INFORMATION:
Preference for gravid females makes rare iguana consumption unsustainable
2014-12-02
(Press-News.org) The Valle de Aguán spiny-tailed iguana is a critically endangered species found in Honduras. A recent survey of people living in the region shows that, although residents are aware of the endangered status of the species, the iguana continues to be hunted for food. Of particular concern is the preference for the consumption of female iguanas that are gravid (carrying eggs in their body).
"In this study we worked to gain a better understanding of how humans are harvesting the species for food," said Stesha Pasachnik, Ph.D., a lead researcher on the study and a postdoctoral research associate for the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. "The information we gained indicates a use that is not only not sustainable but is likely to accelerate this species' extinction due to the loss of gravid females."
Published in the December issue of Herpetological Conservation and Biology, the study gained firsthand information regarding the hunting, harvesting and consumption of the species. Although the study, supported by the Bay Islands Foundation and San Diego Zoo Global, highlights an area of serious concern, it also recommends work to educate residents about the species and ways that harvesting can be made more sustainable.
Bringing species back from the brink of extinction is the mission of San Diego Zoo Global. As a leader in conservation, the work of San Diego Zoo Global includes onsite wildlife conservation efforts (representing both plants and animals) at the San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, as well as international field programs on six continents. The important conservation and science work of these entities is made possible by the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Conservancy and is supported in part by the Foundation of the Zoological Society of San Diego.
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TSRI scientists create new tool for exploring cells in 3-D
2014-12-02
LA JOLLA, CA - December 1, 2014 - Researchers can now explore viruses, bacteria and components of the human body in more detail than ever before with software developed at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI).
In a study published December 1 in the journal Nature Methods, the researchers demonstrated how the software, called cellPACK, can be used to model viruses such as HIV.
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Putting cellPACK ...
Why don't more minority students seek STEM careers? Ask them
2014-12-02
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- If decades of effort to bring more underrepresented minority students into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields were considered a grand chemistry experiment, then the modest results would suggest that while the formula may not be wrong, it may well be incomplete, according to a new article in the journal CBE-Life Sciences Education.
"I don't necessarily want to say that we've been doing it wrong all along, it's just that there are other ideas we can bring in," said lead author Andrew G.Campbell, a Brown ...
Kessler Foundation researchers explore impact of traumatic brain injury on long-term memory
2014-12-02
West Orange, NJ. December 1, 2014. Kessler Foundation researchers have authored a new article that provides insight into the variable impact of traumatic brain injury (TBI) on long-term memory. The article, "Working memory capacity links cognitive reserve with long-term memory in moderate to severe TBI: a translational approach," was epublished ahead of print on October 7 in the Journal of Neurology (10.1007/s00415-014-7523-4). The authors are Joshua Sandry, PhD, John DeLuca, PhD, and Nancy Chiaravalloti, PhD, of Kessler Foundation. This study was supported by grants ...
Lung cancer risk model refines decisions to screen
2014-12-02
A new method for determining lung cancer risk could more efficiently identify individuals for annual screening and catch more cancers early, according to a study published in this week's PLOS Medicine. The study, conducted by Martin Tammemägi of Brock University, Canada, and colleagues, evaluates a lung cancer risk prediction model and identifies a risk threshold for selecting individuals for annual lung cancer screening.
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Brain representations of social thoughts accurately predict autism diagnosis
2014-12-02
PITTSBURGH--Psychiatric disorders -- including autism -- are characterized and diagnosed based on a clinical assessment of verbal and physical behavior. However, brain imaging and cognitive neuroscience are poised to provide a powerful advanced new tool.
Carnegie Mellon University researchers have created brain-reading techniques to use neural representations of social thoughts to predict autism diagnoses with 97 percent accuracy. This establishes the first biologically based diagnostic tool that measures a person's thoughts to detect the disorder that affects many children ...
People putting their lives at risk by dismissing cancer symptoms
2014-12-02
People could be putting their lives at risk by dismissing potential warning signs of cancer as less serious symptoms, according to a Cancer Research UK-funded study* published in PLOS ONE today (Tuesday).
More than half (53 per cent) of 1,700** people who completed a health questionnaire said they had experienced at least one red-flag cancer 'alarm' symptom during the previous three months***. But only two per cent of them thought that cancer was a possible cause.
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New study: 55 percent of carbon in Amazonian indigenous territories and protected lands may be at risk
2014-12-02
LIMA--(2 December 2014) A new peer-reviewed study, released today at the start of the UN climate conference in Peru, reveals the unprecedented amount of carbon stored within the nine-nation network of Amazonian indigenous territories and protected natural areas. Accepted for publication in Carbon Management, the paper entitled, "Forest Carbon in Amazonia: The Unrecognized Contributions of Indigenous Territories and Protected Natural Areas," suggests that protecting the vast amount of carbon stored above ground in the forests of indigenous and protected lands - totaling ...
Re-focusing investors' attention away from losses can reduce negative emotional response
2014-12-02
COLUMBIA, Mo. - According to a recent report from the Federal Reserve Board, 31 percent of Americans surveyed said they had no retirement savings, and almost half were not actively thinking about planning for retirement. Studies show that many Americans do not invest because they distrust the market and fear financial losses. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has found a way for financial planners to help decrease their clients' worries, which stem from the fear of losing money.
Michael Guillemette, an assistant professor in the MU College of Human Environmental ...
Fear and caring are what's at the core of divisive wolf debate
2014-12-02
EAST LANSING, Mich. - To hunt or not hunt wolves can't be quantified as simply as men vs. women, hunters vs. anti-hunters, Democrats vs. Republicans or city vs. rural.
What's truly fueling the divisive debate is fear of wolves or the urge to care for canis lupis. The social dynamics at play and potential options for establishing common ground between sides can be found in the current issue of the journal PLOS ONE.
"People who are for or against this issue are often cast into traditional lots, such as gender, political party or where they live," said Meredith Gore, associate ...
A novel technique for gene insertion by genome editing
2014-12-02
Using a novel gene knock-in technique, effective insertion of an exogenous gene was demonstrated in human cells and in animal models, including silkworms and frogs. This strategy universally enables gene knock-in not only in cultured cells, but also in various organisms.
Genome editing using programmable nucleases enables homologous recombination (HR)-mediated gene knock-in. HR activity, however, is relatively low in most cultured cells and organisms. This problem presents technical hurdles for the application of HR-mediated knock-in technology in the field of life sciences. ...