Body

Generally seen as antithetical to one another, evolution and religion can hardly fit in a scientific discourse simultaneously. However, biologist Dr Aldemaro Romero Jr., Baruch College, USA, devotes his latest research article, now published in the open access Research Ideas and Outcomes (RIO), to observing the influences a few major religions have had on evolutionists and their scientific thinking over the centuries.

ATLANTA - April 28,2016 -A new report finds a statistically-significant, positive association between high levels of residential radon and the risk of hematologic cancer (lymphoma, myeloma, and leukemia) in women. The study is the first prospective, population-based study of residential radon exposure and hematologic cancer risk, leading the authors to caution that it requires replication to better understand the association and whether it truly differs by sex. It appears early online in Environmental Research.

Urban wildlife is surprisingly understudied. We tend to know more about animals in exotic places than about those that live in our cities.

This is why researchers Emile Fiesler, president of Bioveyda Biological Inventories, Surveys, and Biodiversity Assessments, USA, and Tracy Drake, manager of the Madrona Marsh Preserve, looked into the fauna of the Madrona Marsh Preserve, California, a small nature preserve in one of the world's largest metropolitan areas.

A recent cancer diagnosis was associated with increased risk for some mental health disorders and increased use of psychiatric medications, according to a new study published online by JAMA Oncology that used data from Swedish population and health registers.

Living with cancer can induce severe psychological stress and being diagnosed with cancer is stressful. Co-existing psychiatric conditions are common among patients with cancer.

New cancer drugs, taken in pill form, have become dramatically more expensive in their first year on the market compared with drugs launched 15 years ago, calling into question the sustainability of a system that sets high prices at market entry in addition to rapidly increasing those prices over time.

Changes in key genes clearly define four previously unknown conditions within the umbrella diagnosis of schizophrenia, according to a study led by researchers from NYU Langone Medical Center published online April 28 in EBioMedicine, a Lancet journal. Cases associated with changes in each of the four genes were different from each other in terms of symptoms, intelligence level and other disease features.

Harnessing naturally occurring chemicals could be used as a means to protect crop seedlings being eaten by common pests, a study suggests.

Research led by Plymouth University and the University of Southampton analysed the feeding preferences of hundreds of snails when presented with several different cultivars of oilseed rape seedlings.

It showed the invertebrates were more inclined to choose seedlings based on their dislike of naturally-omitted scents rather than employing taste as their primary method of choice.

Researchers from the Scientific Research Institute of Physical-Chemical Medicine, MIPT, the company M&S Decisions and the research department of Yandex have built a computer model of the interaction between different bacteria, and between bacteria and the gut wall. This has led them to explain how antibiotic-resistant microbes develop and spread; details of the study have been published in the journal PLOS ONE.

A new study led by ICTA-UAB (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) researcher Víctor Sarto and colleagues from the Institute of Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia (CSIC-IQAC) has described for the first time in two centuries of knowledge a case of evolutionary convergence in the order of butterflies (Lepidoptera), certainly representing an evolutionary breakthrough to what has been known about their sexual communication. The research has discovered important behavior and physiological changes in the mating process of the moth Paysandisia archon (Castniidae).

Scientists at the University of East Anglia may have found a way to prevent complications from surgery to treat cataract - the world's leading cause of blindness.

It's estimated that by the year 2020, 32 million people will need cataract surgery. Cataracts develop as people age, and the eye's lens turns from clear to cloudy.

Scientists at the Universities of York and Leiden have made a significant breakthrough in the treatment of an inherited genetic disorder which damages muscle and nerve cells in the body.

Pompe disease is caused by a defective gene that results in a deficiency of an enzyme called acid alpha-glucosidase (GAA) which causes progressive muscle weakness in people of all ages.

The crippling disease came to wider public attention through the 2010 film Extraordinary Measures starring Harrison Ford.

Selective browsing by white-tailed deer likely is promoting the spread of some invasive plant species in northeastern U.S. forests, as deer avoid eating vegetation they find unpalatable.

That's the conclusion of researchers who conducted a study of deer dietary choices at the Penn State Deer Research Center, during which captive deer were simultaneously offered a selection of eight nonnative invasive and seven native plants to determine the animals' preferences.

Infections continue to threaten human health. With remarkable genetic flexibility, pathogenic organisms outsmart available therapies. Fortunately, microbial versatility is matched by the host immune system, which evolves in dialogue with the microbes. Therapies that enhance the beneficial effects of the immune response represent a promising, but under-explored, therapeutic alternative to antibiotics.

Montreal, April 28, 2016 - An outbreak of an intestinal parasite common in the tropics, known as Cryptosporidium, has been identified for the first time in the Arctic. The discovery was made in Nunavik, Quebec, by a team from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC), in collaboration with the Nunavik Department of Public Health, Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec and Health Canada.

An international conference in the highly contested region of Northeast India has heard from a University of Kent expert on sovereignty in stateless nations what can be learned from Gaza.

In his capacity as scientific advisor for the 'Sovereignty in stateless nations' project, Glenn Bowman, Professor of Socio-historical Anthropology and Director of the University's new BA in Liberal Arts, presented papers entitled 'Conceptions of Democracy in a One-State Solution' and 'Israel and Palestine: The One State Solution'.