Researchers have identified five enzymes that are essential to the survival of a parasitic worm that infects livestock worldwide and is a great threat to global food security. Two of these proteins are already being studied as potential drug targets against other pathogens. The team sequenced the genome of Haemonchus contortus, or the barber pole worm, a well-studied parasitic worm that resides in the gut of sheep and other livestock globally. This genome could provide a comprehensive understanding of how treatments against parasitic worms work and point to further new ...

Much as human siblings can have vastly different personalities despite their similar resemblance and genetics, two closely related species of electric fish from the Amazon produce very different electric signals. These species, new to science, are described in the open access journal ZooKeys by Drs. John Sullivan of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Jansen Zuanon of the National Amazonian Research Institute in Manaus, Brazil and Cristina Cox Fernandes of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The two new species are bluntnose knifefish, genus Brachyhypopomus, ...

Patients attending clinical nurse specialist clinics do not get inferior treatment to that offered by consultant rheumatologists, the results of a major new clinical trial have revealed. The results of the multi-centre trial at the University of Leeds, funded by Arthritis Research UK, showed that there may be some clinical benefit to people with rheumatoid arthritis, whose condition is managed in clinics run by rheumatology clinical nurse specialists, especially with respect to their disease activity, pain control, physical function and general satisfaction with their ...

An innovative measurement method was used at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw for estimating power generated by motors of single molecule in size, comprising a few dozens of atoms only. The findings of the study are of crucial importance for construction of future nanometer machines – and they do not instil optimism. Nanomachines are devices of the future. Composed of a very little number of atoms, they would be in the range of billionth parts of a meter in size. Construction of efficient nanomachines would lead most likely ...

New research suggests that children are far less likely to be diagnosed with Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the UK than they are in the USA. However, the same study, led by the University of Exeter Medical School, suggests that autism diagnosis is still rising. The study is published online in the Journal of Autism Developmental Disorders, published by Springer, and was supported by the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care in the South West Peninsula (NIHR PenCLAHRC). ADHD is thought to be the most common disorder of ...

The first mammals arose in the Triassic period, over 225 million years ago. These early furballs include small shrew-like animals such as Morganucodon from England, Megazostrodon from South Africa, and Bienotherium from China. They had differentiated teeth (incisors, canines, molars) and large brains and were probably warm-blooded and covered in fur – all characteristics that make them stand apart from their reptile ancestors, and which contribute to their huge success today. However, new research from the University of Lincoln, the National Museum in Bloemfontein, ...

Leveraging the amazing natural properties of the Morpho butterfly's wings, scientists have developed a nanobiocomposite material that shows promise for wearable electronic devices, highly sensitive light sensors and sustainable batteries. A report on the new hybrid material appears in the journal ACS Nano. Eijiro Miyako and colleagues explain that Morpho butterfly wings have natural properties that are beyond the capabilities of any current technology to reproduce artificially. In addition to being lightweight, thin and flexible, the butterfly's wings absorb solar energy, ...

Astronomers have only been observing the Sun with telescopes for 400 years — a tiny fraction of the Sun's age of 4.6 billion years. It is very hard to study the history and future evolution of our star, but we can do this by hunting for rare stars that are almost exactly like our own, but at different stages of their lives. Now astronomers have identified a star that is essentially an identical twin to our Sun, but 4 billion years older — almost like seeing a real version of the twin paradox in action [1]. Jorge Melendez (Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil), the leader ...

A modified law of gravity correctly predicted, in advance of the observations, the velocity dispersion -- the average speed of stars within a galaxy relative to each other -- in 10 dwarf satellite galaxies of the Milky Way's giant neighbor Andromeda. The relatively large velocity dispersions observed in these types of dwarf galaxies is usually attributed to dark matter. Yet predictions made using the alternative hypothesis Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) succeeded in anticipating the observations. Stacy McGaugh, professor of astronomy at Case Western Reserve, and ...

In the midst of an intensifying global water crisis, scientists are reporting development of a more economical way to use one form of the "ice that burns" to turn very salty wastewater from fracking and other oil and gas production methods into water for drinking and irrigation. The study on the method, which removes more than 90 percent of the salt, appears in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. Yongkoo Seol and Jong-Ho Cha explain that salty wastewater is a byproduct of oil and gas production, including hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. These methods ...

In the latest advance in efforts to find an inexpensive way to make hydrogen from ordinary water — one of the keys to the much-discussed "hydrogen economy" — scientists are reporting that powder from high-grade charcoal and other forms of carbon can free hydrogen from water illuminated with laser pulses. A report on the discovery appears in ACS' Journal of Physical Chemistry C. Ikuko Akimoto and colleagues point out that traditional approaches to breaking down water, which consists of hydrogen and oxygen, involve use of expensive catalysts or electric current passed through ...

For online and print audiences deep into lazy late-summer-day reading, yearning for diversions from everyday cares, how about a glimpse 400 years back in time at a famous clash between Galileo and an arch-enemy over why ice floats on water? That debate, between a giant in the history of science and a little-remembered naysayer who challenged Galileo's idea that Earth revolves around the sun, is the topic of a story in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News. C&EN is the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. Sarah ...

VIDEO: The Council's report, The State of Industrial R&D in Canada, provides an in-depth analysis of research and development activities in Canadian industries. While many reports have documented Canada's historical weakness... Click here for more information. Ottawa (August 28, 2013) – A new expert panel report on research and development in Canadian industry has found that, despite Canada's historically poor performance in industrial R&D, four sectors of national strength ...

Four alcohol brands—Patron tequila, Hennessy cognac, Grey Goose vodka, and Jack Daniel's whiskey—accounted for more than half of alcohol brand mentions in the songs that mentioned alcohol use in Billboard's most popular song lists in 2009, 2010 and 2011, according to a new study from researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health and the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study, published online by Substance Use & Misuse and the first to examine the context of specific brand mentions in ...

The Los Angeles Times reports: "The Rim fire spread deeper into Yosemite National Park on Tuesday with flames racing unimpeded to the east even as firefighters shored up defenses for communities on the western edges of the blaze. The fire was 20% contained by Tuesday evening, with almost all of the containment coming on the fire's southwest edge. On the east, the fire has a relatively flat, clear path farther into Yosemite and the 3,700 firefighters battling the blaze have fewer options to control it. The blaze has destroyed 111 buildings, including 31 residences, and ...

NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite, also known as TRMM has the ability to measure rainfall from space. When Tropical Storm Fernand formed near Mexico's Gulf coast earlier this week, TRMM gathered data on the storm. Heavy rain with Tropical Storm Fernand generated mudslides. According to the Latin Times, a total of 13 people died as the result of mudslides from Fernand's heavy rainfall. Nine people died in the municipality of Yecuautla, while three people died in Tuxpan and one person in Atzalan. TRMM precipitation data are used to calibrate rainfall ...

The patient-relevant benefit of positron emission tomography (PET) in oesophageal cancer, alone or in combination with computed tomography (CT), is not proven due to a lack of comparative studies. In terms of their diagnostic and prognostic accuracy, it also remains unclear whether these diagnostic techniques can detect the spreading of tumours better than conventional diagnostics. This is the conclusion of the final report of the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) published on 20 August 2013. More reliable diagnosis ought to improve treatment About ...

Baltimore, MD – August 28, 2013 – A research team at the University of Maryland School of Medicine has identified a cell signaling pathway which plays a significant role in causing developmental defects of the fetal spinal cord and brain in babies of women with diabetes. Using an animal model of disease, the team's results point to a potential new therapeutic target for preventing these defects in pregnant women having preexisting diabetes. The results of this study are published in the August 27th issue of Science Signaling. "Providing the best possible care for women ...

(MEMPHIS, Tenn. – August 28, 2013) Researchers have tied mutations in a gene that causes amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other neurodegenerative disorders to the toxic buildup of certain proteins and related molecules in cells, including neurons. The research, published recently in the scientific journal Cell, offers a new approach for developing treatments against these devastating diseases. Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the University of Colorado, Boulder, led the work. The findings provide the first evidence that a gene named VCP ...

Boulder, Colorado, USA – In the September issue of GSA Today, Nora Noffke of Old Dominion University and Stan Awramik of the University of California, Santa Barbara, describe the interaction of carpet-like communities of benthic microorganisms (biofilms) with sediment dynamics at the sediment-water interface to form distinctive sedimentary structures called microbialites. The best known microbialite structures are stromatolites -- multilayered microbialites up to meters in thickness, built up by repetitive binding, biostabilization, baffling, and trapping of sediment ...

VIDEO: Dr. John Foxe has shown that high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children appear to outgrow a critical social communication disability. The paper was published online August 28, 2013, in Cerebral... Click here for more information. BRONX, NY -- Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have shown that high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children appear to outgrow a critical social communication disability. Younger children ...

Patients with a diagnosis of dementia have approximately three times the rate of diagnosis of urinary incontinence, and more than four times the rate of fecal incontinence, compared with those without a diagnosis of dementia, according to a study in this week's issue of PLOS Medicine by Robert Grant (Kingston University and St. George's, University of London) and colleagues. Furthermore, patients with dementia and incontinence were more likely to receive incontinence medications and indwelling catheters than those with incontinence but without dementia, the authors state. ...

Scott Kellerman and colleagues argue that the scope of the current HIV elimination agenda must be broadened in order to ensure access to care and treatment for all children living with HIV. In 2011, despite the global initiative to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV, 330,000 new pediatric infections were added worldwide to the existing pool of 3.4 million children living with the virus. Children are more vulnerable to HIV infection and have higher morbidity and mortality. Without treatment, half of those children infected will die before the age of 2 years, ...

WA, Seattle (August 28, 2013) – Results from the START clinical study (Study of Thymoglobulin to Arrest Newly Diagnosed Type 1 Diabetes), led by Dr. Steve Gitelman (University of California, San Francisco) and sponsored by the Immune Tolerance Network (ITN), are published today in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. The study did not meet its primary endpoint: at 12 months, insulin production, as measured by C-peptide responses, showed no difference in overall decline between the treatment and placebo groups. Thymoglobulin®, currently licensed for the treatment of organ ...

A compound found in broccoli could be key to preventing or slowing the progress of the most common form of arthritis, according to new research led by the University of East Anglia (UEA). Results from the laboratory study show that sulforaphane slows down the destruction of cartilage in joints associated with painful and often debilitating osteoarthritis. The researchers found that mice fed a diet rich in the compound had significantly less cartilage damage and osteoarthritis than those that were not. The study, which also examined human cartilage cells and cow cartilage ...