Fueled by industrial greenhouse gas emissions, Earth's climate warmed more between 1971 and 2000 than during any other three-decade interval in the last 1,400 years, according to new regional temperature reconstructions covering all seven continents. This period of manmade global warming, which continues today, reversed a natural cooling trend that lasted several hundred years, according to results published in the journal Nature Geoscience by more than 80 scientists from 24 nations analyzing climate data from tree rings, pollen, cave formations, ice cores, lake and ocean ...

Sydney researchers have discovered a new type of immune cell in skin that plays a role in fighting off parasitic invaders such as ticks, mites, and worms, and could be linked to eczema and allergic skin diseases. The team from the Immune Imaging and T cell Laboratories at the Centenary Institute worked with colleagues from SA Pathology in Adelaide, the Malaghan Institute in Wellington, New Zealand and the USA. The new cell type is part of a family known as group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2) which was discovered less than five years ago in the gut and the lung, where ...

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of death from cancer, and while family physicians in Canada only see 1 cases a year, the number of cases is expected to increase as the population ages. A review in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) provides an evidence-based overview of diagnosis and treatment of the disease for general physicians. The main risk factor for pancreatic cancer is smoking, although about 20% of patients have a family history of the disease. Symptoms usually manifest 10 years after the start of the disease, which means screening has ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study led by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) suggests that an unusual experimental drug can reduce breast-cancer aggressiveness, reverse resistance to the drug fulvestrant and perhaps improve the effectiveness of other breast-cancer drugs. The findings of the laboratory and animal study, published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, suggest a new strategy for treating breast cancer, the researchers say. The drug, ...

BOSTON—With work and entertainment operating around the clock in our modern society, sleep is often a casualty. A bevy of research has shown a link between sleep deprivation and cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, and obesity. However, it's been unclear why sleep loss might lead to these effects. Several studies have tested the effects of total sleep deprivation, but this model isn't a good fit for the way most people lose sleep, with a few hours here and there. In a new study by Keith Pugh, Shahrad Taheri, and George Balanos, all of the University of Birmingham ...

BOSTON—Up to 20 percent of veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq have experienced at least one blast concussion. New research suggests that nearly half these veterans may have a problem so under-recognized that even military physicians may fail to look for it. A new study conducted by Charles W. Wilkinson, Elizabeth A. Colasurdo, Kathleen F. Pagulayan, Jane. B. Shofer, and Elaine R. Peskind, all of the VA Puget Sound Health Care System and the University of Washington in Seattle, has found that about 42 percent of screened veterans with blast injuries have irregular ...

BOSTON — A passing remark launched the project that will be described at the Experimental Biology 2013 conference in Boston on Monday. A poster, presented by undergraduate Ashley McMichael from Albany State University, has preliminary data that hint that there is an association between a rare pregnancy condition and malaria. The remark that launched the project was made by a collaborator of Julie Moore, a malaria expert at the University of Georgia. Moore was visiting her collaborator, pediatric pathologist Carlos Abramowsky at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (affiliated ...

BOSTON — Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine have discovered that eating mushrooms containing vitamin D2 can be as effective at increasing and maintaining vitamin D levels (25–hydroxyvitamin D) as taking supplemental vitamin D2 or vitamin D3. These findings will be presented Monday, April 22, at the annual meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, which is being held in conjunction with the Experimental Biology 2013 meeting in Boston. The findings also will appear concurrently as an open-access article in the journal Dermato-Endocrinology. ...

BOSTON — When the space shuttle Atlantis touched down in the summer of 2011 at Cape Canaveral, closing the book on the U.S. shuttle program, a team of U.S. Army researchers stood at the ready, eager to get their gloved hands on a small device in the payload that housed a set of biological samples. On Monday, April 22, at the Experimental Biology 2013 conference in Boston, the team will present the results of nearly two years' worth of study on those samples, results that shed light on how the human immune system responds to stress and assaults while in space – and maybe ...

Boston, MA—Since 1977, there has been a 70% increase in caffeine consumption among children and adolescents. Whether it is coffee, tea, soda, or energy drinks, our children are consuming more of it. One well documented effect of caffeine is improved cognitive performance on certain tasks. However, scientists also hypothesize that habitual caffeine use may lead to greater neural rewards if the caffeine drinker were to consume illicit drugs. To add more to the research base regarding caffeine's effect on cognition in children and teens, Jennifer Temple, PhD, University ...

Boston, MA—Accurately depicting dinosaur anatomy has come a long way since the science fiction films of the 1960s. In celebration of the American Association of Anatomists' (AAA) 125th anniversary, renowned dinosaur anatomy expert Dr. Lawrence Witmer will deliver a lecture reflecting on the AAA's first President Joseph Leidy, also a preeminent American dinosaur paleontologist, and the modernizing of prehistoric bones. Witmer will show how the Visible Interactive Dinosaur (VID) project recreates soft-tissue systems within a 3D digital environment. VID, funded by the National ...

A new review of insect pollinators of crops and wild plants has concluded they are under threat globally from a cocktail of multiple pressures, and their decline or loss could have profound environmental, human health and economic consequences. Globally, insects provide pollination services to about 75% of crop species and enable reproduction in up to 94% of wild flowering plants. Pollination services provided by insects each year worldwide are valued at over US$200 billion. The review, published today (22 April 2013) in the scientific journal 'Frontiers in Ecology ...

Chicago — (April 22, 2013) – The health benefits of fibre are relatively well known yet average fibre intake around the world continues to be inadequate (1,2). Many diets continue to lack recommended servings of foods naturally high in fibre like fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes and whole grains resulting in low fibre intake (3). Three new studies contribute to the growing body of evidence for the health benefits of added fibres in the diet. These types of fibre can be added to a wide range of foods and contribute similar health benefits as "intact" fibres, providing a ...

Chicago — (April 22, 2013) – Sodium intake around the world is well in excess of physiological needs (1) and public health authorities agree that chronic excess sodium intake can increase blood pressure and the risk of heart attack and stroke (2). However, despite recommendations to lower sodium consumption over the last decade, actual intake continues to rise. Rising Sodium Intake Research supported by Tate & Lyle was presented today at the American Society for Nutrition Experimental Biology (3) conference in Boston which indicates that in the United States, sodium ...

AUDIO: Dr. Robert Hess from McGill University and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) has used the popular puzzle video game Tetris in an innovative approach to... Click here for more information. A research team led by Dr. Robert Hess from McGill University and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) has used the popular puzzle video game Tetris in an innovative approach to treat adult amblyopia, commonly ...

Geneva, Switzerland: Giving palliative radiotherapy to elderly patients with painful bone metastases can significantly improve their quality of life, a Dutch researcher told the 2nd Forum of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) today (Monday). With the number of elderly patients who suffer from metastatic disease on the increase due to the ageing of the population and the ability to prolong the palliative phase of cancers, this finding has important implications for clinical practice, said Dr Paulien Westhoff from the Department of Radiotherapy ...

DAVIS, CA, April 22, 2013 – Three new studies involving tree nuts (almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts) were presented this week at the Experimental Biology Meeting in Boston, MA. Tree nut consumption was associated with a better nutrient profile and diet quality; lower body weight and lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome; and a decrease in several cardiovascular risk factors compared to those seen among non-consumers. First, the Adventist Health Study looked at the effect of nut intake on the risk of metabolic ...

Two Spanish scientists have designed an equation that provides a highly accurate estimate of an individual's speed based on stride length. They used data from professional athletes and walking and running experiments on a beach in order to come up with the equation. The result has applications in the study of fossil trackways of human footprints. In the spring of 2008, 14 palaeontology students from the Complutense University of Madrid ran along a beach in Asturias (Spain) at the request of a planetary geologist who was a friend of their fieldwork director. Javier Ruiz, ...

Individual cancer cells that break away from the original tumor and circulate through the blood stream are considered responsible for the development of metastases. These dreaded secondary tumors are the main cause of cancer-related deaths. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) detectable in a patient's blood are associated with a poorer prognosis. However, up until now, experimental evidence was lacking as to whether the "stem cell" of metastasis is found among CTCs. "We were convinced that only very few of the various circulating tumor cells are capable of forming a secondary ...

In various studies across different countries the reported one year mortality risks after hip fracture can vary anywhere from 5 to 50 %. In India, however, there has been little research on the risk of mortality and functional impairment following hip fracture. In an oral presentation held during the European Congress on Osteoporosis & Osteoarthritis in Rome, Italy, held from April 17 to 20 in Rome, Italy, researchers from Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India presented findings from a prospective study which found that patients had a high rate of one-year mortality ...

Philadelphia, PA, April 22, 2013 – Biological Psychiatry is proud to announce this week's publication of a special issue focusing on the question of food as an addiction. Addiction is the continued or compulsive use of a substance, despite negative and/or harmful consequences. Over the years, addiction has come to be re-defined to include behaviors, as well as substances, and the term is now used to describe significant problems with alcohol, nicotine, drugs, gambling, internet use, and sex. The 'major' addictions, like alcoholism and drug abuse, stimulate significant ...

Although hip fractures in older patients are known to be a major cause of long term disability and increased risk of death, less is known about the relationship between surgical delay after hip fracture and mortality risk. A study by Belgian investigators shows that that in older patients with hip fracture, surgical delay of more than 48 hours is significantly and independently associated with increased long-term mortality, even after adjusting for age, sex, and co-morbidities. The study analysed data from 32,383 participants with 1 years of follow-up, extracted from ...

North Carolina State University researchers studying aquatic organisms called Daphnia have found that exposure to a chemical pesticide has impacts that span multiple generations – causing the so-called "water fleas" to produce more male offspring, and causing reproductive problems in female offspring. "This work supports the hypothesis that exposure to some environmental chemicals during sensitive periods of development can cause significant health problems for those organisms later in life – and affect their offspring and, possibly, their offspring's offspring," says ...

Fragility fractures due to osteoporosis are a major cause of disability or premature death in older adults. Those at highest risk are patients who have already suffered one fragility fracture; they are at twice the risk of suffering a future fracture compared to others who have not fractured. Nevertheless health care systems around the world are failing to identify and treat these patients, leaving them exposed to debilitating and life-threatening secondary fractures. Based on evidence from numerous global studies, a new report, 'Capture the Fracture: A Best Practice ...

Amsterdam, April 22, 2013 – A target article recently published in Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition (JARMAC) reviews various high-profile false convictions. It provides an overview of classic psychological research on expectancy and observer effects and indicates in which ways forensic science examiners may be influenced by information such as confessions, eyewitness identification, and graphical evidence. The target article authors, Saul Kassin and Jeff Kukucka, of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and Itiel Dror, University College, London, point ...