public health practice and/or public health research” they say in their inaugural editorial for the journal.
Archives of Public Health will be an important information source on applied research in all aspects of public health and welcomes articles on health services research, health economics, community interventions and epidemiological studies dealing with international comparisons. The journal also focuses on determinants of inequality in health, and the environmental, behavioral, social, demographic and occupational correlates of health and disease.
Archives of Public Health is the official journal of the Belgian Association of Public Health and is an exciting addition to BioMed Central’s public health portfolio. To receive regular updates of the content, sign up for article alerts.
Posted by Ian Ward at 15:19 Comments (0)
This year saw BMC Cancer turn ten. When the journal published its first volume
of 20 articles in 2001 it was one of only a handful of open access titles
operating in the field and was exclusively run by a small team of in-house
editors. A decade later, the journal’s
in-house team is supported by an international group of Section Editors, Deputy
Section Editors, Associate Editors and Editorial Advisers numbering in the
hundreds and has published nearly 3,000 articles.
To mark the end of its 10th year, BMC Cancer is publishing a
special anniversary collection of commissioned articles. With contributions from Carlos Caldas, Ian Cree, Shoukat Dedhar and many others,
the collection highlights the advances in the field over the past 10 years and
looks forward to the developments that we might expect to see in the next
decade.
Congratulations to BMC Cancer for reaching this milestone and here’s to the next 10 years.
Posted by Philip Dooner at 09:43 Comments (0)
Post-genomic outlooks on neuropsychiatric disease
Two forward-looking views of research into
neuropsychiatric disease and its treatment are published today in BMC Biology. Aiden Corvin predicts how the identification of susceptibility
genes may transform the diagnosis and treatment of patients who are today
classified as suffering from schizophrenia on the basis of purely clinical
criteria. Kevin Mitchell, Josh Huang, Bita Moghaddam and Akira Sawa assert that it is time to discard behavioral approaches to
modeling psychiatric disorders in animals, and lay out a framework for using
causal genetic variants, together with the latest neurogenetic tools, instead.
Both articles consider recent genetic
advances, and how the identification of rare structural variants that have a
large effect in predisposing people to one or more of these disorders has
challenged previous thinking. Disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar
disorder and autism are common, and for much of the last 60 years a consensus
has held sway that common diseases, unlike rare Mendelian diseases, are caused
not by mutations of large effect, but by the combined effect of numerous common
variants. Corvin explains how, in the case of schizophrenia, this model was
first assailed by two rare cytogenetic mutations found in the pre-genome era,
followed, in the post-genomic era, by rare copy number variants (short
deletions or duplications) that together account for about 5% of schizophrenia
cases. Both he and Mitchell and colleagues also predict that sequencing
studies are likely to uncover many more rare variants associated with
disease. The two articles take a different view, however, on whether
previous thinking has been completely overturned. Corvin summarizes the recent
findings from genome-wide association studies reflecting the ongoing debate in the
field.
Penelope Austin
Posted by Tara Cronin at 16:20 Comments (1)
The use of nanoparticles in improving breast cancer cell detection
As Breast Cancer Awareness Month draws to a close, I would like to take the opportunity to highlight some key ways of supporting research into breast cancer, as well as exciting new developments in the field which are contributing towards the continually improving survival rates. There are many ways to show your support, ranging from purchasing special packs of cancer-suppressing watercress or tickled pink groceries, to hosting Pink Fridays at your workplace.
Mammography allows breast cancer to be detected up to 3 years before noticeable lumps appear, but unfortunately does not detect 10-25% of tumours, and benign and malignant particles are indistinguishable. New research published this month in Breast Cancer Research discusses the benefits of a fascinating development which shows promise for improving the detection of breast cancer cells. The technique involves the development of tumor-targeted iron-oxide magnetic nanoparticles, which can be detected by superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) sensors. This allows visualization of the nanoparticles using confocal microscopy, Prussian blue histochemistry and magnetic relaxometry through measurement of the nanoparticles’ “relaxing” fields following a magnetization pulse.
The results suggest that antibody-conjugated magnetic nanoparticles may improve the detection of breast tumor cells in vivo, allowing for rapid, highly sensitive and viable tumor detection, reducing the need for invasive biopsies and thereby minimising discomfort to the patient.
Anita Bock - Assistant Editor
Posted by Surayya Johar at 15:10 Comments (0)
World Animal Day - 4 October 2011
World Animal Day began in 1931 at a convention of ecologists in Florence in order to raise awareness of endangered species. It is now a worldwide celebration of animal life and the role animals play in the lives of humans . The day aims to encourage people to commemorate their love and respect for animals by doing something special to highlight the importance of animals in the world as well as progressing the animal welfare movement.
In the UK some native species have seen significant improvements in population and habitat. The report – State of Britain's Mammals 2011 states "Although many of Britain's mammals apparently declined significantly in the past 25 years, some appear to have stabilized or even increased in the last decade,". One such species that has seen significant improvements in population include the european otter which has made a return to every county in England. This has been attributed to the improvements in water quality and bans on pesticides. However the native red squirrel has seen a 50% reduction in population over the past 50 years, despite conservation efforts. It is feared that if the numbers of red squirrels continue to drop that UK populations could become extinct within the next 20 years.
Worldwide efforts to preserve and protect endangered species continues. Efforts have been made in various countries such as the USA and Mexico to increase the numbers of various kinds of turtles; a topic the BioMed Central mascot, Gulliver Turtle, is passionate about. There are several species of endangered turtles spread across the globe from South America to Japan. Turtles and their eggs fall prey to poachers as well as many being accidently injured by fishermen each year. Conservationists call for more to be done to protect the most venerable species.
It’s not just the conservation of endangered species that needs to be addressed. The conservation of the planet as a whole is vital to all animal life. A recent study published in Biomed Central journal Veterinary Research, highlights the effects that climate change can have on reptiles and fish due to the fact that immune response varies with environmental temperature.
Scientific research is constantly providing new understanding of animals around the world, from big to small. In an article published in BMC Physiology, Paul Iaizzo and colleagues provide an insight into how the black bear is able to spend half its life in a state of hibernation without access to food or water and yet is still able to rouse and defend themselves if disturbed. New research into ants published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Ecology demonstrates that queen ants in monogamous ant colonies fight by antennal boxing to become the reproductive queen. The worker ants then reinforce the queens behavior by feeding dominant females and expelling, or killing, their weaker sisters. Frontiers in Zoology, another journal published by BioMed Central, also recently published another article on ants, looking at the landmarks that ants used for navigation. Antoine Wystrach et al. found that ants navigating along a familiar route appear to be guided by cues covering a large area of their panoramic visual field, which seems logical when considering the ants’ poor eyesight and the complexity of the natural scene around them.
You can visit the World Animal Day website for more information and resources for getting involved.
Posted by Emily Mason at 15:54 Comments (0)
New journal Extreme Physiology & Medicine is accepting submissions!
We are delighted to announce that Extreme Physiology & Medicine, a new open access journal, is now accepting submissions.
Extreme Physiology & Medicine focuses on integrative human physiology under conditions of physiological stress, including that exerted by extreme environments, exercise, and certain clinical conditions. The concept underpinning the journal is that the study of human systems under extreme stress can enhance understanding of disease processes and the treatment of patients.
Topics of interest include the physiological and medical implications of exposure to:
• High altitude and hypoxia
• Hyperbaric conditions and diving
• Aerospace
• Extremes of temperature
• Intense or endurance exercise
The journal is jointly overseen by Editors-in-Chief Mike Grocott and Hugh Montgomery. They are supported by specialist Section Editors, and an impressive Editorial Board.
You are warmly invited to join us in making this journal a success. If you work in any of the above areas, consider submitting your next paper to Extreme Physiology & Medicine. For more information on the journal, visit the website or contact the Editorial Office.
You can also sign up for email updates to be kept informed of the latest journal developments!
Posted by Russell Rodrigues at 13:26 Comments (0)
Open access journals supported by a €1 million Dutch open access fund
The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the main Dutch science funding body, has launched a €1 million 
open access fund to help Dutch scientists establish new open access journals or convert existing journals to open access. This initiative is the fruit of a wider open access initiative that started in 2010 when the NWO committed €5 million to encourage open access development. The deadline for submitting proposals is Tuesday 4 October 2011. Further information regarding this funding can be found at www.nwo.nl/openaccess (English).
NWO joins other major European funding bodies in supporting open access. Several initiatives, on a national and European level, have recently been put in place to accelerate open access publishing.
Neelie Kroes, the EU Commisioner for the Digital Agenda, has recently stressed the importance of facilitating access to scientific research and knowledge. In a video message to the 40th LIBER annual conference in Barcelona (June 29, 2011), she stated that “Open access to scientific information (...) will allow us, all of us, to get the most benefits from science for education, for innovation and for whatever creative reuse people can think of". She added that the “Commission plans to extend current open access requirements so that it covers all EU-funded research as a principle.” There is already a dedicated pan-European repository infrastructure, OpenAIRE, to support this. Ms Kroes said she is working to enlarge OpenAIRE to include scientific data as well as papers.
BioMed Central would be interested to hear from Dutch biologists and medical researchers who are thinking about establishing new open access journals or about converting existing subscription-based journals. We are keen to work with Dutch scientists to emulate the success stories of journals such as Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica, Frontiers in Zoology (Deutsche Zoologische Gesellschaft) and Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases, all of which have have been hugely successful since launching with or transferring to BioMed Central.
Get in touch now at journalproposal@biomedcentral.com.
Posted by Sandra Le at 12:45 Comments (2)