UK research collaboration develops a new bioinformatics pipeline that enables automated primer design for multiple genome species, significantly reducing turnaround time. With a rising global population leading to increased pressure on food resources, it is becoming ever more essential that crop breeding programmes work to enhance the security of global food sources. A key aspect of this is utilising breakthroughs in genomics research to guide the selection of the individuals to incorporate in breeding schemes. It is possible to relate the DNA of a species to its physical ...

The destruction of the Brazilian rainforest has slowed significantly. With around 5000 square kilometers annually, the loss is now about 80% lower than in 2004. Led by the Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn, an international team of researchers has evaluated the effectiveness of forest law enforcement in the Brazilian Amazon. In some federal states of the Brazilian Amazon region enforcement has been more effective than in others. The results are presented in the journal "PLOS ONE". Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest featured in international ...

Could the mundane action of switching on an energy saving light bulb still hold secrets? It does, at least for physicists. These bulbs are interesting because they contain low-temperature plasma - a gas containing charges from ions and electrons. Now, a German team has developed a method that could be used for measuring the increase in the plasma force on the inner side of such a light bulb when the light is switched on. These findings from Thomas Trottenberg and colleagues from Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany, have just been published in EPJ D. They have ...

The research group of the neurofibromatosis of the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), the Institute of Biomedical Research of Bellvitge (IDIBELL) and the Institute of Medicicina Predictive and Personalized Cancer (IMPPC) has developed new mouse models for the study of principal malignant tumor associated with neurofibromatosis type 1. Details of the development and characterization of new animal models have been published in EMBO Molecular Medicine. Neurofibromatosis, a rare and minority The neurofibromatosis are disorders of the nervous system that primarily affect ...

A new study is a rare look into the delicate dynamics of social movement, and shows how people avoid bumping into each other while doing complementary, coordinated tasks such as dancing. The research reveals that people fall into a specific pattern to avoid a collision. The study led by Michael J. Richardson, a University of Cincinnati associate professor of psychology, is published in the highly ranked Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, a journal of the American Psychological Association. The study involved 12 pairs of two participants ...

The exchange of words, speaking and listening in conversation, may seem unremarkable for most people, but communicating with others is a challenge for people who have aphasia, an impairment of language that often happens after stroke or other brain injury. Aphasia affects about 1 in 250 people, making it more common than Parkinson's Disease or cerebral palsy, and can make it difficult to return to work and to maintain social relationships. A new study published in the journal Nature Communications provides a detailed brain map of language impairments in aphasia following ...

Three or more hours of walking per week can boost the vitality and health of prostate cancer survivors. Men and women who have survived colorectal cancer and are regular walkers as well report lower sensations of burning, numbness, tingling or loss of reflexes that many often experience post-treatment. These are among the findings of two studies published in Springer's Journal of Cancer Survivorship that highlight the benefits of exercise for cancer survivors. In the first, a group of American researchers led by Siobhan Phillips of Northwestern University weighed up the ...

One of the immune system's most critical challenges is to differentiate between itself and foreign invaders -- and the number of recognized autoimmune diseases, in which the body attacks itself, is on the rise. But humans are not the only organisms contending with "friendly fire." Even single-celled bacteria attack their own DNA. What protects these bacteria, permitting them to survive the attacks? A new study published in Nature by a team of researchers at Tel Aviv University and the Weizmann Institute of Science now reveals the precise mechanism that bacteria's defense ...

(PHILADELPHIA) - As cesarean section rates continue to climb in the United States, researchers are looking to understand the factors that might contribute. There has been debate in the field about whether non-medically required induction of labor leads to a greater likelihood of C-section, with some studies showing an association and others demonstrating that inductions at full term can actually protect both the mothers and babies. In order to tease apart the evidence, a new analysis pooled the results from five randomized controlled trials including 844 women, and found ...

Berkeley - A new study quantifying the amount of carbon stored and released through California forests and wildlands finds that wildfires and deforestation are contributing more than expected to the state's greenhouse gas emissions. The findings, published online today (Wednesday, April 15), in the journal Forest Ecology and Management, came from a collaborative project led by the National Park Service and the University of California, Berkeley. The results could have implications for California's efforts to meet goals mandated by the state Global Warming Solutions Act, ...

Researchers at the Angiocardioneurology Department of the Neuromed Scientific Institute for Research, Hospitalisation and Health Care of Pozzilli (Italy), have found, in animal models, that the absence of a certain enzyme causes a syndrome resembling the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The study, published in the international journal EMBO Molecular Medicine, paves the way for a greater understanding of this childhood and adolescent disease, aiming at innovative therapeutic approaches. Described for the first time in 1845, but came to the fore only in ...

HEIDELBERG, 15 April 2015 - A genetic investigation of individuals in the Framingham Heart Study may prove useful to identify novel targets for the prevention or treatment of high blood pressure. The study, which takes a close look at networks of blood pressure-related genes, is published in the journal Molecular Systems Biology. More than one billion people worldwide suffer from high blood pressure and this contributes significantly to deaths from cardiovascular disease. It is hoped that advances in understanding the genetic basis of how blood pressure is regulated ...

Philadelphia, PA, April 16, 2015 - About 15% of patients with Lyme disease develop peripheral and central nervous system involvement, often accompanied by debilitating and painful symptoms. New research indicates that inflammation plays a causal role in the array of neurologic changes associated with Lyme disease, according to a study published in The American Journal of Pathology. The investigators at the Tulane National Primate Research Center and Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center also showed that the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone prevents many ...

New York, NY--While a large number of women quit or reduce smoking upon pregnancy recognition, many resume smoking postpartum. Previous research has estimated that approximately 70% of women who quit smoking during pregnancy relapse within the first year after childbirth, and of those who relapse, 67% resume smoking by three months, and up to 90% by six months. A new study out in the Nicotine & Tobacco Research indicates the only significant predictor in change in smoking behaviors for women who smoked during pregnancy was in those who breastfed their infant, finding ...

Children who are taught about preventing sexual abuse at school are more likely than others to tell an adult if they had, or were actually experiencing sexual abuse. This is according to the results of a new Cochrane review published in the Cochrane Library today. However, the review's authors say that more research is needed to establish whether school-based programmes intended to prevent sexual abuse actually reduce the incidence of abuse. It is estimated that, worldwide, at least 1 in 10 girls and 1 in 20 boys experience some form of sexual abuse in childhood. Those ...

Older adults with complex medical needs are occupying an increasing number of beds in acute care hospitals, and these patients are commonly cared for by hospitalists with limited formal geriatrics training. These clinicians are also hindered by a lack of research that addresses the needs of the older adult population. A new paper published today in the Journal of Hospital Medicine outlines a research agenda to address these issues. To help support hospitalists in providing acute inpatient geriatric care, the Society of Hospital Medicine has developed a research agenda ...

CHICAGO --- Walking at an easy pace for about three hours every week may be just enough physical activity to help prostate cancer survivors reduce damaging side effects of their treatment, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study. "Non-vigorous walking for three hours per week seems to improve the fatigue, depression and body weight issues that affect many men post-treatment," said Siobhan Phillips, lead author of the study. "If you walk even more briskly, for only 90 minutes a week, you could also see similar benefits in these areas." Phillips is a kinesiologist ...

Philadelphia, PA, April 16, 2015 - With the advent of targeted lymphoma therapies on the horizon, it becomes increasingly important to differentiate the two major subtypes of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), which is the most common non-Hodgkin lymphoma. These are germinal center B-cell-like (GCB) and activated B-cell-like (ABC), which differ in management and outcomes. A report in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics describes use of the reverse transcriptase?multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (RT-MLPA) assay for differentiating DLBCL subtypes. RT-MLPA ...

Humans may be able to communicate positive emotions like happiness through the smell of our sweat, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The research indicates that we produce chemical compounds, or chemosignals, when we experience happiness that are detectable by others who smell our sweat. While previous research has shown that negative emotions related to fear and disgust are communicated via detectable regularities in the chemical composition of sweat, few studies have examined whether ...

Teachers are likely to interpret students' misbehavior differently depending on the student's race, according to new research findings published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Racial differences in school discipline are widely known, and black students across the United States are more than three times as likely as their white peers to be suspended or expelled, according to Stanford researchers. Yet the psychological processes that contribute to those differences have not been clear -- until now. "The fact that black ...

Vanderbilt University researchers have found a genetic mutation that causes pulmonary hypertension in cattle grazed at high altitude, and which leads to a life-threatening condition called brisket disease. Their findings, reported today in Nature Communications, may shed light on human lung disease, in particular, the mechanism behind non-familial pulmonary hypertension in patients with conditions such as emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis. "A genetic variant in cattle might tell us why some humans get into trouble at sea level and at altitude," said first author John ...

A new randomized clinical trial with Dartmouth investigators Kathleen Lyons, ScD, Tor Tosteson, ScD, Zhigang Li, PhD, and collaborators has noted significant improvement in several measures among those who began palliative care early. Their findings are described in, "Early Versus Delayed Initiation of Concurrent Palliative Care Oncology: Patient Outcomes in the ENABLE III Randomized Controlled Trial," published recently in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. "Survivorship and quality of life are of great interest in clinical cancer research, but can be difficult to evaluate ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical that is used in a variety of consumer products, such as food storage products and resins that line plastic food and beverage containers. Often, aquatic environments such as rivers and streams become reservoirs for BPA, and fish and turtle habitats are affected. Now, a collaboration of researchers from the University of Missouri, Westminster College, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Saint Louis Zoo have determined that BPA--which mimics estrogen--can alter a turtle's reproductive system and disrupts sexual differentiation. ...

Fairfax, Va., April 15, 2015 - The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) applauds the House of Representatives, the Senate and the President for milestone passage last night of the "Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act" (H.R. 2) that permanently repeals the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula, which has plagued the nation's health care infrastructure for more than a decade. The SGR, originally enacted as part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, has been patched 17 times in the years since then, and a 21.2 percent rate reduction for all physicians ...

It may be game over for critics who claim that video games are nothing more than a fun diversion. A team of researchers suggests that many games can be meaningful entertainment experiences for players. In a study of people's experiences with video games, players indicated that they not only enjoyed playing games, but that they also frequently appreciated them at a deeper, more meaningful level. These findings should be encouraging to video game developers who want to invest in producing games that examine more meaningful, poignant or contemplative topics. "Video games ...