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

Acidification and warming threaten Mediterranean Sea iconic species

2014-06-12
(Press-News.org) This is of particular importance to the Mediterranean coastal societies with 300 million inhabitants (living and visiting), unique ecosystems, love of seafood and its role as a focus for tourist worldwide. Research professor Patrizia Ziveri, from Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the UAB and the coordinator of the project says "We knew next to nothing about the combined effects of warming and acidification in the Mediterranean until this study, now we know that they are a serious double threat to our marine ecosystems." "Iconic Mediterranean ecosystems such as sea grass meadows, the colourful Coralligene reefs and Vermetid snail reefs are threatened and now facing rapid decline through acidification and warming. These are amazing ecosystem building species, creating homes for thousands of species, and also serve to protect shores from erosion, offer a source of food and natural products to society" says Prof Maoz Fine from Bar-Ilan University in Israel. "Subsea volcanic activity spews carbon dioxide into the seawater making the waters more acidic and an amazing natural laboratory, showing how a future Mediterranean Sea may look like. Unfortunately this window into a high CO2 sea shows us that life will become difficult for some species, invasive species may do well, biodiversity will decrease and some species will become extinct" comments Prof Jason Hall-Spencer from University of Plymouth. Research professor. James Orr from Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l`Environnement "It is clear that to save these amazing ecosystems human society worldwide must reduce fossil fuel emissions. It is not just someone else's coasts that will be impacted but all our seas and coasts. We all need to act and there is no time to loose". Over 100 scientists from 12 countries involved in the study have pooled their findings and produce a 10 point summary to warn society, policy- and decision-makers as well as the general public (attached). They have launched this at the final meeting today, at Barcelona. INFORMATION: 1About the MedSeA project Mediterranean Sea Acidification in a changing climate (MedSeA) project is funded by the European Commission under 7th Framework Programme. It involves 22 institutions from 12 countries, led by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). MedSeA focuses on the impacts of its seawater warming and acidification on the important species and ecosystems of the region and how that may impact human society.


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Fungal protein found to cross blood-brain barrier

2014-06-12
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — In a remarkable series of experiments on a fungus that causes cryptococcal meningitis, a deadly infection of the membranes that cover the spinal cord and brain, investigators at UC Davis have isolated a protein that appears to be responsible for the fungus' ability to cross from the bloodstream into the brain. The discovery — published online June 3 in mBio, the open-access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Society for Microbiology — has important implications for developing a more effective treatment for Cryptococcus neoformans, the cause ...

Racism in healthcare linked to poor mental health

2014-06-12
The VicHealth-funded survey, published in the latest edition of the Medical Journal of Australia, could go some way to explaining the reduced quality of healthcare often reported by Indigenous communities.  Led by Associate Professor Margaret Kelaher and researcher Angeline Ferdinand in collaboration with Professor Yin Paradies from Deakin University, the survey examined experiences of racism in health settings alongside other areas including workplaces, education and sport and their impact on mental health among Aboriginal Australians. Of the 755 survey participants, ...

Active particles may enhance phase separation

Active particles may enhance phase separation
2014-06-12
Systems containing self-propelling particles, such as bacteria or artificial colloidal particles, are always out of equilibrium but may show interesting transitions between different states, reminiscent of phase transitions in equilibrium. However, application of analytical and computational methodologies from equilibrium statistical mechanics is questionable to study properties of such active systems. An international team of researchers – including Dr. Peter Virnau and Professor Kurt Binder of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), Benjamin Trefz of the JGU Graduate ...

Immune response affects sleep and memory -- new study

2014-06-12
Fighting off illness- rather than the illness itself- causes sleep deprivation and affects memory, a new study has found. University of Leicester biologist Dr Eamonn Mallon said a common perception is that if you are sick, you sleep more. But the study, carried out in flies, found that sickness induced insomnia is quite common. The research has been published in the journal PeerJ at: http://peerj.com/articles/434 Dr Mallon said: "Think about when you are sick. Your sleep is disturbed and you're generally not feeling at your sharpest. Previously work has been ...

Twelve minutes of exercise improves attention, reading comprehension in low-income adolescents

2014-06-12
HANOVER, N.H. – June 12, 2014 – A new Dartmouth study shows 12 minutes of exercise can improve attention and reading comprehension in low-income adolescents, suggesting that schools serving low-income populations should work brief bouts of exercise into their daily schedules. The study, published as part of the June volume of Frontiers in Psychology, compared low-income adolescents with their high-income peers. While both groups saw improvement in selective visual attention up to 45 minutes after exercising, the low-income group experienced a bigger jump. (Selective visual ...

Potential new treatment may protect celiac patients from gluten-induced injury

2014-06-12
Bethesda, MD (June 12, 2014) — The gluten-specific enzyme ALV003 reduces a patient's exposure to gluten and its potential harm, according to a new phase 2 study appearing in Gastroenterology1, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association. This study is the first to find that a non-dietary intervention can potentially benefit celiac disease patients. Study participants were put on an everyday gluten-free diet, challenged with up to 2 grams of gluten daily (equivalent to approximately one half of a standard slice of bread in the U.S.). Researchers ...

First articles published in new Journal of Medical Imaging

First articles published in new Journal of Medical Imaging
2014-06-12
BELLINGHAM, Washington (USA) — The Journal of Medical Imaging (JMI) has launched, with freely accessible articles on new research on earlier and more accurate diagnosis and monitoring of cancer and other diseases, image quality assessment, 3D imaging, and other topics. Published by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, the quarterly journal is available online in the SPIE Digital Library, with each peer-reviewed article published as it is approved. JMI will also be issued in print. JMI covers fundamental and translational research and applications ...

Climate change winners and losers

2014-06-12
The Antarctic Peninsula, the northern most region of Antarctica, is experiencing some of the most dramatic changes due to climate warming, including population declines of some penguin species. This is not the first time that region has felt the effects of climate warming. How did penguins respond to the melting of snow and ice cover 11,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age? Today, scientists have traced the genetics of modern penguin populations back to their early ancestors from the last Ice Age to better understand how three Antarctic penguin species – gentoo, ...

Rise and fall of prehistoric penguin populations charted

Rise and fall of prehistoric penguin populations charted
2014-06-12
A study of how penguin populations have changed over the last 30,000 years has shown that between the last ice age and up to around 1,000 years ago penguin populations benefitted from climate warming and retreating ice. This suggests that recent declines in penguins may be because ice is now retreating too far or too fast. An international team, led by scientists from the Universities of Southampton and Oxford, has used a genetic technique to estimate when current genetic diversity arose in penguins and to recreate past population sizes. Looking at the 30,000 years before ...

A picture's worth a thousand words

2014-06-12
For nearly 100 years, we have known that type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a disease fundamentally about the progressive loss of insulin-producing beta cells, but measuring that loss has continued to elude researchers—at least until now. In a recent scientific publication, JDRF-funded researchers used a radiotracer or marker and PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scanning as a non-invasive technique to follow changes in how many active beta cells a person has. Dr. Olle Korsgren and his colleagues at the University of Uppsala in Sweden used the technique in a clinical study ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Oil rig study reveals vital role of tiny hoverflies

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia researchers boost widespread use of dental varnish across pediatric network

iRECODE: A new computational method that brings clarity to single-cell analysis

New NUS-MOH study: Singapore’s healthcare sector carbon emissions 18% lower than expected, a milestone in the city-state’s net zero journey

QUT scientists create material to turn waste heat into clean power

Major new report sets out how to tackle the ‘profound and lasting impact’ of COVID-19 on cardiovascular health

Cosmic crime scene: White dwarf found devouring Pluto-like icy world

Major report tackles Covid’s cardiovascular crisis head-on

A third of licensed GPs in England not working in NHS general practice

ChatGPT “thought on the fly” when put through Ancient Greek maths puzzle

Engineers uncover why tiny particles form clusters in turbulent air

GLP-1RA drugs dramatically reduce death and cardiovascular risk in psoriasis patients

Psoriasis linked to increased risk of vision-threatening eye disease, study finds

Reprogramming obesity: New drug from Italian biotech aims to treat the underlying causes of obesity

Type 2 diabetes may accelerate development of multiple chronic diseases, particularly in the early stages, UK Biobank study suggests

Resistance training may improve nerve health, slow aging process, study shows

Common and inexpensive medicine halves the risk of recurrence in patients with colorectal cancer

SwRI-built instruments to monitor, provide advanced warning of space weather events

Breakthrough advances sodium-based battery design

New targeted radiation therapy shows near-complete response in rare sarcoma patients

Does physical frailty contribute to dementia?

Soccer headers and brain health: Study finds changes within folds of the brain

Decoding plants’ language of light

UNC Greensboro study finds ticks carrying Lyme disease moving into western NC

New implant restores blood pressure balance after spinal cord injury

New York City's medical specialist advantage may be an illusion, new NYU Tandon research shows

Could a local anesthetic that doesn’t impair motor function be within reach?

1 in 8 Italian cetacean strandings show evidence of fishery interactions, with bottlenose and striped dolphins most commonly affected, according to analysis across four decades of data and more than 5

In the wild, chimpanzees likely ingest the equivalent of several alcoholic drinks every day

Warming of 2°C intensifies Arctic carbon sink but weakens Alpine sink, study finds

[Press-News.org] Acidification and warming threaten Mediterranean Sea iconic species