Body | Page 1211 | Science Codex

Scientists research deep-sea hydrothermal vents, find carbon-removing properties

Savannah, Ga. - University of Georgia Skidaway Institute of Oceanography scientist Aron Stubbins joined a team of researchers to determine how hydrothermal vents influence ocean carbon storage. The results of their study were recently published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Hydrothermal vents are hotspots of activity on the otherwise dark, cold ocean floor. Since their discovery, scientists have been intrigued by these deep ocean ecosystems, studying their potential role in the evolution of life and their influence upon today's ocean.

Sugar-coated nanoworms not for breakfast in the human immune system

Iron nanoparticles injected before magnetic resonance imaging can make tissues more visible and the same nanoparticles may allow doctors to precisely target tumors with new medicines. However, among the challenges to the practical use of nanoparticles in the human body is what scientists refer to as lack of "hemocompatibility" - nanoparticles tend to be attacked and cleared by the immune system, negating their usefulness and also potentially causing side effects including shock and loss of blood pressure.

Juvenile cowbirds sneak out at night, study finds

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- A new study explores how a young cowbird, left as an egg in the nest of a different species, grows up to know it's a cowbird and not a warbler, thrush or sparrow.

The study, published in Animal Behaviour, reveals that cowbird juveniles leave the host parents at dusk and spend their nights in nearby fields, returning just after daybreak. This behavior likely plays a role in the cowbirds' ability to avoid imprinting on their host parents.

World's tiniest snail record broken with a myriad of new species from Borneo

The world's record for the smallest land snail is broken once again. A minute shell with an average diameter of 0.7 mm was found in Malaysian Borneo by a team of Dutch and Malaysian biologists along with another 47 new species of greatly varying sizes. Called 'dwarf' ("nanus" meaning "dwarf" in Latin), the new snail, Acmella nana, is first-shown to the world in the open-access journal ZooKeys, where the last record-holder was announced only about a month ago.

Substantial differences in obstetric care for First Nations women in Canada: BC study

There are substantial differences in obstetric care provided to First Nations women compared with women in the general population, and these differences may contribute to higher infant mortality in First Nations populations, according to research published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Griffith University reveals world-first 3-D image of a protein involved in cancer spread

Griffith University's Institute for Glycomics has made scientific history by determining the first three-dimensional image of a protein linked to the spread of cancer.

The world-first image is revealed today (Nov. 2) in the prestigious journal Nature Chemical Biology in a paper titled 'Functional and structural characterization of a heparanase', by the Institute's Director, Professor Mark von Itzstein, and his team.

Conventional heart drug stops the progression of cancer

A common heart drug may stop the progression of angiosarcoma, a cancer of the inner lining of blood vessels, according to a study by researchers at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) El Paso.

Angiosarcomas are highly lethal tumors that can occur in any part of the body. The tumor typically appears as a growth or lesion on the skin; the larger the growth, the greater the risk of mortality.

Breast cancer: Research IDs obstacles to care in Appalachia

Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have taken a new approach to understanding why so many breast cancer patients in Appalachia aren't getting the care they need, and their findings are set to change how people view the obstacles to care that beset the region.

For example, the distance patients have to travel for cancer care is often viewed as a critical factor. But UVA's findings underscore the crucial importance of access to primary-care providers - the frontline doctors who could catch cancer earlier.

Old Questions, New Answers

Study: Blood vessels store, secrete key blood-clotting protein

HOUSTON -- (Nov. 2, 2015) -- Rice University scientists have solved a long-standing mystery about where the body stores and deploys blood-clotting factor VIII, a protein that about 80 percent of hemophiliacs cannot produce due to genetic defects.

Breast cancer adjuvant therapy benefit can wax and wane over time, study finds

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, U.S.A. (Nov. 2, 2015) -- After breast cancer surgery, women are prescribed adjuvant (or follow-up) therapies such as chemotherapy and endocrine drugs to reduce the risk of the cancer returning. It's been assumed that the treatment effects of these therapies remain constant over time, but a new study from the Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio suggests the opposite is true.

Apgar score for may be tool for predicting whether mother will become critically ill

TORONTO, Nov. 2, 2015--The Apgar score that evaluates a baby's condition at birth may also be a useful tool for predicting whether a mother is critically ill, new research suggests.

The health of a baby and its mother are inextricably linked throughout pregnancy and delivery, yet none of the current tools used to assess the risk of "severe acute maternal morbidity" - a critically ill woman in need of transfer to an intensive care unit - have taken into account her baby's health.

Rapidly acidifying waters pose major threat for Southern Ocean ecosystem

As a result of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, the chemistry of the Southern Ocean is expected to change so fast over the next few decades that tiny creatures at the base of the food web may soon struggle to form their shells. New research by scientists from the University of Hawai'i, Mānoa (UHM) and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF) finds that for some organisms the onset of such critical conditions will be so abrupt, and the duration of events so long, that adaption may become impossible.

Early contact with dogs linked to lower risk of asthma

A team of Swedish scientists have used national register information in more than one million Swedish children to study the association of early life contact with dogs and subsequent development of asthma. This question has been studied extensively previously, but conclusive findings have been lacking. The new study showed that children who grew up with dogs had about 15 percent less asthma than children without dogs.

Cancer cells hijack glucose, alter immune cells

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- When cancer cells compete with immune cells for glucose, the cancer wins. As a result, the immune T cells are not healthy and don't have the weapons to kill the cancer.

"If we have a way to manipulate the metabolic pathway, the T cells may be healthier," says senior author Weiping Zou, M.D., Ph.D., Charles B. de Nancrede Professor of Surgery, Immunology and Biology at the University of Michigan Medical School.

The finding, published in Nature Immunology, suggests a potential metabolic pathway against cancer.

Breeding higher yielding crops by increasing sugar import into seeds

Stanford, CA-- Once a mother plant releases its embryos to the outside world, they have to survive on their own without family protection. To ensure successful colonization by these vulnerable creatures, the mother plant provides the embryo with a backpack full of energy, called the endosperm. Since, over time, the only plants that will survive are those that reproduce and compete successfully, the mother plant's whole life is dedicated to producing sugars in its leaves, which are ultimately stored in these backpacks.