University of Rochester scientists, while investigating the two most frequent types of mutations in cancer, discovered a possible new route to treatment that would take advantage of the mutations instead of trying to repair them. The research is reported online this week in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.

Health Canada, the Canadian government regulatory agency, has approved wide-ranging new health claims for COLD-fX®, the most popular cold/flu remedy in Canada. After an extensive review, the Natural Health Products Directorate (NHPD) – a division of Health Canada responsible for evaluating the safety, efficacy and quality of natural health products (NHPs) – has issued COLD-fX with a much sought after license to sell to the public with specific science backed claims.

To Robert C. von Borstel, cancer is a metaphorical example of the perfect invasion by a founder species. Like the first pregnant finch that landed on a deserted island in the Galapagos Archipelago, the first cancer cell in the human body has to undergo many mutations through many generations to establish itself as an invader of different organs in the body. But once it is there, like any newly stabilized species in different ecological niches, cancer is tough to get rid of.

At unprecedented levels of difficulty involving highly biodiverse and continent-sized landscapes, scientists have successfully tested their ability to identify and DNA "barcode" entire assemblages of species -- the prelude to a genetic portrait of all animal life on Earth.

Gretchen Hofmann, an associate professor of biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, will present a talk about the use of technologies in molecular biology to assess climate-change related impacts on marine invertebrates at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco on Sunday, Feb. 18.

A special cocoa made to retain naturally occurring compounds called flavanols may have the potential to help maintain healthy brain function and chart the course for future research that could lead to new solutions for preventing cognitive decline and dementia, according to a panel of scientists who presented new data at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

In a study involving 12 surgeons and 21 surgical residents, video game skill was correlated with laparoscopic surgery skill as assessed during a simulated surgery skills course, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.