(Press-News.org) According to the Australian Government Bureau of Meterology, "In the warm, dry and sunny winter and spring, when grasses are dead and fuels have dried, northern Australia becomes most susceptible to bushfires. Intense high-pressure systems over South Australia producing strong southeast to northeast winds increase the risk of bushfires."
Since Australia is heading into their winter as the northern climates head into summer, the north of Western Australia is ripe for bushfires. Many have already begun as evidenced from this satellite pass by NASA's Aqua satellite which acquired this image with the Moderatete Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard it. Actively burning areas, detected by MODIS's thermal bands, are outlined in red.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption: NASA/Goddard, Lynn Jenner
INFORMATION:
Bushfires in north of Western Australia
2013-06-17
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Adolescents' high-fat diet impairs memory and learning
2013-06-17
SAN FRANCISCO-- A high-fat diet in adolescence appears to have long-lasting effects on learning and memory during adulthood, a new study in mice finds. The results were presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
Adolescent mice fed a normal-calorie but high-fat diet became moderately obese but not diabetic, and they displayed significantly impaired spatial memory, according to the study authors, from CEU-San Pablo University (Universidad CEU-San Pablo) in Madrid. Spatial memory allows recording of information needed to navigate ...
Impaired heart function among obese children may help predict later disease
2013-06-17
SAN FRANCISCO-- Impaired heart function among obese children and adolescents may be an indicator of future heart disease, a new clinical trial finds. The results were presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
Obesity rates in developed countries worldwide are climbing among all age groups, including children. In the United States today, one-third of children are overweight or obese, which raises concerns about the effects of early weight gain on future health.
Previous research showed that obesity in childhood can cause a type ...
Weight loss drug added to diet and exercise improves blood sugar control
2013-06-17
SAN FRANCISCO-- The new weight loss drug lorcaserin (Belviq) appears to improve blood sugar control in nondiabetic, overweight individuals, independent of the amount of weight they lose, a new study finds. The results will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
Lorcaserin activates a serotonin receptor (5HT2C) in the brain believed to decrease appetite and promote a sense of fullness, thus encouraging decreased food consumption, said the study's principal investigator, Louis Aronne, MD, professor of clinical medicine at ...
Source of tumor growth in aggressive prostate cancer found
2013-06-17
SAN FRANCISCO-Researchers have discovered a molecular switch that explains, at least in part, how some fast-growing prostate cancers become resistant to hormone treatment, a new study conducted in human cell cultures and mice finds. The results were presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
A factor not normally found in the prostate, called Steroidogenic Factor 1, stimulates production of new steroid hormones and increases cell multiplication to fuel growth of the tumor, researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, found.
"This ...
Excessive salt consumption appears to be bad for your bones
2013-06-17
SAN FRANCISCO-- A high-salt diet raises a woman's risk of breaking a bone after menopause, no matter what her bone density is, according to a new study that will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
The Japanese study found that older women who consumed the highest amount of sodium had more than four times the risk of a nonvertebral fracture, or fracture at any site other than the spine. That finding held true even after the researchers made adjustments for many other characteristics that could affect fracture risk, said ...
Whole body vibration therapy increases bone strength
2013-06-17
SAN FRANCISCO-- A treatment known as whole body vibration therapy significantly increases bone strength among adolescents with cerebral palsy, a new clinical trial from New Zealand shows. The results were presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
Cerebral palsy affects more than half a million people in the United States. Caused by brain damage around the time of birth, the disorder affects muscle tone and movement, which can severely decrease the quality of life by making walking and other daily activities difficult. As movement ...
Osteoporosis drug may help treat advanced hormone-sensitive breast cancer
2013-06-17
A new osteoporosis drug hinders the growth of estrogen-sensitive cancer that has become resistant to treatment with tamoxifen, a study in mice shows. The results will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
The medication, bazedoxifene, which is approved in Europe under the brand name Conbriza for the treatment and prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis, also reduced estrogen activity and estrogen receptor levels in cultured human breast cancer cells, the study authors reported.
"Bazedoxifene, a known, safe drug approved ...
'Gene signature' test diagnoses benign thyroid growths
2013-06-17
A new genetic test accurately and consistently diagnoses benign growths, or nodules, on the thyroid gland, according to a study from Chile. The results will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
"We have developed a 'gene signature' that effectively identifies benign thyroid nodules," said Hernan Gonzalez, MD, PhD, associate professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in Santiago. "This test is potentially useful to identify patients who do not require surgery."
The thyroid gland, located in the front of ...
Steroid hormone may be indicator of infant distress
2013-06-17
During labor and delivery, infants preferentially secrete a different stress hormone than their mothers do, according to a new clinical study. The results will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco and published in the open access journal, PLoS One.
A primary component of good pregnancy care is the ability to quickly recognize and respond to fetal distress. Since the stress hormone cortisol is found in much higher concentrations than the hormone corticosterone, it has received greater attention as an indicator of stress ...
Dietary supplement linked to increased muscle mass in the elderly
2013-06-17
SAN FRANCISCO-- A supplemental beverage used to treat muscle-wasting may help boost muscle mass among the elderly, according to a new study. The results were presented today at The Endocrine Society's 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
The supplemental beverage, called Juven®, contains three amino acids, including arginine. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, and are required for cell growth and repair. The amino acid arginine is especially important because it increases growth-hormone production, which causes the body to produce a critical protein called ...