A new collaborative project among researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden and the University of Cincinnati has, for the first time, demonstrated experimentally the evolutionary force behind the rapid evolution of male genitals, focusing on a species of seed beetle. This mechanism is revealed in a study published today in the scientific journal Current Biology. The experiments leading to this paper involved a species of seed beetle known as Callosobruchus maculatus. Mating among these beetles involves several males engaging in copulation with individual females. ...

MIAMI, FL – OCTOBER 25, 2012 – A hydration regimen tailored to the patient's fluid status was effective in reducing damage to kidneys in patients undergoing cardiac catheterization, according to a study presented at the 24th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium, sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation. TCT is the world's premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine. Contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI), or contrast-induced nephropathy, refers to kidney damage that may occur ...

MIAMI, FL – OCTOBER 25, 2012 – Patients who receive a drug-eluting stent (DES) and demonstrate low levels of platelet inhibition are more likely to have blood clots form on the stent and suffer a possible heart attack; conversely, patients with higher levels of platelet inhibition are at greater risk for bleeding complications. One-year results of the ADAPT-DES study were presented today at the 24th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium. Sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, TCT is the world's premier educational meeting ...

If an object slams into the glass façade of a high-rise building, the glass must not shatter and fall down, because it could harm pedestrians below. In addition, the window panes must hold if a person were to fall against it from the inside. Architects and builders therefore must use something stronger than laminated safety glass on the façades of high rise buildings. The same applies to the windshields on cars. Safety glass prevents passengers in an accident from getting hurt by glass shards. And shop windows made of safety glass are expected to reliably safeguard the ...

One man's death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic. - Joseph Stalin This book of prose poems is a captivating visit to the legendary town of Spoon River, viewed through the epitaphs of its residents. SPOON RIVER REVISITED is an insightful sequel to Edgar Lee Master's 1916 classic, Spoon River Anthology. The people who share their modern stories still struggle with challenges of growing up, making their way through life, and passing on. Death has an undeserved, bad reputation! Within the understandings of western medicine, when the body stops working, that is ...

MINNEAPOLIS – A new study suggests that women who begin taking hormone therapy within five years of menopause may reduce their risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. The research is published in the October 24, 2012, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. "This has been an area of debate because observational studies have shown a reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease with hormone therapy use, while a randomized controlled trial showed an increased risk. Our results suggest that there may be a critical window near menopause ...

MAYWOOD, Ill. - Nearly 80 million Americans would no longer need to take vitamin D supplements under new Institute of Medicine guidelines, according to a study by Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine researchers. Results were published Oct. 24, 2012 in the journal PLOS ONE. The new guidelines advise that almost all people get sufficient vitamin D when their blood levels are at or above 20 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml). Older guidelines said people needed vitamin D levels above 30 ng/ml. Holly Kramer, MD, MPH and colleagues examined data from 15,099 ...

HOUSTON -- (October 24, 2012) – , said a Baylor College of Medicine physician-scientist who was part of the local team that took part in the international effort. A report appears online in the journal Nature. "We now know every gene involved in pancreatic cancer," said Dr. William Fisher, professor of surgery and director of the Elkins Pancreas Center at BCM. "This study ushers in a whole new era of taking care of patients with pancreatic cancer. We will look back on this as a turning point in understanding and treating this disease." The study follows a five-year ...

BOSTON––Findings from a nationwide study led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute suggest that patients with advanced lung or colorectal cancer are frequently mistaken in their beliefs that chemotherapy can cure their disease. The study, published in the Oct. 25 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, found that 69 percent of patients with advanced lung cancer and 81 percent of patients with advanced colorectal cancer did not understand that the chemotherapy they were receiving was not at all likely to cure their disease. Their expectations run counter ...

Residents living in high-income white and high-income integrated neighborhoods were more likely to receive bystander CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) during an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest than arrest victims in low-income black neighborhoods, according to a publication in the Oct. 25 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Arrest victims in low-income white, low-income integrated and high-income black neighborhoods were also less likely to receive bystander CPR. In an effort to look at future CPR training processes and public health planning, researchers ...

In an editorial appearing in the October 25 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, medical oncologists at Johns Hopkins and Brigham and Women's hospitals provide a four-point plan for integrating palliative care discussions throughout the treatment of patients with terminal illnesses. They write that better planning and communication may improve symptoms, stress, and survival time, as well as lower health care costs at the end of life. The two physicians suggest that their colleagues should discuss palliative care with patients during initial talks about prognosis ...

European countries with gaps in border security surrounding agricultural imports have been invaded by the largest number of exotic insect pests, according to research published Oct 24 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Steven Bacon and colleagues from the Swiss Federal Research Station Agroscope ART and the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. Invasive agricultural pests pose growing environmental and economic problems, threatening biodiversity and costing billions of dollars in economic losses annually. Large volumes of cross-border trade increase the risks of invasion, ...

PORTLAND, Ore. - Oregon Health & Science University's development of a new gene therapy method to prevent certain inherited diseases has reached a significant milestone. Researchers at the university's Oregon National Primate Research Center and the OHSU Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology have successfully demonstrated their procedure in human cells. It's believed that this research, along with other efforts, will pave the way for future clinical trials in human subjects. The research results are online Wednesday, Oct. 24, in the highly respected journal Nature. Dr. ...

Archer fish knock their insect prey out of overhanging vegetation with a jet of water several times more powerful than the fish's muscles. New research now shows that the fish generate this power externally using water dynamics rather than with any specialized internal organs. The research, published Oct. 24 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Alberto Vailati and colleagues from the University of Milan, provides the first explanation for how archer fish can generate such powerful jets to capture their prey. Other animals like chameleons and salamanders store energy ...

As we grow older, we are less capable of correctly estimating differences in the weights of objects we lift, according to a study published Oct. 24 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Jessica Holmin and Farley Norman from North Dakota State University and Western Kentucky University, respectively. Previous studies have shown that aging is frequently associated with a decrease in muscle mass and consequently strength, making it more difficult to lift objects. As a result, older adults often perceive weights they lift as being heavier than they actually are. In the current ...

Analysis of texture differences in satellite images may be an effective way to monitor changes in vegetation, soil and water patterns over time, with potential implications for measuring biodiversity as well, according to new research published Oct. 24 by Matteo Convertino from the University of Florida and colleagues in the open access journal PLOS ONE. The authors designed statistical models to estimate two aspects of biodiversity in satellite images: the number of species in a given region, or 'species richness', and the rate at which species entered or were removed ...

BOSTON—Aspirin therapy can extend the life of colorectal cancer patients whose tumors carry a mutation in a key gene, but has no effect on patients who lack the mutation, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists report in the Oct. 25 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. In a study involving more than 900 patients with colorectal cancer, the researchers found that, for patients whose tumors harbored a mutation in the gene PIK3CA, aspirin use produced a sharp jump in survival: five years after diagnosis, 97 percent of those taking aspirin were still alive, compared ...

An electronic nose, used to detect the presence of molecules in the breath of a patient, could be used to diagnose obstructive sleep apnoea. A new study, published online today ahead of print (25 October 2012) in the European Respiratory Journal, could make the diagnosis of the condition quick and inexpensive compared to current methods. The gold standard used to identify sleep apnoea is an overnight sleep test. This is technically demanding, time-consuming and cost-intensive. Electronic nose devices have been shown to distinguish between a number of diseases; ...

This press release is available in German. Researchers at Aarhus University, Denmark, made a sensational discovery almost three years ago when they measured electric currents in the seabed. It was unclear as to what was conducting the current, but the researchers imagined the electric currents might run between different bacteria via a joint external wiring network.The researchers have now solved the mystery. It turns out that the whole process takes place inside bacteria that are one centimetre long. They make up a kind of live electric cable that no one had ever imagined ...

We're not used to thinking of ourselves as animals. But as Jason Samson sees it, climate is as important in shaping the distribution and movement of humans as it is in other animals. The McGill-trained ecologist and fellow researchers have been using modeling techniques similar to those used to define the ecological niche for plant and animal species to explore the correlation between climate patterns and population growth in the contiguous United States between 1900-2000. And what they discovered was a pronounced population shift away from areas within the U.S. with cool ...

Could it be that dark matter "halos" — the huge, invisible cocoons of mass that envelop entire galaxies and account for most of the matter in the universe — aren't completely dark after all but contain a small number of stars? Astronomers from UCLA, UC Irvine and elsewhere make a case for that in the Oct. 25 issue of the journal Nature. Astronomers have long disagreed about why they see more light in the universe than it seems they should — that is, why the infrared light they observe exceeds the amount of light emitted from known galaxies. When looking at the cosmos, ...

Just how new species are established is still one of the most central questions in biology. In an article in the leading scientific journal Nature, researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden describe how they mapped the genomes of the European pied flycatcher and the collared flycatcher and found that it is disparate chromosome structures rather than separate adaptations in individual genes that underlies the separation of the species. "We were surprised that such a large part of the genome was nearly identical in the two species," says Hans Ellegren, professor of evolutionary ...

CHICAGO --- In an early-stage breakthrough, a team of Northwestern University scientists has developed a new family of compounds that could slow the progression of Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's, the second most common neurodegenerative disease, is caused by the death of dopamine neurons, resulting in tremors, rigidity and difficulty moving. Current treatments target the symptoms but do not slow the progression of the disease. The new compounds were developed by Richard B. Silverman, the John Evans Professor of Chemistry at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences ...

(Garrison, NY) As the presidential candidates clash over the fate of the Affordable Care Act, a set of seven essays by leading legal experts, economists, and scholars examines the implications of the Supreme Court's decision on the ACA and makes it clear that there is no consensus about what is economically or morally just when it comes to health care coverage in this country. The essays appear in the Hastings Center Report. While the essays provide a range of perspectives, a few common themes emerge. Foremost among them is that the individual mandate may not work as ...

A gene known to be involved in cancer and cardiovascular development may be the cause of inflammation in the most common form of aortic aneurysm and may be a key to treatment, according to research from Nationwide Children's Hospital. The study, appearing online in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology on October 18, 2012, is the first to show that Notch 1 signaling is activated in abdominal aortic aneurysmal tissue in mice and humans. The aorta is the largest blood vessel in the body. Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) occurs when the weakened aortic wall dilates ...