Month: July 2015

Officials in both Iran and Iraq declared a mandatory holiday this month after temperatures soared far into the triple digits. In Iraq, temperatures reached a sweltering 126 degrees and officials declared a mandatory holiday to try and protect people from succumbing to the heat. In Iran, the country faced possible record-breaking temperatures and high humidity that will leave residents feeling they are in temperatures as high as 151.2 degrees Fahrenheit, or 66.2 degrees Celsius. The

Resettlement projects in the Amazon are driving severe tropical deforestation – according to new research from the University of East Anglia and Câmara dos Deputados (the Brazilian Lower House). Widely hailed as a socially responsible and ‘innocuous’ strategy of land redistribution, agrarian reform settlements have been created throughout the Brazilian Amazon since the early 1970s at an unprecedented scale. But a study published today in PLOS ONE reveals that these farmer resettlement projects are far

In scientific literature, studies with “good” results are more likely to be published than studies with results that are unclear or negative. A study with a new, exciting finding (a positive result) is likely to see the light …

So, exciting new drugs for treating Alzheimer’s disease, right? Wrong. Or, rather, let’s allow for semi-miraculous outcomes and say instead that this recent news is unlikely to be right. Most of the news concerned research results on two monoclonal antibody drugs reported at last week’s Alzheimer’s Association International Convention in Washington. Both drugs attack beta amyloid, the protein that is suspected by some researchers of gumming up the brain. Not a theory embraced by all,

Study design The Parent Infant Feeding Initiative (PIFI) is a four arm, factorial, randomised controlled trial. The study is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN:12614000605695, Universal Trial No.:U1111-1155-7115). Reporting of the study will adhere to the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) guidelines for reporting parallel group randomised trials 40]. The trial arms will consist of a control, two medium and one high level intervention groups (see Fig. 1). The Control Group

The benefit of postpartum family planning (PPFP) for maternal and child survival has long been recognized and the concept of implementing special family planning programs for postpartum women has been recognized as the standard of care since 1966 1]. Studies show that, the risk of maternal and child mortality and morbidity are very high when pregnancy occurs in short intervals after childbirth 2]–7]. Globally, more than 90 percent of women during the first year of

Mice BALB/c breeders were purchased from Harlan Laboratories (Indianapolis, IN, USA) and bred in specific-pathogen-free facilities at University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC, Memphis, TN, USA). Pups born on the same date were used for experiments. All animal experiments were performed according to the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at UTHSC. Viruses and the infection Human RSV A2 strain was

This review focuses on the association of mutations in BRCA1/2 with carcinoma of the prostate, pancreas and stomach and screening for BRCA1/2 gene mutations. It is evident from the reviewed literature that the pancreas and prostate were the two most important sites for males who possess a BRCA1/2 mutation. The impact of BRCA1/2 mutations for prostate cancer When BRCA1/2 mutations were discovered it was extensively reported that these mutations played a role in the development

i Mineral supplements, ape-style: A female chimp called Kana eats clay in the Budongo Forest of Uganda. A.Schel/Budongo Conservation Field Station/Animal Ecology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands hide caption itoggle caption A.Schel/Budongo Conservation Field Station/Animal Ecology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands Mineral supplements, ape-style: A female chimp called Kana eats clay in the Budongo Forest of Uganda. A.Schel/Budongo Conservation Field Station/Animal Ecology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands Chimpanzees are like us in many ways. They can cook, they

Figure 1. Diagrammatic representation of the serial founder effect model. Credit: Emma Whittington. We humans are obsessed with determining our origins, hoping to reveal a little of “who we are” in the process. It is relatively simple to trace one’s genealogy back a few generations, and there are many companies and products offering such services. But what if we wanted to trace our origins further on an evolutionary timescale and study human evolution itself? In

A pioneering trial investigating the safety and efficacy of diaphragm pacing used to alleviate breathing difficulties for people with motor neurone disease (MND), has revealed the intervention is not generally beneficial to patients. A team of MND specialists, led by researchers from the Sheffield Institute of Translational Neuroscience (SITraN), conducted the first randomised controlled multi-centre clinical trial to assess the risks and benefits of the intervention for patients. The diaphragm pacing device was approved for

New research published in the December 2014 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, shows that a component found in in the plant, Glycyrrhiza uralensis, may inhibit the development of metabolic disorders by stopping the …

Public health agencies across the globe are challenged with preventing the spread of chronic diseases while dealing with limited funds and devastating budget cuts. Now, a researcher at the University of Missouri has applied the Public Health Index (PHI) model, a tool he designed that has been adopted by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, to help the Brazilian government identify and prioritize health risks affecting its population. Researcher Eduardo Simoes says if

The soil-borne bacterium Clostridium botulinum causes botulism, a rare paralytic illness. Credit: James Cavallini/Science Source Gene therapy could be more effective than existing treatments for botulism, a rare paralytic illness caused by a nerve toxin, according to an infectious disease researcher at Cummings School. The new approach might also be able to be used to treat other more common infections, such as E. coli food poisoning and the hospital-acquired superbug known as Clostridium difficile. Botulism

Christine Bullock is one of the most inspirational celebrity fitness trainers in Los Angeles with a wealth of knowledge regarding exercise, health and nutrition. I recently met her at a press event in Santa Monica earlier this summer where she taught an incredible fitness class followed by a Q and A session on nutrition and healthy living. I learned so much at this event and was able to easily apply the information to my own

One potentially life-altering afternoon spent hanging out in my bedroom as a teenager, my friend stumbled upon some of my poetry and stories. I was so horrified, I nearly crumbled the pages, shoved them in my mouth and swallowed them. I felt naked and as though the innermost workings of my mind were miserably exposed. I recall her laughing and reading my poems aloud with a mocking tone. It was a torturous moment for my

An otherwise healthy 36 year-old woman was treated elsewhere for a perforated peri-sigmoid abscess and purulent peritonitis with sigmoidectomy and a primary mechanical colorectal anastomosis (time 0). Postoperative recovery was good, and the histopathology report described a well-differentiated adenocarcinoma (T4aNxMx, due to the absence of nodes in the surgical specimen). She was referred to the medical oncologist for palliative treatment. CEA level was 23 ?U/l. A positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) showed uptake in multiple nodes of

Esophageal cancer is the eighth most common cancer worldwide, with an estimated 482,000 new cases (3.8 % of the total) diagnosed in 2008, and the sixth most common cause of cancer-related death, with 407,000 deaths (5.4 % of the total) in 2008 1]. The prognosis of esophageal cancer is generally poor because of its biological aggressiveness and anatomical characteristics. According to the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC), the postoperative 5-year survival rate is approximately 90 % for

The selective CSF1R inhibitor PLX5622 reduces microglial numbers in the adult brain To determine the effects of specific CSF1R inhibition on microglial numbers in the adult brain, 2-month-old wild-type mice were treated with vehicle or PLX5622 at 300- or 1200 mg/kg in chow for 7 or 21 days (n?=?3 per group). Mice were sacrificed and their brains fixed and sectioned and then stained with the microglial marker IBA1 (Fig. 1a, quantified in B). Confocal images of the cortex

Older adults [A] included five women and six men aged 66 to 88 years old, where five had physical disabilities, five had mild cognitive impairments and one had psychological difficulties (Table 3). The majority were retired, had 11 or less years of schooling, had two or more health problems and perceived their health as good to fair. According to their SMAF, they had most frequently difficulties in their instrumental activities of daily living (Table 3). The caregivers [C]

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Getting water across lipid membranes is not easy. In nature, molecules called aquaporins, discovered in the 1990s, move water from one side of a biological membrane to another, but the molecules are fragile and bulky. Now, …

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Working with yeast and worms, researchers found that incorrect gene expression is a hallmark of aged cells and that reducing such “noise” extends lifespan in these organisms. The team published their findings this month in Genes Development. The team was led by senior author Shelley Berger, PhD, a Daniel S. Och University Professor in the departments of Cell Developmental Biology, Biology Genetics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Weiwei

By Madeline Kennedy (Reuters Health) – Older adults who value sexual activity and engage in it have better social lives and psychological well-being, according to a small study in Scotland Older adults said “they miss and want to engage in sexual behaviors, whether that be a kiss to intercourse,” said study coauthor Taylor-Jane Flynn in an email. “For many, these behaviors remained an important element in their life.” Flynn, a psychology PhD candidate at Glasgow

By Zachary Fagenson FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Reuters) – Hillary Clinton launched a direct assault on Jeb Bush on Friday, questioning his commitment to tackle issues of economic and racial inequality at a convention of a major African American civil rights group. The meeting of the National Urban League was the first same-stage appearance during the 2016 campaign and could be a general election preview for former Secretary of State Clinton, the front runner for the

Paris (AFP) – An Ebola test vaccine provided blanket protection in a field trial in Guinea, said researchers Friday, possibly heralding “the beginning of the end” for the devastating West African outbreak that has killed thousands. The serum was 100-percent effective, after a week, in more than 7,600 people innoculated, according to results published in The Lancet and hailed as “extremely promising” by World Health Organization (WHO) chief Margaret Chan. The world was “on the

IMAGE: On the left is Prof. Alexander S. Mikhailov, and on the right is Prof. Raymond Kapral. view more Credit: Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society and University of Toronto An international research group has demonstrated that protein machines, regardless of their specific functions, can collectively induce fluctuating hydrodynamic flows and substantially enhance the diffusive motions of particles in the cell. Biological cells contain large numbers of active proteins that repeatedly change their conformations.

Parents’ estimations of their children’s happiness differ significantly from the child’s own assessment of their feelings, a study has shown. Research by psychologists at Plymouth University showed parents of 10 and 11-year-olds consistently overestimated their child’s happiness, while those with 15 and 16-year-olds were inclined to underestimate. Published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, the study attributed the discrepancies to an “egocentric bias” through which parents rely too heavily on their own feelings in

IMAGE: Manuela Göbelt is evaluating SEM-images to calculate the local degree of networking. view more Credit: Photo: Björn Hoffmann. This news release is available in German. The electrodes for connections on the “sunny side” of a solar cell need to be not just electrically conductive, but transparent as well. As a result, electrodes are currently made either by using thin strips of silver in the form of a coarse-meshed grid squeegeed onto a surface, or by

IMAGE: Normal adult C. elegans nematode worms (above) are about 1 mm in length. Adults that had been starved for 8 days early in their larval development (below) grow more slowly… view more Credit: Ryan Baugh, Duke University DURHAM, N.C. — Starvation early in life can alter an organism for generations to come, according to a new study in roundworms. The effects are what Duke University biologist Ryan Baugh terms a “bet-hedging strategy.” In nature, the

IMAGE: The figure depicts the upper ocean warming (in red color) observed over the warm rings during the intensification of Isaac. view more Credit: Benjamin Jaimes MIAMI – As tropical storm Isaac was gaining momentum toward the Mississippi River in August 2012, University of Miami (UM) researchers were dropping instruments from the sky above to study the ocean conditions beneath the storm. The newly published study showed how a downwelling of warm waters deepened the storm’s

IMAGE: Landslides on the slopes of volcanoes threaten communities like this one in El Salvador. view more Credit: Michigan Tech, Jose Fredy Cruz In October 2011, heavy rainfall poured down the sides of El Salvador’s San Vicente Volcano, nearly four feet of water in 12 days. Coffee plantation employees, working high up on the volcano’s slope began noticing surface cracks forming on steep slopes and in coffee plantations. Cracks herald landslides–places where the wet, heavy upper

The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that some doctors and pharmacies are getting confused by the similar names of an antidepressant and a blood-thinning medicine. The FDA says it’s not aware of any patients who took the wrong drug, but the agency says it has received 50 reports of medication errors, including at least 12 cases where doctors prescribed the wrong drug or pharmacies dispensed the wrong one. The two medications are Brintellix, an

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When it comes to food, I’ll try anything at least once. As I documented before, I’ve dined on tarantula, frog, crickets, snake, raw clams, red ants, and durian fruit – and that was just on a single trip through Asia! When back on home turf, I enjoy oysters, sashimi, tripe soup, beef and salmon tartare, foie gras, and other acquired tastes. For the record, I wasn’t always this adventurous with food; as a kid, I

The World Health Organization, reeling under stinging criticism for its late response to the worst ever Ebola outbreak, on Tuesday said it was creating a blueprint to handle future disease outbreaks.

Scientists have long known the p53 protein suppresses tumors. However, a recent animal study by UC Davis researchers has uncovered a complicated relationship between p53 and another protein, Rbm38, highlighting how the body …

Resveratrol, a chemical found in red grapes, is more effective in smaller doses at preventing bowel cancer in mice than high doses, according to new research published today in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

In 2012, Allen Frances, MD, professor emeritus and former chair of the department of psychiatry at Duke University, cautioned that “Internet Addiction” could be the next new fad diagnosis, complete with “an exuberant trumpeting …

When your monthly prescription costs are too much to handle, the pharmacist usually will first recommend buying generic drugs. But when generics are similarly costly, this advice can be for naught. Recent, rapid increases in the prices of generics can put your medicine out of reach— potentially jeopardizing your health— but employing other cost-saving strategies may help. Opting for a generic drug over a brand-name version has historically been the best way to cut prescription

Matt Bellina (R), a former US Navy combat pilot was diagnosed with ALS and granted medical retirement in spring 2015. (image courtesy: Matt Bellina) (image courtesy: Matt Bellina) (image courtesy Matt Bellina) Last summer, videos of people dumping buckets of ice water on their heads flooded Facebook as part of a campaign to raise money and awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease. On Friday in Boston, the ALS Association kicks off

July 28, 2015: Elizabeth “Lizzy” Myers, 5, gazes through a telescope at the Warren Rupp Observatory in Bellville, Ohio. (AP) Parents of a 5-year-old girl in central Ohio created a visual bucket list for their daughter after it was learned she has a condition that will eventually cause her to go blind. Elizabeth “Lizzy” Myers, of Bellville, was recently diagnosed with Usher syndrome type II, a rare genetic condition that causes hearing and progressive vision loss,

The desire to quit smoking–often considered a requirement for enrolling in treatment programs–is not always necessary to reduce cigarette cravings, argues a review of addiction research published July 30 in Trends in Cognitive Sciences. Early evidence suggests that exercises aimed at increasing self-control, such as mindfulness meditation, can decrease the unconscious influences that motivate a person to smoke. Scientists are looking to the brain to understand why setting a “quit day” isn’t a surefire way

IMAGE: Stills from time-lapse video showing transdifferentiation of pre-B cells into yeast-eating macrophages. Green fluorescent pre-B cells surrounded by red fluorescent Candida albicans at different hours after activation of C/EBPa (shown… view more Credit: J.L. Sardina and T. Zimmermann This news release is available in Spanish. All it takes is one molecule to reprogram an antibody-producing B cell into a scavenging macrophage. This transformation is possible, new evidence shows, because the molecule (C/EBPa, a transcription factor)

A study that took a novel approach to investigating factors affecting the emergence of symptoms of Huntington’s disease (HD) has identified at least two genome sites that house variants that can hasten or delay symptom onset. In their report in the July 30 issue of Cell, the multi-institutional research team describes how genome-wide association analysis of samples from more than 4,000 HD patients found that particular variants on two chromosomes were more common in individuals

While many people identify as Type A personalities, there are still plenty of others who fall in the middle. That’s where “Type A-minus” folks come in.  Hard science on personality types is hardly definitive. Additionally, researchers have expressed that these aren’t exact labels and character traits really run the gamut. Chances are you fall more on the spectrum of either being “Type A” or “Type B.” Sound familiar? You may be one of the many who land

Sensor design Nuclear localization sequences (NLSs) consist of a stretch of positively charged residues associated with importin, which will subsequently shuttle its cargo into the nucleus 14]. Harreman et al. 15] demonstrated that additional negative charges around the NLS compromise its binding to importin and thereby decrease the enrichment of the cargo in the nucleus. Further, they observed that the NLS for the Swi6 transcription cofactor was led by a serine, which is a potential

Postmortem human brain tissues Human autopsy brain regions were provided from an archived biorepository (University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA), as described in Mash et al., 2007 28]. Ten subjects (age ranging from 16 to 47 years, five African-American, three European-American, one Pacific Islander, one mixed race) were selected from accidental or cardiac sudden deaths with negative urine screens for illicit drugs, with no history of psychiatric disorders or licit or illicit drug use prior to

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By Kate Bass BSc A leading US pharmacy services provider and IT company have announced their collaboration to facilitate the provision of truly patient-centred primary care. CVS Health (a US pharmacy innovation company with around 7,800 retail outlets and 1,000 walk-in medical clinics) and IBM (a globally integrated technology and consulting company working across 170 countries) will work together to use Watson cognitive computing to collate and interpret a vast array of health information on

Immunotherapy using monoclonal antibodies is a promising treatment strategy, and it might now be within reach: American scientists have successfully prepared an oligosaccharide enterobacterial antigen for which a monoclonal antibody has been developed. The study is published in the journal Angewandte Chemie. Monoclonal antibodies are indispensable as diagnostic tools in biomedical applications and are increasingly used in therapy. As Enterobacteriaceae, a large family of gram-negative pathogens with as prominent members as Escherichia coli, Salmonella, or

The Interactive Autism Network (IAN), a project of the Kennedy Krieger Institute supported by the Simons Foundation, was approved today for a three-year $1.6 million funding award by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to be part of PCORnet, the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network. Founded in 2006, the Interactive Autism Network is one of seven health data networks approved by PCORI’s Board of Governors to be added to this national health research resource, which

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The liver plays a critical role in human metabolism. As the gatekeeper of the digestive track, this massive organ is responsible for drug breakdown and is therefore the first to be injured due to overdose or misuse. Evaluating this drug-induced liver injury is a critical part of pharmaceutical drug discovery and must be carried out on human liver cells. Regretfully, human liver cells, called hepatocytes, are in scarce supply as they can only be isolated

Scientists have been finding that genetic risk for many diseases lies primarily in noncoding parts of the genome, which used to be called “junk DNA,” and not in the genes themselves. But that finding naturally begs more questions about what these noncoding regions do to cause a disease and how. Now, University at Buffalo medical researchers who study juvenile idiopathic arthritis (also called juvenile rheumatoid arthritis) have figured out some important answers. The paper, was

Whether you grasp it right away or not, your grip strength may indicate whether or not you have undetected diabetes and high blood pressure, University of Florida researchers say. The findings appear online ahead of print in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Grip strength measures could be especially useful for identifying diabetes and high blood pressure in adults who have healthy weight obesity, also known as normal weight obesity or “skinny fat.” The condition

A new study overturns longstanding scientific ideas regarding how energy is distributed within muscles for powering movement. Scientists are reporting the first clear evidence that muscle cells distribute energy primarily by the rapid conduction of electrical charges through a vast, interconnected network of mitochondria—the cell’s “powerhouse”—in a way that resembles the wire grid that distributes power throughout a city. The study offers an unprecedented, detailed look at the distribution system that rapidly provides energy throughout

The immune system protects us from the constant onslaught of viruses, bacteria and other types of pathogens we encounter throughout life. It also remembers past infections so it can fight them off more easily the next time we encounter them. But the immune system can sometimes misbehave. It can start attacking its own proteins, rather than the infection, causing autoimmunity. Or, it can effectively respond to one variant of a virus, but then is unable

While there are a lot of products out there calling themselves “water,” when it comes to staying hydrated this summer, all you really need is pure and simple H2O. When you’re exercising outdoors in warm weather or hitting the beach, drinking water is essential to looking good and feeling great. It also boosts your immune system, supports weight loss, curbs sugar intake and helps you sleep better. It’s clear water is amazingly good for you,

It was a long day at the office, but here you are with a blanket on your legs and a kitty at your feet. Your bra is off, and your favorite show is on. This. Is. Heaven. Or it would be if a certain someone who you love dearly/cohabitate with would stop messing up everything. Ugh. They should really know by now how serious you are about relaxing. Alas, time after time, they interrupt your programming

Credit: Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis The greatest risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease is advancing age. After 65, the risk doubles every five years, and 40 percent or more of people 85 and older are estimated to be living with the devastating condition. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified some of the key changes in the aging brain that lead to the increased risk. The changes

Are you planning on ramping up your exercise regimen this summer? There may not be an app for that—at least not a reliable one. UF Health researchers recently found that only one of 30 popular free fitness apps for iPhones meets the majority of guidelines for physical activity from the American College of Sports Medicine, the world’s largest sports medicine and exercise science organization. The findings were published this month in the Journal of Medical

This file photo shows a hog farmer approaching the million gallon manure pit under the hog barn on his family farm. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green) An Iowa father and son are dead after tangling with a deadly aspect of hog farming: their manure pit. Typically situated below a barn, the manure’s noxious fumes don’t escape easily, and the hydrogen sulfide— along with methane, ammonia, and carbon dioxide— can be a deadly mix. Unfortunately this proved to

Scientists have long worked to understand how crystals grow into complex shapes. Crystals are important in materials from skeletons and shells to soils and semiconductor materials, but much is unknown about how they form. Now, an international group of researchers has shown how nature uses a variety of pathways to grow crystals that go beyond the classical, one-atom-at-a-time route. The findings, published today (Thursday, July 30) in Science, have implications for decades-old questions in science

Highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) has helped millions survive the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Unfortunately, HIV has a built-in survival mechanism, creating reservoirs of latent, inactive virus that are invisible to both HAART and the immune system. But now, researchers at UC Davis have identified a compound that activates latent HIV, offering the tantalizing possibility that the virus can be flushed out of the silent reservoirs and fully cured. Even better, the compound (PEP005) is

On the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a three-part Series published in The Lancet looks at the enduring radiological and psychological impact of nuclear disasters, including the most recent accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan in 2011. The Series provides vital information for the public health planning of future disasters to protect the millions of people who live in areas surrounding the 437 nuclear power plants