Tourists wanting to watch and swim with dolphins are now being urged to keep their distance in a bid to protect both the animals and the local communities whose livelihoods depend on them.
A study of bottlenose dolphins living off the coast of Zanzibar has found that the many tourist boats operating in the area are harassing the animals, preventing them from resting, feeding and nurturing their young.
Philadelphia – Highly-focused stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) can eliminate the targeted tumor while avoiding treatment-related illness and may ultimately improve survival for patients with inoperable non-small cell lung cancer, according to early findings of a Radiation Therapy Oncology Group study published in the March 17 cancer-themed issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The reluctance of securities analysts to recommend investment in veteran companies using new techniques to grapple with radical technological change may be harming these companies as they struggle to compete, according to a new study in the current issue of Organization Science, a journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®).
ANN ARBOR, Mich.---In findings that took the experimenters three years to believe, University of Michigan engineers and their collaborators have demonstrated that light itself can twist ribbons of nanoparticles.
The results are published in the current edition of Science.
Montreal, March 17, 2010 – Every day, our gut comes in contact with bacteria, inducing an inflammatory response that is tolerated and controlled. Sometimes the control of inflammation is lost and this can lead to inflammatory bowel disease that may predispose to colon cancer. Caspase-1, an important protein involved in the mechanism of inflammation, has long been believed to be one of the culprits behind excessive inflammation in the colon. Dr. Saleh's team suggests the opposite in a new study.
New Orleans, LA – Research led by Wayne L. Backes, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology and Associate Dean for Research at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine, has found that drug metabolism depends not only upon which enzymes are present in an individual, but also how they interact, and that can be the difference in whether a drug is safely eliminated from the body or is converted into a toxic or carcinogenic byproduct. The paper will be published in the March 19, 2010 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
The Quantitative Analysis of Normal Tissue Effects in the Clinic (QUANTEC) review has been published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) to update recommendations for the safe irradiation of 16 organs. For each organ, the relationship between dose/volume and clinical outcome is reviewed. These reviews replace initial recommendations published in 1991.
Given the complexity of cancer treatment, skin care may seem like a small matter. However, a nurse at the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center knew that skin issues were a constant source of anxiety for many patients receiving radiation therapy, and through research she discovered that routine advice was rooted in myth instead of scientific evidence.
Her findings, which have been published in the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, are prompting change locally and across the country.
Despite the hyperbole, there are many examples that prove that business use of the Internet is not always profitable, the bursting of the dot.com bubble aside. Now, a Tunisian researcher reports in the International Journal of Technology Marketing that while unique use of the technology is not enough to generate competitive value, there are approaches that allow companies to improve their performance and so their bottom line.
Jerusalem, March 17, 2010 – An improved method for sustainable pest control using "super-sexed" but sterile male insects to copulate with female ones is being developed by agricultural researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The scientists thus hope to offer yet another efficient and promising avenue for supplying produce to the market by eliminating pests without damage to the environment.
Québec City, March 17, 2010—Some 40% of commercial disinfectants used to clean surfaces are believed to be ineffective in eliminating noroviruses, a group of viruses responsible for more than half of all foodborne gastroenteritis outbreaks. According to a recent study published by Université Laval researchers in the Journal of Food Protection, only bleach-based disinfectants drastically reduce the concentration of these viruses.
Older people who have never smoked benefit most from smoking bans, a study suggests.
A study in New Zealand showed that, three years after a smoking ban on all workplaces was introduced, hospital admissions for heart attacks among men and women aged 55-74 fell by 9 per cent. This figure rose to 13 per cent for 55-74 year olds who had never smoked.
Overall, the research showed heart attacks among people aged 30 and over fell by an average of 5 per cent in the three years following the ban.
A team of Spanish researchers has studied the diet of three species of sharks living in the deep waters in the area of El Cachucho, the first Protected Marine Area in Spain, which is located in the Cantabrian Sea off the coast of Asturias. These animals feed on the resources available in their environment, according to changes taking place in the ocean depths.
A new assessment of the Arctic's biodiversity reports a 26 per cent decline in species populations in the high Arctic.
Populations of lemmings, caribou and red knot are some of the species that have experienced declines over the past 34 years, according to the first report from The Arctic Species Trend Index (ASTI), which provides crucial information on how the Arctic's ecosystems and wildlife are responding to environmental change.
Los Angeles, Calif., March 16, 2010—Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) have identified a key cellular mechanism that guides embryonic heart tissue formation—a process which, if disrupted, can lead to a number of common congenital heart defects.