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Surgery patients in lower income countries have three times greater risk of dying

New research has shown that patients undergoing emergency surgery in lower income countries have a three times greater chance of dying than in higher income countries.

The study, published in the British Journal of Surgery, monitored post-surgery death rates and mapped them against the Human Development Index (HDI) of each country.

10,745 patients were monitored up to 30 days after undergoing emergency abdominal surgery, at hospitals in 58 participating countries.

Combining your home and work life can be better for role performance say researchers

London, UK (May 04, 2016). Leaving work at the office and home at the door may not always be the best strategy for employee well-being and performance, finds a new study published in the journal Human Relations by SAGE in partnership with The Tavistock Institute.

Study shows long-term improvement in health-related quality of life after bariatric surgery

Significant improvement in health-related quality of life was reported by patients 12-14 years after undergoing an uncommon form of bariatric surgery at one U.S. medical center. Follow-up of the 27 patients who underwent biliary pancreatic diversion surgery with duodenal switch (BPD-DS) by the same surgeon is described in an article in Bariatric Surgical Practice and Patient Care.

Froggie went a courtin' and waved goodbye to rival wooers

Most frogs use acoustic signals - or croaks - to communicate during mating season, but some species have also developed a wave, called a foot flag, as a signal to deter the competition.

They fully extend their back leg over their head, rotating it backwards in an arc to expose white-colored foot webbing, and then retract it to the body. New research from Wake Forest University studies the role testosterone plays in the evolutionary process of these waving displays.

Reef system with 10,000 km2 found at the Amazon River mouth

The changes that the Amazon River promotes in the tropical North Atlantic ocean water make an unfavorable environment for reef development. Every second, 175 million liters of water mixed with sediments are brought to the ocean. The result is low sunlight penetration, variability in nutrient concentration, salinity and pH, extensive moody bottoms and significant changes in temperature and oxygenation levels towards the bottom - conditions not associated with reefs.

Research-based exercise program turning preschoolers into 'Fit Kids'

It's a weekday morning, and senior Reuben Brough is running around a gym at King Street Youth Center waving his hands in the air and screeching like a cheetah. A stream of children is in hot pursuit of him and four other UVM students who implore the preschoolers to "catch the cheetah."

Genetic switch could be key to increased health and lifespan

Newly discovered genetic switches that increase lifespan and boost fitness in worms are also linked to increased lifespan in mammals, offering hope that drugs to flip these switches could improve human metabolic function and increase longevity.

These so-called epigenetic switches, discovered by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, are enzymes that are ramped up after mild stress during early development and continue to affect the expression of genes throughout the animal's life.

NASA's IMERG analyzes severe weather in Tornado Alley and eastward

Severe spring thunderstorms frequently spawned tornadoes from the Gulf Coast north and eastward during the past seven days. NASA's IMERG data were used to estimate the amount of rain that fell from April 25 to May 2, 2016.

UTSW identifies new function of genes linked to Fanconi anemia and certain types of cancer

DALLAS - May 2, 2016 - Researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified an important new function of genes in the Fanconi anemia pathway -- a finding that could have implications for development of new therapies to treat this disorder and some cancers.

Literature on cycads continues to accumulate

As traditional print journals merge with contemporary web-based journals, publishing scientists find themselves in a rapidly evolving transition. In order to understand how these changes in publishing culture have influenced the literature on cycads, authors April Cascasan and Thomas Marler recently conducted comparisons of online search approaches and the established foundation of printed proceedings from international conferences focused on cycads. The result of the endeavor appeared in the March 2016 issue of the Journal of Threatened Taxa.

Hormel Institute's Hinchcliffe leads groundbreaking cancer research study

A recent research study at The Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota is providing insight into the regulation of chromosome segregation and the mechanisms used by cells to prevent them from forming tumors.

Funding decline for a US government HIV/AIDS initiative raises concerns

A U.S. government agency whose mission is to help save the lives of people around the world living with HIV and AIDS has seen a steep drop in funding for an important part of its budget. The finding, from a UCLA study, could be a cause for concern because many countries rely on the agency to help pay for vital health care services for people with the disease.

Alternative explanations for the evolution of monogamy and sibling cooperation

The textbook "monogamy hypothesis" argues that monogamy favors the evolution of cooperation by increasing sibling relatedness, since helpers are as related to the full siblings that they care for as they are to their own offspring. So under certain circumstances helping can be as, or even more, successful in getting genes passed on as reproducing. But in an Opinion, published May 3 in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, two experts in social and reproductive behavior say that the proof isn't all there.

Mother's hepatitis B supports chronic infection in children, study finds

Chronic hepatitis B infection, a lifetime disease with no effective cure, could one day be cleared from a person's system with a series of shots, according to a new USC study.

Most healthy adults infected with HBV will develop protective immunity, healing their own bodies within a few months. But children who acquired the virus from their mothers are unable to scrub HBV from their systems. Instead these individuals are fated to live with the virus for the rest of their lives.

Genetic variant may help explain why Labradors are prone to obesity

A genetic variation associated with obesity and appetite in Labrador retrievers - the UK and US's favourite dog breed - has been identified by scientists at the University of Cambridge. The finding may explain why Labrador retrievers are more likely to become obese than dogs of other breeds.