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Science has long believed that a warmer climate will increase river runoff to the Baltic Sea, thus making the inland sea less salty. However, a new extensive study from the University of Gothenburg reveals that the effect will probably be the opposite: climate change will reduce river runoff and increase salinity in the Baltic Sea.

"There could be major consequences for the Baltic's sensitive ecosystem," says researcher Daniel Hansson.

The University of Nottingham spin-out company, Oncimmune Ltd, has developed a ground breaking blood test which will aid the detection of cancer as much as five years earlier than current testing methods such as mammography and CT scans. Physicians will know the result of their patient's test within one week of sending in a blood sample to Oncimmune.

For the first time, human embryonic stem cells have been cultured under chemically controlled conditions without the use of animal substances, which is essential for future clinical uses. The method has been developed by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and is presented in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

Washington, DC, 31 May 2010 — The Child Soldiers Global Report 20081 estimates that more than 300,000 children are engaged as soldiers around the globe, and more children are recruited every year in ongoing and new conflicts. Although a number of multinational coalitions are aligned to stop the recruitment of child soldiers, some countries persist in not only the recruitment of children but also in exposing children to both the psychological and physical dangers associated with combat.

Lead in ammunition contaminates game meat

Eating the meat of animals hunted using lead ammunition can be more dangerous for health than was previously thought, especially for children and people who consume large quantities. This is reflected in a study carried out by British and Spanish researchers that has been published by the journal PLos ONE.

Many tumor cells would not be viable due to aberrant chromosome distribution if they had not developed a special trick. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center have investigated which genes are responsible for this survival strategy of cancer cells. The revealed that cancer cells rely on the tension of specific protein fibers to be able to multiply. Thus, proteins which maintain this tension are promising targets for new, target-specific anticancer drugs: If they are switched off, cancer cells die.

MAYWOOD, Ill. -- Three new oral blood-thinning drugs nearing approval by the Food and Drug Administration are more convenient than the standard drug Coumadin® because they do not require monthly visits to adjust doses.

But the promising drugs also could be subject to dangerous interactions when taken alongside widely used prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines such as aspirin and even herbal supplements such as St. John's Wort, according to a Loyola University Health System study.

MAYWOOD, Ill. -- Researchers often get frustrated when doctors fail to adopt treatment guidelines backed by the best evidence-based research.

But a study published in the May 24, 2010, Archives of Internal Medicine found that using techniques similar to those employed by pharmaceutical sales reps can help persuade doctors to follow the guidelines.

National Institutes of Health scientists have discovered that the activation of immune cells called basophils causes kidney damage in a mouse model of lupus nephritis. These findings and the team's associated research in humans may lead to new treatments for this serious disease, a severe form of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) that affects the kidneys and is difficult to treat.

Galactosemia is a metabolic disease resulting from an inherited defect that prevents the proper metabolism of galactose, a sugar commonly found in dairy products, like milk. Exposure of affected people to galactose, can damage most of their organ systems and can be fatal. The ability to study the disease is limited by a lack of animal models. New information suggests that similarities between humans and flies may provide scientists with useful clues.

Although the tropics appear to the casual observer to be busily buzzing and blooming with life's rich variety when compared with temperate and polar regions—a fact that scientists have thoroughly documented—the distribution of species in space and time actually varies around the globe in surprising and subtle ways. So explains Janne Soininen of the University of Helsinki in an article published in the June 2010 issue of BioScience.