Body

Hair analysis has become standard practice for determining whether someone has abused illicit drugs. But some experts have questioned whether current methods to wash away external contaminants from samples might affect test results. Now one team confirms that for cocaine detection, a pretreatment step can cause the drug on the outside of a hair shaft to wash into it and potentially lead to falsely identifying someone as a drug user. Their study appears in ACS' journal Analytical Chemistry.

According to a study led by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich researchers, a majority of patients diagnosed with breast cancer go on to develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and in most of these cases the symptoms persist for at least a year.

Obesity is a global epidemic and the evidence is clear: if a mother is obese or gains too much weight during pregnancy chances are the child will be at higher risk of being obese throughout its life.

A new animal study, published in Scientific Reports on Feb. 12, reveals insight on how a special type of dietary fibre, known as prebiotic, impacts the mother's gut microbiota and may be one factor in curbing obesity in moms and their babies.

Settlement is thought to be a previously unknown monastic or trading centre

Ornate writing tools from the 8th century discovered in a ploughed field gave clues to the settlement beneath

The remains of an Anglo-Saxon island have been uncovered in one of the most important archaeological finds in decades.

A glass counter decorated with twisted colorful strands was found at the site. Credit: University of Sheffield

The process of ageing begins even before we are born, according to an international team of researchers led by the University of Cambridge. In a study using rats to model pregnancy and fetal development, the researchers also found that providing mothers with antioxidants during pregnancy meant that their offspring aged more slowly in adulthood.

However, the offspring of mothers with lower levels of oxygen in the womb - which, in humans, can be a consequence of smoking during pregnancy or of pregnancy at high altitude - aged more quickly in adulthood.

DNA does not always adopt the form of the double helix which is associated with the genetic code; it can also form intricate folds and act as an enzyme: a deoxyribozyme. A researcher from Spain and other scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (Germany) have solved the first three-dimensional structure of this biomolecule that has proved much more flexible than previously thought.

CORVALLIS, OR - Organic blackberry production is becoming an important niche market in Oregon, where nearly 50% of conventional and organic blackberries in the U.S. are grown. In the area, trailing blackberry types used for the processed market are most common. A study published in HortScience can inform blackberry growers on production practices and recommends management strategies to increase production and profits.

CORVALLIS, OR - Phytophthora cinnamomi is a soilborne pathogen associated with root rot in many woody perennial plants. An extensive study from researchers in Oregon has identified a number of highbush blueberry cultivars that show resistance to the disease, as well as those varieties that are susceptible.

From the current outbreak of the Zika virus to last year's Ebola, vaccines have a significant contribution to make in terms of public health. But why are they so important?

Our immune system protects the body from pathogens. These are the 'bad guys', usually in the form of bacteria and viruses, that can cause infection.

Vaccines are like pathogen imposters - they mimic these 'bad guys' in order to provoke a response from our immune systems, remove the invader and begin the healing process.

Champaign, IL, March 1, 2016 - The recent announcement by the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) that, as of January 1, 2017, tail docking will not be permitted under the National Dairy FARM Program (Farmers Assuring Responsible Management) has ignited debate over the practice. Opinions in favor of or in opposition to the NMPF decision are varied. Groups such as the American Association of Bovine Practitioners opposed tail docking for nearly two decades and California banned the act in 2009; however, the practice continues to be used on some farms.

Over the past three decades, representatives of all major Mesozoic bird groups have been reported from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota of northeastern China. A new species, Chongmingia zhengi, reported in the journal of Scientific Reports on 25 January 2016, sheds light on the early evolution of birds. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that it is basal to the dominant Mesozoic avian clades Enantiornithes and Ornithuromorpha, and represents a new basal avialan lineage.

Eating meat from animals grazed on land treated with commonly-used agricultural fertilisers might have serious implications for pregnant women and the future reproductive health of their unborn children, according to a new study involving sheep.

People who perceive dementia symptoms as an illness feel more negative than those who see it as an inevitable part of getting older, a new study indicates.

In recent decades, obesity has become a global problem. The disease goes hand in hand with a dramatic increase in the proportion of body fat. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research and the Cologne Cluster of Excellence in Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-associated Diseases (CECAD) at the University of Cologne have now succeeded in inhibiting a protein in mice that hampers activation of the useful "brown fat" in obese mice. When treated with inhibitors against this protein, obese mice exhibited a notable improvement of their glucose metabolism.

Recovery from abdominal surgery is often slowed by a temporary paralysis of the intestines known as ileus, but in a recent phase II clinical trial, prucalopride--a drug that stimulates motility--cut the risk of ileus lasting for more than 5 days in half.

In 110 patients undergoing abdominal surgery, only 16.4% of patients taking prucalopride for up to 7 days after surgery experienced ileus, compared with 34.5% of patients taking a placebo.