Cougars may have survived the mass extinction that took place about 12,000 years ago because they were not particular about what they ate, unlike their more finicky cousins--the saber-tooth cat and American lion. Both perished along with the woolly mammoth and many of the other supersized mammals that walked the Earth during the late Pleistocene. That is the conclusion of a new analysis of the microscopic wear marks on the teeth of cougars, saber-tooth cats and American lions described in the April 23 issue of the journal Biology Letters. "Before the Late Pleistocene ...

When several factors are accounted for, stillbirth may be associated with both severely restricted and excessive fetal growth, according to a study by US researchers published in this week's PLOS Medicine. Radek Bukowski and colleagues from the NICHD Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network investigated the fetal growth abnormalities associated with stillbirth using a new approach developed by the Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network to estimate gestational age. Using this approach the authors investigated all the stillbirths, and a sample of live births, which ...

"Not tonight, dear, I have a headache." Generally speaking, that line is attributed to the wife in a couple, implying that women's sexual desire is more affected by pain than men's. Now, researchers from McGill University and Concordia University in Montreal have investigated, possibly for the first time in any species, the direct impact of pain on sexual behaviour in mice. Their study, published in the April 23 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, found that pain from inflammation greatly reduced sexual motivation in female mice in heat -- but had no such effect on ...

The mountain pine beetle has wreaked havoc in North America, across forests from the American Southwest to British Columbia and Alberta, with the potential to spread all the way to the Atlantic coast. Millions of acres of forest have been lost, with severe economic and ecological impacts from a beetle outbreak ten times larger than previous outbreaks. Because of its importance and impact on forestry, the mountain pine beetle's genome has been recently sequenced. Using this new resource, authors Janes, et.al. examined how the pine beetle could undergo such rapid habitat ...

Researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch and the Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network have identified a link between stillbirth and either restricted or excessive fetal growth. Findings from the study are online in the April 22 issue of PLOS Medicine. Using a new approach developed by the network to estimate gestational age in stillborn babies, Dr. Radek Bukowski, lead researcher and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UTMB, and his colleagues evaluated 663 stillbirths and 1932 live births that occurred over a two-and-a-half year period at 59 ...

Coral Gables, Fla. (April 21, 2014) -- There are all sorts of signaling strategies in nature. Peacocks puff out their feathers and spread their colorful tails; satin bowbirds build specialized stick structures, called bowers, and decorate them with blue and shiny objects; and European bitterling males show off bright nuptial coloration during spawning season. Each species has evolved a unique method to communicate with others. "Signaling can have profound fitness implications for individuals that are either signaling or receiving the signal," says Gavin M. Leighton, ...

MINNEAPOLIS – Two new studies may offer hope for people with migraine. The two studies released today will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 66th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, April 26 to May 3, 2014. Both studies involve drugs that are aimed at preventing migraine attacks from occurring, rather than stopping the attacks once they have started. These studies are the first to test monoclonal antibodies for the prevention of migraine, and both are directed against a relatively new target in migraine prevention, the calcitonin gene-related peptide, or ...

An inexpensive glaucoma drug, when added to a weight loss plan, can improve vision for women with a disorder called idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. IIH, also called pseudotumor cerebri, predominantly affects overweight women of reproductive age. An estimated 100,000 Americans have it, and the number is rising with the obesity epidemic. The most common symptoms are headaches and visual problems, including blind spots, poor side vision, double vision and temporary episodes of blindness. About ...

In a study that included more than 71,000 stroke patients, implementation of a quality initiative was associated with improvement in the time to treatment and a lower risk of in-hospital death, intracranial hemorrhage (bleeding in the brain), and an increase in the portion of patients discharged to their home, according to the study appearing in the April 23/30 issue of JAMA, a neurology theme issue. Intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (tPA; an enzyme that helps dissolve clots) reduces long-term disability when administered early to eligible patients with acute ...

Patients with arteriovenous malformations (abnormal connection between arteries and veins) in the brain that have not ruptured had a lower risk of stroke or death for up to 12 years if they received conservative management of the condition compared to an interventional treatment, according to a study in the April 23/30 issue of JAMA, a neurology theme issue. Interventional treatment for brain arteriovenous malformations (bAVMs) with procedures such as neurosurgical excision, endovascular embolization, or stereotactic radiosurgery can be used alone or in combination to ...

In patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension and mild vision loss, the use of the drug acetazolamide, along with a low-sodium weight-reduction diet, resulted in modest improvement in vision, compared with diet alone, according to a study in the April 23/30 issue of JAMA, a neurology theme issue. Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is a disorder primarily of overweight women of childbearing age, characterized by increased intracranial pressure with its associated signs and symptoms, including debilitating headaches and vision loss. Acetazolamide is commonly ...

The majority of adults surveyed indicated they would want administration of clot-dissolving medications if incapacitated by a stroke, a finding that supports clinicians' use of this treatment if patient surrogates are not available to provide consent, according to a study in the April 23/30 issue of JAMA, a neurology theme issue. "In life-threatening emergencies involving incapacitated patients without surrogates, clinicians may intervene without obtaining informed consent, applying the presumption that reasonable people would consent to treatment in such circumstances. ...

Using an ambulance that included a computed tomography (CT) scanner, point-of-care laboratory, telemedicine connection and a specialized prehospital stroke team resulted in decreased time to treatment for ischemic stroke, according to a study in the April 23/30 issue of JAMA, a neurology theme issue. Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability. In acute ischemic stroke, thrombolysis (dissolving of blood clots) using intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is the treatment of choice after excluding bleeding in the brain by imaging. Past studies have shown ...

Although some studies have suggested that the drug lorazepam may be more effective or safer than the drug diazepam in treating a type of epileptic seizures among children, a randomized trial finds that lorazepam is not better at stopping seizures compared to diazepam, according to a study in the April 23/30 issue of JAMA, a neurology theme issue. Status epilepticus is a prolonged epileptic seizure or seizures that occurs approximately 10,000 times in children annually in the United States. Rapid control of status epilepticus is essential to avoid permanent injury and ...

Administering a clot-dissolving drug to stroke victims quickly — ideally within the first 60 minutes after they arrive at a hospital emergency room — is crucial to saving their lives, preserving their brain function and reducing disability. Given intravenously, tPA (tissue plasminogen activator) is currently the only Food and Drug Administration–approved therapy shown to improve outcomes for patients suffering acute ischemic stroke, which affects some 800,000 Americans annually. Now, a UCLA-led study demonstrates that hospitals participating in the "Target: ...

(Chicago) – A recently FDA-approved device has been shown to reduce seizures in patients with medication-resistant epilepsy by as much as 50 percent. When coupled with an innovative electrode placement planning system developed by physicians at Rush, the device facilitated the complete elimination of seizures in nearly half of the implanted Rush patients enrolled in the decade-long clinical trials. That's good news for a large portion of the nearly 400,000 people in the U.S. living with epilepsy whose seizures can't be controlled with medications and who are not candidates ...

Last month, scientists announced the first hard evidence for cosmic inflation, the process by which the infant universe swelled from microscopic to cosmic size in an instant. This almost unimaginably fast expansion was first theorized more than three decades ago, yet only now has "smoking gun" proof emerged. What is this result and what does it mean for our understanding of the universe? Late last week, two members of the discovery team discussed the finding and its implications with two of the field's preeminent thought leaders. Walter Ogburn is a postdoctoral researcher ...

There's a new secret to get your child to behave at the dinner table—cut up their food and they'll relax. A new Cornell study published in Eating Behaviors, found that when 6-10 year old children ate foods they had to bite with their front teeth— such as drumsticks, whole apples, or corn on the cob— they were rowdier than when these foods had been cut. "They were twice as likely to disobey adults and twice as aggressive toward other kids," said Brian Wansink, Professor and Director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab. During a 4-H summer camp, 12 elementary children ...

PHILADELPHIA - Over the last few decades researchers have characterized a set of clock genes that drive daily rhythms of physiology and behavior in all types of species, from flies to humans. Over 15 mammalian clock proteins have been identified, but researchers surmise there are more. A team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania wondered if big-data approaches could find them. To accelerate clock-gene discovery, the investigators, led by John Hogenesch, PhD, professor of Pharmacology and first author Ron Anafi, MD, PhD, an instructor ...

Health clinics that can provide primary care for low-income patients may ease the financial burden on both hospitals and insurance companies while improving patient health, researchers have concluded. A study of hospital admissions suggests that health clinics that avoid costs associated with insurance administration can help hospitals save money by lowering hospital admission rates and emergency room visits, according to Mark Agee, professor of economics, Penn State Altoona. The researchers estimated that the major hospital in the area saved $201,414 annually in lower ...

DALLAS – April 22, 2014 – Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center are making breakthroughs that could benefit people suffering from depression. A team of physician-scientists at UT Southwestern has identified a major mechanism by which ghrelin (a hormone with natural anti-depressant properties) works inside the brain. Simultaneously, the researchers identified a potentially powerful new treatment for depression in the form of a neuroprotective drug known as P7C3. The study, published online in April's issue of Molecular Psychiatry, is notable because although ...

Approximately 15 percent of all lung cancers are small cell lung cancers (SCLC), which grow rapidly and often develop resistance to chemotherapy. However, researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center have revealed new insights into the mechanisms leading to this resistance that may lead to improved therapies. Chemotherapies work primarily by mediating B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) family proteins, which are responsible for regulating cell death. Depending on their function, this family of proteins can trigger a form of cell suicide known as apoptosis ...

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — The risk of pregnancy among women using a newer method of planned sterilization called hysteroscopic sterilization is more than 10 times greater over a 10-year period than using the more commonly performed laparoscopic sterilization, a study by researchers at Yale University and UC Davis has found. Published online today in the medical journal Contraception, the study found the higher risk of pregnancy with a newer sterilization method marketed under the brand name Essure®. "This study provides essential information for women and their doctors ...

London – PETA International Science Consortium Ltd.'s nanotechnology expert will present a poster titled "A tiered-testing strategy for nanomaterial hazard assessment" at the 7th International Nanotoxicology Congress to be held April 23-26, 2014, in Antalya, Turkey. Dr. Monita Sharma will outline a strategy consistent with the 2007 report from the US National Academy of Sciences, "Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century: A Vision and a Strategy," which recommends use of non-animal methods involving human cells and cell lines for mechanistic pathway–based toxicity studies. ...

Scientists at Rice University have created a nanoscale detector that checks for and reports on the presence of hydrogen sulfide in crude oil and natural gas while they're still in the ground. The nanoreporter is based on nanometer-sized carbon material developed by a consortium of Rice labs led by chemist James Tour and is the subject of a new paper published this month in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. Limited exposure to hydrogen sulfide causes sore throats, shortness of breath and dizziness, according to the researchers. ...