ST. PAUL, Minn. – A new biomarker may help identify which people with mild memory deficits will go on to develop Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study published in the June 22, 2011, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The biomarker may be more accurate than the currently established biomarkers.
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PITTSBURGH, June 22 – Young people who identify themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual, experience same-sex attractions or engage in same-sex sexual behaviors are more likely to experience sexual abuse, parental physical abuse and bullying from peers than other youth, according to a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health study.
MADISON, WI, JUNE 22, 2011 -- Vinyl chloride is a cancer-causing compound formed from solvents in groundwater systems under anaerobic conditions. These solvents are used in many industrial applications around the world and often belong to the most encountered groundwater pollutants in industrialized countries. Groundwater is a major drinking water resource, and it is vital to determine if vinyl chloride can be further degraded into harmless compounds.
In a new article published in the journal Molecular Neurodegeneration, researchers at the University of Missouri School of Medicine take some of the first steps toward unraveling the molecular dysfunction that occurs when proteins are exposed to environmental toxins. Their discovery helps further explain recent NIH findings that demonstrate the link between Parkinson's disease and two particular pesticides – rotenone and paraquat.
A new vaccine to combat tuberculosis is less effective at stimulating an immune response when administered to Gambian infants in combination with the routine immunisation schedule, according to clinical trial results published today in Science Translational Medicine.
The findings may have important implications for designing the most effective immunisation schedules for children, and also for the design of future clinical trials of the new vaccine.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Unless a corn crop is at risk of developing fungal diseases, a Purdue University study shows that farmers would be smart to skip fungicide treatments that promise increased yields.
Kiersten Wise, an assistant professor of botany and plant pathology, said fungicides used in fields where conditions were optimal for fungal diseases improved yields and paid for themselves. In fields where fungal diseases are unlikely to develop, however, applying a fungicide is likely a waste of money.
NEWPORT, Ore. – An unprecedented decade-long study of apex predators in the Pacific Ocean found a wider range of distribution among some species than previously thought, unknown relationships between other species, and the importance of biological "hotspots" to the survival of most of these sea creatures.
The field program, dubbed Tagging of Pacific Predators – or TOPP – looked at 23 species from 2000-09 and included researchers from multiple institutions.
Results of the study are being published this week in the journal Nature.
Like the vast African plains, two huge expanses of the North Pacific Ocean are major corridors of life, attracting an array of marine predators in predictable seasonal patterns, according to final results from the Census of Marine Life Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP) project published today in the journal Nature.
In the war between drugs and drug-resistant diseases, is the current strategy for medicating patients giving many drug-resistant diseases a big competitive advantage?, asks a research paper that will be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The paper argues for new research efforts to discover effective ways for managing the evolution and slowing the spread of drug-resistant disease organisms.
An estimated 20 million people in the United States suffer from peripheral neuropathy, marked by the degeneration of nerves and in some cases severe pain. There is no good treatment for the disorder and doctors can find no apparent cause in one of every three cases.
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN—Plant growth retardants, or PGRs, are used in greenhouse operations to produce uniform, compact, and marketable plants. Although PGRs can be applied using a variety of methods, most common applications are foliar sprays or substrate "drenches". Research has shown that drenches provide more uniform results and increase the duration of effectiveness compared with sprays, but the efficacy of drenches can be affected by factors such as the amount of solution applied and the substrate components used.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common cancer to strike the liver. More than 500,000 people worldwide, concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, are diagnosed with it yearly. Most of those afflicted die within six months.
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL, June 22, 2011 – Ben-Gurion University of the Negev's (BGU) Prof. Alon Tal presented the most comprehensive report to date on Israel's environmental movement. It details the movement's lack of training, involvement of experts and public support, as well as its perilous dependence on foreign donations.
New research conducted at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, offers hope for people with a rare disorder called Chuvash polycythemia.
Polycythemia is a disease characterized by excessive production of red blood cells. Symptoms include an enlarged spleen, blood clots, an increased risk of stroke, and in some cases the disease is a precursor to acute leukemia. While 95 percent of polycythemia cases are associated with a mutation in the JAK2 gene, a small number of patients have a mutation in the von Hippel-Lindau gene that produces a protein called pVHL.
Evolution is usually thought to be a very slow process, something that happens over many generations, thanks to adaptive mutations. But environmental change due to things like climate change, habitat destruction, pollution, etc. is happening very fast. There are just two options for species of all kinds: either adapt to environmental change or become extinct.