Palaeontologists have developed methods to try to identify and correct for bias and incompleteness in the fossil record. A new study, published on 4 September 2014 in the journal Nature Communications, suggests that some of these correction methods may actually be misleading. The work is led by Dr Alex Dunhill (University of Leeds, formerly at the Universities of Bath and Bristol), together with Hannisdal (University of Bergen) and Professor Michael Benton (University of Bristol). Back to the origin of animals "The Earth keeps changing. Life keeps evolving. And there ...

Young people have a more robust immune response to the loss of a loved one, according to new research from the University of Birmingham, providing insight into how different generations cope with loss. The study, published in the journal Immunity and Ageing, shows how the balance of our stress hormones during grief changes as we age – meaning elderly people are more likely to have reduced immune function and, as a result, suffer from infections. It is the first research to compare different generations and display the relationship between stress hormones and immune ...

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Sept. 9, 2014 – Myriad Genetics, Inc. (Nasdaq: MYGN) today presented results from a pivotal clinical utility study of the Myriad myPath™ Melanoma test at the 2014 College of American Pathologists (CAP) annual meeting in Chicago, Ill. Myriad myPath Melanoma is a novel diagnostic test that differentiates malignant melanoma from benign skin lesions with greater than 90 percent accuracy and helps physicians deliver a more objective and confident diagnosis for patients. This study evaluated the impact of the myPath Melanoma diagnostic test on expert ...

Berkeley — Scientists estimate that fewer than 100 Devils Hole pupfish remain in their Mojave Desert home, but a conservation biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, is giving important guidance in the efforts to rescue them by establishing a captive breeding program. Considered the world's rarest fish, with one of the smallest geographic ranges of any wild vertebrate, the tiny pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis) – about one-inch long as an adult – neared extinction in spring 2013 when populations dropped to an all-time low of 35 observable pupfish. While more ...

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest class of cell surface receptors in our cells, involved in signal transmission across the cell membrane. One of the biggest questions is how a signal recognized at the extracellular side of a GPCR induces a sequence of conformational changes in the protein and finally evokes an intracellular response. EPFL scientists have now used computer modeling to reveal in molecular detail the structural transitions that happen inside GPCRs during the signal transduction process. They discovered that a central step in the trans-membrane ...

A growing "dead zone" in the middle of the Arabian Sea has allowed plankton uniquely suited to low-oxygen water to take over the base of the food chain. Their rise to dominance over the last decade could be disastrous for the predator fish that sustain 120 million people living on the sea's edge. Scientists at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and their colleagues are the first to document the rapid rise of green Noctiluca scintillans, an unusual dinoflagellate that eats other plankton and draws energy from the sun via microscopic algae living within ...

Menlo Park, Calif. — Scientists have married two unconventional forms of carbon – one shaped like a soccer ball, the other a tiny diamond – to make a molecule that conducts electricity in only one direction. This tiny electronic component, known as a rectifier, could play a key role in shrinking chip components down to the size of molecules to enable faster, more powerful devices. "We wanted to see what new, emergent properties might come out when you put these two ingredients together to create a 'buckydiamondoid,'" said Hari Manoharan of the Stanford Institute for Materials ...

People who are obese may be more susceptible to environmental food cues than their lean counterparts due to differences in brain chemistry that make eating more habitual and less rewarding, according to a National Institutes of Health study published in Molecular Psychiatry. Researchers at the NIH Clinical Center found that, when examining 43 men and women with varying amounts of body fat, obese participants tended to have greater dopamine activity in the habit-forming region of the brain than lean counterparts, and less activity in the region controlling reward. Those ...

Munich, Germany: A new study has revealed how stem cells work to improve lung function in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Previous studies have shown that stem cells can reduce lung inflammation and restore some function in ARDS, but experts are not sure how this occurs. The new study, which was presented at the European Respiratory Society's International Congress today (09 September 2014), brings us a step closer to understanding the mechanisms that occur within an injured lung. ARDS is a life-threatening condition in which the efficiency of the lungs ...

Munich, Germany: A new study has found that factors, such as birth weight, gestational age at birth and lung function, growth and other measures at 8 years, can be used to predict lung function during mid to late teenage years. The study, presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) International Congress in Munich today (9 September 2014), is part of a growing area of research aiming to understand how early life factors have an impact on the development of disease into adulthood. Data out of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Mothers and Children (ALSPAC) from ...

Munich, Germany: A proportion of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) cases may be linked with asbestos exposure, according to the results of a new study. If confirmed, the findings would mean that current treatment strategies need to be altered as people with a history of asbestos exposure are not currently able to access new treatments for IPF. The research, which was presented at the European Respiratory Society's International Congress today (09 September 2014), provided new mortality data for IPF, asbestosis and mesothelioma. Asbestosis is the name given to the ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Sept. 9, 2014 – Regenerative medicine researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have addressed a major challenge in the quest to build replacement kidneys in the lab. Working with human-sized pig kidneys, the scientists developed the most successful method to date to keep blood vessels in the new organs open and flowing with blood. The work is reported in journal Technology. "Until now, lab-built kidneys have been rodent-sized and have functioned for only one or two hours after transplantation because blood clots developed," said Anthony ...

Treatment at the earliest age when symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) appear – sometimes in infants as young as 6 months old – significantly reduces symptoms so that, by age 3, most who received the therapy had neither ASD nor developmental delay, a UC Davis MIND Institute research study has found. The treatment, known as Infant Start, was administered over a six-month period to 6- to 15-month-old infants who exhibited marked autism symptoms, such as decreased eye contact, social interest or engagement, repetitive movement patterns, and a lack of intentional communication. ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – According to new research performed at the Mayo Clinic, iodine-based contrast material injected intravenously to enhance computed tomography (CT) images can be safely used in most patients. The study appears online in the journal Radiology. Of the 80 million or more CT scans performed each year in the United States, iodine-based contrast material is used in at least half to enhance computed tomography (CT) images, according to researcher Robert J. McDonald, M.D., Ph.D., a radiology resident at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. According to Dr. McDonald, ...

INDIANAPOLIS -- What do skipping school, failing tests and engaging in risky sexual behavior have in common? Lots, according to Indiana University researchers who combed through 80,000 diary entries written by 14- to 17-year-old girls. Although the findings are intuitive, this is the first study to examine the day-to-day relationship between teenage girls' reports about school-related events, how they felt and the sexual behaviors they participated in. Published Sept. 9 in the Journal of Adolescent Health, the findings are based on a 10-year study of the development of ...

Researchers have identified a novel virus that could be the source of a severe, sometimes fatal respiratory disease that has been observed in captive ball pythons since the 1990s. The work is published this week in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. Investigators observed the virus, which they named ball python nidovirus, in eight snakes with pneumonia; virus levels were highest in the animals' lungs and other respiratory tract tissues. The team also sequenced the genome of the virus, finding it to be the largest of any RNA ...

Premature infants are at increased risk for a potentially lethal gastrointestinal disease called necrotizing enterocolitis, or NEC. Studies conducted by researchers at Children's Hospital Los Angeles demonstrate that a protein called neuregulin-4 (NRG4)—present in breast milk, but absent from formula—may be protective against the intestinal destruction caused in NEC. Their results will be published online on September 9 in advance of the print edition of the American Journal of Pathology. Thirty percent of babies with NEC die from their disease, and even survivors can ...

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 9, 2014 – A man's likelihood of accumulating fat around his heart – an important indicator of heart disease risk – may be better determined if doctors consider his race and ethnicity, as well as where on his body he's building up excess fat, reveals an international evaluation led by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. The findings, published online today in the International Journal of Obesity, indicate that it may be useful to take racial and ethnic differences into account when designing programs to reduce obesity because ...

ORLANDO, FL – SEPTEMBER 9, 2014 – Research published in the journal Nutrition and Metabolic Insights found that regular consumption of mango by obese adults may lower blood sugar levels and does not negatively impact body weight. These are important findings considering that approximately 34 percent of U.S. adults have been classified as obese and given the health concerns related to obesity, such as type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and metabolic syndrome. "We are excited about these promising findings for mangos, which contain many bioactive compounds, including mangiferin, an ...

Higher rates of Autism Spectrum Disorders in males than females may be related to changes in the brain's estrogen signalling, according to research published in the open access journal Molecular Autism. The study examined the brains of people that had Autism Spectrum Disorders compared to controls, and found that they are linked with far lower levels of a key estrogen receptor and other estrogen-related proteins. Because of the small group size, these results indicate an exciting avenue for further research, rather than confirming a role for altered estrogen signalling ...

Scientists believe they have found a way to explain why there are not as many galaxies orbiting the Milky Way as expected. Computer simulations of the formation of our galaxy suggest that there should be many more, smaller galaxies around the Milky Way than are observed through telescopes. This has thrown doubt on the generally accepted theory of cold dark matter, a substance that scientists predict should allow for more galaxy formation around the Milky Way than is seen. Now cosmologists and particle physicists at the Institute for Computational Cosmology (ICC) and ...

Munich, Germany: The effects of tear gas are not just short term and could be experienced for up to two weeks after the event, according to a new study. The study, presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) International Congress in Munich today (10 September 2014), investigated the duration of lung health effects in protesters directly exposed to tear gas. Researchers in Turkey conducted a questionnaire survey with 546 people who had inhaled tear gas during public protests in June 2013. They collected information on smoking history, exposure to tear gas, ...

But high doses were no better than dummy (placebo treatment), the findings indicated. The omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil are able to cross over from the bloodstream into heart cells where they work to stabilise heart rhythm and protect against heart attacks. This is particularly important for people with epilepsy because they have a significantly higher risk of having a heart attack than those without the condition. And experimental research indicates that omega 3 fatty acids can also cross over into the central nervous system, where they reduce the excitability ...

A meta-analysis comprising 16 studies and 891,426 participants from various regions of the world shows that prediabetes increases the risk of cancer by 15%, with differing risks depending on the type of cancer. The study, published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) is by Professor Yuli Huang, The First People's Hospital of Shunde, Daliang Town, Shunde District, China, and colleagues. Prediabetes is a general term that refers to an intermediate stage between normoglycaemia and overt diabetes mellitus. It includes individuals ...

The safety of nicotine refill cartridges used in electronic cigarettes needs to be improved to prevent toddlers accidentally swallowing the contents and potentially coming to serious harm, warn doctors in Archives of Disease in Childhood. The warning follows their treatment of a suspected case in the UK and emerging US data on the substantial rise of unintentional nicotine poisoning from e-cigarettes among the under 5s. The UK toddler was brought into the emergency care department of Good Hope Hospital in Birmingham after the child's mother had spotted her picking up ...