The total stock of fish on the planet had been reckoned until today to be around 2,000 million tonnes. About half of them were thought to be mesopelagic fish, in other words, ones found at depths of between 200 and 1,000 metres in ocean areas. However, an international team*, in which AZTI-Tecnalia researchers are participating and which is being led by the doctor in oceanography Xabier Irigoien, has discovered that its abundance could be at least 10 times higher than the original estimate. The results have been published in the journal Nature Communications. Mesopelagic ...

Biologists working in the Andes mountains of Ecuador have described a new plant species, a wild relative of black pepper, that is in itself a mini biodiversity hotspot. The new species, Piper kelleyi, is the sole home of an estimated 40-50 insect species, most of which are entirely dependent on this plant species for survival. This discovery is part of a larger project which focuses on the influence of plant-produced chemical compounds on biodiversity. The study was published in the open access journal PhytoKeys. The chemical compounds produced by plants are source of ...

Since its first identification in Asia, highly pathogenic avian influenza—H5N1—has caused significant alarm in the scientific community. While the virus' primary target is birds—tens of millions have already died from it—it is capable of infecting mammals, including humans, causing serious illness and a frightening rate of mortality. In a new study, Matthew Scotch, a researcher at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute, tracks the spread of an H5N1 variant in Egypt—a country recently identified as a major epicenter for the virus. In results recently appearing ...

An international team of researchers led by scientists at Virginia Tech and the University of California, Berkeley has discovered that a process that turns on photosynthesis in plants likely developed on Earth in ancient microbes 2.5 billion years ago, long before oxygen became available. The research offers new perspective on evolutionary biology, microbiology, and the production of natural gas, and may shed light on climate change, agriculture, and human health. "By looking at this one mechanism that was not previously studied, we will be able to develop new basic ...

SAN ANTONIO (Feb. 6, 2014) — Scientists from the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio have found a clue as to why muscles weaken with age. In a study published Feb. 5 in The Journal of Neuroscience, they report the first evidence that "set points" in the nervous system are not inalterably determined during development but instead can be reset with age. They observed a change in set point that resulted in significantly diminished motor function in aging fruit flies. "The body has a set point for temperature (98.6 degrees), ...

A genetic disorder that affects about 1 in every 2,500 births can cause a bewildering array of clinical problems, including brain tumors, impaired vision, learning disabilities, behavioral problems, heart defects and bone deformities. The symptoms and their severity vary among patients affected by this condition, known as neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a patient's gender as a clear and simple guidepost to help health-care providers anticipate some of the effects of NF1. The scientists ...

A new study analyses the risk factors and excess mortality among heroin and cocaine consumers admitted to treatment in Spain. The results reveal that the fatality rate among consumers of both drugs is 14.3 times higher than for the general population, while among those only using cocaine, it is 5.1 times higher. In Spain the majority of deaths related to cocaine are not correctly certified and therefore up until now very few studies have been carried out that analyse the consequences of consuming these drugs in terms of mortality. "Death certificates rarely include ...

Mexico is the fourth largest honey producer and fifth largest honey exporter in the world. A Smithsonian researcher and colleagues helped rural farmers in Mexico to quantify the genetically modified organism (GMO) soybean pollen in honey samples rejected for sale in Germany. Their results will appear Feb. 7 in the online journal, Scientific Reports. David Roubik, senior staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and colleagues developed the ability to identify pollen grains in honey in Panama and in Mexico during the 1980s and 1990s when they studied ...

With a stock estimated at 1,000 million tons so far, mesopelagic fish dominate the total biomass of fish in the ocean. However, a team of researchers with the participation of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) has found that their abundance could be at least 10 times higher. The results, published in Nature Communications journal, are based on the acoustic observations conducted during the circumnavigation of the Malaspina Expedition. Mesopelagic fishes, such as lantern fishes (Myctophidae) and cyclothonids (Gonostomatidae), live in the twilight zone of the ...

The first top predators to walk on land were not afraid to bite off more than they could chew, a University of Toronto Mississauga study has found. Graduate student and lead author Kirstin Brink along with Professor Robert Reisz from U of T Mississauga's Department of Biology suggest that Dimetrodon, a carnivore that walked on land between 298 million and 272 million years ago, was the first terrestrial vertebrate to develop serrated ziphodont teeth. According to the study published in Nature Communications, ziphodont teeth, with their serrated edges, produced a more-efficient ...

"Understanding the pattern of insulin use is limited by a lack of data characterising the prevalence of insulin use in the UK," according to Craig Currie, Professor of Applied Pharmacoepidemiology at Cardiff University's School of Medicine, who led the study alongside colleagues from the University of Bristol. "Given the limitations, our study sought to calculate – for the first time – the best possible estimate of the rates of insulin for type 1 and type 2 diabetes." In this retrospective study the team examined the number of patients receiving prescriptions for ...

Philadelphia, PA, February 7, 2014 – Despite the identification of gene mutations in methyl CpG binding protein 2 (MECP2) being linked to Rett syndrome (RS), research has been hindered by the lack of commercially available reference materials. Through collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and members of the clinical-laboratory and non-profit–research communities, 35 DNA samples containing many common RS genetic variants have now been characterized and made publicly available, eliminating a major stumbling-block for investigators and ...

For the first time, guidelines have been developed for preventing stroke in women. "If you are a woman, you share many of the same risk factors for stroke with men, but your risk is also influenced by hormones, reproductive health, pregnancy, childbirth and other sex-related factors," said Cheryl Bushnell, M.D., M.H.S., author of the new scientific statement published in the American Heart Association journal Stroke. The guidelines outline stroke risks unique to women and provide scientifically-based recommendations on how best to treat them, including: Women with a ...

Viruses mutate fast, which means they can quickly become resistant to anti-viral drugs. But viruses also depend on proteins and nutrients provided by their hosts, and therefore one strategy to identify new anti-viral drugs is to identify and target such host-cell components. A paper published on February 6th in PLOS Pathogens reports that proteins involved in the regulation of cholesterol are essential for hantavirus entry into human host cells. There are only about 30 known human cases of hantavirus infection in the US per year (with the 2012 cluster in Yosemite National ...

Washington, DC (February 6, 2014) — A chemical that can accumulate in seafood and is known to cause brain damage is also toxic to the kidneys, but at much lower concentrations. The findings, which come from a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN), suggest that officials may need to reconsider what levels of the toxin are safe for human consumption. The world's oceans contain algae that produce certain chemicals that can be harmful to humans and other living creatures. Many of these chemicals are considered neurotoxins ...

Washington, DC (February 6, 2014) — Patients who experience abrupt kidney injury following surgery have an increased risk of later developing heart problems, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). The findings suggest that properly treating and monitoring patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) could help protect their heart health. AKI, an sudden decline in kidney function, is an increasingly prevalent and potentially serious condition in hospitalized patients. Sometimes acute kidney injury arises ...

This news release is available in French. A drug given to pregnant mice with models of autism prevents autistic behavior in their offspring, a new report shows, and though the drug could not be administered prenatally in humans (there is no way to screen for autism in human fetuses), clinical trials of this drug administered later in development, in young children who have already developed autistic symptoms, are showing progress. The causes of autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, are complex and not well understood. Prolonged excitation of brain neurons seems partly ...

LA JOLLA, CA—February 6, 2014—A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has discovered an unusual bacterial protein that attaches to virtually any antibody and prevents it from binding to its target. Protein M, as it is called, probably helps some bacteria evade the immune response and establish long-term infections. If follow-up studies confirm Protein M's ability to defeat the antibody response, it is likely to become a target of new antibacterial therapies. The protein's unique ability to bind generally to antibodies also should make it a valuable ...

ANN ARBOR—Dengue fever and West Nile fever are mosquito-borne diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide each year, but there is no vaccine against either of the related viruses. A team of scientists at the University of Michigan and Purdue University has discovered a key aspect both to how the viruses replicate in the cells of their host and how they manipulate the immune system as they spread. In a study scheduled for online publication Feb. 6 in the journal Science, researchers led by Janet Smith of the U-M Life Sciences Institute describe for ...

This news release is available in French. The scientific community agrees that autism has its origins in early life—foetal and/or postnatal. The team led by Yehezkel Ben-Ari, Inserm Emeritus Research Director at the Mediterranean Institute of Neurobiology (INMED), has made a breakthrough in the understanding of the disorder. In an article published in Science, the researchers demonstrate that chloride levels are elevated in the neurons of mice used in an animal model of autism, and remain at abnormal levels from birth. These results corroborate the success obtained ...

Researchers from the University of Helsinki analyzed thoroughly the commonly occurring genetic variation in chromosome X, one of the two sex-determining chromosomes, in almost 25,000 Northern European individuals with diverse health-related information available. The aim of the study was to find genetic factors that could explain individual differences in several traits, including BMI, height, blood pressure and lipid levels. In addition, the researchers also investigated whether the X chromosome would contribute to some of the well-known differences between men and women ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass-- Topological insulators — materials whose surfaces can freely conduct electrons even though their interiors are electrical insulators — have been of great interest to physicists in recent years because of unusual properties that may provide insights into quantum physics. But most analysis of such materials has had to rely on highly simplified models. Now, a team of researchers at MIT has performed a more detailed analysis that hints at the existence of six new kinds of topological insulators. The work also predicts the materials' physical properties in ...

Researchers from North Carolina State University have found a link between a mutation in a gene called RAB 24 and an inherited neurodegenerative disease in Old English sheepdogs and Gordon setters. The findings may help further understanding of neurodegenerative diseases and identify new treatments for both canine and human sufferers. Hereditary ataxias are an important group of inherited neurodegenerative diseases in people. This group of diseases is the third most common neurodegenerative movement disorder after Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases. In people with ...

Tampa, FL (Feb. 6, 2014) – Declines in the underlying brain skills needed to think, remember and learn are normal in aging. In fact, this cognitive decline is a fact of life for most older Americans. Therapies to improve the cognitive health of older adults are critically important for lessening declines in mental performance as people age. While physical activity and cognitive training are among the efforts aimed at preventing or delaying cognitive decline, dietary modifications and supplements have recently generated considerable interest. Now a University of South ...

Johns Hopkins researchers report that fetal mice — especially males — show signs of brain damage that lasts into their adulthood when they are exposed in the womb to a maternal immune system kicked into high gear by a serious infection or other malady. The findings suggest that some neurologic diseases in humans could be similarly rooted in prenatal exposure to inflammatory immune responses. In a report on the research published online last week in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity, the investigators say that the part of the brain responsible for memory and spatial ...