URBANA, Ill. – With over 100 diseases that can attack soybean crops, why would charcoal rot rise to the top of the most wanted list? University of Illinois scientists cite the earth's changing climate as one reason that more research is needed on the fungus that causes charcoal rot. Fungi may often be associated with cool, damp growing conditions but Macrophomina phaseolina, the fungus that causes charcoal rot, prefers hot and dry drought conditions. "As the climate continues to change and we see more extremes in the weather, including hotter, drier summers, this fungus ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Sexual selection refers to species' selection for traits that are attractive to the opposite sex. This special type of natural selection enhances opportunities to mate, the tail of male peacocks being an iconic example. Biologists at the University of California, Riverside have now found that sexual selection and "placentation" — the formation of a placenta — are linked. Describing the life histories of more than 150 species of fish in the family Poeciliidae, the researchers found that species with placentas tend to have males that do not have bright ...

Tampa, Fla. (July 9, 2014) – Emerging fungal pathogens pose a greater threat to biodiversity than any other parasitic group, causing population declines of amphibians, bats, corals, bees and snakes. New research from the University of South Florida published in the prestigious journal Nature reveals that amphibians can acquire behavioral or immunological resistance to a deadly chytrid fungus implicated in global amphibian population declines. "Acquired resistance is important because it is the basis of vaccination campaigns based on 'herd immunity', where immunization ...

New findings from Fox Chase Cancer Center paint a relatively optimistic picture of women's chances of surviving a subset of breast cancers that have spread to the chest wall or skin, but not beyond. Tumors that grow into the skin, regardless of size and whether they have involved lymph nodes, are automatically classified as stage III – and called "locally advanced" tumors, suggesting that they are a relatively serious form of cancer, often with poor survival. Locally advanced breast cancers of this and other types account for five to ten percent of new breast cancer ...

DALLAS – July 9, 2014 – There has been a sharp increase in the number of cancer patients at UT Southwestern Medical Center using MyChart, the online, interactive service that allows patients to view laboratory and radiology results, communicate with their healthcare providers, schedule appointments, and renew prescriptions. Over a six-year period, the number of patients actively using MyChart each year increased five-fold, while the number of total logins each year increased more than 10-fold, according to a study by Dr. David Gerber, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, ...

A first-ever global census of Adélie penguins shows that the population is 3.79 million breeding pairs or 53 percent larger than previously estimated. Adélie penguins have long been considered a key indicator species to monitor and understand the effects of climate change and fishing in the Southern Ocean. By using high-resolution satellite imagery, researchers from Stony Brook University and University of Minnesota have applied a new method that permits regular monitoring of Adélie penguins across their entire breeding range, and by extension the health of the Southern ...

The re-examination of a sparrow-sized fossil from China challenges the commonly held belief that birds evolved from ground-dwelling theropod dinosaurs that gained the ability to fly. The birdlike fossil is actually not a dinosaur, as previously thought, but much rather the remains of a tiny tree-climbing animal that could glide, say American researchers Stephen Czerkas of the Dinosaur Museum in Blanding, Utah, and Alan Feduccia of the University of North Carolina. The study appears in Springer's Journal of Ornithology. The fossil of the Scansoriopteryx (which means "climbing ...

The U.S. may be on the verge of an economy driven by methane, the primary component of natural gas, which burns cleaner than coal and is undergoing a production boom. It has poised the country as a top fuel producer globally, but recent research is casting serious doubts over just how climate-friendly it is, according to an article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly news magazine of the American Chemical Society. In the article, Jeff Johnson, a senior correspondent at C&EN, explains that when burned as a fuel to produce electricity, methane emits about ...

NEW YORK (July 8, 2014) – Researchers from Montefiore Medical Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University will present new findings at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) being held July 12 – July 17 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Data from the four abstracts will focus on triggers that could prompt transition from cognitive normality to mild cognitive impairment and dementia. The research is part of the Einstein Aging Study, established in 1980 to examine healthy brain aging as well as the special challenges of Alzheimer's ...

KNOXVILLE—Amphibian declines and extinctions around the world have been linked to an emerging fungal disease called chytridiomycosis, but new research from the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) shows that another pathogen, ranavirus, may also contribute. In a series of mathematical models, researchers showed that ranavirus, which causes severe hemorrhage of internal organs in frogs, could cause extinction of isolated populations of wood frogs if they are exposed to the virus every few years, a scenario that has been documented in ...

p>YouTube is for more than watching World Cup highlights, Brian Williams refreshing old school rap classics, and videos of skateboarders landing in unfortunate positions on railings. A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published in the Dermatology Online Journal shows that YouTube also allows researchers, journals, and health advocates to connect directly with the public on topics of skin cancer and prevention. "No matter what field you're in, social media is the future of how we communicate around the world," says Chante Karimkhani, MD candidate in the lab of ...

A crucial piece of the puzzle behind nature's ability to split the water molecule during photosynthesis that could help advance the development of artificial photosynthesis for clean, green and renewable energy has been provided by an international collaboration of scientists led by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Working at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), the world's most powerful x-ray laser, the researchers were able to take detailed "snapshots" of the four photon-step ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Researchers have found that fecal transplantation is effective and safe for treating C. difficile in immunocompromised patients. This is the result of a study led by Colleen Kelly, M.D., a gastroenterologist in the Center for Women's Gastrointestinal Medicine at The Women's Medicine Collaborative. The study and its findings have been published online in advance of print in the American Journal of Gastroenterology. Clostridium difficile, or C. diff, has increased to epidemic proportions over the past decade. It is an infection that is often difficult ...

New Rochelle, NY, July 9, 2014—Biofuels derived from the oils produced by algae may offer a low-cost sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. To achieve this goal, optimization of cost effective strategies for large-scale algae cultivation, such as in open pond systems, is needed. Sapphire Energy has developed an innovative solution to the challenge of contamination of open pond algae cultivation systems, described in Industrial Biotechnology, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available on the Industrial Biotechnology website. ...

Too cool and faint, many objects in the universe are impossible to detect with visible light. Now a Northwestern University team has refined a new technology that could make these colder objects more visible, paving the way for enhanced exploration of deep space. "High performance infrared cameras are crucial for space exploration missions," said Manijeh Razeghi, the Walter P. Murphy Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. "By studying the infrared waves emitted by cool ...

Researchers studying critically ill children with traumatic injuries have identified an immune marker that predicts which patients are likely to develop a hospital-acquired infection. The study, led by clinician-scientists at Nationwide Children's Hospital and published online in June in the journal Shock, is part of several larger efforts that could lead to the clinical implementation of quick-turnaround immune function tests and treatments to prevent or reverse immune system damage following critical illness or injury in pediatric patients. Hospital-acquired, or nosocomial, ...

Boston—Practices used in policing injection drug users in Russia might contribute to HIV transmission and overdose mortality. A study, conducted by researchers from Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health, in collaboration with St. Petersburg Pavlov State University, sought to discover the effect police arrests had on the health outcomes of a cohort of HIV-positive people with lifetime of injection drug use. Those who were arrested by police were more likely to share needles—increasing HIV transmission—and to overdose, according to the study published ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Researchers from The Miriam Hospital have found that people with Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who are also depressed have difficulty sticking to a pulmonary rehabilitation program. This appears to be particularly true for women, and screening and brief treatment of depression should be considered as part of treatment. The study and its findings are published in print in Respiratory Medicine. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a common and often disabling inflammatory lung disease characterized by a progressive airway obstruction ...

A study co-authored by a University of Guelph scientist that involved fitting bumblebees with tiny radio frequency tags shows long-term exposure to a neonicotinoid pesticide hampers bees' ability to forage for pollen. The research by Nigel Raine, a professor in Guelph's School of Environmental Sciences, and Richard Gill of Imperial College London was published July 9 in the British Ecological Society's journal Functional Ecology. The study shows how long-term pesticide exposure affects individual bees' day-to-day behaviour, including pollen collection and which flowers ...

BOSTON (July 9, 2014) — A retrospective study conducted by researchers at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine and colleagues reports that among adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, the likelihood of having cavities decreased as the number of years receiving dental care increased. The findings, published in the July/August issue of Special Care in Dentistry, may help improve interventions designed to address the oral health of individuals in this population. The researchers reviewed the dental records of 107 patients at one of the eight clinics ...

Small print and poor printing on prescription labels handed out by pharmacists may be misread and may lead to errors in taking medication, according to new research by the University of Waterloo and CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind). The study, published recently in the Canadian Pharmacists Journal, found that labels on prescription medications dispensed by pharmacies do not consistently follow professionally recommended guidelines for legibility. By simply following recommended guidelines for font size, use of bolding, justification, sentence case and ...

PHILADELPHIA – Previous studies linking older age with kidney and heart disease have raised concerns about the safety of living kidney donation among older adults. However, in the first study to look closely at this issue, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report that older kidney donors (55 years and above) enjoy similar life expectancy and cardiovascular health as very healthy older people who did not donate their kidneys. In light of the ever increasing organ transplant waitlists, the authors of the study hope the results ...

Since the 1960s, theatergoers have shelled out for crude 3-D glasses, polarized glasses, and shutter glasses to enhance their viewing experience. These basic devices, used to trick the brain into perceiving an artificial three-dimensional reality, may soon be rendered obsolete with the introduction of new holography technology developed by Tel Aviv University researchers. TAU doctoral students Yuval Yifat, Michal Eitan, and Zeev Iluz have developed highly efficient holography based on nanoantennas that could be used for security as well as medical and recreational purposes. ...

A new study shows that some shark species may be able to cope with the rising salinity of Arctic waters that may come with rising temperatures. The Arctic today is best known for its tundra and polar bear population, but it wasn't always like that. Roughly 53 to 38 million years ago during what is known as the Eocene epoch, the Arctic was more similar to a huge temperate forest with brackish water, home to a variety of animal life, including ancestors of tapirs, hippo-like creatures, crocodiles and giant tortoises. Much of what is known about the region during this period ...

With grilling season upon us, many backyard cooks are turning to more healthful alternatives to their savored but fatty hot dogs. But low fat can sometimes mean low satisfaction. Now researchers are reporting new progress toward addressing the texture problem in low-fat wieners that are made with olive oil rather than pork fat. Their study was published in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Ana M. Herrero and colleagues note that hot-dog consumers have come to expect just the right amount of chewiness and springiness, among other things, from their beloved ...