BETHESDA, MD – MARCH 20, 2014 – The massive genome of the loblolly pine—around seven times bigger than the human genome—is the largest genome sequenced to date and the most complete conifer genome sequence ever published. This achievement marks the first big test of a new analysis method that can speed up genome assembly by compressing the raw sequence data 100-fold. The draft genome is described in the March 2014 issue of GENETICS and the journal Genome Biology. Loblolly pine is the most commercially important tree species in the United States and the source of most ...

Rutting stags and clawing bears are but two examples of male animals fighting over a mate, but research in New Phytologist has uncovered the first evidence of similar male struggles leading to the evolution of weaponry in plants. The team, led by Dr. Andrea Cocucci from the Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal of Argentina, studied a species of milkweed (Apocynaceae), found in tropical climates. While plants do not mate like animals, but rather reproduce via pollinators such as insects or birds, competition between individuals to exploit those pollinators ...

Infections caused by a concerning type of antibiotic-resistant bacteria are on the rise in U.S. children, according to a new study published in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society and available online. Although still uncommon, the bacteria are increasingly found in children of all ages, especially those 1-5 years old, raising concerns about dwindling treatment options. Researchers led by Latania K. Logan, MD, of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, analyzed resistance patterns in approximately 370,000 clinical isolates from pediatric patients, ...

The massive genome sequence of the loblolly pine — the most commercially important tree species in the United States and the source of most American paper products — has been completed by a nationwide research team, led by a UC Davis scientist. The draft genome — approximately seven times bigger than the human genome — is the largest genome sequenced to date and the most complete conifer genome sequence ever published. The sequencing was accomplished by using, for the first time, a faster and more efficient analytical process. The achievement is described in two papers ...

VIDEO: A mother and child discuss whether a scenario is dangerous, for a new study by the University of Iowa examining how parents can keep their children safe. Click here for more information. As parents, we've all been there: Watching our children teeter on a chair, leap from the sofa, or careen about the playground, fearing the worst. And, we all wonder, how can we teach them to be safer? Such was the goal of a team of researchers at the University of Iowa, who analyzed in ...

SALT LAKE CITY, March 20, 2014 – University of Utah electrical engineers fabricated the smallest plasma transistors that can withstand high temperatures and ionizing radiation found in a nuclear reactor. Such transistors someday might enable smartphones that take and collect medical X-rays on a battlefield, and devices to measure air quality in real time. "These plasma-based electronics can be used to control and guide robots to conduct tasks inside the nuclear reactor," says Massood Tabib-Azar, a professor of electrical and computer engineering. "Microplasma transistors ...

The global burden of breast cancer remains immense in 2013, with over 1.6 million new cases being diagnosed annually. This burden has been increasing at a rate of 3.1% per year, and while the majority of new cases are diagnosed among women in developed countries, the 450,000 deaths per year from the disease are now equally divided between the developing and developed world, the 9th European Breast Cancer conference (EBCC-9) will hear tomorrow (Friday). Professor Peter Boyle, Director of the University of Strathclyde Institute of Global Public Health at the International ...

A pilot scheme allowing patients to visit GPs outside the area they live in was most popular among younger commuters and people who had moved house but did not want to change their GP, according to a new report by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. The Department of Health's Choice of GP pilot scheme found that while demand overall was modest, participants were generally positive about the scheme and there was little sign of major increased cost to primary care trusts (PCTs) for providing the service. Patients will be able to register with volunteer practices ...

Heat waves could significantly reduce crop yields and threaten global food supply if climate change is not tackled and reversed. This is according to a new study led by researchers at the University of East Anglia and published today, 20 March, in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters, which has, for the first time, estimated the global effects of extreme temperatures and elevated levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) on the production of maize, wheat and soybean. Earlier studies have found that climate change is projected to reduce maize yields globally ...

A new study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, provides the first ever reliable data on antibiotic use in non-European Union (EU) southern and eastern European countries and newly independent states. The research, which was led by Dr Herman Goossens, of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute (VAXINFECTIO) at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, is a critical first step in identifying targets for improvements in the way antibiotics are used in these countries. The authors hope that the findings will aid the development of national action plans ...

An ancient stick insect species may have mimicked plant leaves for defense, according to a paper published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on March 19, 2014 by Maomin Wang, from Capital Normal University, China and colleagues. Many insects have developed defense mechanisms, including the ability to mimic the surrounding environment. Stick and leaf insects mimic plants from their environment, but scientists know little about the original of this interaction due to little or no previous stick insect fossil records showing this adaptation. The scientists discovered three ...

Fossils found in western North America reveal a new species of large-bodied, feathered oviraptorosaurian theropod dinosaur from the latest Cretaceous Period, according to a paper published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on March 19, 2014 by Matthew Lamanna from Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pennsylvania and colleagues. Known for their beaks, long necks, and relatively short tails, the bird-like oviraptorosaurian group contains dinosaurs with body sizes ranging from a few kilograms to more than one metric ton. The scientists described three well-preserved partial ...

Genetic analysis of ancient poop found off the coast of Mexico suggests bighorn sheep may be native to the island, according to a paper published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on March 19, 2014 by Benjamin Wilder from University of California Riverside and colleagues. Bighorn sheep were not thought to inhabit Tiburón Island, the largest island in the Gulf of California and Mexico, prior to their introduction in 1975. Scientists discovered fossilized dung in the mountains of Tiburón Island that challenges that assumption. Scientists compared the pellet-shaped poop ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Using ancient DNA analysis and other techniques, a research team led by conservation biologists at the University of California, Riverside has determined that bighorn sheep, so named for their massive spiral horns, became extinct on Tiburón Island, a large and mostly uninhabited island just off Sonora, Mexico, in the Gulf of California, sometime in the last millennium — specifically between the 6th and 19th centuries. The result, published March 19 in PLOS ONE, is a surprise because conventional wisdom among wildlife biologists and the indigenous Seri ...

SALT LAKE CITY, March 19, 2014 – Scientists from Carnegie and Smithsonian museums and the University of Utah today unveiled the discovery, naming and description of a sharp-clawed, 500-pound, bird-like dinosaur that roamed the Dakotas with T. rex 66 million years ago and looked like an 11 ½-foot-long "chicken from hell." "It was a giant raptor, but with a chicken-like head and presumably feathers. The animal stood about 10 feet tall, so it would be scary as well as absurd to encounter," says University of Utah biology postdoctoral fellow Emma Schachner, a co-author of ...

A team of scientists from the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the University of Utah has described an unusual bird-like dinosaur previously unknown to science, resembling a cross between a modern emu and a reptile. The new species, Anzu wyliei, lived 68 to 66 million years ago and was identified from three partial skeletons collected from the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation in North and South Dakota. The species belongs to Oviraptorosauria, a group of dinosaurs mostly known from fossils found in Central ...

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania…A team of researchers has announced the discovery of a bizarre, bird-like dinosaur, named Anzu wyliei, that provides paleontologists with their first good look at a dinosaur group that has been shrouded in mystery for almost a century. Anzu was described from three specimens that collectively preserve almost the entire skeleton, giving scientists a remarkable opportunity to study the anatomy and evolutionary relationships of Caenagnathidae (pronounced SEE-nuh-NAY-thih-DAY)—the long-mysterious group of theropod dinosaurs to which Anzu belongs. The ...

A new study led by researchers at King's College London has found that premature babies supported immediately after birth by high-frequency oscillation - a type of breathing support - had better lung function as adolescents than those who received conventional ventilation. The children ventilated with the high frequency method also showed higher academic achievement in three of eight school subjects. The findings of the research, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme and the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre ...

Expanding on earlier research, Johns Hopkins researchers report that people with balance disorders or dizziness traceable to an inner-ear disturbance show distinctive abnormal eye movements when the affected ear is exposed to the strong pull of an MRI's magnetic field. The researchers first reported in 2011 in the journal Current Biology that an MRI's magnetic field pushes on the inner ear fluid responsible for maintaining balance, causing subjects undergoing MRI scans to have jerky eye movements and dizziness. Two new studies now suggest that these strong magnets could ...

DURHAM, N.C. – New guidelines for using statins to treat high cholesterol and prevent cardiovascular disease are projected to result in 12.8 million more U.S. adults taking the drugs, according to a research team led by Duke Medicine scientists. The findings for the first time quantify the impact of the American Heart Association's new guidelines, which were issued in November and generated both controversy and speculation about who should be given a prescription for statins. In an analysis of health data published online March 19, 2014, in the New England Journal ...

AMHERST, Mass. ¬– A first-of-its-kind satellite tagging study of migrating New England leatherback turtles in the North Atlantic offers a greatly improved understanding of their seasonal high-use habitats, diving activity and response to key ocean and environmental features in relation to their search behavior. Leatherbacks are considered endangered species in all the world's oceans. The study, part of doctoral research by Kara Dodge supervised by her advisor, Molly Lutcavage of the University of Massachusetts Amherst's Large Pelagics Research Center (LPRC) in Gloucester, ...

LAKE SUCCESS, NY – Two North Shore-LIJ Cancer Institute doctors, world-renowned for their research in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), weigh in on a German study of a new drug therapy for CLL in the March 20 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, the North Shore-LIJ Health System announced today. CLL is one of the most common forms of blood cancers, usually affecting those later in life. In an editorial written by Kanti Rai, MD, chief of CLL Research and Treatment Program for the health system, and Jacqueline Barrientos, MD, a research hematologist on staff ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – During Pleistocene era climate changes, neotropical orchid bees that relied on year-round warmth and wet weather found their habitats reduced by 30 to 50 percent, according to a Cornell University study that used computer models and genetic data to understand bee distributions during past climate changes. In previous studies, researchers have tracked male and female orchid bees and found that while females stay near their nests, male orchid bees travel, with one study concluding they roam as far as 7 kilometers per day. These past findings, corroborated ...

MINNEAPOLIS – People who develop diabetes and high blood pressure in middle age are more likely to have brain cell loss and other damage to the brain, as well as problems with memory and thinking skills, than people who never have diabetes or high blood pressure or who develop it in old age, according to a new study published in the March 19, 2014, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Middle age was defined as age 40 to 64 and old age as age 65 and older. "Potentially, if we can prevent or control diabetes and high blood ...

If you're rigid with rules and skimpy on affection and dialogue with your kids, they have a greater chance of being obese, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology & Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity & Metabolism Scientific Sessions 2014. Researchers followed a nationally representative group of 37,577 Canadian children aged 0 to 11. They compared kids whose parents are generally affectionate, have reasonable discussions about behavior with their child and set healthy boundaries (authoritative) with those whose parents were ...