If you seek America's most diverse, densely packed human population, head for New York's Manhattan, but if it's lichens you fancy instead of people, then Southwestern Florida is your best bet. This special kind of symbiotic fungus thrives in the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park not far from the Everglades National Park, and its remarkable diversity was documented in a census led by Robert Lücking, collections manager and adjunct curator in the botany department of The Field Museum, Chicago, and organized by William Safranek, assistant professor at the College of ...

Philadelphia, PA, 24 March 2011 - Studies in twin pairs suggest that 40% of the risk for panic disorder is heritable, yet the manner in which genes contribute to the risk for panic disorder is far from clear. To date, variations in a growing number of genes have been implicated in the risk for panic disorder, but the magnitude of the impact of each individual gene is relatively small. The pattern of these implicated genes raises the question of whether there might be molecular "switches" that control the function of groups of genes in a coordinated fashion, which would ...

This press release is available in German. The use of different resources by males and females exacerbates the estimation of population sizes. However, the monitoring of population sizes, particularly for rare and threatened species, is pivotal to quick and effective conservation action. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell investigated the ecological niches of male and female parti-colored bats (Vespertilio murinus) and found out that the sexes use entirely different foraging grounds. With their results they can show that a finer ...

VIDEO: A new study led by Leonard Mermel, D.O., Sc.M., medical director of the department of epidemiology and infection control at Rhode Island Hospital, has found a significant increase in the... Click here for more information. PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A new study from Rhode Island Hospital has found a significant increase in the occurrence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in the summer and autumn months. The increase was more pronounced in the ...

Right Casino Media, a UK based online casino portal operator, today launched their latest website LiveCasinos.co.uk. The site's primary goal is to independently help players find reputable live online casinos whilst providing exclusive bonuses and background casino information. The website, tailored towards the UK player market, was designed to specifically help players looking to find a trustworthy casino in the live dealer niche. It contains exclusive live casino bonuses, live dealer galleries, specific game video insights as well as independent reviews written by ...

Simulated acupuncture - sometimes referred to as placebo - is just as beneficial as real acupuncture for treating nausea in cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy, according to a study from Karolinska Institutet and Linköping University in Sweden. Patients, who received only standard care including medications for nausea, felt significant more nausea than patients in both the acupuncture groups. "The beneficial effects seem not to come from the traditional acupuncture method, but probably from the patients' positive expectations and the extra care that the treatment ...

Washington, D.C.—Recent climate modeling has shown that reducing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would give the Earth a wetter climate in the short term. New research from Carnegie Global Ecology scientists Long Cao and Ken Caldeira offers a novel explanation for why climates are wetter when atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations are decreasing. Their findings, published online today by Geophysical Research Letters, show that cutting carbon dioxide concentrations could help prevent droughts caused by global warming. Cao and Caldeira's new ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- After age 21, problem gambling is considerably more common among U.S. adults than alcohol dependence, even though alcohol dependence has received much more attention, according to researchers at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions. In results published this month in the Journal of Gambling Studies, John W. Welte, principal investigator on the study and a national expert on alcohol and gambling pathology, concluded that there is a distinct inconsistency between his research and much of the other research literature. Other research ...

INDIANAPOLIS – An orphan drug originally used for HIV treatment has been found to short-circuit the process that results in additional sensitivity and pain from opioid use. The study by researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine is reported in the March 25, 2011 issue of Brain, Behavior and Immunity. The researchers say the finding in animal models may ultimately make morphine a safer and more effective drug. Traditionally opioids were used to relieve pain following surgery, from cancer and at the end of life. Today opioids are used widely for chronically ...

JackpotFinder.com, a 2iventures website, just launched a new online casino slots finder to help players locate the perfect game. Jackpot Finder is a leading online gambling site directory designed to help players find trusted places to gamble on the Internet. The website first launched in 2003, and over the years it has grown to become one of the largest and most comprehensive guides to the world of online gambling. This new and improved slots section follows a major redesigning of the site, which introduced a number of comprehensive improvements. The heart of Jackpot ...

Two satellites designed and constructed by students at the Cockrell School of Engineering successfully separated in space March 22, completing the most crucial goal of the mission since its Nov. 19 launch and making them the first student-developed mission in the world in which satellites orbit and communicate with each other in real-time. The satellites separated March 22 at 6:35 a.m. Central Standard Time. Now that they're apart, the 60-plus pound, tire-sized satellites will be able to perform the main goals of the project and could pave the way for more complex satellite ...

Research presented today at the European Congress on Osteoporosis & Osteoarthritis by investigators from the UK and Sweden estimates that the economic burden of fragility fractures in five major European countries totals 31 billion Euro, with Germany bearing the highest costs. A majority of the economic burden is shown to be related to the costs incurred during the 1st year after the fracture, while pharmacological prevention and treatment management constitutes only a marginal share of the total economic cost. Hip fractures contributed 56% to the overall costs, vertebral ...

Set to launch in January as part of the Affordable Care Act of 2010, Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) may soon become a predominant option for integrating healthcare services for Medicare recipients, and Essential Healthcare Management (EHM), a healthcare business development firm, is leading the way in offering expertise, guidance and strategies for healthcare suppliers wanting to align their business with this new system. An ACO is a network of medical caregivers - hospitals, doctors, nurses, suppliers, home healthcare specialists, health educators, nutritionists, ...

EU farmers hold their own well in competition with the rest of the world, despite the comparatively high demands the EU places on agricultural production. "We have investigated the connection between animal welfare regulation in the EU and competitiveness. We have seen that the impact on competitiveness and on trade is very minor, if it exists at all", says Anna Andersson, researcher at the AgriFood Economics Centre. The aim of the report is to investigate whether trade barriers for certain products can be economically justified in order to protect a society's values. ...

A study presented today at the European Congress on Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis currently taking place in Valencia, Spain has found that the initial quality of life loss following an osteoporotic fracture is substantial, especially with regard to hip and vertebral fractures. The study found differences in quality of life loss between countries after correcting for other explanatory variables. The quality of life (QoL) of patients who sustained a hip, wrist or vertebral fracture was examined for the four months following the fracture. The study is part of the International ...

After reviewing existing research regarding the common practices of health care providers who see adolescent patients across the country, Rebecca Allen, MD, MPH, a clinician and researcher at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, and her colleague, Michelle Forcier, MD, MPH, an adolescent medicine specialist at Hasbro Children's Hospital, asserted that the nation needs to offer more confidential care for teenagers who are sexually active. This includes access to effective contraception, noted the doctors in the paper "Adolescent Sexuality and the Use of Contraception," ...

The Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines are ramping up their efforts to go after military personnel using substances often called 'designer drugs.' In particular, the military Services are seeking to punish the use and trafficking in a chemical compound commonly referred to as Spice. Marketed and sold as incense, Spice produces effects similar to marijuana when smoked. Until recently, the sale of Spice has been legal in all states. However, for those in the military, they must know that just because something is legally available for sale to civilians does not mean that ...

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Temperature increases resulting from climate change in the Southwest will likely eliminate Joshua trees from 90 percent of their current range in 60 to 90 years, according to a new study led by U.S. Geological Survey ecologist Ken Cole. The research team used models of future climate, an analysis of the climatic tolerances of the species in its current range, and the fossil record to project the future distribution of Joshua trees. The study concludes that the species could be restricted to the northernmost portion of its current range as early as the ...

Researchers from the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit in Southampton, UK, have presented a new study that shows how the inclusion of falls history, in addition to clinical risk factors (CRFs) and bone mineral density (BMD) values, would greatly improve the accuracy of fracture prediction models. The research findings were presented today at the European Congress on Osteoporosis & Osteoarthritis in Valencia, Spain. Using results from the Hertfordshire Cohort Study, the investigators examined the relative contributions of CRFs, BMD and falls history to fracture prediction. ...

Japan needs maps. Not just any kind—detailed informational maps georegistered with latitude and longitude and annotated with simple, self-evident details: this bridge is out, this port is damaged, this farm field is scoured; this one is verdant. Researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology are processing satellite imagery of regions in Japan affected by the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that devastated sections of the country's east coast on March 11. The U.S. Geological Survey, a member of the International Charter "Space and Major Disasters," organized the ...

When French president Nicolas Sarkozy recently declared that France's efforts at "multiculturalism" were a failure, it reminded those of us in the United States that we're not the only country in the world grappling with issues related to foreign immigration. But while European countries have tended to focus on the cultural side of the immigration debate, Americans are often focused on the perceived economic problems of immigration. As it turns out, Americans have less to worry about on both fronts than the current rhetoric might lead one to believe. Economically, immigrants ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – A gap in reading and math scores still exists in lower grades, with boys continuing to outpace girls in math, and girls ahead of boys in reading, two University of Illinois education professors say. Using national longitudinal data to perform their analysis, Joseph P. Robinson and Sarah Lubienski investigated male and female achievement in math and reading, looking for when gender gaps first appeared and where in the distribution the gaps were most prevalent. Except for kindergarteners in the 99th percentile, boys and girls generally start out on equal ...

A recent death of a 12 year old in Florida highlights the danger inherent in the operation of All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs). Since their introduction in the early 1980s, ATVs have resulted in thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of emergency room visits. While the designs have changed from the original 3-wheel, tricycle layout of the first Honda ATV, what hasn't changed is the danger posed by using these recreational vehicles. Since 1982, Florida has reported 447 deaths in connection with ATVs. Nationwide, in the same period, at least 10,000 people have died ...

Most school text books contain messages about health, but 24.6% of these are not based on any scientific evidence, according to a study by the Knowledge Management Unit at Baza Hospital (Granada), published in the journal BMC Public Health. "We analysed a total of 844 health messages in primary and secondary school text books in order to identify the level of scientific evidence underpinning these texts, and we classified them into three categories – messages with a high, medium or low level of evidence, messages with an unknown level of evidence, and messages with no ...

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recently issued a press release putting mandatory motorcycle helmet use on its Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements. It reported that from 1997 through 2008, the number of motorcycle fatalities more than doubled during a period when overall highway fatalities declined The NTSB has recommended that everyone riding a motorcycle be required to wear a helmet. Currently, only 20 states, the District of Columbia and four territories have universal helmet laws that apply to all riders. Twenty-seven states ...