Despite political proclamation of increased environmental focus, experts argue that the European Union's recent agricultural reforms are far too weak to have any positive impact on the continent's shrinking farmland biodiversity, and call on member states to take action. About half of all farmland and at least 88% of EU farmers are exempt from Ecological Focus Areas, the main "greening measure" that could help wildlife on farmland. Meeting EU's own biodiversity targets for 2020 now relies on initiatives from member states. Experts from leading organisations offer ...

After eight years of work, researchers have completed the first sequencing of the entire sheep genome. Scientists from CSIRO led an international research team to complete the sequencing, which could lead to more effective breeding strategies and new approaches to the management of sheep in Australia and around the world. With about 70m head of sheep in Australia and 1bn globally, the sequencing of the genome could have a massive impact for the rural economy given that sheep are a major source of meat, milk and wool products. "We investigated the completed genome to ...

June 5, 2014 -- In study published today in Science, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center show for the first time that sleep after learning encourages the growth of dendritic spines, the tiny protrusions from brain cells that connect to other brain cells and facilitate the passage of information across synapses, the junctions at which brain cells meet. Moreover, the activity of brain cells during deep sleep, or slow-wave sleep, after learning is critical for such growth. The findings, in mice, provide important physical evidence in support of the hypothesis that ...

Shenzhen, June 5, 2014--- The latest study, led by scientists from Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, BGI and other institutes, presents a high-quality sheep genome and reveals genomic and transcriptomic events that may be associated with rumen evolution and lipid metabolism that have relevance to both diet and wool. The work was published online today in Science. Sheep are ruminants with a complex, 4-compartmented "stomach", the largest compartment is the rumen, which is thought to have evolved around 35-40 million years ago, and has the ability ...

Scientists have cracked the genetic code of sheep to reveal how they became a distinct species from goats around four million years ago. The study is the first to pinpoint the genetic differences that make sheep different from other animals. The findings could aid the development of DNA testing to speed-up selective breeding programmes, helping farmers to improve their stocks. The research identifies the genes that give sheep their fleece and uncovers features of their digestive system, which makes them so well-suited to a diet of low quality grass and other plants. It ...

(MEMPHIS, Tenn. – June 5, 2014) St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have identified problems in a connection between brain structures that may predispose individuals to hearing the "voices" that are a common symptom of schizophrenia. The work appears in the June 6 issue of the journal Science. Researchers linked the problem to a gene deletion. This leads to changes in brain chemistry that reduce the flow of information between two brain structures involved in processing auditory information. The research marks the first time that a specific circuit in the ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Veterinary researchers at Oregon State University have identified a unique group of proteins that indicate the presence of transitional cell carcinoma – the most common cause of bladder cancer – and may lead to a new assay which could better diagnose this disease in both dogs and humans. Bladder cancer is particularly common in some dog breeds, such as collies, sheepdogs and terriers, but is rarely diagnosed in animals before it has spread significantly. Some assays exist to detect it in humans, but they often have a high-number of false-positive identifications. An ...

Scientists from the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have gained more insights into why older women are more susceptible to breast cancer. They found that as women age, the cells responsible for maintaining healthy breast tissue stop responding to their immediate surroundings, including mechanical cues that should prompt them to suppress nearby tumors. Their work sheds light on how aging alters cellular and molecular functions, and how these changes contribute to the prevalence of breast cancer in older women. The disease is ...

Stanford, CA— A team of researchers studying a flowering plant has zeroed in on the way cells manage external signals about prevailing conditions, a capability that is essential for cells to survive in a fluctuating environment. Researchers at UC Berkeley, the Plant Gene Expression Center, UC San Francisco, and the Carnegie Institution for Science identified a novel mechanism by which the strength of such an external signal is reduced, or attenuated. Their work focuses on the tiny mustard plant Arabidopsis, which is frequently used by scientists as an experimental model. ...

(Garrison, NY) Many of the legal and ethical options for refusing unwanted interventions are not available to people with dementia because they lack decision-making capacity. But one way for these people to ensure that they do not live for years with severe dementia is to use an advance directive to instruct caregivers to stop giving them food and water by mouth. This is an ethical and legal gray area explored in commentaries and a case study in the Hastings Center Report. People with decision-making capacity have the legal right to refuse treatment of any kind and to ...

New Rochelle, NY, June 5, 2014—Chronic pain due to disease or injury is common, and even prescription pain medications cannot provide acceptable pain relief for many individuals. Virtual reality as a means of distraction, inducing positive emotions, or creating the perception of "swapping" a limb or bodily area affected by chronic pain in a virtual environment can be a powerful therapeutic tool, as described in several articles in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The articles are available ...

In a collaboration between RIKEN's Brain Science Institute and Center for Life Science Technologies in Japan, scientists combined cutting edge methods to obtain a comprehensive catalogue of proteins that are manufactured in specific parts of Purkinje neurons. The study, headed by Drs. Thomas Launey, Unit Leader at RIKEN BSI and Charles Plessy, Unit Leader at RIKEN CLST, succeeded in identifying several thousand RNAs that are enriched in rat Purkinje neurons. This comprehensive list holds the key to a better understanding of molecular events within these neurons and potential ...

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — In the wake of recent revelations of overly long patient wait times and systematic manipulation and falsification of reported wait-time data, UC Davis and Harvard public policy leaders believe the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health-care system's problems can be fixed by strong leadership, greater transparency and reforms that refocus the organization on its primary mission of providing timely access to consistently high-quality care. In their Perspective article, published online June 4 in the New England Journal of Medicine, authors Kenneth ...

VIDEO: TRMM satellite data showed that some areas in southwestern Mexico received over 12 inches of rainfall (red) from Boris, while System 90L on the eastern side of Mexico brought similar... Click here for more information. The remnants of former Tropical Storm Boris moved over southern Mexico and NASA and NOAA satellite data showed that they were merging with a low pressure area in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. In addition, data from NASA's TRMM satellite was used to compile ...

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — June 5, 2014 — A clinical trial conducted by researchers at the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center Clinical Trials, a partnership between Scottsdale Healthcare and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), showed that a new drug called MM-398, given in combination with 5-flourouracil (5FU) and leucovorin, produced a significant overall survival rate in patients with advanced, previously-treated pancreatic cancer. The NAPOLI-1 (NAnoliPOsomaL Irinotecan) Phase 3 study — a final confirmation of a drug's safety and effectiveness — was conducted ...

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (June 5, 2014) — Scientists this week reported that a molecular pathway called mTORC1 controls the conversion of unhealthy white fat into beige fat, an appealing target for increasing energy expenditure and reducing obesity. The team, led by researchers from the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, also found that a protein, Grb10, serves as the on-off switch for mTORC1 signaling and the "beigeing" of fat. The finding could inform development of novel diabetes and obesity drugs, the scientists said. The ...

Phytoplankton—tiny, photosynthetic organisms—are essential to life on Earth, supplying us with roughly half the oxygen we breathe. Like all other life forms, phytoplankton require the element phosphorus to carry out critical cellular activity, but in some parts of the world's ocean, P is in limited supply. How do phytoplankton survive when phosphorus is difficult to find? Phytoplankton can alter their biochemical make-up according to the availability of nutrients in the water. When phosphorus (P) is particularly abundant in the water, phytoplankton produce and store ...

Psoriasis is a common, long-lasting disease that causes itchy or sore patches of thick, red skin with silvery scales. Environmental contaminants can trigger psoriasis and other autoimmune disorders, and it is thought that a protein called the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), which senses environmental toxins, could play a role. A study published by Cell Press on June 5 in the journal Immunity shows that the severity of inflammation associated with psoriasis is unexpectedly suppressed by AhR. The findings suggest that stimulation of AhR could improve symptoms and may represent ...

When transplanted into the midbrains of adult patients with Parkinson's disease, dopamine neurons derived from fetal tissue can remain healthy for many years. The findings reported in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports on June 5th suggest that transplanted neurons don't degenerate over time as some had suggested and feared they would, which provides further rationale for pursuing stem cells as a source for transplant-ready dopamine neurons, according to the researchers. "Our findings show a robust expression of dopamine transporters and a lack of abnormal mitochondrial ...

Obesity is a worldwide epidemic that is causing alarming rates of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, but currently there is a lack of effective drug treatments. Two unrelated studies published by Cell Press June 5th in the journal Cell reveal an important role for immune pathways in activating good types body fat, called brown and beige fat, which burn stored calories, reduce weight, and improve metabolic health. The findings could pave the way for much-needed treatments for obesity and related metabolic diseases. "The idea that metabolic health can be improved by activation ...

While chemotherapy can save lives, it can also cause many side effects, including the depletion of immune cells. Also, even in the absence of chemotherapy, normal aging takes a heavy toll on the immune system, leading to immune deficiencies and a higher risk of developing leukemia and a variety of malignancies with age. Now researchers reporting in the June 5th issue of the Cell Press journal Cell Stem Cell have found that a simple dietary intervention—periodic fasting—may combat both chemotherapy-induced and aging-related changes in immune cell function by replenishing ...

OTTAWA, ON – June 5, 2014 – As part of the Finding of Rare Disease Genes (FORGE) research project, Canadian researchers have developed an expertise in understanding the underlying biology of rare childhood disorders. The first public commentary of this nationwide study is available today in the American Journal of Human Genetics. "When we launched this project, we predicted we might explain, or solve, 50 disorders; we've almost tripled that goal," said Dr. Kym Boycott, lead investigator of FORGE and clinician scientist at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario ...

Researchers have discovered the first three-dimensionally preserved pterosaur eggs in China. The eggs were found among dozens, if not hundreds, of pterosaur fossils, representing a new genus and species (Hamipterus tianshanensis). The discovery, described in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on June 5, reveals that the pterosaurs—flying reptiles with wingspans ranging from 25 cm to 12 m—lived together in gregarious colonies. Xiaolin Wang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology says it was most exciting to find ...

BELMONT, MA -- Researchers at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital have found that fetal dopamine cells transplanted into the brains of patients with Parkinson's disease were able to remain healthy and functional for up to 14 years, a finding that could lead to new and better therapies for the illness. The discovery, reported in the June 5, 2014 issue of the journal Cell Reports, could pave the way for researchers to begin transplanting dopamine neurons taken from stem cells grown in laboratories, a way to get treatments to many more patients in an easier fashion. "We ...

In the first evidence of a natural intervention triggering stem cell-based regeneration of an organ or system, a study in the June 5 issue of the Cell Press journal Cell Stem Cell shows that cycles of prolonged fasting not only protect against immune system damage — a major side effect of chemotherapy — but also induce immune system regeneration, shifting stem cells from a dormant state to a state of self-renewal. In both mice and a Phase 1 human clinical trial, long periods of not eating significantly lowered white blood cell counts. In mice, fasting cycles then "flipped ...