New research has found that a genetic variant which reduces the chance of contracting diseases such as tuberculosis and leprosy is more prevalent in populations with long histories of urban living. The research, published in the journal Evolution, shows that in areas with a long history of urban settlements, today's inhabitants are more likely to possess the genetic variant which provides resistance to infection. In ancient cities, poor sanitation and high population densities would have provided an ideal breeding ground for the spread of disease. Natural selection ...

In many developing countries, the absence of surface-based air pollution sensors makes it difficult, and in some cases impossible, to get even a rough estimate of the abundance of a subcategory of airborne particles that epidemiologists suspect contributes to millions of premature deaths each year. The problematic particles, called fine particulate matter (PM2.5), are 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter, about a tenth the fraction of human hair. These small particles can get past the body's normal defenses and penetrate deep into the lungs. To fill in these gaps in surface-based ...

AMARILLO - Wheat streak mosaic virus is the most prevalent disease in the southwestern wheat producing region of the U.S., according to a Texas AgriLife Research scientist. Dr. Charlie Rush, AgriLife Research plant pathologist in Amarillo, is assembling several teams of scientists to work on the disease from every aspect: vector to diagnosis and mapping to control. "There are other diseases of concern, but wheat streak mosaic is always found somewhere in this wheat growing region, and every couple of years, we have an epidemic of it," Rush said. Several issues cause ...

DURHAM, N.C. – While scientists have spent the past 40 years describing the intricate series of events that occur when one mammalian cell divides into two, they still haven't agreed on how the process begins. There are two seemingly contradictory theories, which now may be reconciled by a third theory being proposed by Duke University bioengineer Lingchong You. These findings could provide insights into the initiation of disease, such as cancer, which is marked by uncontrolled cell proliferation. During proliferation, the DNA within the nucleus of a cell makes a copy ...

AMES, Iowa – A research team led by Edward Yu of Iowa State University and the Ames Laboratory has discovered the crystal structures of pumps that remove heavy metal toxins from bacteria, making them resistant to antibiotics. The findings are published in the Sept. 23 issue of the journal Nature. Yu – an Iowa State associate professor of chemistry, of physics and astronomy, of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology and an associate of the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory – said the finding gives researchers a better understanding of bacterial resistance ...

MANHATTAN, KAN. -- With the concept of a store-within-a-store growing across the country, a Kansas State University researcher's work shows the increasing importance of brand reputation and its strong role in governing decisions. Richard McFarland, associate professor of marketing, and four colleagues recently completed "Understanding Governance Decisions in a Partially Integrated Channel: A Contingent Alignment Framework." Their research will be published in the elite Journal of Marketing Research next year. The research looks at separate companies who entered a store-within-a-store ...

A team from the National Museum of Natural Sciences (CSIC) has analysed the impact of climate change on spotted hyena survival in Europe over 10,000 years ago. These changes played an important role, but the scientists say studies are still needed to look at the influence of human expansion and changes in herbivorous fauna on the definitive extinction of this species across the continent. "Climate change in the past was not directly responsible for the extinction of the spotted hyena in southern Europe, but it was a factor in its disappearance", Sara Varela, lead author ...

GREENBELT, Md. -- New supercomputer simulations tracking the interactions of thousands of dust grains show what the solar system might look like to alien astronomers searching for planets. The models also provide a glimpse of how this view might have changed as our planetary system matured. "The planets may be too dim to detect directly, but aliens studying the solar system could easily determine the presence of Neptune -- its gravity carves a little gap in the dust," said Marc Kuchner, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. who led ...

"A giant rhino with a ridiculously supersized head." "Fifteen long, pointed sideways oriented eye horns: one over the nose, one atop each eye, one at the tip of each cheek bone, and ten across the rear margin of the bony frill." "A horned face: large horn over the nose and short, blunt eye horns that project strongly to the side." Such phrases have been used to describe two newly discovered species of dinosaurs with looks only a mother could love. Still, they are drawing the attention and inspiring the imagination of scientists and lay people alike. Announced today ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – While birds living in urban areas face more predators than do those in rural areas, that doesn't mean urban birds face more danger from nest robbers. A six-year study conducted in 19 central Ohio forests from 2004 to 2009 found that, as expected, rural areas that had higher numbers of nest predators such as raccoons, domestic cats, and crows, also showed lower rates of nest survival. But there was no relation between the number of predators and nest survival in more urbanized areas. Researchers believe that's because nest predators in urban areas ...

WASHINGTON -- A concerted effort to boost research on women's health over the last two decades has lessened the burden of disease and reduced deaths among women due to cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, and cervical cancer, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. The effort has yielded less but still significant progress in reducing the effects of depression, HIV/AIDS, and osteoporosis on women, added the committee that wrote the report. However, several health issues important to women have seen little progress, including unintended pregnancy, autoimmune ...

WASHINGTON -- A decade-long, multibillion dollar effort to restore the Florida Everglades has made tangible albeit slow progress, but additional projects need completion before substantial benefits are seen, says a new congressionally mandated report from the National Research Council. Challenges in achieving targets for both water quality and water flow have become more apparent, requiring further scientific analysis to determine the repercussions of trading off one for the other. Although important scientific advances have been made, continued decline of some aspects ...

Treatment with vitamin C rapidly improves the emotional state of acutely hospitalized patients, according to a study carried out by researchers at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital (JGH) and the affiliated Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research (LDI). In a double-blind clinical trial, patients admitted to the JGH were randomly assigned to receive either vitamin C or vitamin D supplements for seven to ten days. Patients administered vitamin C had a rapid and statistically and clinically significant improvement in mood state, but no significant change in mood occurred ...

New Haven, Conn.—Scientists have wondered for some time why certain seismic waves travel more quickly through the core-mantle boundary, a thin layer of the Earth's interior that lies between about 1675 and 1800 miles below the surface. Now a new study by Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley sheds light on the mystery by showing how this region behaves under the extreme conditions found so deep in the Earth. The findings, which appear in the Sept. 24 issue of the journal Science, have important implications for understanding how the Earth's internal ...

Psychologists have known for a long time that after you make a choice, you adjust your opinion to think better of the thing you chose. Now a new study has found that this is true even if you don't know the options that you're choosing between. People change their minds about a choice after they make it. If you ask someone how he feels about Athens and Paris, he might rate them the same. But after you make him choose one as a vacation destination, he'll rate that city higher. This is thought to be a way to reduce the psychological tension that is created by rejecting ...

Across the globe, the diversity of plant and animal species generally increases from the North and South Poles towards the Equator but surprisingly that rule isn't true for soil bacteria, according to a new study by Queen's University biology professor Paul Grogan. "It appears that the rules determining the patterns for plant and animal diversity are different than the rules for bacteria," says Professor Grogan. The finding is important because one of the goals in ecology is to explain patterns in the distribution of species and understand the biological and environmental ...

A new technique pioneered at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) is improving the detection and monitoring of insecticide resistance in field populations of an important malaria-carrying mosquito. Researchers at LSTM, led by Dr Charles Wondji have developed a new technique which encourages the female Anopheles funestus mosquitoes to lay eggs which are then reared into adult mosquitoes to provide sufficient numbers to determine levels of insecticide resistance and to characterise the underlying mechanisms. Explaining the significance, John Morgan, who designed ...

Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that the costs of care for patients with cancer who disenrolled from hospice were nearly five times higher than for patients who remained with hospice. Patients who disenroll from hospice are far more likely to use emergency department care and be hospitalized. The results are published in the October 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Led by Melissa D.A. Carlson, PhD, Assistant Professor of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, and Elizabeth H. Bradley, PhD, Professor of Public Health at Yale University, ...

A non-stick coating for a substance found in semen dramatically lowers the rate of infection of immune cells by HIV a new study has found. The new material is a potential ingredient for microbicides designed to reduce transmission of HIV, a team from the University of Rochester Medical Center and the University of California, San Diego reports in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry. The coating clings to fibrous strings and mats of protein called SEVI–for semen-derived enhancer of viral infection–which was first discovered just three years ago. ...

Like a well-crafted football play designed to block the opposing team's offensive drive to the end zone, the body constantly executes complex 'plays' or sequences of events to initiate, or block, different actions or functions. Scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center recently discovered a potential molecular playbook for blocking cardiac hypertrophy, the unwanted enlargement of the heart and a well-known precursor of heart failure. Researchers uncovered a specific molecular chain of events that leads to the inhibition of this widespread risk factor. ...

Troy, N.Y. – Individuals within a networked system coordinate their activities by communicating to each other information such as their position, speed, or intention. At first glance, it seems that more of this communication will increase the harmony and efficiency of the network. However, scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that this is only true if the communication and its subsequent action are immediate. Using statistical physics and network science, the researchers were able to find something very fundamental about synchronization and coordination: ...

In research led by a Saint Louis University surgeon, investigators found that women who give birth after suffering pelvic fractures receive C-sections at more than double normal rates despite the fact that vaginal delivery after such injuries is possible. In addition, women reported lingering, yet often treatable, symptoms following their pelvic fracture injuries, from urinary complications to post-traumatic stress disorder. The study, published in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, retrospectively reviewed the cases of 71 women who had suffered pelvic fractures, ...

PASADENA, Calif.—Computers, light bulbs, and even people generate heat—energy that ends up being wasted. With a thermoelectric device, which converts heat to electricity and vice versa, you can harness that otherwise wasted energy. Thermoelectric devices are touted for use in new and efficient refrigerators, and other cooling or heating machines. But present-day designs are not efficient enough for widespread commercial use or are made from rare materials that are expensive and harmful to the environment. Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) ...

RENO, Nev. – Like the little engine that could, the University of Nevada, Reno experiment to transform wastewater sludge to electrical power is chugging along, dwarfed by the million-gallon tanks, pipes and pumps at the Truckee Meadows Water Reclamation Facility where, ultimately, the plant's electrical power could be supplied on-site by the process University researchers are developing. "We are very pleased with the results of the demonstration testing of our research," Chuck Coronella, principle investigator for the research project and an associate professor of chemical ...

WASHINGTON– In recent decades, the rate at which humans worldwide are pumping dry the vast underground stores of water that billions depend on has more than doubled, say scientists who have conducted an unusual, global assessment of groundwater use. These fast-shrinking subterranean reservoirs are essential to daily life and agriculture in many regions, while also sustaining streams, wetlands, and ecosystems and resisting land subsidence and salt water intrusion into fresh water supplies. Today, people are drawing so much water from below that they are adding enough ...