#15 African Elephant, Coma and a New bird specimen
Discover 3 recent science news in our #PeerusWhatsNew, now on Medium.
1 Researchers identified in the elephant, an animal known to rarely have cancer, areas in the genome that stimulate DNA repair and the prevention of mutations.
The African Elephant, with its 7,000 kilograms, is the largest land animal. It has 100 times more cells than humans. However, each time a cell divides, it increases its risk of mutating and therefore of acquiring carcinogenic mutations.
In previous work, researchers found in the elephant genome several copies of the p53 gene, a tumor suppressor gene. Today, researchers have identified particularly large accelerated regions of evolution near genes that respond to DNA damage.
2 Researchers have developed a promising new technique that would ultimately help to know for sure whether a patient can wake up from a coma to decide whether to continue or stop treatment.
The study concerns a specific form of coma, those that follow a cardiac arrest. It involved 200 adult patients in a coma for more than seven days and was conducted in 14 centers in France, Italy and Belgium.
The researchers applied to patients a special MRI technique to measure the movement of water in the white matter of the brain, which allows the connection between neurons. The researchers were then able to set thresholds to predict the chances of patients waking up after six months.
3 In Spain, researchers have discovered a new bird specimen. The almost complete skeleton is less than 5 cm in size, making it one of the smallest bird fossils ever found.
The tiny fossil belongs to the subclass of Enantiorniths. All species of this group disappeared during the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction. It is not therefore a direct ancestor of modern birds, which descend from Euornithes. However, it interests researchers because Enantiornithes represent one of the oldest evolutions of birds.
