Some regions of the deep ocean floor support abundant populations of organisms, despite being overlain by water that contains very little oxygen, according to an international study led by scientists at the United Kingdom's National Oceanography Centre, Southampton. But global warming is likely to exacerbate oxygen depletion and thereby reduce biodiversity in these regions, they warn.
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A short-term economic boom is not always a good thing for children in developing nations, according to a new study in the Journal of Political Economy. The study found that when Colombia's coffee trade suddenly booms, illness and mortality rates among children increase in coffee-producing counties.
PITTSBURGH, March 24 – An experimental vaccine against an abnormal protein found in some tumors has the potential to delay the onset of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and in turn prevent progression to colon cancer, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Their findings are reported this week in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Receiving soothing massages for eight weeks after the death of a loved one can provide much-needed consolation during an intense, stressful period of grieving, according to a study in the April issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing.
Eighteen people who had lost a relative to cancer took part in the study. Participants ranged from 34 to 78 years of age and included widows, widowers, daughters and sisters. Nine chose foot massage, eight chose hand massage and one asked for both. Only three had previous experience of soft tissue massage.
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Lung transplant patients may one day benefit from a synthetic peptide that mimics the body's natural ability to reduce excess fluid accumulation, Medical College of Georgia researchers report.
Excess fluid and other problems that can occur within 72 hours of a transplant can dramatically reduce short-term survival odds and long-term lung function. About 10 percent of patients experience an acute lung injury in the hours after their transplant, killing more than 40 percent of those patients within 30 days.
Rival colonies of bacteria can produce a lethal chemical that keeps competitors at bay, scientists report this week. By halting the growth of nearby colonies and even killing some of the cells, groups of bacteria preserve scarce resources for themselves, even when the encroaching colony is closely related.
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute scientists have determined the structure of a previously unseen part of the insulin receptor, making possible new treatments for diabetes.
The insulin receptor is a large protein on the surface of cells to which the hormone insulin binds. Insulin controls when and how glucose is used in the human body. Understanding how insulin interacts with the insulin receptor is crucial to the development of treatments for diabetes.
NEW YORK, March 24, 2010 – Early-stage human clinical trials showed that a new topical drug was safe and had biological effects in a type of diabetic eye disease, and may offer researchers a new approach to prevent and treat diabetic macular edema.
The identification of compounds that could be promising candidates for drug development has become easier following research by the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute's medicinal chemistry group.
Dr Jonathan Baell and Dr Georgina Holloway have developed a series of 'filters' that can be used to weed out those molecules likely to come up as false positives when screening a chemical library for compounds that could be useful in drug development.
A study by the Barcelona Public Health Agency has revealed those sections of the population that are most vulnerable to tuberculosis. The research, published in the journal Respiratory Research, shows that the highest death rates from this disease are among those aged over 50 or infected with HIV.
A team of researchers, led by a UC Davis veterinary endocrinologist, has shown for the first time that a surgical procedure in rats that is similar to bariatric surgery in humans can delay the onset of type 2 diabetes. The researchers also have identified biochemical changes caused by the surgeries that may be responsible for that delay.
DALLAS – March 25, 2010 – Using leptin alone in place of standard insulin therapy shows promise in abating symptoms of type 1 diabetes, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report.
UT Southwestern researchers, using mouse models, found that leptin administered instead of insulin showed better management of blood-sugar variability and lipogenesis, the conversion of simple sugars into fatty acids. Leptin is a hormone produced by fat cells and involved in the regulation of body weight.
Barcelona, Spain: Many patients with metastatic breast cancer believe that the primary goal in survival with new treatment should be to prolong life by at least a year over the survival they might expect from using current best therapies, a researcher will tell the seventh European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC7) in Barcelona today (Wednesday). This finding contrasts with doctors' perception that an additional four to six months' survival is significant enough to consider a new treatment worthwhile.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- With loggerhead sea turtle nests in dramatic decline, researchers would love to know more about where the turtles go, and what they eat, so they can better protect the creatures' habitat.
Now, a team of University of Florida biologists from the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research teasing that information from the turtles' shells is reporting some surprising findings.