Coral reefs face a suite of perilous threats in today's ocean. From overfishing and pollution to coastal development and climate change, fragile coral ecosystems are disappearing at unprecedented rates around the world. Despite this trend, some species of corals surrounding the island of Moorea in French Polynesia have a natural protector in their tropical environment: coral guard-crabs. New research from the National Museum of Natural History's Smithsonian Marine Station scientist Seabird McKeon and the museum's predoctoral fellow Jenna Moore of the Florida Museum of Natural ...

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (September 30, 2014) – People who suffer from asthma may think there's not a lot they can do to control their asthma besides properly taking medications and avoiding allergic triggers. According to a new article in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the scientific publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), asthma sufferers can learn lessons about managing their asthma by examining their lifestyle. The woman described in the Annals article improved her asthma once she and her doctor determined her ...

Administration of high-dose vitamin D3 compared with placebo did not reduce hospital length of stay, intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay, hospital mortality, or the risk of death at 6 months among patients with vitamin D deficiency who were critically ill, according to a study published in JAMA. The study is being posted early online to coincide with its presentation at the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine annual congress. A high prevalence of low vitamin D levels has been confirmed in patients who are critically ill. Many studies suggest that a low vitamin ...

A species of gut bacteria called Clostridium ramosum, coupled with a high-fat diet, may cause animals to gain weight. The work is published this week in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. A research team from the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke in Nuthetal observed that mice harboring human gut bacteria including C. ramosum gained weight when fed a high-fat diet. Mice that did not have C. ramosum were less obese even when consuming a high-fat diet, and mice that had C. ramosum but consumed a low-fat ...

Boston, MA – A retrospective study led by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), has found an overuse of colonoscopies for colorectal cancer screening and surveillance. The study demonstrated that endoscopists commonly recommended shorter follow-up intervals than established guidelines support, and these recommendations were strongly correlated with subsequent colonoscopy overuse. "Our study shows that a high percentage of follow-up colonoscopies are being performed too early, resulting in use of scarce health care resources with potentially limited clinical ...

Three-dimensional metal printing technology is an expanding field that has enormous potential applications in areas ranging from supporting structures, functional electronics to medical devices. Conventional 3D metal printing is generally restricted to metals with a high melting point, and the process is rather time consuming. Now scientists at the Beijing Key Laboratory of CryoBiomedical Engineering, part of the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have developed a new conceptual 3D printing method with "ink" consisting of ...

Scientists across China and the United States collaborating on the PandaX search for dark matter from an underground lab in southwestern China report results from the first stage of the experiment in a new study published in the Beijing-based journal SCIENCE CHINA Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy. PandaX is the first dark matter experiment in China that deploys more than one hundred kilograms of xenon as a detector; the project is designed to monitor potential collisions between xenon nucleons and weakly interactive massive particles, hypothesized candidates for dark matter. In ...

The conversion of forests, grasslands, shrublands and wetlands to cropland over the course of three centuries profoundly changed the surface of the Earth and the carbon cycle of the terrestrial ecosystem in Northeast China. In a new study published in the Beijing-based journal SCIENCE CHINA Earth Sciences, a team of researchers from Beijing Normal University, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, and the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, present new calculations on carbon emissions triggered ...

Consuming an alcoholic beverage may make men more responsive to the smiles of others in their social group, according to new research in Clinical Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The findings suggest that, for men, alcohol increases sensitivity to rewarding social behaviors like smiling, and may shed light on risk factors that contribute to problem drinking among men. "This experimental alcohol study, which included a social context, finds the clearest evidence yet of greater alcohol reinforcement for men than women," says ...

A new study confirms that the exposure to tar tended to be lower for smokers of slim cigarettes than of regular cigarettes. Similarly, exposure to nicotine tended to be lower. Slim cigarettes are an increasingly popular type of cigarette in several countries around the world. Previous studies have shown that the levels of certain toxic chemicals in the smoke of these cigarettes are lower than those in regular cigarettes. However, because lower levels of chemicals in the smoke are not necessarily linked to a reduced exposure to harmful chemicals, concerns had been raised ...

Genomic data could predict whether statins will benefit a patient or not, according to an article in the open access journal Genome Biology. The research suggests that genomic data alone can explain around 15% of patients' responses to a cholesterol-lowering statin, and further studies could increase the accuracy of these predictions. The study looked at data from 372 participants in an American clinical trial for the statin, Simvastatin, and found that certain genetic signatures were more common in patients whose cholesterol was effectively lowered by the treatment, ...

Washington, DC – Monday, September 29: Between 1970 and 2010 populations of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish around the globe dropped 52 percent, says the 2014 Living Planet Report released today by World Wildlife Fund (WWF). This biodiversity loss occurs disproportionately in low-income countries—and correlates with the increasing resource use of high-income countries. In addition to the precipitous decline in wildlife populations the report's data point to other warning signs about the overall health of the planet. The amount of carbon in our atmosphere ...

New research published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) suggests that the protective effect of physical activity against diabetes is weakest among those at high genetic risk. The research is by Dr Yann Klimentidis, an Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, in Tucson, AZ, USA, and colleagues. It is well established that physical activity reduces type 2 diabetes risk. However, the extent of protection afforded by physical activity may differ according to genetic ...

Prop 46 Physician Drug Testing Mandate May Harm Patients it Aims to Protect A new California ballot initiative being touted as a patient safety measure may create more problems than it solves, according to two new commentaries being published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Proposition 46, the Medical Malpractice Lawsuits Cap and Drug Testing of Doctors Initiative, would mandate random drug and alcohol testing of physicians and quadruple the cap on medical malpractice awards to $1.1 million. The authors argue that physician drug and alcohol testing should be unrelated ...

WASHINGTON — Legislation passed in 2003 to slow the spiraling costs of drugs paid for by the federal government to treat Medicare patients has had no meaningful impact on cancer chemotherapy drug costs, say a team of researchers in the Journal of Clinical Oncology published online today. "We looked at use of outpatient chemotherapy to treat colorectal and lung cancers, and did not find a substantial change in how oncologists prescribe those drugs following the implementation of the recent Medicare law in 2005," says the study's senior author, Arnold L. Potosky, PhD, a ...

WASHINGTON, DC – September 29, 2014 -- Plants have a symbiotic relationship with certain bacteria. These 'commensal' bacteria help the pants extract nutrients and defend against invaders – an important step in preventing pathogens from contaminating fruits and vegetables. Now, scientist have discovered that plants may package their commensal bacteria inside of seeds; thus ensuring that sprouting plants are colonized from the beginning. The researchers, from the University of Notre Dame, presented their findings today at the 5th ASM Conference on Beneficial Microbes. Plants ...

Bacteria that metabolize ammonia, a major component of sweat, may improve skin health and some day could be used for the treatment of skin disorders, such as acne or chronic wounds. In a study conducted by AOBiome LLC, human volunteers using the bacteria reported better skin condition and appearance compared with a placebo control group. The researchers presented the study results at the 5th ASM Conference on Beneficial Microbes in Washington, DC. Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) are ubiquitous in soil and water and are essential components of the nitrogen cycle and ...

PULLMAN, Wash. – Scientists at Washington State University have concluded that nondigestible compounds in apples – specifically, Granny Smith apples – may help prevent disorders associated with obesity. The study, thought to be the first to assess these compounds in apple cultivars grown in the Pacific Northwest, appears in October's print edition of the journal Food Chemistry. "We know that, in general, apples are a good source of these nondigestible compounds but there are differences in varieties," said food scientist Giuliana Noratto, the study's lead researcher. "Results ...

The protein alpha-synuclein is a well-known player in Parkinson's disease and other related neurological conditions, such as dementia with Lewy bodies. Its normal functions, however, have long remained unknown. An enticing mystery, say researchers, who contend that understanding the normal is critical in resolving the abnormal. Alpha-synuclein typically resides at presynaptic terminals – the communication hubs of neurons where neurotransmitters are released to other neurons. In previous studies, Subhojit Roy, MD, PhD, and colleagues at the University of California, San ...

Before undergoing heart imaging procedures involving radiation, healthcare providers should help patients understand why the procedure is needed and its potential benefits and risks, including risks related to radiation exposure, according to a new scientific statement in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation. "With technological improvements, medical imaging has become an increasingly vital tool in diagnosing and treating patients with heart disease, but the rising use of the tests has led to increasing radiation exposure over the past two decades," said ...

Information is lacking on most implanted medical devices cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration despite a legal requirement that companies submit scientific evidence about the devices' substantial equivalence to other devices already on the market. Under what is known as the 510(k) review, the FDA clears about 400 implanted medical devices without clinical testing each year for market that are considered moderate to high risk. The FDA has a process that requires the applicant to provide scientific evidence that the new device is "substantially equivalent" ...

MINNEAPOLIS – According to a new position statement from the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), the risk of death, overdose, addiction or serious side effects with prescription opioids outweigh the benefits in chronic, non-cancer conditions such as headache, fibromyalgia and chronic low back pain. The position paper is published in the September 30, 2014, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Opioids, or narcotics, are pain medications including morphine, codeine, oxycodone, methadone, fentanyl, hydrocodone or a combination ...

Bottom Line: The use of broad-spectrum antibiotics by children before the age of 24 months was associated with increased risk of obesity in early childhood. Author: L. Charles Bailey, M.D., Ph.D., of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and colleagues. Background: Obesity is a major public health problem. Previous research suggests intestinal microflora may be associated with obesity, and antibiotic exposure may affect microbial diversity and composition. How the Study Was Conducted: The authors used electronic health records spanning from 2001 to 2013 from ...

Oleate, a common dietary fat found in olive oil, restored proper metabolism of fuel in an animal model of heart failure. The findings are reported in the journal Circulation by researchers at University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine. Heart failure affects nearly 5 million Americans, and more than half a million new cases are diagnosed each year. Heart failure is not the same as having a heart attack -- it is a chronic disease state where the heart becomes enlarged, or hypertrophic, in response to chronic high blood pressure which requires it to work harder ...

(Boston) – A review article published online in Behavioral Brain Research provides novel insight into changes that happen in the brain as a result of chronic alcohol exposure that can lead to disruptions in the sleep cycle. Clinical assessments and research indicate that individuals with alcohol use disorders frequently suffer from severely disrupted sleep. This can occur when people are actively drinking, when they are going through withdrawal or when they are abstaining. "Sleep-wake disturbances can last for months, or even years, after someone stops drinking, which ...