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The emerging story of plant roots

An international group of European and US scientists led by the Centre for Plant Integrative Biology at The University of Nottingham have uncovered a fascinating new insight into the unseen side of plant biology — the root.

Although less visible than shoots, leaves and flowers, plant roots are critical to our lives. They provide the crops we eat with water, nutrients, a firm anchor and a place to store food. Roots are complex branching organs and show a wide variation in the way they grow through the soil to exploit the available resources.

Diabetes could be a hidden condition for heart disease patients

Researchers at the University of Warwick have discovered diabetes could be a hidden condition for some patients with coronary heart disease.

In a study led by Dr Saverio Stranges, Associate Professor of Cardiovascular Epidemiology at Warwick Medical School, the team looked at levels of oxidative stress in the body (a toxic effect which causes cell damage).

Improving understanding of cell behavior in breast cancer

The invasion and spread of cancer cells to other parts of the body, known as metastasis, is a principal cause of death in patients diagnosed with breast cancer. Although patients with early stage, small, breast tumours have an excellent short term prognosis, more than 15 to 20 per cent of them will eventually develop distant metastases, and die from the disease. Vascular invasion — through lymphatic and blood vessels — is the major route for cancer spreading to regional lymph nodes and to the rest of the body.

Possible link found between X-rays and prostate cancer

Researchers at The University of Nottingham have shown an association between certain past diagnostic radiation procedures and an increased risk of young-onset prostate cancer — a rare form of prostate cancer which affects about 10 per cent of all men diagnosed with the disease.

Proposed new definition for intermediate syndrome resulting from organophosphate poisoning

Every year, many thousands of people die as a result of poisoning by pesticides; one of the commonest types of pesticides involved are the organophosphates. In a research paper published today in PLoS Medicine, a group of investigators from Sri Lanka, Australia, and the UK led by Pradeepa Jayawardane report that amongst individuals with organophosphate poisoning, changes in nerve transmission are seen before the development of intermediate syndrome (IMS), a complication involving muscle weakness that can lead to respiratory failure and poor outcome.

Studies show that diabetes increases risk of tuberculosis

Taken together, studies show that diabetes increases risk of tuberculosis

People with diabetes mellitus are at increased risk of developing active tuberculosis (TB), according to an analysis published in PLoS Medicine.

Mitigating climate change by improving forest management in the tropics

A key aspect of the international climate change agreement slated to replace the Kyoto Protocol in 2012 focuses on reducing carbon emissions due to deforestation and degradation (REDD). But most REDD discussions focus on tropical deforestation while ignoring the potential carbon savings that could be realized from reduced forest degradation.

Leatherback turtles go with the flow

Not much is known about the world's largest living turtle, the leatherback. So-called for its tough, oily skin and lack of a hard shell, the behavior and habitats of this critically endangered turtle have remained a mystery. In this week's PLoS Biology, marine biologist Barbara Block and colleagues give us the largest study to date on leatherback turtles, unveiling the turtles' behavior, in doing so, providing methods that could be used to protect them.

Leatherback turtles' newly discovered migration route may be roadmap to salvation

With a name like "Leatherback Turtle" you might think the sea turtles could stand up to just about anything the ocean can throw at them, and for more than a hundred million years, they have. But tough, long-lived critters though they are, the population of leatherbacks in the eastern Pacific Ocean has plummeted by over 90 percent in the last 20 years.

Aggressive preschoolers found to have fewer friends than others

Preschoolers who are aggressive, angry, and inattentive tend to have fewer playmates than their non-aggressive classmates, whether they are boys or girls. In comparison, non-aggressive children do better at interactions with many peers over time.

Parents should limit young children's exposure to background TV

Despite the fact that pediatricians recommend no screen media exposure for children under age 2, three-quarters of very young children in America live in homes where the television is on most of the time, according to research. A new study has found that leaving your TV set on disrupts young children while they are playing, even if the channel is tuned to adult shows. This means that simply having the TV on, even in the background, may be detrimental to children's development.

Family resources, parenting quality influence children's early cognitive development

Even among low-income families, mothers with greater social and economic resources were more supportive in parenting their children than those with fewer resources, which in turn influenced the children's cognitive performance. That's the main finding of a new study that considers how economic factors and parenting quality jointly influence children's development. Conducted by researchers at the Center for Research on Culture, Development, and Education (CRCDE) in New York University, the study appears in the July/August 2008 issue of the journal Child Development.

Stomach bug appears to protect kids from asthma, says NYU study

NEW YORK, July 15, 2008 A long-time microbial inhabitant of the human stomach may protect children from developing asthma, according to a new study among more than 7,000 subjects led by NYU Langone Medical Center researchers. Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium that has co-existed with humans for at least 50,000 years, may lead to peptic ulcers and stomach cancer. Yet, kids between the ages of 3 and 13 are nearly 59 percent less likely to have asthma if they carry the bug, the researchers report.

Consumption of nut products during pregnancy linked to increased asthma in children

Expectant mothers who eat nuts or nut products like peanut butter daily during pregnancy increase their children's risk of developing asthma by more than 50 percent over women who rarely or never consume nut products during pregnancy, according to new research from the Netherlands.

"We were pretty surprised to see the adverse associations between daily versus rare nut product consumption during pregnancy and symptoms of asthma in children, because we haven't seen this in similar previous studies," said the study's lead author, Saskia M. Willers, M.Sc.

TG2 identified as potential therapeutic target in chemo-resistant ovarian cancer

HOUSTON, TX Scientists from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have found overexpression of tissue type transglutaminase (TG2) in ovarian cancer is associated with increased tumor cell growth and adhesion, resistance to chemotherapy and lower overall survival rates. When researchers targeted and silenced TG2 in animal models, cancer progression was reversed, suggesting the protein may also provide a novel therapeutic approach for late-stage ovarian cancer.