Understanding the impact of environmental change on plant traits is an important issue in evolutionary biology. As the only direct evidence of past life, fossils provide important information on the interactions between plants and environmental change. After ten years' survey, Professor Zhou Zhekun's group from Kunming Institute of Botany has discovered more than ten well preserved Neogene plant fossil sites in southwestern China which are important to understand past climate and response of plants to the changing climate in this region. Their recent work, entitled "Evolution ...

AMSTERDAM -- For many years, patients with advanced thyroid cancer faced bleak prospects and no viable treatment options. But now, building on recent discoveries about the genetics and cell signaling pathways of thyroid tumors, researchers are developing exciting new weapons against the disease, using kinase inhibitors that target tumor cell division and blood vessels. Two recent clinical trials led by a researcher from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania showcase the great promise of these new approaches. The work will be presented at the ...

During the nearly 14 months that it has spent on the red planet, Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, has scooped soil, drilled rocks, and analyzed samples by exposing them to laser beams, X-rays, and alpha particles using the most sophisticated suite of scientific instruments ever deployed on another planet. One result of this effort was evidence reported last March that ancient Mars could have supported microbial life. But Curiosity is far more than a one-trick rover, and in a paper published today in the journal Science, a team of MSL scientists reports ...

This news release is available in German. Leipzig. Teams of international scientists have decrypted the effectiveness of two types of bacteria, which could be used in the future to help combat oil spill disasters. According to a report written by scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in the peer-reviewed journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Alcanivorax borkumensis converts hydrocarbons into fatty acids which then form along the cell membrane. New insights on the bacteria Oleispira ...

Our genetic heritage is contained—and protected—in the nucleus of the cells that compose us. Copies of the DNA exit the nucleus to be read and translated into proteins in the cell cytoplasm. The transit between the nucleus and the cytoplasm takes place through the nuclear pores, genuine "customs agents" that monitor the import-export between these two compartments. Françoise Stutz, professor in the Faculty of Science at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, and her team have just discovered how nuclear pores also regulate the production speed of these DNA copies. ...

EAST BOOTHBAY, ME – Although long thought to be devoid of life, the bottom of the deep ocean is now known to harbor entire ecosystems teeming with microbes. Scientists have recently documented that oxygen is disappearing from seawater circulating through deep oceanic crust, a significant first step in understanding the way life in the "deep biosphere" beneath the sea floor is able to survive and thrive. The new research findings were published in the journal Nature Communications on September 27, 2013, and are helping to redefine our concepts of the limits of life on our ...

A joint BYU-Utah research team is developing a new breast cancer screening technique that has the potential to reduce false positives, and, possibly, minimize the need for invasive biopsies. Led by BYU electrical engineer Neal Bangerter and University of Utah collaborators Rock Hadley and Joshua Kaggie, the group has created an MRI device that could improve both the process and accuracy of breast cancer screening by scanning for sodium levels in the breast. "The images we're obtaining show a substantial improvement over anything that we've seen using this particular ...

Contact: Laura Smarandescu smarand@iastate.edu 515-294-8110 Iowa State University Doug Walker dmwalker@iastate.edu 515-294-6941 Iowa State University Brian Wansink 716-860-0587 mmo59@cornell.edu Cornell University Over the limit Size, shape and color of wine glass affect how much you pour AMES, Iowa – Pouring a glass of wine is rarely an exact measurement, especially in a social setting. While most people think of a glass as one serving, in reality it could be closer to two or three. Just how much one pours is influenced by a variety of environmental ...

After doing specific training for 12 weeks, people over the age of 90 improved their strength, power and muscle mass. This was reflected in an increase in their walking speed, a greater capacity to get out of their chairs, an improvement in their balance, a significant reduction in the incidence of falls and a significant improvement in muscle power and mass in the lower limbs. These are some of the outcomes of the study recently published in the journal Age of the American Ageing Association and which was led by Mikel Izquierdo-Redín, Professor of Physiotherapy at the ...

In the fight against desertification, so-called straw checkerboard barriers (SCB) play a significant role. SCB consists of half -exposed criss-crossing rows of straws of wheat, rice, reeds, and other plants. The trouble is that our understanding of the laws governing wind-sand movement in SCB and their surrounding area is insufficient. Now, Ning Huang and colleagues from Lanzhou University in China have performed a numerical simulation of the sand movement inside the SCB, described in a paper just published in EPJ E. China is particularly affected by desertification, which ...

Older black and Hispanic patients have a greater risk than white patients of developing complications following surgery, a difference that can be explained by a patients' gender and pre-existing medical conditions. These findings, which are published today in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS), indicate that efforts to carefully evaluate risk factors prior to surgery need more attention, particularly for older minority patients. Research has shown that minority groups tend to develop complications following surgery more often than whites. Investigators ...

The receptor used by baculovirus to enter and interact with human cells has been identified. This syndecan-1 receptor was identified for the first time in a recent collaborative study carried out by the University of Eastern Finland and the University of Jyväskylä in Finland. The findings increase our understanding of the strategies by which the virus causes infection in cells and further facilitates the development of baculovirus for applications of gene transfer. According to the researchers, the identification of the syndecan-1 receptor helps in understanding the ways ...

The c-Fos oncogene has traditionally been linked to cellular activities related to cancer, such as cell division, differentiation—conversion from one cell type to another—or survival. Any alteration of these activities can set off the development of tumours, which has made c-Fos an important target for the understanding and treatment of cancer. A study led by Erwin Wagner, head of the F-BBVA-CNIO Cancer Cell Biology Programme and of the Genes, Development and Disease Group, has revealed a novel mechanism in which c-Fos is able to promote skin cancer: an increase in c-Fos ...

Every year, millions of cattle die of trypanosomosis. The UN and the International Livestock Research Institute list trypanosomosis among the ten diseases of cattle with the greatest impact on the poor. In Africa the disease is known as "Nagana", which translates literally as "being in low or depressed spirits". The disease is caused by a parasite that enters the animals' blood as a result of the bite of the Tsetse fly. Surprisingly, one West-African dwarf cattle breed, the Baoulé, seems less affected by trypanosomosis than others. When they are infected, Baoulé cattle ...

A Case Western Reserve University professor wondered why some types of research were more apt to secure federal grants, while others -- especially exploratory science -- often didn't. Using the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a case study, Assistant Philosophy Professor Chris Haufe concluded that hypothesis-based research has the edge over discovery research for several reasons that he explains in a new paper. Haufe discusses the NIH's peer-reviewed grant process in his Studies in History and Philosophy of Science journal article, "Why do funding agencies favor ...

TORONTO, Sept. 27, 2013—Americans in the highest socio-economic groups have a 13 per cent greater chance of surviving a kind of stroke known as a subarachnoid hemorrhage than those in the lowest socio-economic groups, a new study has found. However, social and economic status have no bearing on mortality rates for subarachnoid hemorrhages, or SAH, in Canada, according to the study led by Dr. Loch Macdonald, a neurosurgeon at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. "The findings suggest Canada's universal, publicly funded health insurance coverage may play a role in improving ...

PHILADELPHIA (September 27, 2013) -- Two new treatment methods under investigation at Drexel University aim to help people reduce binge-eating behavior. A smartphone app in development will track users' individual patterns of eating and binge eating behavior and alert them at times when they are at risk for binge behaviors, among a comprehensive suite of other features. Another treatment is a new, evidence-based approach to small-group behavioral therapy that will equip patients with psychological tools that may help them adhere to, and benefit from, standard treatments ...

Coffee is one of the most extensively researched components in the diet. New studies are regularly being added to the already large body of scientific research, which overall suggests that moderate habitual coffee consumption is not associated with detrimental effects on cardiovascular health Among recent studies, a new review paper1 highlights that for most healthy people, moderate coffee consumption is unlikely to adversely affect cardiovascular health. Furthermore a new paper2 concluded that higher green tea and coffee consumption is inversely associated with risk ...

Pouring a glass of wine is rarely an exact measurement, especially in a social setting. While most people think of a glass as one serving, in reality it could be closer to two or three. Researchers at Iowa State and Cornell universities discovered just how much one pours is influenced by a variety of environmental factors and could have serious consequences when it comes to overconsumption. In the study, published in the journal Substance Use and Misuse, participants were asked to pour what they considered a normal drink using different types of glasses in various settings. ...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2013 – In a first-of-its-kind study to evaluate the impact of a medical specialty on patient outcomes, researchers found that hospitalized patients with severe infections such as meningitis and Clostridium difficile (C. diff.) are significantly less likely to die if they receive care from an infectious diseases specialist. The study, which analyzed nearly 130,000 Medicare patient cases, is now available online and will be published in the December 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases. According to the data, researchers at Avalere Health and the ...

INDIANAPOLIS -- People with mental illness smoke at much higher rates than the overall population. But the popular belief that they are self-medicating is most likely wrong, according to researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Instead, they report, research indicates that psychiatric disease makes the brain more susceptible to addiction. As smoking rates in the general population have fallen below 25 percent, smoking among the mentally ill has remained pervasive, encompassing an estimated half of all cigarettes sold. Despite the well-known health dangers ...

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- Contrary to perceptions shaped by media coverage and public discussion, the number of children in immigrant families is not the primary reason more children are living in poverty, a Rutgers study has found, raising the question of whether federal policies impacting immigrants should be significantly altered. Other determinants, including local labor market conditions, parental education and family structure appear to have a greater impact on child poverty levels, according to Myungkook Joo, assistant professor in Rutgers School of Social Work, who ...

BOSTON—Scanning the DNA of nearly 5,000 tumor samples, a team led by scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute has identified 140 regions of scrambled genetic code believed to contain many undiscovered cancer genes. The researchers said the mapping of the abnormal regions gives cancer scientists a starting point from which to search for as-yet undiscovered oncogenes and broken tumor-suppressor genes, which allow cells to divide and grow uncontrollably. Published in the October issue of Nature Genetics, the results are part of an ongoing international ...

Many animals construct homes or shelters to escape from biological and physical hostilities. Birds, spiders, termites, ants, bees and wasps are the most famous animal architects. As shelter construction requires considerable investment of resources and time, builders tend to minimize the cost of building while maximizing the benefits. Builders are rather uncommon among adult leaf beetles though young ones of certain species use own feces to construct a defensive shield. Two closely related, hitherto unknown species of tiny southern Indian leaf beetles, only slightly larger ...

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Infants show strong universals as they acquire their native language, but a recent study with infants acquiring Korean also reveals that there are striking language differences. Sandra Waxman, Louis W. Menk Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University, is senior author of a new study providing the first ever evidence comparing how infants (monolingual, from Korea) acquiring Korean learn new nouns and verbs. Researchers have long suggested that in "noun friendly" languages including English, infants' attention is focused primarily on objects, ...