The combined heat from climate change and urbanization is likely to reduce the number of eastern swallowtails and other native butterflies in Ohio and promote the spread of invasive relatives, a new study led by a Case Western Reserve University researcher shows. Among 20 species monitored by the Ohio Lepidopterists society, eight showed significant delays in important early lifecycle events when the two factors were combined—a surprising response that may render the eight unfit for parts of the state where they now thrive. Butterflies serve as important indicator ...

RICHLAND, Wash. – Killer whales and other marine mammals likely hear sonar signals more than we've known. That's because commercially available sonar systems, which are designed to create signals beyond the range of hearing of such animals, also emit signals known to be within their hearing range, scientists have discovered. The sound is likely very soft and audible only when the animals are within a few hundred meters of the source, say the authors of a new study. The signals would not cause any actual tissue damage, but it's possible that they affect the behavior ...

People fear diseases such as Ebola, Marburg, Lassa fever, rabies and HIV for good reason; they have high mortality rates and few, if any, possible treatments. As many as 90 percent of people who contract Ebola, for instance, die of the disease. Facing this gaping need for therapies, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine teamed with colleagues to focus on identifying and developing compounds that could reduce a virus' ability to spread infection. In two studies published in the Journal of Virology, the researchers have identified several ...

Two teams of astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have discovered three distant exploding stars that have been magnified by the immense gravity of foreground galaxy clusters, which act like "cosmic lenses". These supernovae are the first of their type ever to be observed magnified in this way and they offer astronomers a powerful tool to check the prescription of these massive lenses. Massive clusters of galaxies act as "gravitational lenses" because their powerful gravity bends light passing through them [1]. This lensing phenomenon makes faraway objects ...

This news release is available in French. In Concordia's study, men responded more strongly to the "framing effect" when physical attractiveness was described. A hamburger that's 90 per cent fat-free sounds a lot better than one with 10 per cent fat. And even when the choices are the same, humans are hard-wired to prefer the more positive option. This is because of what's known as the "framing effect," a principle that new research from Concordia has proved applies to mate selection, too. The study — co-authored by Concordia marketing professor Gad Saad and Wilfrid ...

The human costs of America's wars have received scant attention in daily war reporting – through five major conflicts going back a century – says an extensive and first-of-its-kind study of New York Times war coverage being published this month. It's timely research given the major anniversaries this year for three of those conflicts. No matter the war, the number of dead and wounded, the degree of government censorship, the type of warfare, or whether volunteers or draftees are doing the fighting, casualties get little mention, says Scott Althaus, a University of Illinois ...

SAN FRANCISCO, May 1, 2014 -- Many shoppers, whether they buy material items or life experiences, are no happier following the purchase than they were before, according to a new study from San Francisco State University. Although previous research has shown experiences create greater happiness for buyers, the study suggests that certain material buyers -- those who tend to purchase material goods -- may be an exception to this rule. The study is detailed in an article to be published in the June edition of the Journal of Research in Personality. "Everyone has been told ...

An ecological strategy developed by four researchers, including two from Simon Fraser University, aims to abate the grim future that the combination of two factors could inflict on many amphibians, including frogs and salamanders. A warming climate and the introduction of non-native fish in the American West's mountainous areas are combining to threaten the habitat that this ecologically critical group of species needs to thrive. Previous studies predict the combined effect of climate change and non-native fish could cause amphibian populations to decline and even ...

Chicago (May 1, 2014): Noncombat-related injury—caused by regular car accidents, falls and burns—is the most common reason for pediatric admissions to U.S. military combat hospitals in both Iraq and Afghanistan reveals new study findings published in the May issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. In recent years, research has shown that Army hospitals treat a significant number of wounded and sick children in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the new analysis explores the nature of that care, determining how many children were treated for combat-related injuries ...

WASHINGTON - The Bureau of Reclamation is releasing a series of videos summarizing collaborative research addressing climate change and variability impacts, estimating flood and drought hazards, and improving streamflow prediction. This information was presented in January at the Second Annual Progress Meeting on Reclamation Climate and Hydrology Research. "For more than 100 years, Reclamation and its partners have developed the tools to guide a sustainable water and power future for the West," said Acting Commissioner Lowell Pimley. "This video series summarizes collaborative ...

NEW YORK, NY (May 1, 2014) —Researchers have identified two types of neurons that enable the spinal cord to control skilled forelimb movement. The first is a group of excitatory interneurons that are needed to make accurate and precise movements; the second is a group of inhibitory interneurons necessary for achieving smooth movement of the limbs. The findings are important steps toward understanding normal human motor function and potentially treating movement disorders that arise from injury or disease. "We take for granted many motor behaviors, such as catching a ...

Voting for the Eurovision Song Contest has been scrutinised by statistics experts at UCL and Imperial College London, who have found that musical talent is unlikely to be the only element that wins scores – but that the contest is not stitched up at the UK's expense. The analysis of voting patterns over the past two decades suggests that widespread support for certain countries' acts is, however, not driven by prejudice, as the media periodically suggests, but by positive loyalties based on culture, geography, history and migration. But these effects are relatively ...

Pasadena, CA— New work from a team of scientists including Carnegie's Josh Simon analyzed the chemical elements in the faintest known galaxy, called Segue 1, and determined that it is effectively a fossil galaxy left over from the early universe. Astronomers hoping to learn about the first stages of galaxy formation after the Big Bang use the chemical composition of stars to help them unravel the histories of the Milky Way and other nearby galaxies. Using these chemical analysis techniques, the team was able to categorize Segue 1's uniquely ancient composition. Their ...

MANHASSET, NY – A study from North Shore University Hospital's (NSUH) cardiothoracic surgery department demonstrated a very significant reduction in hospital readmissions after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. This study is featured in the May 2014 issue of The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, the North Shore-LIJ Health System announced today. The CABG patients who did not receive home health care through the Follow Your Heart program were three times more likely to either be readmitted to the hospital or pass away, the study found. The 30-day readmission rate ...

A major new survey of the seafloor has found that even in the deepest ocean depths you can find bottles, plastic bags, fishing nets and other types of human litter. The litter was found throughout the Mediterranean, and all the way from the continental shelf of Europe to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge 2,000 kilometres from land. Litter is a problem in the marine environment as it can be mistaken for food and eaten by some animals or can entangle coral and fish – a process known as "ghost fishing". The international study involving 15 organisations across Europe was led by the ...

SAN DIEGO, CA – April 30, 2014 – Three new mango-related studies were presented this week at the 2014 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) in San Diego, revealing initial findings on the effects of mango consumption on ulcerative colitis and bone parameters in animal models. "The mango industry's nutrition research program is committed to advancing our understanding of the role mangos can play as part of a healthy diet," said Megan McKenna, Director of Marketing for the National Mango Board. "These studies provide important insights that ...

West Orange, NJ. April 30, 2014. Multiple sclerosis researchers have found that brain reserve and cognitive reserve confer a long-term protective effect against cognitive decline: Sumowski JF, Rocca MA, Leavitt VM, Dackovic J, Mesaros S, Drulovic J, Deluca J, Filippi M. Brain reserve and cognitive reserve protect against cognitive decline over 4.5 years in MS. Neurology. 2014 Apr 18. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000000433 [Epub ahead of print]. James Sumowski, PhD, lead author of the article, and John DeLuca, PhD, are at Kessler Foundation. Co-authors are from the Manhattan ...

Tracing where your DNA was formed over 1,000 years ago is now possible due to a revolutionary technique developed by a team of international scientists led by experts from the University of Sheffield. The ground breaking Geographic Population Structure (GPS) tool, created by Dr Eran Elhaik from the University of Sheffield's Department of Animal and Plant Sciences and Dr Tatiana Tatarinova from the University of Southern California, works similarly to a satellite navigation system as it helps you to find your way home, but not the one you currently live in – but rather ...

Each year, more than 25,000 Americans are diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer that often develops resistance to therapies. However, researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center are reporting promising results from laboratory experiments testing a new combination therapy that could potentially overcome the resistance hurdle. While several drugs are effective against multiple myeloma, including the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib, multiple myeloma cells are often able to survive by increasing the production of a protein known ...

Johns Hopkins biochemists have figured out what is needed to activate and sustain the virus-fighting activity of an enzyme found in CD4+ T cells, the human immune cells infected by HIV. The discovery could launch a more effective strategy for preventing the spread of HIV in the body with drugs targeting this enzyme, they say. A summary of their work was published online on April 21 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Current antiretroviral drugs target HIV's proteins," says James Stivers, Ph.D., a professor of pharmacology and molecular sciences ...

INDIANAPOLIS -- The new Center for Health Innovation & Implementation Science at the Indiana University School of Medicine and Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute is studying how best to prepare the future health care workforce as the country's population ages. It calls upon the tools of implementation science to enable these workers and the health systems that will employ them to provide optimal care in a rapidly changing health care environment. Implementation science, a new discipline, provides tools to clinicians and administrators to deliver better ...

Fairfax, Va., May 1, 2014—Patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck treated with hyperfractionated radiation therapy (HFX) experienced improved local-regional control and, with patients censored at five years, improved overall survival with no increase in late toxicity, according to a study published in the May 1, 2014 edition of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology ● Biology ● Physics (Red Journal), the official scientific journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). This study, "Final Results ...

When a woman requires gynecologic surgery, she and her surgeon have several minimally invasive surgical options, including robotic surgery. In recent years, the use of robotic surgery has become more and more common. But questions have arisen about the potential overuse of robotic surgery and its advantages over traditional laparotomy for hysterectomy. A clinical opinion by Charles Rardin, MD, a urogynecologist in the Division of Urogynecology and Reconstructive Surgery and director of the Robotic Surgery Program for Women at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, ...

Traditional first-line checks of such heart disease risk factors as cholesterol, blood pressure and smoking habits aren't nearly good enough to identify cardiovascular disease in otherwise healthy, young firefighters, according to results of a small Johns Hopkins study. Previous studies have found that cardiovascular disease accounts for 45 percent of deaths of on-duty firefighters nationwide, in contrast to 15 percent of deaths among those with conventional occupations, with heart attack being the number one cause of death. The Johns Hopkins researchers designed their ...

By hightailing it to nearby ponds and shallow waterways, frogs and salamanders have – until now – had a way to evade exotic trout introduced to the West's high-mountain lakes for recreational fishing. A warming climate, however, will dry up some of the places where amphibians and their young have found refuge. Researchers in the May 1 issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment write about this challenge and a novel combination of tools that could help land managers, biologists, fishing enthusiasts and other citizens weigh where amphibians are in the most need of ...