For centuries it has been thought that culture is what distinguishes humans from other animals, but over the past decade this idea has been repeatedly called into question. Cultural variation has been identified in a growing number of species in recent years, ranging from primates to cetaceans. Chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, show the most diverse cultures aside from humans, most notably, in their use of a wide variety of tools. The method traditionally used to establish the presence of culture in wild animals compares behavioural variation across populations ...

In their struggle to survive and prosper, multicellular organisms rely on a complex network of communication between cells, which in humans are believed to number about 40 trillion. Now, in a study published in Nature Communications, a research group led by scientists from the RIKEN Center for Life Science Technologies (CLST) has published an overall map of how the cells in the human body communicate by systematically analyzing the relationship between ligands--substances such as insulin and interferon that embody messages between cells, and receptors--the proteins on cell ...

A new review published in the Cochrane Library, indicates that eradicating Helicobacter pylori bacterium-- the main cause of stomach ulcers - with a short course of therapy comprising two commonly used medicines may help to reduce the risk of gastric cancer. Stomach, or gastric, cancer is the third most common cause of death from cancer worldwide, and people who are infected with the Helicobacter pylori bacterium are more likely to develop the disease. About two-thirds of us have H. pylori in our bodies, but in most cases we experience no discomfort or other symptoms. ...

The US Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, passed in 2009, permits the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to set standards for cigarette nicotine content. The FDA is accordingly supporting research into how very low nicotine content (VLNC) cigarettes might function as a regulatory measure to make cigarettes non-addictive, reduce smoke exposure, and improve public health, even among people who don't want to quit smoking. New research published today in the scientific journal Addiction shows that simply reducing the nicotine content of cigarettes may ...

New research shows that HIV treatment for illicit drug users improves their social and socioeconomic wellbeing as well as their health. While the health benefits of antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV are well documented, less is known about possible secondary benefits. Lindsey Richardson, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of British Columbia and research scientist with the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE), presented findings from two studies July 22 at the International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference in Vancouver. ...

Researchers studying wild banded mongooses in Uganda have discovered that these small mammals have either cooperative or selfish personalities which last for their entire lifetime. The findings of the 15-year study are published today in the journal Animal Behaviour. The researchers investigated the selfish behaviour of mongoose mate-guarding - where dominant males guard particular females - and the cooperative behaviour of 'babysitting' and 'escorting' the young. They found that cooperative mongooses that helped out with offspring care did so consistently over their ...

Regular consumption of sugar sweetened drinks is positively associated with type 2 diabetes independent of obesity status, finds a study published in The BMJ this week. Artificially sweetened drinks and fruit juice also showed a positive association with type 2 diabetes, but the quality of evidence was limited. None the less, the authors warn that neither artificially sweetened drinks nor fruit juice are suitable alternatives to sugar sweetened drinks for the prevention of type 2 diabetes. Artificially sweetened beverages have been seen as possible alternatives to ...

A low birth weight combined with an unhealthy lifestyle in adulthood are jointly related to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, finds a study published in The BMJ this week. The researchers say their findings emphasise the importance of adopting a healthy lifestyle to prevent the majority of type 2 diabetes cases in the population. Diabetes has become a global epidemic, with an estimated 387 million living with diabetes and 4.9 million attributable deaths in 2014. Both unhealthy lifestyles and early life development have been implicated in the rapid rise of type 2 ...

A complex web of interactions between industry, advocacy organisations, and academia may be fuelling enthusiasm for calcium and vitamin D supplements to prevent and treat osteoporosis, despite evidence of lack of benefit, warn doctors in The BMJ this week. Calcium and vitamin D are highly profitable treatments that are widely recommended for osteoporosis, despite increasing evidence contradicting the practice, write Andrew Grey and Mark Bolland from the University of Auckland. Several therapies previously recommended for osteoporosis, such as oestrogen and fluoride, ...

Doctors and medical students in India should stop wearing white coats, argues a doctor in The BMJ this week. Edmond Fernandes, a postgraduate at Yenepoya Medical College in Mangalore, says evidence shows that long sleeved coats spread infection and lead to avoidable harm and cost to patients. Although long sleeved white coats have traditionally been worn by doctors since the 19th century, we now know that white coats "harbour potential contaminants and contribute considerably to the burden of disease acquired in hospital by spreading infection," writes Fernandes. He ...

Boston, MA -- People who are a low weight at birth and have unhealthy habits as adults, such as eating nutritionally poor diets or smoking, may have a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes than people born at an average weight who live similar lifestyles, according to a new study led by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. In the first study to comprehensively assess how early development interacts with adult behavior to influence type 2 diabetes risk, the researchers found that 18% of cases were attributable to the combined effect of low birth ...

MADISON, Wis. - Savoring a beautiful sunset and the positive emotions associated with it can contribute to improved well-being, according to research. But why and how are some people better than others in keeping the feeling alive? "It's important to consider not just how much emotion you experience, but also how long these emotions persist," says Aaron Heller, former graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Investigating Healthy Minds (CIHM) at the Waisman Center and current assistant professor of psychology at the University of Miami. "We're ...

BOSTON - Advances in technology have spurred better outcomes for infants treated in neonatal intensive care units, but parents and physicians need to work together to avoid unnecessary and potentially harmful tests and treatments, according to new Choosing Wisely® recommendations developed by neonatologists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and published online in Pediatrics, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). "Infant mortality has dropped dramatically over the past 50 years, with almost all of the impact resulting from ...

In a survey of a diverse group of almost 250 young, low-income, inner-city pregnant and postpartum women, Johns Hopkins researchers have learned that more than 90 percent use smartphones or regular cellphones to give and get information. In a report on the survey, published online in July in the Journal of Internet Medicine Research, the research team says the findings strongly confirm the potential of the devices as a desireable means of improving the health of those at risk for diabetes and other diseases during their childbearing years. Cellphones stand out by far ...

Compared to its celestial neighbours Venus and Mars, Earth is a pretty habitable place. So how did we get so lucky? A new study sheds light on the improbable evolutionary path that enabled Earth to sustain life. The research, published this week in Nature Geoscience, suggests that Earth's first crust, which was rich in radioactive heat-producing elements such as uranium and potassium, was torn from the planet and lost to space when asteroids bombarded the planet early in its history. This phenomenon, known as impact erosion, helps explain a landmark discovery made ...

Philadelphia, PA, July 21, 2015 - Wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of severe vision loss in older individuals. AMD and other serious chronic eye problems that affect younger individuals result when fluid accumulates abnormally under or within the retina. A new study published in The American Journal of Pathology shows for the first time that the release of substances from mast cells may be a causal factor in this type of eye pathology, and inhibitors of this release may offer new ways to treat serous retinal detachment. Mast cells are white ...

Quantum theory is one of the great achievements of 20th century science, yet physicists have struggled to find a clear boundary between our everyday world and what Albert Einstein called the "spooky" features of the quantum world, including cats that could be both alive and dead, and photons that can communicate with each other across space instantaneously. For the past 60 years, the best guide to that boundary has been a theorem called Bell's Inequality, but now a new paper shows that Bell's Inequality is not the guidepost it was believed to be, which means that as the ...

July 2, 2015 - Feed and production input costs are the primary economic inputs of the cattle industry. As input costs increase, producers and cattle are asked to be more efficient to satisfy global food demands. Furthermore, the amount of land available for cattle production in the United States has decreased over the past 10 years. Improvements with marginal land and marginal-quality harvested feeds are being considered. Three studies were recently published in the Journal of Animal Science that were highlighted at the Forages and Pastures Symposium at JAM in 2015 titled ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- People aren't the only ones who perform better on tests or athletic events when they are just a little bit nervous -- dogs do too. But in dogs as in people, the right amount of stress depends on disposition. A new study by researchers at Duke University finds that a little extra stress and stimulation makes hyper dogs crack under pressure but gives mellow dogs an edge. The findings appear online in the journal Animal Cognition. According to an idea in psychology called the Yerkes-Dodson law, a little stress can be a good thing, but only up to a point. ...

A class of drugs used to treat diabetes may be associated with protection against Parkinson's disease (PD), according to research published this week in PLOS Medicine. The study, conducted by Dr. Ruth Brauer, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, found a lower incidence of PD among people using a glitazone drug (either rosiglitazone or pioglitazone) to treat diabetes when compared to people who had used different treatments for diabetes. The cohort study was conducted using data from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink, and compared individuals with ...

A type of drug used to treat diabetes may reduce the risk of developing Parkinson's disease, according to a new study published in PLOS Medicine. The research, led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, found that diabetes patients taking glitazone antidiabetes drugs (either rosiglitazone or pioglitazone) had a 28% lower incidence of Parkinson's disease than people taking other treatments for diabetes who had never taken glitazones. [1] Glitazones are a class of drug that activate the peroxisome proliferation-activated gamma (PPARγ) receptor, which ...

VANCOUVER, B.C. and DURHAM, N.C. - A Phase III, individually randomized trial has found conditional cash transfers for school attendance did not reduce the risk of HIV among high-school aged women in South Africa, investigators from the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) reported today at the 8th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention in Vancouver, Canada. The new finding is from HPTN 068, the first individually randomized study of young women conditioned on school attendance with an HIV incidence endpoint. In the trial, ...

An international panel of leading scientists is launching a new TripAdvisor-style website aimed at helping researchers choose better-quality research tools - and avoiding potentially serious errors in biomedical research. In a 'call to action' published today (Tuesday), the international expert panel warns that many scientists are unwittingly using poor-quality chemical probes, leading to mistaken conclusions being drawn from research studies. The expert panel - made up of researchers from non-profit research institutions and from biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies ...

July 2, 2015 - Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is the most widespread disease in the swine industry. In sows, PRRSV causes reproductive problems during gestation, including abnormal litters or abortions. Growing pigs with the disease will have respiratory problems and poor growth. In 2012, Holtkamp and colleagues estimated the annual losses due to PRRSV to be a staggering $664 million in the U.S. alone. Producers on larger farms use vaccines and enhanced biosecurity measures to prevent eradicating an entire herd during a PRRSV outbreak. Unfortunately, ...

NEW YORK, July 21, 2015 -- A recent study conducted at Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research (NKI) and NYU Langone Medical Center implicates a new culprit in Alzheimer's disease development. The research reveals that ßCTF -- the precursor of the amyloid beta (Aß) peptide -- acts at the earliest stage of Alzheimer's to initiate a range of abnormalities leading to the loss of groups of neurons critical for memory formation. Results from the study are published online July 21, 2015 in the journal, Molecular Psychiatry, and the article has been selected ...