PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Surviving fasting in the cold

2013-07-03
(Press-News.org) King penguin chicks survive harsh winters with almost no food by minimising the cost of energy production. A new study, to be presented at the Society for Experimental Biology meeting in Valencia on the 3rd July, shows that the efficiency of the mitochondria, the power house of the cell, is increased in fasted king penguin chicks.

King penguin chicks are socially and morphologically well adapted to harsh environmental conditions, however, they experience a severe energy challenge during the cold sub-Antarctic winter, when food is not readily available. Research headed by Pierre-Axel Monternier and Prof Damien Roussel at the Ecology of Natural and Man-impacted Hydrosystems laboratory in France looked, for the first time, at how the king penguin chicks' mitochondria in skeletal muscle, the main heat producing tissue in birds, function during fasting in the winter.

Pierre-Axel Monternier said: "We found that the efficiency of mitochondrial functioning increased in fasted winter-acclimatized king penguin chicks. This indicates that less substrate/oxygen was consumed to produce the same amount of energy in the form of ATP, showing that mitochondria from fasted chicks adjust its functioning to minimize the cost of energy production."

This study shows how king penguins are able to produce heat to survive the cold without depleting their energy stores, an essential mechanism to survive the cold when food is scarce. Their biological adjustments increase survival of chicks, which, among birds, have an unrivalled fasting endurance (up to 5 months).

Fasting in the cold represents a bioenergetics trade-off between sparing energy for body maintenance and dissipating energy for heat production and endothermy maintenance. In this challenging context, chicks develop a whole range of energy sparing mechanisms (social huddling behaviour, reduction in muscle activity and basal metabolic rate, short period of hypothermia and high thermal insulation) that lead to reduce the energy allocated to heat production and growth.



INFORMATION:



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

New test spots more lung clots but seems to result in overdiagnosis

2013-07-03
The introduction of CT pulmonary angiography has been associated with an 80% rise in the detection of pulmonary emboli in the US, but with little change in death rates. Professor Renda Soylemez Wiener and colleagues argue this is evidence of overdiagnosis. They say some patients are helped, but many are harmed by the adverse effects of unnecessary treatment. This article is the first of a series looking at the risks and harms of overdiagnosis in a range of common conditions. The series, together with the Preventing Overdiagnosis conference in September, are part of ...

Fluorescent fingerprint tag aims to increase IDs from 'hidden' prints on bullets and knives

2013-07-03
Wednesday 28th June 2013, Durham: A new way of detecting and visualizing fingerprints from crime scenes using colour-changing fluorescent films could lead to higher confidence identifications from latent (hidden) fingerprints on knives, guns, bullet casings and other metal surfaces. The technique is the result of a collaboration between the University of Leicester, the Institut Laue-Langevin and the STFC's ISIS pulsed neutron and muon source, and will be presented today at the Royal Society of Chemistry's Faraday Discussion in Durham. When your finger touches a surface, ...

Women worldwide know less about politics than men

2013-07-03
Women living in the world's most advanced democracies and under the most progressive gender equality regimes still know less about politics than men. Indeed, an unmistakable gender gap in political knowledge seems to be a global phenomenon, according to a ten-nation study of media systems and national political knowledge funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Women know less about politics than men regardless of how advanced a country is in terms of gender equality, says researcher Professor James Curran, Director of the Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media ...

A good night's sleep increases the cardiovascular benefits of a healthy lifestyle

2013-07-03
A good night's sleep can increase the benefit of exercise, healthy diet, moderate alcohol consumption and non-smoking in their protection against cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to results of a large population follow-up study.(1) Results showed that the combination of the four traditional healthy lifestyle habits was associated with a 57% lower risk of cardiovascular disease (fatal and non-fatal) and a 67% lower risk of fatal events.(2) But, when "sufficient sleep" (defined as seven or more hours a night) was added to the other four lifestyle factors, the overall ...

Workers at industrial farms carry drug-resistant bacteria associated with livestock

2013-07-03
A new study found drug-resistant bacteria associated with livestock in the noses of industrial livestock workers in North Carolina but not in the noses of antibiotic-free livestock workers. The drug-resistant bacteria examined were Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as "Staph," which include the well-known bug MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). New Staph strains are emerging in people who have close contact with livestock animals and for this reason have been given the name livestock-associated Staph. While everyone in the study had direct or indirect ...

Brain sets prices with emotional value

2013-07-03
DURHAM, N.C. -- You might be falling in love with that new car, but you probably wouldn't pay as much for it if you could resist the feeling. Researchers at Duke University who study how the brain values things -- a field called neuroeconomics -- have found that your feelings about something and the value you put on it are calculated similarly in a specific area of the brain. The region is small area right between the eyes at the front of the brain. It's called the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, or vmPFC for short. Scott Huettel, director of Duke's Center for Interdisciplinary ...

IVF for male infertility linked to increased risk of intellectual disability and autism in children

2013-07-03
In the first study to compare all available IVF treatments and the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in children, researchers find that IVF treatments for the most severe forms of male infertility are associated with an increased risk of intellectual disability and autism in children. Autism and intellectual disability remain a rare outcome of IVF, and whilst some of the risk is associated with the risk of multiple births, the study provides important evidence for parents and clinicians on the relative risks of modern IVF treatments. Published in JAMA today, the ...

Bat maps: The conservation crusade

2013-07-03
Conservation efforts have taken an important step forward, thanks to observations of bats – creatures that make up a quarter of all of the UK's native mammal species. In a paper published today, researchers at the University of Leeds describe how they recorded the echolocation calls of more than 15,000 bats during 120 walks in the Lake District to create maps that show the suitability of areas for bat habitation. They are the most detailed large-scale habitat suitability maps ever created for bats in the UK, with a resolution of 50 metres. The impact of the maps will ...

How cancer spreads: Metastatic tumor a hybrid of cancer cell and white blood cell

2013-07-03
Yale Cancer Center scientists, together with colleagues at the Denver Police Crime Lab and the University of Colorado, have found evidence that a human metastatic tumor can arise when a leukocyte (white blood cell) and a cancer cell fuse to form a genetic hybrid. Their study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, may answer the question of how cancer cells travel from the primary tumor's site of origin to distant organs and tissues of the body — the deadly process of metastasis. Such a theory was first proposed as an explanation for metastasis more than a century ago. But ...

Vaginal delivery ups risk of pelvic organ prolapse

2013-07-03
Women who give birth vaginally are at increased risk of developing pelvic organ prolapse during the year after delivery, according to a study of Chinese women by researchers at Yale School of Medicine and Wenzhou Third People's Hospital. Published online July 1 in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, the results show that factors unique to labor and delivery made the pelvic floor relax and not recover its former support during the year after birth. These factors were not present in women who delivered via cesarean section (c-section). "The choice between ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

AI can spot which patients need treatment to prevent vision loss in young adults

Half of people stop taking popular weight-loss drug within a year, national study finds

Links between diabetes and depression are similar across Europe, study of over-50s in 18 countries finds

Smoking increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, regardless of its characteristics

Scientists trace origins of now extinct plant population from volcanically active Nishinoshima

AI algorithm based on routine mammogram + age can predict women’s major cardiovascular disease risk

New hurdle seen to prostate screening: primary-care docs

MSU researchers explore how virtual sports aid mental health

Working together, cells extend their senses

Cheese fungi help unlock secrets of evolution

Researchers find brain region that fuels compulsive drinking

Mental health effects of exposure to firearm violence persist long after direct exposure

Research identifies immune response that controls Oropouche infection and prevents neurological damage

University of Cincinnati, Kent State University awarded $3M by NSF to share research resources

Ancient DNA reveals deeply complex Mastodon family and repeated migrations driven by climate change

Measuring the quantum W state

Researchers find a way to use antibodies to direct T cells to kill Cytomegalovirus-infected cells

Engineers create mini microscope for real-time brain imaging

Funding for training and research in biological complexity

The Journal of Nuclear Medicine Ahead-of-Print Tip Sheet: September 12, 2025

ISSCR statement on the scientific and therapeutic value of human fetal tissue research

Novel PET tracer detects synaptic changes in spinal cord and brain after spinal cord injury

Wiley advances Knowitall Solutions with new trendfinder application for user-friendly chemometric analysis and additional enhancements to analytical workflows

Benchmark study tracks trends in dog behavior

OpenAI, DeepSeek, and Google vary widely in identifying hate speech

Research spotlight: Study identifies a surprising new treatment target for chronic limb threatening ischemia

Childhood loneliness and cognitive decline and dementia risk in middle-aged and older adults

Parental diseases of despair and suicidal events in their children

Acupuncture for chronic low back pain in older adults

Acupuncture treatment improves disabling effects of chronic low back pain in older adults

[Press-News.org] Surviving fasting in the cold