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Science26 Sep 2013

New dwarfism mutation identified in dogs

Professor Hannes Lohi's research group at the University of Helsinki and Folkhälsan Research Center has identified a mutation in ITGA10 gene, causing chondrodysplasia in two dog breeds, the Norwegian Elkhound and the Karelian Bear Dog. The research revealed a new chondrodysplasia gene in dogs, and a candidate gene for human chondrodysplasias. The finding has implications on bone biology as well as canine health. A genetic test can now be used to identify mutation carriers in the two affected dog breeds. The study was published on the scientific journal PLOS ONE on 25 September ...

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Medicine26 Sep 2013

Debt linked to mental health problems

New research, led by the University of Southampton, has shown that people in debt are three times more likely to have a mental health problem than those not in debt. There is currently around £156 billion in unsecured debt such as credit cards in the UK, of which the average family owes more than £11,000. Levels of debt have increased in recent years due to the economic recession and are predicted to increase further. Researchers from the University of Southampton, along with a researcher from Kingston University, carried out a systematic review on all previous research ...

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Medicine26 Sep 2013

Landmark report sets priorities to address malnutrition

NEW YORK--With nearly two billion people suffering from malnutrition across the planet, scientists and public health experts came together under an unprecedented alliance spearheaded by The Sackler Institute for Nutrition Science at the New York Academy of Sciences to create A Global Research Agenda for Nutrition Science to identify the most critical knowledge gaps in the field of nutrition. The report supports the ongoing effort to accelerate global commitment, cooperative work, and funding to uncover and implement scientific and evidence-based solutions to malnutrition. This ...

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Social Science26 Sep 2013

School outreach program may reduce African-American student mobility

Outreach programs that build relationships between families and schools may reduce the number of students who change schools for reasons other than grade promotion, according to a new study from researchers at Rice University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Columbia University. The researchers used data from a five-year study that examined the negative consequences of students changing schools for reasons other than grade promotion and the impact of an outreach program designed to enhance relationships between families and school personnel. The study found ...

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Science26 Sep 2013

Without a trace

Migrating cells, it seems, cover their tracks not for fear of being followed, but to keep moving forward. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, have now shown that cells in a zebrafish embryo determine which direction they move in by effectively erasing the path behind them. The findings, published online today in Nature, could have implications not just for development but also for cancer and metastasis. As a zebrafish embryo develops, a group of cells migrate down the side of its body, leaving clumps of cells along the ...

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Medicine26 Sep 2013

Do beetles have maternal instincts?

Hidden in the thick foliage of tropical forests a subfamily of colorful beetles hides the secrets of the earliest stages of social behavior, showing explicit signs of maternal instincts and care. An international team of scientists from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Centro Universitário de Lavras, Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe, and Université libre de Bruxelles looked into the complex subsocial behaviors present in the extraordinary Chrysomelinae subfamily to discover and describe in detail the different degrees of maternal instincts present ...

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Medicine26 Sep 2013

Lithium in the brain

This news release is available in German. At present lithium is most popular for its use in rechargeable batteries. But for decades now, lithium has also been used to treat various psychological diseases such as depressions, manias and bipolar disorders. But, the exact biological mode of action in certain brain regions has hardly been understood. It is well known that lithium lightens moods and reduces aggression potential. Because it is so hard to dose, doctors have been reluctant to prescribe this "universal drug". Nonetheless, a number of international studies ...

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Medicine26 Sep 2013

Getting better together: New study looks at shared medical decision making

Rosemont, Ill.–Shared decision making refers to a set of principles that can be employed by patients and their physicians to explicitly incorporate patient preferences and values into clinical decision making. Past research shows that patients, who have an enhanced knowledge of their medical conditions and treatment alternatives, demonstrate a reduced anxiety when it comes to medical decision making. A recent study in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery looked at a group of patients with advanced hip and knee osteoarthritis and found that they reached an informed treatment ...

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Social Science26 Sep 2013

Texas colleges surveyed on sexual assault resources

HUNTSVILLE, TX -- While research consistently estimates that one in every four women in higher education will experience rape or attempted rape during their college careers, limited proactive approaches to address the issue are found on Texas college campuses, according to the Crime Victims' Institute at Sam Houston State University. A study of 74 two-and four-year institutions of higher education in Texas, published by the Crime Victims' Institute, found that while campuses have made strides in addressing sexual assault, efforts continue to be necessary to prevent and ...

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Science26 Sep 2013

'Watch' cites concerns with intraprosthetic dislocation of dual-mobility hip implants

Needham, MA.–JBJS Case Connector, an online case journal published by The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, has issued a "Watch" regarding early intraprosthetic dislocation with dual-mobility hip implants. The "Watch" is based on two case reports published in the September 25th issue, in addition to recent cases in the orthopaedic literature pointing to similar problems. In both cases of early intraprosthetic dislocation described in this issue of JBJS Case Connector, surgeons chose a mix-and-match strategy to minimize surgical complexity and bone loss and to maximize ...

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Social Science26 Sep 2013

Aphasia and bilingualism: Using one language to relearn another

This news release is available in French. In the era of globalization, bilingualism is becoming more and more frequent, and it is considered a plus. However, can this skill turn into a disadvantage, when someone acquires aphasia? More precisely, if a bilingual person suffers brain damage (i.e. stroke, head trauma, dementia) and this results in a language impairment called aphasia, then the two languages can be disrupted, thus increasing the challenge of language rehabilitation. According to Dr. Ana Inés Ansaldo, researcher at the Research Centre of the Institut universitaire ...

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Medicine26 Sep 2013

Can traumatic brain injury impair a child's working memory?

New Rochelle, NY, September 26, 2013—Traumatic brain injury (TBI) during childhood can have long-term effects on cognitive and psychosocial functioning, including poor academic achievement. Pediatric TBI can cause significant deficits in working memory, as demonstrated in a study published in Journal of Neurotrauma, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal of Neurotrauma website at http://www.liebertpub.com/neu. Working memory is the ability to collect, retain, and use information needed to perform ...

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Science26 Sep 2013

Beautiful brushstrokes drawn from data

A good painter uses simple strokes of a brush to bring texture, contrast and depth to a blank canvas. In comparison, computer programs can have difficulty reproducing the complex and varied forms of brushstrokes, and often require painstaking effort to mimic a brief sweep of paint. Now, a team of researchers including scientists at Princeton University has developed a program that allows graphic artists to quickly and easily produce realistic brushstrokes on their computers. Called RealBrush, the program combines graphics algorithms with "Big Data" storage and retrieval ...

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Science26 Sep 2013

Penn researchers use Facebook data to predict users' age, gender and personality traits

In the age of social media, people's inner lives are increasingly recorded through the language they use online. With this in mind, an interdisciplinary group of University of Pennsylvania researchers is interested in whether a computational analysis of this language can provide as much, or more, insight into their personalities as traditional methods used by psychologists, such as self-reported surveys and questionnaires. In a recent study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, 75,000 people voluntarily completed a common personality questionnaire through a Facebook application ...

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Space26 Sep 2013

NASA views a transitioning Tropical-Storm Pabuk

Typhoon Pabuk weakened and the core of the storm was changing from a warm core tropical system to a cold core low pressure system as it continued paralleling the coast of Japan on Sept. 26. NASA's Aqua satellite provided a visible image of the transforming storm that had lost its eye. On Sept. 26, 2013 at 03:55 UTC/Sept. 25 at 11:55 p.m. EDT, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured a visible image of Tropical Storm Pabuk skirting eastern Japan. MODIS imagery also showed a steady influx of cold air stratocumulus ...

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Science26 Sep 2013

Future sea level rises should not restrict new island formation in the Maldives

The continued accumulation of sand within the iconic ring-shaped reefs inside Maldivian atolls could provide a foundation for future island development new research suggests. Islands like the Maldives are considered likely to be the first to feel the effects of climate change induced sea level rise, with future island growth essential to counter the threat of rising sea levels. The study published in the journal Geology, and carried out by researchers from the University of Exeter in collaboration with the University of Auckland, James Cook University, the National Institute ...

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Science26 Sep 2013

Scripps research institute scientists discover important wound-healing process

LA JOLLA, CA -- September 26, 2013 -- Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered an important process by which special immune cells in the skin help heal wounds. They found that these skin-resident immune cells function as "first responders" to skin injuries in part by producing the molecule known as interleukin-17A (IL-17A), which wards off infection and promotes wound healing. "This appears to be a critical and unique component of mammals' defense against skin wounds, and we hope that it will point the way towards better therapies for people ...

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Environment26 Sep 2013

Microbes facilitate the persistence and spread of invasive plant species by changing soil chemistry

Invasive species are among the world's greatest threats to native species and biodiversity. Once invasive plants become established, they can alter soil chemistry and shift nutrient cycling in an ecosystem. This can have important impacts not only on plant composition, diversity, and succession within a community, but also in the cycling of critical elements like carbon and nitrogen on a larger, potentially even global, scale. Clearly, both native and exotic plants form intimate relationships with bacteria in the soil that facilitate the extraction and conversion of elements ...

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Science26 Sep 2013

Colorectal surgeons develop a novel tool for measuring quality and outcomes

Since the publication in 2000 of a report titled "To Err is Human" by the Institute of Medicine which called for a reduction in preventable medical errors, there has been an increasing demand for making improvements in the quality and measurement of health care outcomes. Although many measures have been developed, they tend to be complex, labor intensive, have an unclear relationship with improved outcomes, and concentrate on processes of care rather than clinical outcomes. In a new paper published online by the Annals of Surgery, physician-researchers at University Hospitals ...

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Engineering26 Sep 2013

First long temperature reconstruction for the eastern Mediterranean based on tree rings

For the first time a long temperature reconstruction on the basis of stable carbon isotopes in tree rings has been achieved for the eastern Mediterranean. An exactly dated time series of almost 900 year length was established, exhibiting the medieval warm period, the little ice age between the 16th and 19th century as well as the transition into the modern warm phase. Moreover, Ingo Heinrich from the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences and colleagues revealed that the modern warming trend cannot be found in the new chronology. "A comparison with seasonal meteorological ...

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Science26 Sep 2013

Eating fish, nuts may not help thinking skills after all

MINNEAPOLIS – Contrary to earlier studies, new research suggests that omega-3 fatty acids may not benefit thinking skills. The study is published in the September 25, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Omega-3s are found in fatty fish such as salmon and in nuts. "There has been a lot of interest in omega-3s as a way to prevent or delay cognitive decline, but unfortunately our study did not find a protective effect in older women. In addition, most randomized trials of omega-3 supplements have not found an effect," ...

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Medicine26 Sep 2013

Missouri ponds provide clue to killer frog disease

The skin fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), also known as amphibian chytrid, first made its presence felt in 1993 when dead and dying frogs began turning up in Queensland, Australia. Since then it has sickened and killed frogs, toads, salamanders and other amphibians worldwide, driving hundreds of species to extinction. As a postdoctoral researcher Kevin Smith studied Bd in South Africa, home to the African clawed frog, a suspected vector for the fungus. When he took a position at Washington University in St. Louis, where he is now interim director of the Tyson ...

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Science26 Sep 2013

Torrent frog has advantage attaching to rough, wet surfaces

Torrent frogs use their toes, belly, and thighs to attach to rough, wet, and steep surfaces, according to results published September 25 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Thomas Endlein from the Centre for Cell Engineering at the University of Glasgow and colleagues from other institutions. In a multipart study, the researchers compared the attachment abilities of two species: torrent frogs (Staurois guttatus) and tree frogs (Rhacophorus pardalis). They found that the torrent frog is better able to attach to extremely wet, steep, and rough surfaces due to its superior ...

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Medicine26 Sep 2013

Cancer cells propagated from early prostate cancer

A team of cancer researchers at the University of California, San Diego has identified the existence of precursor cells in early prostate cancers. These cells are resistant to androgen-deprivation therapy, and may drive the subsequent emergence of recurrent or metastatic prostate cancer. The scientists' findings, suggesting that potentially lethal castration-resistant prostate carcinoma cells already exist in some cancer patients at the very early stages of their disease, will be published by PLOS ONE on September 25, 2013. The work describes the isolation and propagation ...

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Medicine26 Sep 2013

New study offers hope for halting incurable citrus disease

The devastating disease Huonglongbing, or citrus greening, looms darkly over the United States, threatening to wipe out the nation's citrus industry, whose fresh fruit alone was valued at more than $3.4 billion in 2012. Recently, however, a research team led by a University of California, Davis, plant scientist used DNA sequencing technologies to paint a broad picture of how citrus greening impacts trees before they even show signs of infection, offering hope for developing diagnostic tests and treatments for the currently incurable disease. "Florida is seemingly in ...

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