Previous research has shown that obesity runs in families, and twin studies suggest that this is largely due to genetic factors, with heritability estimates over 50%. 32 genes have been identified as risk factors for obesity but previous analyses suggest that these genes alone cannot fully explain the high level of heritability in childhood obesity, as together they explain only 2% of individual differences in childhood body weight. This has led to a problem of 'missing heritability'. In this study, researchers used a new method called Genome-wide Complex Trait Analysis ...

Memphis, Tenn. (March 26, 2013) – Identifying and understanding the combination of factors that leads to autism is an ongoing scientific challenge. This developmental disorder appears in the first three years of life, and affects the brain's normal development of social and communication skills. Results from a study led by Larry T. Reiter, PhD, at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) are providing significant insights into the disorder through the study of a specific form of autism caused by a duplication on chromosome 15. This month his work appears ...

Durham, NC —Africa isn't the kind of place you might expect to find penguins. But one species lives along Africa's southern coast today, and newly found fossils confirm that as many as four penguin species coexisted on the continent in the past. Exactly why African penguin diversity plummeted to the one species that lives there today is still a mystery, but changing sea levels may be to blame, the researchers say. The fossil findings, described in the March 26 issue of the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, represent the oldest evidence of these iconic tuxedo-clad ...

HUNTSVILLE, TX (3/26/13) -- Gangs are not using the Internet to recruit new members or commit complex cybercrimes, according to a new study funded by Google Ideas. "What they are doing online is typically what they are doing on the street," said David Pyrooz, an assistant professor at Sam Houston State University, College of Criminal Justice and coauthor of the study. "For the most part, gang members are using the Internet for self-promotion and braggadocio, but that also involves some forms of criminal and deviant behaviors. " "Criminal and Routine Activities in Online ...

A newly developed membrane used to separate waste from water could become key in the treatment of pollutants ranging from acid mine drainage to oil-containing wastewater, as well as in processes ranging from desalination to kidney dialysis. The research was published in Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group) on Friday, 22 March, coinciding with World Water Day and falling within South Africa's National Water Week. The technology – which was developed by a team of researchers from Wits University, in collaboration with NASA – will make it easier to filter pure ...

PASADENA, Calif.—White blood cells, or leukocytes, are the immune system's warriors. So when an infection or disease attacks the body, the system typically responds by sending more white blood cells into the fray. This means that checking the number of these cells is a relatively easy way to detect and monitor such conditions. Currently, most white blood cell counts are performed with large-scale equipment in central clinical laboratories. If a physician collects blood samples from a patient in the office—usually requiring a full vial of blood for each test—it can take ...

Viewed from the outside, our body looks completely symmetrical. However, most internal organs – including the heart – are formed asymmetrically. The right side of the heart is responsible for pulmonary circulation; the left side supplies the rest of the body. This asymmetry allows the heart to do its job effectively. In a study on zebrafish embryos, the researchers Dr. Justus Veerkamp and PD Dr. Salim Seyfried from the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch have now shown how the left and right sides of the heart develop differently. Their findings ...

The field of cell therapy, which aims to form new cells in the body in order to cure disease, has taken another important step in the development towards new treatments. A new report from researchers at Lund University in Sweden shows that it is possible to re-programme other cells to become nerve cells, directly in the brain. Two years ago, researchers in Lund were the first in the world to re-programme human skin cells, known as fibroblasts, to dopamine-producing nerve cells – without taking a detour via the stem cell stage. The research group has now gone a step further ...

BOSTON (March 26, 2013) —A research paper published online this month in Academic Medicine highlights the successful development, implementation, and effects of an infectious disease curriculum that has now been piloted in five Boston Public Schools. Student engagement and interest in the infectious disease material increased after the curriculum was implemented. Based on pre-and post-tests, student understanding of the course content more than doubled regardless of gender or ethnicity, also attitudes and self-efficacy toward the material improved compared to other students. The ...

First economic models showing impact of post-weaning multi-systemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) on British Pig Industry published Between £8 to £84 per pig lost, depending on severity of PMWS Farm-level intervention could save farmers up to £11,500 per year Stark new figures show that a common pig virus, present on 99 per cent of pig farms has major economic implications for individual farmers and the pig industry as a whole, costing British farmers as much as £84 per pig (if the pig dies from the syndrome), and during epidemic periods, such as 2008, costing the pig ...

Researchers from the University of Castilla-La Mancha have developed a measurement system which permits the prediction of atmospheric pollution due to nitrogen oxides in a specific location and at a particular time. The study is supported by a massive database from urban areas in the Community of Madrid. The World Health Organisation has stated that almost 2.5 million people die every year from causes directly attributable to air pollution. In spite of efforts in recent years, toxic nitrogen oxides are one of the main problems of pollution in large cities, where more than ...

Athens, Ga. – Excess carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere created by the widespread burning of fossil fuels is the major driving force of global climate change, and researchers the world over are looking for new ways to generate power that leaves a smaller carbon footprint. Now, researchers at the University of Georgia have found a way to transform the carbon dioxide trapped in the atmosphere into useful industrial products. Their discovery may soon lead to the creation of biofuels made directly from the carbon dioxide in the air that is responsible for trapping ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – March 26, 2013 – A Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center team studying alcohol addiction has new research that might shed light on why some drinkers are more susceptible to addiction than others. Jeff Weiner, Ph.D., professor of physiology and pharmacology at Wake Forest Baptist, and colleagues used an animal model to look at the early stages of the addiction process and focused on how individual animals responded to alcohol. Their findings may lead not only to a better understanding of addiction, but to the development of better drugs to treat the ...

DETROIT – In a nationwide study of patients undergoing surgery for cancer, Henry Ford Hospital researchers have found that while infections during hospital stays increased during a 10-year period, the death rate from those infections dropped. The findings suggest that diagnosis and management of healthcare-associated infection, or HAI, have improved over time. The study appears in the current issue of the journal Cancer. "Cancer patients often have surgery as part of their treatment and are at increased risk for developing healthcare-associated infection," says study ...

Solar cells are just like leaves, capturing the sunlight and turning it into energy. It's fitting that they can now be made partially from trees. Georgia Institute of Technology and Purdue University researchers have developed efficient solar cells using natural substrates derived from plants such as trees. Just as importantly, by fabricating them on cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) substrates, the solar cells can be quickly recycled in water at the end of their lifecycle. The technology is published in the journal Scientific Reports, the latest open-access journal from ...

Having more authority in the workplace comes with many rewards – including greater forms of job control and higher earnings. However, according to new research out of the University of Toronto, the benefits are not evenly distributed for women and men. Sociologist Scott Schieman, lead author of the study, found key differences between men and women in both the levels and implications of greater job authority. First, roughly 24 per cent of men report managerial authority compared to only 16 per cent of women. Moreover, the association between managerial authority and ...

BOSTON (March 26, 2013) — As public health authorities across the globe grapple with the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, Tufts University School of Medicine microbiologists and colleagues have identified the unique resistance mechanisms of a clinical isolate of E. coli resistant to carbapenems. Carbapenems are a class of antibiotics used as a last resort for the treatment of disease-causing bacteria, including E. coli and Klebsiella pneumonia, which can cause serious illness and even death. Infections involving resistant strains fail to respond to antibiotic ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – New research explains how certain traits can pass down from one generation to the next – at least in plants – without following the accepted rules of genetics. Scientists have shown that an enzyme in corn responsible for reading information from DNA can prompt unexpected changes in gene activity – an example of epigenetics. Epigenetics refers to modifications in the genome that don't directly affect DNA sequences. Though some evidence has suggested that epigenetic changes can bypass DNA's influence to carry on from one generation to the next, this ...

The welfare of poultry could be improved by a discovery about how chickens regulate their appetites. Scientists have identified how a chicken's genetic make-up can affect the signals sent from its stomach to its brain that tell a chicken when it has had enough to eat. Poultry farmers often have to restrict food for chickens because some birds are insensitive to feelings of fullness and can overeat, affecting their ability to reproduce. The study could make it easier to develop methods to develop diets that reduce excess growth more naturally in these birds. Researchers ...

VIDEO: Biology researchers at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, wanted to know if organic food is healthier than conventionally grown food. To test that, they fed one group of fruit flies an... Click here for more information. A new study looking at the potential health benefits of organic versus non-organic food found that fruit flies fed an organic diet recorded better health outcomes than flies fed a nonorganic diet. The study from the lab of SMU biologist Johannes ...

When NASA's twin GRAIL spacecraft made their final descent for impact onto the Moon's surface last December, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's sophisticated payload was in position to observe the effects. As plumes of gas rose from the impacts, the Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) aboard LRO detected the presence of mercury and hydrogen and measured their time evolution as the gas rapidly expanded into the vacuum of space at near-escape velocities. NASA intentionally crashed the GRAIL twins onto the Moon on Dec. 17, 2012, following successful prime and extended science ...

The following highlights summarize research papers that have been recently published in Geophysical Research Letters (GRL), Journal of Geophysical Research-Planets (JGR-P), Space Weather (SW), and Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, (JGR-G). In this release: 1. Global fires after the asteroid impact probably caused the K-Pg extinction 2. Predicting fire activity using terrestrial water storage data 3. Monitoring subsidence and vent wall collapse on Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii 4. Italian all-sky imager tracks auroral red arcs over Europe 5. Nonnative ...

PITTSBURGH—Those suffering from swallowing difficulties, especially stroke patients, could be evaluated more efficiently and noninvasively thanks to research under way at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Toronto. Ervin Sejdic, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering in Pitt's Swanson School of Engineering, is developing a small sensor that's externally placed on the neck near the thyroid and records how a person swallows. The primary author of a study on the sensor published online in IEEE Transactions of Biomedical Engineering, Sejdic ...

A new study by Multiple Sclerosis researchers at three leading Canadian centres addresses why bone marrow transplantation (BMT) has positive results in patients with particularly aggressive forms of MS. The transplantation treatment, which is performed as part of a clinical trial and carries potentially serious risks, virtually stops all new relapsing activity as observed upon clinical examination and brain MRI scans. The study reveals how the immune system changes as a result of the transplantation. Specifically, a sub-set of T cells in the immune system known as Th17 ...

For the first time, the complete genomes of three populations of aye-ayes--a type of lemur--have been sequenced and analyzed. The results of the genome-sequence analyses are published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The research was led by George Perry, an anthropologist and biologist at Penn State University; Webb Miller, a biologist and computer scientist and engineer at Penn State; and Edward Louis of the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in Omaha, Neb., and Director of the Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership. The aye-aye--a ...