Scientists have created the highest resolution map of the Sumatran tiger distribution ever produced, revealing that the island now hosts the second largest tiger population on earth. The research, carried out with the Wildlife Conservation Society's Indonesia Program and Forum HarimauKita, will be published in a special issue of Integrative Zoology, on tiger conservation and research methodologies. Hariyo T. Wibisono and Wulan Pusparini conducted a questionnaire-based survey across the island to identify the status of Sumatran tiger distribution. They found that tigers ...

The risk of having a heart attack is 60 per cent higher just a year after a patient has been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, according to research published in the December issue of the Journal of Internal Medicine. Swedish researchers followed 7,469 patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) between 1995 and 2006, together with 37,024 matched controls without RA to determine the risk of ischaemic heart disease, with particular reference to myocardial infarction (heart attack). The maximum follow-up was 12 years and the median was just over four years. "Our ...

Tapping into young people's use of online social networks presents health agencies with a powerful opportunity to help control the rise in HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in homeless youth in Los Angeles. According to new research1 by Sean Young from UCLA and Eric Rice from USC in the US, online social networking - and the topics discussed on these networks - have the potential to affect sexual risk behaviors. Targeting homeless youths with sexual health messages, by exploiting their use of these networks, is likely to be an effective way to reach and influence ...

A brand-new bacterial species has been found aboard the RMS Titanic, which is contributing to its deterioration. The discovery reveals a potential new microbial threat to the exterior of ships and underwater metal structures such as oil rigs. The researchers, who report their findings in the latest issue of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology published on 8 December, isolated the micro-organisms from a 'rusticle', collected from the RMS Titanic, 3.8 km below the ocean surface. The novel bacterium has been named Halomonas titanicae by ...

Researchers in South America have studied the viability of using earthworms to process hazardous material containing high concentrations of heavy metal for the bioremediation of old industrial sites, landfill and other potentially hazardous areas. They provide details of a possible approach in the International Journal of Global Environmental Issues this month. After pollinating insects, worms are probably the gardener's best friend and they have been encouraged to process garden waste and soil for generations. The common earthworm, Eisenia fetida, could also become a ...

A team led by scientists at the United Kingdom's National Oceanography Centre have measured the air-sea exchange of carbon dioxide in the open ocean at higher wind speed then anyone else has ever managed. Their findings are important for understanding how interactions between the oceans and the atmosphere influence climate. "Evaluating the factors influencing the transfer of gases such as carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and the ocean is needed for a full understanding of Earth's climate system," explained researcher John Prytherch of the National Oceanography Centre. The ...

A well-known paper-based medical chart used by pediatric emergency personnel across America is undergoing a 21st century boost in an collaborative effort between Virginia Tech's College of Engineering, Roanoke-based Carilion Clinic Children's Hospital, and the physician who created the original method some 25 years ago. The Broselow Pediatric Emergency Tape – otherwise known as the Broselow Tape -- has been a staple of ERs and child trauma units for nearly three decades. Created by Hickory, N.C.-based physician James Broselow, the Broselow Tape is a long, durable tape ...

Tel Aviv ― Naukrtis, a Greek trade emporium on Egyptian soil, has long captured the imagination of archaeologists and historians. Not only is the presence of a Greek trading settlement in Egypt during the 7th and 6th century B.C.E. surprising, but the Greeks that lived there in harmony hailed from several Greek states which traditionally warred amongst themselves. Dr. Alexander Fantalkin of Tel Aviv University's Department of Archaeology is delving deeper into this unique piece of ancient history to come up with a new explanation for how Naukrtis developed, and ...

Continued eutrophication of the Baltic Sea, combined with an ever thinner ozone layer, is favouring the toxic cyanobacterium Nodularia spumigena, reveals research from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. "There are several species of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, that can form surface blooms in the Baltic Sea," explains Malin Mohlin from the University of Gothenburg's Department of Marine Ecology. "Which species ends up dominating a bloom depends partly on how they deal with an increased amount of UV light and a shortage of nutrients. Nodularia spumigena is most ...

Pregnant mums who regularly use mobile phones may be more likely to have kids with behavioural problems, particularly if those children start using mobile phones early themselves, suggests research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. The researchers base their findings on more than 28,000 seven year olds and their mothers who were part of the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC) study. This study enrolled nearly 100,000 pregnant women between 1996 and 2002, with the intention of tracking their kids' long term health. The mums supplied ...

Regulatory authorities should consider banning electronic cigarettes until safety concerns have been addressed, concludes research published online in Tobacco Control. The researchers base their conclusions on an evaluation of six different brands of electronic nicotine delivery systems or ENDS. These are not tobacco products, but are designed to look and feel like regular cigarettes. They are aimed at smokers for use in places where cigarette smoking is not permitted as they don't produce smoke. They usually consist of a battery, an atomiser, and a replaceable cartridge ...

The gap in flu vaccination rates between elderly whites, African-Americans and Hispanics is amplified when vaccine supply is limited or delayed. That is the conclusion of a study out today in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The study found that disparities in seasonal influenza vaccination rates between the groups grew by as much as 7 percentage points in years when there were problems with vaccine supply. By contrast, the gap narrowed by as much as 11 percentage points during years when the supply was more timely and abundant. "There is a strong ...

Personality is not just a feature unique to humans and pets. Scientists at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) have revealed that also brown trout have individual characters and show different personalities. Researcher Bart Adriaenssens from the Department of Zoology at the University of Gothenburg has for many years studied the behaviour of juvenile trout from watercourses on the west coast of Sweden. "My results show that it are not just humans and other mammals that exhibit personality. Also brown trout differ among each other in their level of aggression and react ...

Monthly blood transfusions combined with daily medication to remove the resulting excess iron remains the best approach for reducing the risk of recurrent strokes in young patients with sickle cell anemia, according to a preliminary analysis of a multicenter trial that includes St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The study compared the efficacy of two treatments for the potentially life-threatening problem of iron overload caused by chronic transfusion therapy. The transfusions are used to guard against additional strokes in young sickle cell anemia patients. The trial, ...

An international team of researchers led by the University of East Anglia (UEA) have developed a new kind of endoscope to aid the early detection and diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease. The Confocal Laser Endomicroscope (CLE) contains a powerful microscope which allows clinicians to view the bacteria that are thought to trigger diseases of the bowel such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. "Bacteria within the wall of the gut are already believed to play an important role in the development of inflammatory bowel disease and we now have a powerful new tool ...

Quebec City, December 6, 2010—Researchers at Université Laval, in collaboration with Nova Scotia Agricultural College, have discovered what causes Christmas tree needles to drop off, and how to double the lifespan of Christmas trees in homes. The authors presented their findings in a recent issue of the scientific journal Trees. The researchers have identified a plant hormone—ethylene—responsible for needle loss in balsam fir. They made the discovery by placing fir branches in containers of water inside a growth chamber. After ten days the branches began to produce ethylene ...

Brand named hotels fare better than independently operated properties in economic downturns, according to a team of international researchers. A study of the performance of hotels during both economic recessions and expansions indicates that brand named hotels are more profitable than independent hotels under all economic conditions, but the difference is particularly significant during recessions, said John O'Neill, associate professor of hospitality management, Penn State. "There has been a lot of debate in the hotel industry about the advantages of brand affiliation ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Good news for control freaks! New research confirms that having some authority over how one takes in new information significantly enhances one's ability to remember it. The study, in the journal Nature Neuroscience, also offers a first look at the network of brain structures that contribute to this phenomenon. "Having active control over a learning situation is very powerful and we're beginning to understand why," said University of Illinois psychology and Beckman Institute professor Neal Cohen, who led the study with postdoctoral researcher Joel Voss. ...

COLLEGE STATION — A team of Texas AgriLife Research engineers has developed a way to cut by as much as half the amount of irradiation needed to kill 99.999 percent of salmonella, E. coli and other pathogens on fresh produce. By packing produce in a Mylar bag filled with pure oxygen, Dr. Carmen Gomes, AgriLife Research food safety engineer, and her colleagues found they could significantly reduce the amount of radiation needed to kill those pathogens. Reducing the amount of radiation is not so much a safety measure as it is a way to preserve quality of the produce, she ...

PITTSBURGH—Computer-related technology is increasingly driving the U.S. economy, yet computer science education is scant in most American elementary and secondary school classrooms and the number of introductory and Advanced Placement courses in computer science has actually declined in the last five years, according to a report released this fall. "Some states and some schools are offering some really excellent courses," said Mark Stehlik, co-author of the report, "Running on Empty: The Failure to Teach K-12 Computer Science in the Digital Age," http://www.acm.org/runningonempty/. ...

How do ecosystems develop? No one really knows, yet. There is however one project, unique in the world, seeking to answer this question. In a former open-pit coal mining area in Brandenburg, Germany, a surface of six hectares was partitioned off and then left to its own resources. Scientists from the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM), in collaboration with researchers from other institutions, are studying the development of soil, flora, and fauna there. With this research they aim to establish the factors that have a particularly strong influence on developing ecosystems. Young ...

CHICAGO --- Post-traumatic stress syndrome – when a severely stressful event triggers exaggerated and chronic fear – affects nearly 8 million people in the United States and is hard to treat. In a preclinical study, Northwestern Medicine scientists have for the first time identified the molecular cause of the debilitating condition and prevented it from occurring by injecting calming drugs into the brain within five hours of a traumatic event. Northwestern researchers discovered the brain becomes overly stimulated after a traumatic event causes an ongoing, frenzied ...

New research at Rice University could ultimately show scientists the way to make batches of nanotubes of a single type. A paper in the online journal Physical Review Letters unveils an elegant formula by Rice University physicist Boris Yakobson and his colleagues that defines the energy of a piece of graphene cut at any angle. Yakobson, a professor in mechanical engineering and materials science and of chemistry, said this alone is significant because the way graphene handles energy depends upon the angle -- or chirality -- of its edge, and solving that process for ...

Investigators report no evidence of toxicity in the four hemophilia B patients enrolled to date in a gene therapy trial using a vector under development at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and UCL (University College London) to correct the inherited bleeding disorder. This trial was designed primarily as a safety test, with low and intermediate doses of the vector expected to produce little detectable Factor IX. The Factor IX protein helps the blood form clots. Individual with hemophilia B lack adequate levels of this clotting factor. The first participant in the ...

People with psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, are 12 times more likely to commit suicide than average, according to research released today by King's Health Partners. The research found that the rate of suicide was highest in the first year following diagnosis (12 times national average) and that high risk persisted – remaining four times greater than the general population ten years after diagnosis, a time when there may be less intense clinical monitoring of risk. Neither the risk of suicide nor the long-term risk of suicide, as compared ...