Being overweight or having obesity, weight that is higher than what is considered healthy for an individual’s height, is a major risk factor for high blood pressure. A healthy diet, more physical activity and less sedentary time are recommended to reduce blood pressure for people who are overweight or have obesity; however, evidence of long-term weight loss and sustained blood pressure reductions from these lifestyle changes is limited. New weight-loss medications and bariatric surgery have shown benefits in both long-term weight loss and improved blood pressure, which can reduce the long-term, negative impact of high blood pressure on organ damage.

More than 40% of middle-aged adults with no known heart disease had signs of atherosclerosis, a buildup of fatty deposits that reduce blood flow to the heart, in a study of more than 25,000 adults in Sweden. In more than 5% of the people who had a buildup of fatty deposits, the atherosclerosis narrowed at least one artery by 50% or more. In nearly 2% of the people with artery deposits, the narrowing was so severe that blood flow was obstructed to large portions of the heart.

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights provides a glimpse into recent studies in basic, translational and clinical cancer research from MD Anderson experts. This special edition features oral presentations by MD Anderson researchers at the virtual European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2021 on novel therapeutic approaches, including cell therapy for solid tumors, antibody drug conjugates targeting TROP2 and neoadjuvant pembrolizumab for advanced solid tumors with mismatch repair deficiencies.

Plants regulate their growth using hormones, including a group called strigolactones that prevent excessive budding and branching. Strigolactones also help plant roots form symbiotic relationships with microorganisms that allow the plant to absorb nutrients from the soil. These two factors have led to agricultural interest in using strigolactones to control the growth of weeds and root parasites, as well as improving nutrient uptake. These root-extruding compounds also stimulate germination of witchweeds and broomrapes, which can cause entire crops of grain to fail, making thorough research essential prior to commercial development. Now, for the first time, scientists led by UC Riverside have synthesized strigolactones from microbes.

A multi-disciplinary team from Lehigh University and the University of Lausanne discovered and characterized a new mechanism that a simple yeast cell uses to acquire its shape. They describe these results in a paper called “Cell patterning by secretion-induced plasma membrane flows” in the latest issue of Science Advances (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abg6718).

PARP inhibitors are an important ovarian cancer treatment, but patients can commonly develop resistance to them. This resistance and how to overcome it are an area of research that Benjamin Bitler, PhD, CU Cancer Center member and assistant professor of reproductive sciences, has pursued with research partners across the CU Anschutz Medical Campus and the country. Now, his ongoing research is supported by a seven-year R37 MERIT Award, given by the National Institutes of Health to provide long-term support to investigators whose research competence and productivity are deemed superior.