Society has been discussing climate change's impacts long before we knew it existed
2015-07-09
(Press-News.org) For the first time, a new analysis shows an impact of climate change on human society long before we knew the climate was actually changing.
Exploring Google's scanned book collection, the analysis finds that society in general increasingly discussed some of the predicted effects of climate change--such as heat waves, drought, and flooding--long before current global weather alterations were widely known about.
The authors note that while the science of climate change and climate action has come under sustained political attack, buttressing the physical record with social evidence presents a useful counterargument.
"Though climate change came to global attention in the late 1980s, this analysis suggests we were responding to it far earlier," said Dr. Will Grant, lead author of the Weather study. "In fact, in this very precise area we humans are perhaps more responsive to climate change than even traditional physical indicators of climate change like tree ring measurements."
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2015-07-09
A related package of articles published online by JAMA Oncology focuses on end-of-life care for teens and young adults and advance care planning for patients with cancer. The package of articles includes two original investigations, an invited commentary, an editorial, an accompanying editor's note and an author audio interview.
End-of-Life Care for Teens, Young Adults with Cancer
In the first study, corresponding author Jennifer W. Mack, M.D., M.P.H., of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and her coauthors looked at the intensity of end-of-life care for teens ...
2015-07-09
In a review of nearly 2,000 surveys with people whose loved ones died of cancer, researchers led by Johns Hopkins experts say they found a 40 percent increase over a 12-year period in the number of patients with cancer who participated in one form of advance care planning -- designating durable power of attorney privileges to a loved one -- but no corresponding impact on their rates of aggressive medical care received in the last weeks of life.
In addition, the investigators say that despite the substantial increase in patients who designated a durable power of attorney, ...
2015-07-09
Adenoviruses cause numerous diseases, such as eye or respiratory infections, and they are widely used in gene therapy. Researchers from the University of Zurich have now discovered how these viruses penetrate the cells, a key step for infection and gene delivery The cell unwillingly supports virus entry and infection by providing lipids that are normally used to repair damaged membranes.
An intact cell membrane is essential for any cell to function. The external cell membrane can be damaged by mechanical stress, for example in muscle cells, or by pathogens, such as ...
2015-07-09
(Philadelphia, PA) - The buildup of fat in the blood makes a bad situation worse - it not only raises a person's risk for heart attack or stroke but also impairs the growth of new blood vessels. How excess fat in the blood - a condition known as hyperlipidemia - blocks vessel growth was unclear, but new work by researchers at Temple University School of Medicine (TUSM) shows that a molecule known as caspase-1 plays a central role and that preventing its activity could be the key to building new blood vessels and restoring blood supply to oxygen-starved tissues.
"Caspase-1 ...
2015-07-09
NOAA and its research partners, using an ensemble modeling approach, predict that the 2015 western Lake Erie harmful algal bloom season will be among the most severe in recent years and could become the second most severe behind the record-setting 2011 bloom.
The effects of the cyanobacterial blooms include a higher cost for cities and local governments to treat their drinking water, as well as risk to swimmers in high concentration areas, and a nuisance to boaters when blooms form. These effects will vary in locations and severity with winds, and will peak in September.
The ...
2015-07-09
A group of preschoolers were given one shot to beat the world's fastest builder of block towers.
Unbeknownst to the children, it had already been decided who would capture the victory and who would see it slip away.
The losers shook it off without it ruining their mood.
The winners - even the two-year-olds - showed some obvious swagger: heads held high, chests puffed out, hands on hips in a victorious power pose.
But here's the thing - children show emotions much younger than they understand them. That's why the psychologists who staged the contest asked the ...
2015-07-09
Research with human tissue and cells suggests that genetic variations, in addition to failure to comply with treatment regimens, may account for some failures of an anti-HIV drug to treat and prevent HIV infection.
In a report described online today in the journal EBioMedicine, investigators at Johns Hopkins found that tenofovir, marketed as Viread, is processed differently according to cell location, so that if the drug is eventually marketed as a topical gel, it could work differently depending on whether it is applied to the vagina or the rectum.
Tenofovir has been ...
2015-07-09
This news release is available in French. Montreal, July 9, 2015 -- Death rates due to health problems like obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease are on the rise. According to the World Health Organization, that's due to our increasingly sedentary lifestyles.
Clearly, it's important to lead more active lives. Something as simple as taking the stairs can make a big difference. But can pedestrians be convinced to make healthy choices when an escalator seems so much faster and more convenient than a staircase?
Yes, say researchers from Concordia ...
2015-07-09
Around 85% of the matter in the Universe is dark [1], and of a type not understood by physicists. Although it doesn't shine or absorb light, astronomers can detect this dark matter through its effect on stars and galaxies, specifically from its gravitational pull. A major project using ESO's powerful survey telescopes is now showing more clearly than ever before the relationships between this mysterious dark matter and the shining galaxies that we can observe directly [2].
The project, known as the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS - http://kids.strw.leidenuniv.nl/), uses imaging ...
2015-07-09
Childhood high blood pressure (HBP) is a serious public health challenge worldwide due to associated increases in risk of end organ damages and correlation with HBP in adulthood. The prevalence of elevated blood pressure (BP) has been reported to increase significantly among United States children and adolescents from 1988-1994 to 1999-2008, but little is known about recent trends in BP values and elevated BP. The authors of a new study, "Trends in elevated blood pressure among US children and adolescents: 1999-2012," published today by the American Journal of Hypertension, ...
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[Press-News.org] Society has been discussing climate change's impacts long before we knew it existed
