Tampa, FL (Aug. 26, 2014) -- Extremely low levels of the compound in marijuana known as delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, may slow or halt the progression of Alzheimer's disease, a recent study from neuroscientists at the University of South Florida shows. Findings from the experiments, using a cellular model of Alzheimer's disease, were reported online in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. Researchers from the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer's Institute showed that extremely low doses of THC reduce the production of amyloid beta, found in a soluble form in most aging ...

Athens, Ga. – An invasive grass species frequently found in forests has created a thriving habitat for wolf spiders, who then feed on American toads, a new University of Georgia study has found. Japanese stiltgrass, which was accidentally introduced to the U.S. in the early 1900s, is one of the most pervasive invasive species and has spread to more than a dozen states in the past century, particularly in the Southeast. Typically found along roads and in forests, it can survive in widely diverse ecosystems and has been found to impact native plant species, invertebrate ...

Rocky planets like Earth start out as microscopic bits of dust tinier than a grain of sand, or so theories predict. Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Green Bank Telescope (GBT) have discovered that filaments of star-forming gas near the Orion Nebula may be brimming with pebble-size particles -- planetary building blocks 100 to 1,000 times larger than the dust grains typically found around protostars. If confirmed, these dense ribbons of rocky material may well represent a new, mid-size class of interstellar particles that could help jump-start ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the unlikely event of a volcanic supereruption at Yellowstone National Park, the northern Rocky Mountains would be blanketed in meters of ash, and millimeters would be deposited as far away as New York City, Los Angeles and Miami, according to a new study. An improved computer model developed by the study's authors finds that the hypothetical, large eruption would create a distinctive kind of ash cloud known as an umbrella, which expands evenly in all directions, sending ash across North America. A supereruption is the largest class of volcanic ...

Tel Aviv — Some 30 percent of all positive hospital blood culture samples are discarded every day because they're "contaminated" — they reflect the presence of skin germs instead of specific disease-causing bacteria. Rather than toss these compromised samples into the trash, clinicians may be able to use the resistance profiles of skin bacteria identified by these tests to treat patients with antibiotics appropriate to their ailment, Tel Aviv University researchers say. Dr. Gidi Stein and Dr. Danny Alon of TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Department of Internal ...

The pathogens posing the greatest risk to Europe based upon a proxy for impact have been identified by University of Liverpool researchers using a 'big data' approach to scientific research. The researchers from the University's Institute of Infection and Global Health ranked the top 100 pathogens affecting humans and the top 100 affecting domestic animals using a system which, they believe, will help governments across the continent plan for risks associated with the spread of infectious diseases, including as a result of climate change, and for biosecurity. The top ...

(WASHINGTON, August, 27, 2014) – An experimental drug designed to help regulate the blood's iron supply shows promise as a viable first treatment for anemia of inflammation, according to results from the first human study of the treatment published online today in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology Anemia is a condition that occurs when red blood cells are in short supply or do not function properly. When an individual has anemia, the body does not get enough oxygen, since there are fewer red blood cells to carry the iron-rich protein hemoglobin ...

HOUSTON – (Aug. 27, 2014) – The tectonic plate that dominates the Pacific "Ring of Fire" is not as rigid as many scientists assume, according to researchers at Rice University and the University of Nevada. Rice geophysicist Richard Gordon and his colleague, Corné Kreemer, an associate professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, have determined that cooling of the lithosphere -- the outermost layer of Earth -- makes some sections of the Pacific plate contract horizontally at faster rates than others and cause the plate to deform. Gordon said the effect detailed this ...

Thousands of fishing traps are lost or abandoned each year in U.S. waters and become what are known as derelict traps, which continue to catch fish, crabs, and other species such as turtles. These traps result in losses to habitat, fisheries, and the watermen who depend on the resources--losses that are largely preventable, according to a newly published NOAA study. The report, published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin, is the first of its kind to examine the derelict fish trap problem, and so-called "ghost fishing," nationally, and recommends actions to better manage ...

Now that health advocates' campaigns against trans-fats have largely succeeded in sidelining the use of the additive, they're taking aim at sugar for its potential contributions to Americans' health conditions. But scientists and policymakers are still wrangling over the best way to assuage the nation's insatiable sweet tooth, according to an article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly news magazine of the American Chemical Society. In the article, Stephen Ritter, a senior correspondent at C&EN, notes that growing evidence suggests the overconsumption of ...

A new analysis of clinical trial participation in the largest ongoing observational study of U.S. heart attack patients has found participants are not representative of the larger patient base, according to a study led by Women's College Hospital cardiologist Dr. Jay Udell. The study authors call into question the general applicability of the findings to the wider population, and suggest the use of broader enrollment criteria and existing patient registries to increase trial participation. "We know that clinical trials can be tremendously expensive and a huge burden on ...

While many scientists are trying to prevent the onset of a cancer defense mechanism known as autophagy, researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center are leveraging it in a new therapy that causes the process to culminate in cell death rather than survival. The novel treatment strategy targets the p62 protein, which is often referred to as the "Trash Man" due to its role in disposing unwanted cellular proteins during autophagy. Results from preclinical experiments suggest this experimental treatment approach could be particularly effective against ...

(Lebanon, NH 8/27/14)—Dartmouth cancer researchers developed and tested an advanced statistical model to evaluate the genetic and environmental interactions that contribute to disease as published yesterday in Human Genetics. The approach fills a gap in current analyses. Complex diseases like cancer usually arise from complex interactions among genetic and environmental factors. When many such combinations are studied, identifying the relevant interactions versus those that reflect chance combinations among affected individuals becomes difficult. In this study, the ...

South Africa is entering what is described by the Volunteer Wildfire Services of South Africa as "Cape Fire Season." The Eastern Cape provincial government warned residents in certain parts of the province on Monday (8/25) of strong winds and veld fires. A high veld fire danger rating is expected in the north-western interior and along the coast in the Great Kei and Mnquma area. Strong winds often occurred along coastal regions, and during thunderstorms. The thunderstorms bring lightning strikes and subsequent fire and the wind serves to spread the fire from one place ...

Karina finally became a remnant low pressure area after roaming around in the Eastern Pacific for two weeks. Satellite data on August 27 showed that the now shapeless former hurricane was being drawn into nearby Hurricane Marie's circulation. The last bulletin on Karina was issued by the National Hurricane Center on August 27 at 0300 UTC (11 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, August 26). At that time, Karina's maximum sustained winds were near 30 mph (45 kph). It was centered near latitude 15.9 north and longitude 126.5 west. That's 1,185 miles (1,905 km) west-southwest of the southern ...

People and institutions who are marginal members of a high-status or well-esteemed group tend to emphasize their group membership more than those who are squarely entrenched members of the group, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Research has long shown that people prefer to be in groups that are thought to have higher status or cultural value as a way of boosting self-image and projecting an impressive image to others. Despite the fact that separations between groups are often arbitrary, ...

A growing number of studies have shown that excessive iron is closely associated with the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. Previous studies from Chunyan Guo and co-workers from Capital Medical University in China have shown that baicalin prevented iron accumulation after substantia nigra injury, reduced divalent metal transporter 1 expression, and increased ferroportin 1 expression in the substantia nigra of rotenone-induced Parkinson's disease rats. However, the relationship between iron concentration and transferrin expression is still unclear. Based on the previous ...

Currently, the main factors thought to be associated with outcomes after the repair of peripheral nerve injuries are the age of the patient, mechanism of injury, nerve injured, injury location, defect length, repair time, repair method, operation technique, and repair materials. However, despite numerous studies of outcomes after the repair of peripheral nerve injuries, there is no agreement regarding the independent predictors of a good prognosis, and the dose-effect relationship of the predictors has not been quantified. A study by Dr. Bo He and co-workers from the First ...

Despite major retailers investing tens of millions of dollars a year into loyalty programs, they are a dying breed, with customers struggling to see the benefits of signing up, according to QUT research. But benefits that stimulate gratitude in customers have the power to strengthen the seller-customer relationship and ensure loyalty, researchers Dr Syed Hasan, Professor Ian Lings, Associate Professor Larry Neale and Dr Gary Mortimer, from QUT's School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations, found. Lead researcher Dr Hasan, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, said ...

University of Adelaide research has shown that piglets can be weaned later with no negative effects on sow birthing frequency. The outcome of the study at the University's Roseworthy campus, published in the journal Animal Reproduction Science, is an important finding for pig producers. It allows improvements in piglet health and welfare without loss of production. "Sows don't usually start their oestrous cycles again during lactation, only coming on heat after their piglets have been weaned," says Ms Alice Weaver, PhD candidate with the School of Animal and Veterinary ...

The field of astrophysics has a stubborn problem and it's called lithium. The quantities of lithium predicted to have resulted from the Big Bang are not actually present in stars. But the calculations are correct – a fact which has now been confirmed for the first time in experiments conducted at the underground laboratory in the Gran Sasso mountain in Italy. As part of an international team, researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) studied how much lithium forms under Big Bang conditions. The results were published in "Physical Review Letters". Lithium, ...

Gamblers are greedy bird-brains, University of Warwick research finds Gamblers show the same tendencies as pigeons when they make risky decisions, new research has shown. Researchers, led by Dr Elliot Ludvig of the University of Warwick's Department of Psychology, conducted tests that found that both human gamblers and pigeons were 35% more likely to gamble for high-value than low-value rewards. Published in Biology Letters, the researchers argue that the test results show the important role that memories of previous biggest wins and losses play when we make risky ...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second leading cause of cancer-associated death worldwide. These regrettably poor prognoses are due to the difficulty in treating this cancer using conventional chemotherapeutic drugs such as doxorubicin, epirubicin, cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil, etoposide or combinations therein. This may be attributed to that the conventional medicines are not able to reach in a sufficient concentration in the liver tumor cells at levels that are not harmful to the rest of the body. Considering the large percentage of patients that are deemed ineligible ...

One of nature's mysteries is how plants survive impact by the huge amounts of energy contained in the sun's rays, while using this energy for photosynthesis. The hypothesis is that the light-absorbing proteins in the plant's blades quickly dissipate the energy throughout the entire protein molecule through so-called protein quakes. Researchers at DTU Physics have now managed to successfully 'film' this process. Both plants, algae and bacteria contain light-absorbing proteins which play a role in photosynthesis and thus how the organisms produce energy. However, it has ...

TORONTO, Aug. 27, 2014 – Stroke patients are 70 per cent more likely to continue taking their stroke prevention medications one year later if they have a prescription in hand when discharged – according to researchers at St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). Using data from 11 stroke centres, researchers determined how many Ontarians were taking their medications one week, one year and two years after having a stroke. The results reveal the importance of simple interventions, such as giving a prescription to a patient before ...