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

Frankincense is for life, not just for Christmas

2012-12-10
(Press-News.org) At this time of year it is hard to escape the Three Wise Men, riding their camels across Christmas cards and appearing in minature form in countless school nativity plays across the world, bearing their gifts for the infant Jesus. Whilst we are all familiar with gold (especialliy in this Olympic year), it is the mention of frankincense and myrrh that really says "Christmas" to us and and takes our imaginations back to ancient times. But you might be surprised to learn that these two fragrances are still big business today; for example, Ethiopia alone trades around 4000 tonnes of frankincense every year. This is all the more remarkable because a single tree from which the resin is harvested will typically yield about 200g per year. The main international trade comes from a tree called Boswellia papyrifera, and Ethiopia is the main exporting country.

Frankincense is harvested by wounding the bark of trees and collecting the resin that is subsequently released from the wound, a process known as tapping. Tapping is carried out at several spots along the stem, using a traditional type of tool that resembles a chisel. The procedure is repeated in 8 tapping rounds during the dry season, which lasts about 8 months. But high demand means that many trees are being over-exploited and populations are at risk of dying out, threatening the livelihoods of villagers who depend on them.

But help may be on hand as the results of a new study by botanists from Ethiopia and the Netherlands led by Motuma Tolera, which could secure a future for the trees by revealing the anatomy of the resin secretory system.

Motuma Tolera explains, "In some areas, the high demand for frankincense is causing over-tapping, which is bad for a couple of reasons. Tapping the tree creates wounds in the stem that take resources to be healed, and more wounds create more opportunities for insects to attack the tree. It's not a surprise that some trees die. This is bad for the tree but also for the people living in those areas, since they depend on the resin production, both economically and culturally.

"One of the problems is the lack of knowledge of the type, architecture and distribution of resin producing, storing and transporting structures in the tree. Such knowledge is needed for improved tapping techniques in the future."

The study, published this month in the Annals of Botany, provides this detailed knowledge for the first time.

Motuma Tolera said, "What we found was a 3-D network of inter-connected canals in the inner bark. Most of these canals are within a very narrow region of the inner bark, in a zone that is less than 7 millimeters thick. These allow for the transport of resin around the tree. We also found a few canals connecting deep into the xylem, the heart of the tree."

The findings will have practical applications for the people of Ethiopia and other frankincense producers. Traditional tapping starts with a shallow wound, from which a relatively small amount of resin is released. The wound is then re-opened later with a cut that goes a bit deeper and more resin is collected – a process that is repeated over and over again. The amount of resin collected peaks after about 5 rounds of tapping, which the study suggests is the point at which the wound reaches the main region of resin canals.

Motuma Tolera says, "Our results suggest that tapping can become more efficient. A cut that goes deeper, earlier in the tapping cycle, may drain the resin more effectively. Since the 3-D resin canal network may allow for long distance movement of resin when it is intact, this would be an option to reduce the number of cuts, and reduce the damage to the trees. New studies will be needed to show how such improvements may keep trees healthy but still productive for resin production. This opens new ways for a more sustainable frankincense production system."

"It's nice to discover something new, but here we also have the opportunity to give something back to the people who helped us with the study. I hope everyone in Lemlem Terara, but also elsewhere in Ethiopia, will benefit from what we have found in the future." Tolera says.

The team hope the results mean more Boswellia trees will live to see next Christmas.

### END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Oxytocin produces more engaged fathers and more responsive infants

2012-12-10
Philadelphia, PA, December 10, 2012 – A large body of research has focused on the ability of oxytocin to facilitate social bonding in both marital and parenting relationships in human females. A new laboratory study, led by Dr. Ruth Feldman from Bar-Ilan University in Israel and published in the current issue of Biological Psychiatry, has found that oxytocin administration to fathers increases their parental engagement, with parallel effects observed in their infants. Oxytocin is a neuropeptide that plays an important role in the formation of attachment bonds. Studies ...

Onion soaks up heavy metal

2012-12-10
Onion and garlic waste from the food industry could be used to mop up hazardous heavy metals, including arsenic, cadmium, iron, lead, mercury and tin in contaminated materials, according to a research paper published in the International Journal of Environment and Pollution. Biotechnologists Rahul Negi, Gouri Satpathy, Yogesh Tyagi and Rajinder Gupta of the GGS Indraprastha University in Delhi, India, explain how waste from the processing and canning of onion (Allium cepa L.) and garlic (Allium sativum L.) could be used as an alternative remediation material for removing ...

Ultrasound can now monitor the health of your car engine

2012-12-10
A system that uses ultrasound technology to look inside car engines could lead to more efficient engines – and huge fuel savings for motorists. Ultrasound scans have long been a fundamental tool in healthcare for looking inside the human body, but they have never before been put to use in testing the health of a modern combustion engine. In the University of Sheffield's Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rob Dwyer-Joyce, Professor of Lubrication Engineering, has devised a method of using ultrasound to measure how efficiently an engine's pistons are moving up and ...

To make old skin cells act young again, boost their surroundings, U-M scientists show

2012-12-10
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — As we get older, the trillions of cells in our body do too. And like us, they become less resilient and able to weather the stress of everyday life. Our skin especially tells the tale of what's happening throughout our bodies. But recently, scientists have learned that aging cells bear only part of the blame for this downward spiral. And a new study shows that it might be possible to slow the decline of aging tissue – and even make it act younger -- by focusing on the stuff that surrounds those cells. In an independent study at the University of Michigan ...

Leading experts urge Europe to implement personalized medicine in healthcare

2012-12-10
Strasbourg, France, 10 December, 2012: Dedicated funding and support is required to ensure personalised medicine can be implemented across Europe's healthcare systems, according to a new report issued by the European Science Foundation's (ESF) membership organisation for all medical research councils in Europe, the European Medical Research Councils (EMRC). The report entitled Personalised Medicine for the European Citizen, brought together experts from a wide range of disciplines to identify the most pressing issues affecting the development and implementation of personalised ...

Prospectus addresses most pressing marine science questions

Prospectus addresses most pressing marine science questions
2012-12-10
The most pressing issues that UK marine science needs to address over the next two decades are the subject of a prospectus published as a themed issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A last month. The volume is co-edited and carries contributions by scientists based at the National Oceanography Centre Southampton (NOCS). Human-induced changes in ocean processes are already being observed, and are projected to intensify as demand for the ocean's resources continues to increase. The prospectus, introduced as `A strategy for UK marine science for ...

Just 28 percent of young people in Spain read either online or conventional newspapers each day

Just 28 percent of young people in Spain  read either online or conventional newspapers each day
2012-12-10
A study at the Jaume I University in Castellón has verified the decrease in press consumption among young people between the ages of 16 and 30 years, which now stands at 28.8%. What is more, three out of every four individuals within this age bracket use social networking sites more than the television to get up to date. News consumption habits among young people have changed radically in recent years. Since the beginning of the 21st century, various studies have indicated a decrease in readership of printed newspapers along with a constant fall in young readers. "Just ...

Iron supplements reduce ADHD in low birth weight infants

2012-12-10
In a study published today in Pediatrics, scientists at Umeå University in Sweden conclude that giving iron supplements to low birth weight infants reduces the risk of behavior problems like ADHD later in life. The study, Effects of Iron Supplementation on LBW Infants on Cognition and Behavior at 3 Years, is published in the January 2013 issue, released online Dec. 10, 2012. In the randomized controlled trial, researchers in Sweden gave 285 marginally low birth weight infants either 0, 1 or 2 mg/kg and day of iron supplements from 6 weeks to 6 months of age. At age ...

Palliative care improves outcomes for seniors

2012-12-10
Seniors in long-term care experienced a significant reduction in emergency room visits and depression when receiving palliative care services, according to a recent collaborative study by researchers at Hebrew SeniorLife's Hebrew Rehabilitation Center (HRC) and Institute for Aging Research, both affiliated with Harvard Medical School (HMS). The results of the study, published today in The Gerontologist, demonstrate the potential for improved end-of-life quality of care when palliative services are implemented in a long-term care setting. The researchers analyzed the ...

Tracking gene flow in marine plant evolution

2012-12-10
A new method that could give a deeper insight into evolutional biology by tracing directionality in gene migration has just appeared in EPJ Data Science. Paolo Masucci from the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, at University College of London, UK, and colleagues identified the segregation of genes that a marine plant underwent during its evolution. They found that the exchange of genes, or gene flow, between populations of a marine plant went westward from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. This methodology could also be used to estimate the information flow in complex ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Can Amazon Alexa or Google Home help detect Parkinson’s?

X chromosome switch offers hope for girls with Rett syndrome

Study shows a need for vigilance when observing long COVID symptoms in younger children

Utah engineers develop novel material that efficiently removes ‘forever chemicals’

Study documents unhealthy noise in Portland, provides research framework for other cities

Study lays groundwork for preventing dangerous falls on dry spills

Many high street health tests are unfit-for-purpose and need greater regulation, warn experts

The Lancet Public Health:  Aiming for 7,000 daily steps can reduce risk of chronic diseases, cognitive decline, and death, finds new study

Stopping HRT leads to a period of higher risk of bone fracture for most women

Rethink the 10,000 a day step goal, study suggests

New play in the chemical-reaction playbook uncovered

Fungicides intended to suppress turfgrass diseases may damage fairways

Measuring how – and where – Antarctic ice is cracking with new data tool

Simulating the unthinkable: Models show nuclear winter food production plunge

New research supports Ivermectin as an effective strategy to control malaria transmission

New research reveals scars of Gambia’s witch hunts

McGill scientists develop cleaner, cheaper way to make lithium-ion batteries

Forever chemicals, lasting effects: Prenatal PFAS exposure shapes baby immunity

Colonial-era land-use changes in India led to severe decline in grassland birds, study finds

Use of antiseizure drugs with known or uncertain risks during pregnancy continues

Healthy European peatlands require specific temperature and water level parameters

Matches in online dating illuminated in study of Czech app

Gender disparities in Italian medical academia have persisted or worsened since 2014, with a continued "leaky pipeline" of women not progressing to senior roles

Grand Canyon was a ‘Goldilocks zone’ for the evolution of early animals

This tiny brain network could hold the key to beating cocaine addiction

Dinosaur tracks show first evidence of multispecies herding

Teen smokers and vapers have higher rates of depression and anxiety, study finds

Immunity to seasonal flu protects against severe illness from bird flu in ferrets

Innovative imaging tool could improve diagnosis and treatment of hearing loss

Researchers develop new microscope for neurovascular coupling imaging

[Press-News.org] Frankincense is for life, not just for Christmas