“The definition of the human embryo is far from being engrained, it’s constantly evolving with scientific advances,” said Nicolas Rivron, a developmental biologist at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. In a perspective published Thursday in Cell, he and an international group of leading luminaries in the fast-moving field of synthetic embryology — or “stembryology,” as it’s sometimes called — argue that these latest scientific advances justify a new definition for the human embryo that’s rooted not in how it was made, but in what it can become.

“Because of this new path, we think it becomes more and more important to think about the embryo not in terms of how it was formed but about the potential it has to generate something,” Rivron told STAT.

He and his co-authors proposed that embryos be defined as “a group of human cells supported by elements fulfilling extra-embryonic and uterine functions that, combined, have the potential to form a fetus.”

Increasing evidence suggests that acupressure, a complementary and alternative medicine approach involving applying pressure to specific areas of the body, known as acupoints, can effectively mediate symptoms experienced by cancer patients. Recent studies have shown that acupressure can control cancer-related nausea, fatigue, sleep disruption, and pain.

Most of the growing body of literature promoting the benefits of acupressure involves treatments administered by trained acupuncturists. However, we lack an understanding of the effectiveness of performing acupressure on yourself, a process known as self-acupressure. To address the potential benefits of self-acupressure, a team of researchers conducted a systemic review of published data on self-acupressure for symptom management in cancer patients. The review appears in a recent issue of the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management.

The researchers searched electronic databases for peer-reviewed studies exploring self-acupressure for cancer-related symptoms. The search identified 11 studies to include in the review.

Bacteria draw from an arsenal of weapons to combat the drugs intended to kill them. Among the most prevalent of these weapons are ribosome-modifying enzymes. These enzymes are growing increasingly common, appearing worldwide in clinical samples in a range of drug-resistant bacteria.

Now scientists have captured the first images of one important class of these enzymes in action. The images show how the enzymes latch onto a particular site on the bacterial ribosome and squeeze it like a pair of tweezers to extract an RNA nucleotide and alter it. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) published the findings, led by scientists at Emory University.

The advanced technique of cryoelectron microscopy made the ultra-high-resolution, three-dimensional snapshots possible.