A new study provides the composite picture of the environmental distribution of oil and gas from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It amasses a vast collection of available atmospheric, surface and subsurface chemical data to assemble a "mass balance" of how much oil and gas was released, where it went and the chemical makeup of the compounds that remained in the air, on the surface, and in the deep water. The study, "Chemical data quantify Deepwater Horizon hydrocarbon flow rate and environmental distribution," is published online in the journal ...

With a lack of effective treatments for Alzheimer's, most of us would think long and hard about whether we wanted to know years in advance if we were genetically predisposed to develop the disease. For researchers, however, such knowledge is a window into Alzheimer's disease's evolution. Understanding the biological changes that occur during the clinically "silent" stage — the years before symptoms appear — provides clues about the causes of the disease and may offer potential targets for drugs that will stop it from progressing. In a new study, researchers at UCLA ...

University of California, Davis, researchers have proposed a radical new way of thinking about the chemical reactions between water and metal oxides, the most common minerals on Earth. Their work appears in the current issue of the journal Nature Materials. The new paradigm could lead to a better understanding of corrosion and how toxic minerals leach from rocks and soil. It could also help in the development of "green" technology: new types of batteries, for example, or catalysts for splitting water to produce hydrogen fuel. "This is a global change in how people should ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A turning point in the history of life occurred 2 to 3 billion years ago with the unprecedented appearance and dramatic rise of molecular oxygen. Now researchers report they have identified an enzyme that was the first – or among the first – to generate molecular oxygen on Earth. The new findings, reported in the journal Structure, build on more than a dozen previous studies that aim to track the molecular evolution of life by looking for evidence of that history in present-day protein structures. These studies, led by University of Illinois crop sciences ...

SAN DIEGO — The investigational drug ganetespib, a synthetic second-generation Hsp90 inhibitor, slowed the growth of cancer cells taken from non-small cell lung cancer tumors with a mutation in the KRAS gene. The drug was even more active when combined with traditional lung cancer treatments and other investigational targeted therapies, according to preclinical study data. David A. Proia, Ph.D., and Jaime Acquaviva, Ph.D., scientists at Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp., presented the data at the AACR-IASLC Joint Conference on Molecular Origins of Lung Cancer: Biology, Therapy ...

SAN DIEGO -- Smoking may be associated with the development of molecular features of cancer in the large airway epithelium. In the small airway epithelium, molecular cancerization is associated with development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to recent data. "We are striving to find the earliest molecular changes that are induced by environmental stressors — in this case, smoking," said Renat Shaykhiev, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of genetic medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, who presented the findings at the AACR-IASLC Joint Conference ...

Preventing mother to child transmission of HIV in Zimbabwe In this week's PLoS Medicine, Andrea Ciaranello of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA and colleagues find, using a simulation model, that implementation of the latest WHO PMTCT (prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV) guidelines must take place in conjunction with improving access to PMTCT programs, increasing retention of women in care, and supporting adherence to drugs, in order to eliminate pediatric HIV in Zimbabwe. The authors say: "Although PMTCT uptake in low- and middle-income countries ...

Limited use of compulsory licensing of pharmaceuticals to protect public health Reed Beall and Randall Kuhn of the University of Denver, USA describe in this week's PLoS Medicine their findings from an analysis of use of compulsory licenses for pharmaceutical products by World Trade Organization members since 1995. Specifically, the authors investigated the impact of the 2001 Doha Declaration on trends in compulsory licensing of pharmaceuticals. They highlight the need for further systematic evaluation of global health agreements. ###Funding: No direct funding was received ...

Long-term consequences of venous thrombosis Linda Flinterman of Leiden University, the Netherlands and colleagues report in this week's PLoS Medicine on the long-term mortality rate for individuals who have experienced a first venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism. They describe an ongoing elevated risk of death for individuals who had experienced a venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism as compared to controls, for up to eight years after the event. The authors say: "To our knowledge, this has been the first study to calculate mortality rates compared with the general ...

Jason Nickerson and Amir Attaran of the University of Ottawa, Canada examine in this week's PLoS Medicine the vast inequities in medical pain relief around the world, arguing that the imbalance has arisen from restrictive drug laws designed to prevent access to illegal substances, and proposing that the global control of licit narcotics be shifted from the International Narcotic Control Board to WHO. The authors say: "Transferring the public health responsibility for controlled medicines from INCB to WHO would end the impossibly contradictory situation in which INCB ...

GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Celebrities are channeling a distant relative with what Harper's Bazaar describes as the latest trend in nail fashion for 2012: claws. But this may not be the first time primates traded their nails for claws. A new study co-authored by a University of Florida researcher examines the first extinct North American primate with a toe bone showing features associated with the presence of both nails and a grooming claw, indicating our primate ancestors may have traded their flat nails for raised claws for functional purposes, much like pop icons Adele ...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Using marijuana carries legal risks, but a new study shows that the consequences of occasionally lighting up do not include long-term loss of lung function, according to a new study by University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers published in the January 11, 2012, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. In 2009, 16.7 million Americans ages 12 and older reported using marijuana at least once in the month ...

Eliminating new infant HIV infections in Zimbabwe will require not only improved access to antiretroviral medications but also support to help HIV-infected mothers continue taking their medication and safely reduce or eliminate breastfeeding, according to an article in the January issue of PLoS Medicine. Findings of the report from an international research team should help with the planning of expanded programs to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission in sub-Saharan Africa and other areas with limited health resources. "Pediatric HIV infection has been nearly eliminated ...

The stars we see today weren't always as serene as they appear, floating alone in the dark of night. Most stars, likely including our sun, grew up in cosmic turmoil — as illustrated in a new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The image shows one of the most active and turbulent regions of star birth in our galaxy, a region called Cygnus X. The choppy cloud of gas and dust lies 4,500 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus the Swan. Cygnus X was named by radio astronomers, since it is one of the brightest radio regions in the Milky Way. (It should not be ...

Jupiter, FL - Using a blend of technologies, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have painted a new picture of how biochemical information can be transmitted through the modification of a protein. Previously, scientists believed that during the pairing of proteins and their binding partners ("ligands"), proteins modified their shape while ligands remained stable. The new study shows this one-size-fits-all solution is not entirely accurate. Instead, the situation resembles a kind of complex but carefully organized dance routine, where the ...

Scientists have revealed details of the world's most extreme deep-sea volcanic vents, 5 kilometres down in a rift in the Caribbean seafloor. The undersea hot springs, which lie 0.8 kilometres deeper than any seen before, may be hotter than 450 °C and are shooting a jet of mineral-laden water more than a kilometre into the ocean above. Despite these extreme conditions, the vents are teeming with thousands of a new species of shrimp that has a light-sensing organ on its back. And having found yet more 'black smoker' vents on an undersea mountain nearby, the researchers ...

CHICAGO – In a study in which participants had repeated measurements of lung function over 20 years, occasional and low cumulative marijuana use was not associated with adverse effects on pulmonary function, according to a study in the January 11 issue of JAMA. Exposure to tobacco smoke causes lung damage with clinical consequences that include respiratory symptoms, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer. "Marijuana smoke contains many of the same constituents as tobacco smoke, but it is unclear whether smoking marijuana causes pulmonary damage similar ...

CHICAGO – A review of 16 prognostic indices used to predict risk of death in older adults in a variety of clinical settings, such as in nursing homes and hospitals, found that there is insufficient evidence to recommend the widespread use of these indices in clinical practice, according to a study in the January 11 issue of JAMA. "Failure to consider prognosis in the context of clinical decision making can lead to poor care. Hospice is underutilized for patients with nonmalignant yet life-threatening diseases. Healthy older patients with good prognosis have low rates ...

CHICAGO – Compared to individuals without dementia, persons who developed dementia subsequently had a significantly higher rate of hospital admissions for all causes and admissions for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions for which proactive care may have prevented hospitalizations, according to a study in the January 11 issue of JAMA. "Nonelective hospitalization of older people, particularly those with dementia, is not a trivial event. Among older persons without dementia, hospitalization for serious illness is associated with subsequent cognitive decline, and frail ...

CHICAGO – Patients hospitalized after a heart attack who had blood potassium levels of between 3.5 and less than 4.5 mEq/L (milliEquivalents per liter) had a lower risk of death than patients with potassium levels that were higher or lower than this range, according to a study in the January 11 issue of JAMA. Clinical practice guidelines recommend maintaining serum potassium levels between 4.0 and 5.0 mEq/L in patients after a heart attack. "Potassium homeostasis [equilibrium] is critical to prevent adverse events in patients with cardiovascular disease. Several studies ...

Astronomers have gained an important clue about a ubiquitous cosmic process by pinpointing the exact moment when gigantic "bullets" of fast-moving material were launched from the region surrounding a black hole. They made this breakthrough by using the ultra-sharp radio "vision" of the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), along with NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) satellite, to study an outburst from a system including a black hole and its companion star in 2009. Black holes in such binary-star systems can pull material from their companions. ...

SEATTLE–Compared to individuals without dementia, people who subsequently developed dementia had a significantly higher rate of hospital admissions for all causes. They also had more admissions for "ambulatory care-sensitive" conditions, for which proactive care may have prevented hospitalizations. This suggests opportunities for improving outpatient care of seniors with dementia, according to research in the January 11 Journal of the American Medical Association. "Nonelective hospitalization of older people, particularly those with dementia, is not a trivial event," ...

A worldwide study has shown that physical activity during work and leisure time significantly lowers the risk of heart attacks in both developed and developing countries. Ownership of a car and a television was linked to an increased risk of heart attacks, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The findings come from the INTERHEART study, a case-control study of over 29,000 people from 262 centres in 52 countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, North and South America. It is published online today (Wednesday) in the European Heart Journal ...

An international team of scientists from the Universities of Exeter and Oxford in the UK, University of Sydney (Australia), Aarhus University (Denmark) and Massey University (New Zealand) based their research on the ground beetle, Anchomenus dorsalis, a well-known garden insect that feasts on slugs, aphids, moths, beetle larvae and ants. The team collected female beetles from the wild and split them into two groups in the laboratory. Half of the beetles were offered a choice of foods, some that were high in protein and some that were high in fat. The other half were not ...

It is commonly known that, much like Pavlov's dogs salivating in response to hearing the bell they associate with dinner time, smokers feel cravings and have physiological reactions to pictures they associate with smoking. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Neuroscience has shown that a smoker's cravings can also be trained to non-smoking related stimuli. Classical conditioning experiments link a neutral stimulus, such as a sound or a picture, to an event, like eating or smoking. Higher order, sometimes called second order conditioning, ...