DURHAM, N.C. -- Samples isolated from Chobani yogurt that was voluntarily recalled in September 2013 have been found to contain the most virulent form of a fungus called Mucor circinelloides, which is associated with infections in immune-compromised people. The study by Duke University scientists shows that this strain of the fungus can survive in a mouse and be found in its feces as many as 10 days after ingestion. In August and September 2013, more than 200 consumers of contaminated Chobani Greek Yogurt became ill with vomiting, nausea and diarrhea. The U.S. Food ...

Nagoya, Japan – Professor Takashi Yoshimura and colleagues of the Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (WPI-ITbM) of Nagoya University have finally found the missing piece in how birds sense light by identifying a deep brain photoreceptor in Japanese quails, in which the receptor directly responds to light and controls seasonal breeding activity. Although it has been known for over 100 years that vertebrates apart from mammals detect light deep inside their brains, the true nature of the key photoreceptor has remained to be a mystery up until now. This study led by ...

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory disorders - the incidence of these non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is constantly rising in industrialised countries. The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) is, therefore, in the process of developing a national prevention strategy with a view to improving the population's health competence and encouraging healthier behaviour. Attention is focusing, amongst other things, on the main risk factors for these diseases which are linked to personal behaviour – i.e. tobacco smoking, an unhealthy diet, ...

Research led by the University of Adelaide has provided new insights into how the HIV virus greatly boosts its chances of spreading infection, and why HIV is so hard to combat. HIV infects human immune cells by turning the infection-fighting proteins of these cells into a "backdoor key" that lets the virus in. Recent research has found that another protein is involved as well. A peptide in semen that sticks together and forms structures known as "amyloid fibrils" enhances the virus's infection rate by up to an astonishing 10,000 times. How and why these fibrils enhance ...

The Association of American Universities (AAU), an association of leading public and private research universities, today launched the AAU STEM Initiative Hub, a website that will both support and widen the impact of the association's initiative to improve the quality of undergraduate teaching and learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields at its member institutions. AAU has partnered with HUBzero, a web-based platform for scientific collaboration developed and managed by Purdue University, to create the AAU STEM Initiative Hub. The new ...

RICHLAND, Wash. – The lithium-ion batteries that power our laptops and electric vehicles could store more energy and run longer on a single charge with the help of a sponge-like silicon material. Researchers developed the porous material to replace the graphite traditionally used in one of the battery's electrodes, as silicon has more than 10 times the energy storage capacity of graphite. A paper describing the material's performance as a lithium-ion battery electrode was published today in Nature Communications. "Silicon has long been sought as a way to improve the ...

PISCATAWAY, NJ – The brands of alcohol popular with underage drinkers also happen to be the ones heavily advertised in magazines that young people read, a new study finds. The findings, reported in July's Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, add to evidence that alcohol ads can encourage kids to drink. They also suggest that the alcohol industry's self-imposed standards on advertising are inadequate, said lead researcher Craig Ross, Ph.D., M.B.A., of the Natick, Mass.,-based Virtual Media Resources. "All of the ads in our study were in complete compliance with ...

Underage drinkers between the ages of 18 and 20 see more magazine advertising than any other age group for the alcohol brands they consume most heavily, raising important questions about whether current alcohol self-regulatory codes concerning advertising are sufficiently protecting young people. This is the conclusion of a new study from the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health that examined which age groups saw the most magazine advertising for the 25 alcohol brands most popular among underage boys and ...

The fungus responsible for an outbreak of contaminated Greek yogurt last year is not harmless after all but a strain with the ability to cause disease, according to research published in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. In September 2013, customers of Chobani brand Greek yogurt complained of gastrointestinal (GI) problems after consuming products manufactured in the company's Idaho plant. The company issued a recall, and it was believed at the time that the fungal contaminant Murcor circinelloides was only a potential danger ...

Ann Arbor, MI, July 8, 2014 – It is well documented that children with obese parents are at greater risk for obesity. In a new study, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, Cornell University, and Duke University looked at how different kinds of family associations affect obesity, specifically how sibling relationships affect a child's weight. They not only found a correlation between parents and child, but also discovered a link between having an obese sibling and a child's obesity risk, after adjusting for the parent-child relationship. Their findings are published ...

City of Industry, CA – July 8, 2014 – Data presented at April's Experimental Biology 2014 Annual Scientific Meeting shows that KoACT, a dietary supplement that combines a proprietary formulation of calcium and collagen is optimal for bone strength and flexibility in post-menopausal women. The research was conducted by Bahram H. Arjmandi, Ph. D, RD, who is currently Margaret A. Sitton Named Professor and Chair of the Department of Nutrition, Food, and Exercise Sciences at The Florida State University (FSU). Dr. Jennifer Gu, AIDP's Vice President of Research and Development, ...

Scientists have identified a set of 10 proteins in the blood which can predict the onset of Alzheimer's, marking a significant step towards developing a blood test for the disease. The study, led by King's College London and UK proteomics company, Proteome Sciences plc, analysed over 1,000 individuals and is the largest of its kind to date. There are currently no effective long-lasting drug treatments for Alzheimer's, and it is believed that many new clinical trials fail because drugs are given too late in the disease process. A blood test could be used to identify patients ...

Partial knee replacement surgery is safer than total knee replacement, according to a new study published in The Lancet today (July 8). A team of researchers from the University of Oxford, funded by Arthritis Research UK and the Royal College of Surgeons, found that: Although the risk of life-threatening complications from knee replacement surgery is very small, people who undergo total knee replacement are four times more likely to die in the first month after surgery compared to those who have partial knee replacement, and 15 per cent more likely to die in the first ...

The advantage is particularly evident for very premature babies born after less than 27 weeks of pregnancy, where the figure rises to 50%, prompting the authors to conclude that new services for newborns should promote delivery of very preterm babies in high volume units. How best to organise critical care for newborns has been the focus of intense debate, with the results of various studies indicating that centralised care is linked to better outcomes. But after a review in 2003, the government in England decided to reconfigure services into managed clinical networks ...

New research published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) suggests that consuming whey protein before a regular breakfast reduces the blood sugar spikes seen after meals and also improves the body's insulin response. Thus whey protein could be an additional tool to help control blood sugar in patients with diabetes. The research was conducted in Israel by Professor Daniela Jakubowicz and Dr Julio Wainstein (Wolfson Medical Center, Tel Aviv University), Professor Oren Froy (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Professor Bo Ahrén ...

Preterm babies admitted to high volume neonatal units are less likely to die compared to those admitted to low volume units, according to researchers. A study, published in BMJ Open, has provided new estimates to assess how organisational factors in England impact clinical outcomes of infants born preterm. Results demonstrated that for preterm babies born at less than 33 weeks gestation, the odds of dying in hospital were 32 per cent less if they were admitted to high volume units at the hospital of birth than if they were admitted to low volume units (odds ratio 0.68). ...

1. Task Force recommends against screening for carotid artery stenosis in general adult population The United States Preventive Services Task Force recommends against screening for asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis in the general adult population, according to a recommendation statement being published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in the United States and having carotid artery stenosis (a buildup of plaque in the carotid arteries that causes them to narrow) is a risk factor. although it accounts for a smaller number ...

Women who had prenatal and infant/toddler nurse visits at home were less likely to die than women who did not and children whose mothers were visited by nurses were less likely to have died by age 20 from preventable causes. Since 1990, the authors have been conducting a randomized clinical trial of a program of prenatal and infant/toddler home visits by nurses for very low-income, largely black mothers, having their first child. The study assigned 1,138 mothers to 1 of 4 treatment groups: treatment 1 (transportation for prenatal care, n=166), treatment 2 (transportation ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The oxygen-rich surface waters of the world's major oceans are supersaturated with methane – a powerful greenhouse gas that is roughly 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide – yet little is known about the source of this methane. Now a new study by researchers at Oregon State University demonstrates the ability of some strains of the oceans' most abundant organism – SAR11 – to generate methane as a byproduct of breaking down a compound for its phosphorus. Results of the study are being published this week in Nature Communications. It was funded ...

Alexandria, Va. — Tucked high in the Andes Mountains of northern Peru is a remarkable fossil locality: a 39-million-year-old petrified forest preserved in nearly pristine condition: stumps, full trees, leaves and all. With its existence unknown to scientists until the early 1990s — and its significance unbeknownst to villagers — this ancient forest hosts the remains of more than 40 types of trees, some still rooted, that flourished in a lowland tropical forest until they were suddenly buried by a volcanic eruption during the Eocene. Since its discovery a little more than ...

MIAMI – A new study on biological erosion of mesophotic tropical coral reefs, which are low energy reef environments between 30-150 meters deep, provides new insights into processes that affect the overall structure of these important ecosystems. The purpose of the study was to better understand how bioerosion rates and distribution of bioeroding organisms, such as fish, mollusks and sponges, differ between mesophotic reefs and their shallow-water counterparts and the implications of those variations on the sustainability of the reef structure. Due to major advancements ...

Re-examination of a circa 100,000-year-old archaic early human skull found 35 years ago in Northern China has revealed the surprising presence of an inner-ear formation long thought to occur only in Neandertals. "The discovery places into question a whole suite of scenarios of later Pleistocene human population dispersals and interconnections based on tracing isolated anatomical or genetic features in fragmentary fossils," said study co-author Erik Trinkaus, PhD, a physical anthropology professor at Washington University in St. Louis. "It suggests, instead, that ...

GREENWICH, CT, EMBARGOED UNTIL JULY 7, 2014 (3:00 PM EST) -- Scientists have identified the fossilized remains of an extinct giant bird that is likely to have the largest wingspan of any bird ever to have lived. A paper announcing the findings, "Flight Performance of the Largest Volant Bird," was published July 7 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and is authored by Dr. Daniel Ksepka, the newest Curator of Science at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich. With a wingspan of 20 to 24 feet, Pelagornis sandersi was more than twice as big as the Royal ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Scientists have identified the fossilized remains of an extinct giant bird that could be the biggest flying bird ever found. With an estimated 20-24-foot wingspan, the creature surpassed size estimates based on wing bones from the previous record holder -- a long-extinct bird named Argentavis magnificens -- and was twice as big as the Royal Albatross, the largest flying bird today. Scheduled to appear online the week of July 7, 2014, in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the findings show that the creature was an extremely efficient ...

Researchers from the University of Oxford, the University of Limerick, and the Harvard School of Public Health have developed a mathematical model to examine online social networks, in particular the trade-off between copying our friends and relying on 'best-seller' lists. The researchers examined how users are influenced in the choice of apps that they install on their Facebook pages by creating a mathematical model to capture the dynamics at play. By incorporating data from the installation of Facebook apps into their mathematical model, they found that users selected ...