Scandinavian Scientists have discovered that a species of tree defends itself from herbivore attack by using chemicals emitted by neighbouring plants. The study, published today in New Phytologist, reveals how a species of birch tree adsorbs chemical compounds from neighbouring marsh tea plants, Rhondodendron tomentosum, in a unique 'defence by neighbour strategy.'
Body
For the first time, scientists have succeeded in growing empty particles derived from a plant virus and have made them carry useful chemicals.
The external surface of these nano containers could be decorated with molecules that guide them to where they are needed in the body, before the chemical load is discharged to exert its effect on diseased cells. The containers are particles of the Cowpea mosaic virus, which is ideally suited for designing biomaterial at the nanoscale.
University of Minnesota researcher George Weiblen and colleagues have found a faster way to study the spread and diet of insect pests.
Sonic hedgehog, a gene that plays a crucial rule in the positioning and growth of limbs, fingers and toes, has been confirmed in an unexpected place in the embryos of developing mice — the layer of cells that creates the skin.
Named for a video game character, Sonic hedgehog describes both a gene and the protein it produces in the body. Its study is important to increase understanding of human birth defects.
In a landmark study of more than 80,000 live kidney donors from across the United States, Johns Hopkins researchers have found the procedure carries very little medical risk and that, in the long term, people who donate one of their kidneys are likely to live just as long as those who have two healthy ones.
The findings, published in the March 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, confirm what doctors have long believed: Kidney donation, which saves the life of the recipient, poses little risk to the donor.
This release is available in http://chinese..org/zh/emb_releases/2010-03/jaaj-vcf030510.php">Chinese.
This release is available in http://chinese..org/zh/emb_releases/2010-03/jaaj-dkd030510.php">Chinese.
An analysis of outcomes for live kidney donors in the U.S. over a 15 year period finds they have similar long-term survival rates compared to healthy individuals who were not kidney donors, according to a study in the March 10 issue of JAMA.
An analysis of comparative effectiveness studies finds that few compare medications with nonpharmacologic interventions, and few examine safety or cost-effectiveness, according to a study in the March 10 issue of JAMA.
A hospitalist at the University of Rochester Medical Center calls for more stringent Federal guidelines governing the approval of potential new drugs, in a commentary in the March 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
After more than three decades of service to researchers and staff stationed at the bottom of the world, the dome at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station was deconstructed this austral summer.
Philadelphia, PA, March 9, 2010 – Removal of the ovaries (bilateral oophorectomy) while performing a hysterectomy is common practice to prevent the subsequent development of ovarian cancer. This prophylactic procedure is performed in 55% of all U.S. women having a hysterectomy, or approximately 300,000 times each year. An article in the March/April issue of The Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology suggests that this procedure may do more harm than good.
CHICAGO — Women with metal-on-metal hip implants, where both the ball of the joint and the surface of the socket are made of metal, pass metal ions to their offspring during pregnancy, according to a study by researchers at Rush University Medical Center. The ions are the result of wear and corrosion as the metal parts rub against one another.
The data showed a correlation between levels of cobalt and chromium – components of metal implants – in mothers and their babies at the time of delivery.
Ann Arbor, Mich. — Patients with irritable bowel syndrome are at no greater risk of having polyps, colon cancer or inflammatory bowel diseases than healthy people undergoing colonoscopies, according to new research published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.
"Patients and doctors get nervous about the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)," says William D. Chey, M.D., professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School. "They think the symptoms represent something more sinister."
(WASHINGTON) – Three critical recommendations from a national workshop have been released to address deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), a growing public health problem estimated to affect nearly 1 million Americans each year.
For more than half a century, products containing ion exchange resins have been used in patients with dangerously high levels of potassium. However, there is no convincing evidence that these products are actually effective, according to an article appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). "We suspect that if ion exchange resins were introduced today, they would not be approved," comments Richard H. Sterns, MD (Rochester General Hospital, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY).