The phenomenon of adoption has taxed the minds of evolutionary scientists since Darwin first came up with his account of natural selection. According to Richard Dawkins's description, adoption is "a double whammy. Not only do you reduce, or at least fail to increase, your own reproductive success, but you improve someone else's." So why are animals apparently so willing to take care of young that are not related to them? Franziska Schaedelin and colleagues at the Konrad Lorenz Institute of the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna now shed interesting light on the ...

Milan, 19 March 2013 – Patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) carrying prostate cancer (PCa) a risk alleles are a potential target population for PCa screening and follow-up, according to a study, which was presented yesterday at the 28th Annual EAU Congress in Milan. The study aimed to evaluate the genetic predisposition of patients with BPH to developing prostate cancer, with findings suggesting that genetic testing may offer a new tool to identify BPH patients with increased risk to develop PrCa. "To our knowledge this is the first study to evaluate genetic ...

This retrospective multicenter study, which included 677 patients from 6 centres, aimed to evaluate intraoperative, early postoperative and mesh-related complications for surgical management of female pelvic organ prolapse (POP) with application of trocar guided transvaginal synthetic mesh. In the course of the study the patients underwent POP surgery from 2006 to 2010. The patients were operated for symptomatic genital prolapse POP-Q stage 2 to 4. Patients were systematically seen within 1 and 3 months and then evaluated again during the study via phone interview and ...

Milan, 19 March 2013 - Despite the high erectile dysfunction (ED) prevalence most patients receive no treatment, according to a new US study, presented at the 28th Annual EAU Congress. Undertreatment of ED continues to be common, even though the treatments have a proven efficacy and quality of life impact. "Until now, research conducted on the treatment of erectile dysfunction has been derived from surveys involving small populations," wrote the authors. "However, a comprehensive and larger patient-based study using claims data that characterises men undergoing treatment ...

Type 2 diabetes has strong hereditary tendencies and the genes we are born with cannot be changed. However, new research from Lund University in Sweden shows that we can modify the function of the genes through the epigenetic changes that take place in the course of life. Epigenetic changes are usually described as a link between heredity and environment and come about as a result of factors such as ageing, chemicals, medication, diet, exercise and drugs. Researchers have now demonstrated that half of the known genetic risk variants for type 2 diabetes can be influenced ...

Putnam Valley, NY. (Mar. 19 2013) – A team of researchers in Seoul, Korea have reported finding evidence that deer antlers - unique in that they regenerate annually - contain multipotent stem cells that could be useful for tissue regeneration in veterinary medicine. The study appears as an early e-publication for the journal Cell Transplantation, and is now freely available on-line at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/pre-prints/ct0897seo. "We successfully isolated and characterized antler tissue-derived multipotent stem cells and confirmed that the isolated ...

A study published today in the journal Nature Genetics explores a new mechanism that may contribute to the development of several tumours, including Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia, a type of cancer that affects more than a thousand new patients in Spain each year. This work, led by researchers Carlos López-Otín, from the University Institute of Oncology at the University of Oviedo; Elías Campo, from the Hospital Clínic/University of Barcelona; and María Blasco, the Director of the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), represents a significant milestone for the ...

When it rains, untreated stormwater can sweep pollutants into coastal waters, potentially endangering public health. Now researchers from North Carolina State University have developed low-cost filtration systems that are concealed beneath sand dunes and filter out most of the bacteria that can lead to beach closures. "It was not economically feasible to use a tract of beachfront property to treat stormwater. Instead, we were able to devise a system that could be installed in an area that was not developable – underneath the dunes," says Dr. Michael Burchell, an assistant ...

Psychologists have traditionally characterized compulsive gambling as an "impulse control disorder," and treated it by addressing the patient's obsessive tendencies. But according to Prof. Pinhas Dannon of Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Beer Yaakov Mental Health Center, not all pathological gamblers fit the same profile. Though gambling is typically associated with casino games, strategic sports betting is rapidly gaining in popularity — and that's a whole other ball game, Prof. Dannon explains. "Sports gamblers seem to believes themselves the ...

Daphnia is a genus of small, planktonic crustaceans, commonly called 'water fleas' because of their jumpy swimming style and their size (between 0.2 and 5 mm). They live in various aquatic environments, ranging from acidic swamps to freshwater lakes, ponds, streams and rivers. Species of the genus Daphnia play a key role in freshwater food webs: they consume algae and are themselves an important food item for small fish. Daphnia lumholtzi is a small subtropical and tropical representative, known as an invader in North America. It has never been found in Europe in the ...

Boulder, Colo., USA – New Geology articles posted online ahead of print cover everything from cratering on Mars to leopard-like camouflage in trilobites. Locations studied include the Ries Impact Crater; Hydrate Ridge, Oregon; Stromboli volcano; northern Peru; the Bushveld Complex, South Africa; western and central New York state; the Sahara Desert; and the French Alps. Brief highlights follow: 1. Analogous cratering at the Ries Impact Crater, Germany, and on Mars; 2. A presentation of the first secure, high-resolution land-sea PSV-based sediment-core synchronization; 3. ...

A compact, self-contained sensor recorded and transmitted brain activity data wirelessly for more than a year in early stage animal tests, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. In addition to allowing for more natural studies of brain activity in moving subjects, this implantable device represents a potential major step toward cord-free control of advanced prosthetics that move with the power of thought. The report is in the April 2013 issue of the Journal of Neural Engineering. "For people who have sustained paralysis or limb amputation, rehabilitation ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Illinois chemists have used DNA to do a protein's job, creating opportunities for DNA to find work in more areas of biology, chemistry and medicine than ever before. Led by Scott Silverman, a professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the researchers published their findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Ideally, researchers would like to be able to design and build new catalysts from scratch that can do exactly what they want. Many enzymes make small modifications to the building blocks ...

AMHERST, Mass. – When researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst led by microbiologist Derek Lovley discovered that the bacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens conducts electricity very effectively along metallic-like "microbial nanowires," they found physicists quite comfortable with the idea of such a novel biological electron transfer mechanism, but not biologists. "For biologists, Geobacter's behavior represents a paradigm shift. It goes against all that we are taught about biological electron transfer, which usually involves electrons hopping from one molecule ...

Individuals infected by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) have nothing to fear from sex in a monogamous, heterosexual relationship. Transmission of HCV from an infected partner during sex is rare according to new research published in the March issue of Hepatology, a journal published by Wiley on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). Experts estimate that HCV affects up to 4 million Americans, most of whom are sexually active. Medical evidence shows HCV is primarily transmitted by exposure to infectious blood, typically through intravenous ...

Government policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from consumers need to be fairer for household income levels, says a University of Alberta researcher. A U of A study published recently online in the journal Environment and Behaviour looks at the different sources of greenhouse gas emissions from consumers, based on their income levels. The wealthiest households in Alberta emit the most greenhouse gases, but too often, income disparity hasn't been factored in to current polices—such as the carbon flat tax that is levied to British Columbia residents. Such ...

Parasitoid wasps of the family Braconidae are known for their deadly reproductive habits. Most of the representatives of this group have their eggs developing in other insects and their larvae, eventually killing the respective host, or in some cases immobilizing it or causing its sterility. Three new species of the parasitoid wasp genus Cystomastacoides, recently described in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research, reflect this fatal behavior. Two of the new species were discovered in Papua New Guinea, while the third one comes from Thailand. The Thai species, Cystomastacoides ...

A study published in the March issue of Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, estimates that the prevalence of acute hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is nearly one percent among newly incarcerated inmates with a history of recent drug use. Findings suggest that systematic screening of intravenous (IV) drug users who are new to the prison system could identify more than 7,000 cases of HCV across the U.S. annually—even among asymptomatic inmates. According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Health—the ...

Teen-age college students are significantly more likely to abstain from drinking or to drink only minimally when their parents talk to them before they start college, using suggestions in a parent handbook developed by Robert Turrisi, professor of biobehavioral health, Penn State. "Over 90 percent of teens try alcohol outside the home before they graduate from high school," said Turrisi. "It is well known that fewer problems develop for every year that heavy drinking is delayed. Our research over the past decade shows that parents can play a powerful role in minimizing ...

A research team that includes several Penn State scientists has completed a first-of-its-kind longitudinal pilot study aimed at better understanding how the neural processes that underlie responses to alcohol-related cues change during students' first year of college. Anecdotal evidence abounds attesting to the many negative social and physical effects of the dramatic increase in alcohol use that often comes with many students' first year of college. The behavioral changes that accompany those effects indicate underlying changes in the brain. Yet in contrast to alcohol's ...

Conscientious people are more likely to have higher grade point averages, according to new research from psychologists at Rice University. The paper examines previous studies that research the link between the "Big Five" personality traits –agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism and openness to experience – and college grade point average. It finds that across studies, higher levels of conscientiousness lead to higher college grade point averages. It also shows that five common personality tests are consistent in their evaluation of the "Big Five" ...

UCLA researchers have genetically engineered tomatoes to produce a peptide that mimics the actions of good cholesterol when consumed. Published in the April issue of the Journal of Lipid Research and featured on the cover, their early study found that mice that were fed these tomatoes in freeze-dried, ground form had less inflammation and plaque build-up in their arteries. "This is one of the first examples of a peptide that acts like the main protein in good cholesterol and can be delivered by simply eating the plant," said senior author Dr. Alan M. Fogelman, executive ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Consumption of foods high in carbohydrates immediately after birth programs individuals for lifelong increased weight gain and obesity, a University at Buffalo animal study has found, even if caloric intake is restricted in adulthood for a period of time. The research on laboratory animals was published this month in the American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology and Metabolism; it was published online in December. "This is the first time that we have shown in our rat model of obesity that there is a resistance to the reversal of this programming ...

Making headway against a major public health threat, Dartmouth College researchers have invented the first ever secondhand tobacco smoke sensor that records data in real time, a new study in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research shows. The researchers expect to soon convert the prototype, which is smaller and lighter than a cellphone, into a wearable, affordable and reusable device that helps to enforce no smoking regulations and sheds light on the pervasiveness of secondhand smoke. The sensor can also detect thirdhand smoke, or nicotine off-gassing from clothing, ...

With comprehensive immigration reform a priority for President Obama and gaining bipartisan and public support, there is a need and an opportunity to consider how the millions of undocumented immigrants should be integrated into our health care system, concludes a new report from The Hastings Center. The report is the executive summary of the findings of a Hastings Center project that explored ethical, legal, and policymaking challenges that arise when undocumented immigrants living in the United States need medical care. It can be found on the project Web site, http://www.undocumentedpatients.org/executive-summary. ...