European challenges for hydrodynamic modelling in coastal and shelf seas is the focus of the latest report from the European Science Foundation (ESF) Marine Board, released on 6 June at the fourth annual EuroGOOS (Global Ocean Observing System) conference in Brest, France.
Produced by a Marine Board Working Group, chaired by Dr. David Prandle of the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory in Liverpool, England, the report presents the latest findings from this Group which concentrates
The world’s largest and most species rich forests are changing faster than we thought. We know the Amazonian rainforests are disappearing – around a fifth has been lost to logging and cattle ranging – but University geographers have discovered that the forests are changing at a remarkable rate. Their findings suggest we still don’t understand exactly how long the rainforests can continue to be the planet’s ‘lung’ or even how they really work.
Geographers and earth scientists h
Brown bears, squirrels, bats and frogs could hold the key to why western populations are facing an epidemic of type 2 diabetes, according to professor of medicine Peter Grant. If his theory is proven, it will “completely change the view of diabetes and its cause.”
By 2025, 300 million people worldwide will suffer from type 2 diabetes, up to 85 per cent of whom will die of related heart disease. The condition, associated with obesity, develops when the body’s fat cells secrete protei
New Zealand’s moa, a group of giant flightless birds including the largest birds ever to have lived, died out because they grew almost ten times slower than living species, reveals a study by researchers at the Zoological Society of London’s Institute of Zoology (IoZ) in London.
The new study published today in the journal Nature, in collaboration with the University of Oxford and the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, analysed moa leg bones and discovered up to nine growt
In a bid to reduce the annual death of more than 50,000 people and the countless severe injuries on Europe’s roads, future onboard night vision systems have been developed that highlight unexpected obstacles and improve driver visibility.
The system, developed by a team of carmakers, automotive suppliers and university researchers under the IST programme’s EDEL project, is expected to increase safety by highlighting unexpected, sudden events; improving visibility of road signs
University of Manchester researchers announced today that they have reached a key milestone in their study of the antifungal treatment of asthma.
It is hoped that the study, by clinical researchers based at Manchester’s Wythenshawe Hospital, will reduce steroid use and serious attacks requiring hospital intervention for asthma sufferers. It could also help those with cystic fibrosis and chronic sinusitis.
Severe asthma in adults affects 10 – 20% of the UK’s 5m a
Fatigue could reduce skills and cause injuries and muscle weakness during sport because the brain does not consider the extra effort required for movement, Monash University researchers have found.
Professor Uwe Proske, from Monash’s Department of Physiology, found when muscles were weakened from overuse or fatigue, limb control was affected,particularly if the person couldn’t see their limbs.
The study, which has been published in the Journalof Physiology , showe
Expert from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia comments on blood test for malignant hyperthermia
A rare but potentially life-threatening inherited condition called malignant hyperthermia (MH) may strike surgical patients who receive common drugs for general anesthesia. Usually there is no outward sign of a problem before the drugs are given, but the drugs may trigger abnormal metabolic responses, such as a rapid rise in body temperature, muscle rigidity and other complic
A Marshfield Clinic scientist is searching for genetic and environmental causes of Alzheimer’s disease as a first step toward developing diagnostic markers to identify people at risk before they develop the disease.
Nader Ghebranious, Ph.D., director of the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Marshfield Laboratories, is using the anonymous database of DNA collected for the Personalized Medicine Research Project (PMRP) conducted by Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation (MCRF) t
Twenty-eight years after intense selective logging stopped in the region now known as Uganda’s Kibale National Park, the red-tailed guenon (Cercophithecus ascanius) is a primate still in decline. The logging practice, scientists report in a new study, changed the ecological balance for these monkeys, leading to behavioral changes and opening the door for multiple parasitic infections.
The researchers focused on three primate species, collecting 1,076 fecal samples from the
Two common gene variations are associated with the risk for developing chronic kidney disease, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and other institutions. One variant increases risk and the other decreases risk with a similar effect in whites, African-Americans, diabetic and non-diabetic individuals. The study, published in the June 15 edition of JAMA, is the first large-scale investigation of the role Apolipoprotein E (APOE) alleles play in
By depositing nanoparticles onto a charged surface, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have crafted nanotubes from silicon that are flexible and nearly as soft as rubber.
“Resembling miniature scrolls, the nanotubes could prove useful as catalysts, guided laser cavities and nanorobots,” said Sahraoui Chaieb, a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at Illinois and a researcher at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology.
A promising new drug candidate that may be effective against both actively dividing and slow-growing Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) has begun testing in humans, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, announced today. The novel antibiotic, PA-824, may shorten the time needed to treat tuberculosis (TB), a contagious disease that claims approximately two million lives worldwide each year. In partnership with the non-profit N
Kansas State University and the Kansas Wheat Commission are spearheading the effort to create the Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium, an international program focused on building the foundation for advancing agricultural research for wheat production.
The principal goal of the consortium is to obtain a publicly available, complete sequence of common (hexaploid) wheat since it is grown on more than 95 percent of the wheat-growing-area worldwide.
Bikram Gill, university d
Insight study reveals leading research on the benefits of using insulin earlier
Results of an all-Canadian study announced June 13 at an international diabetes congress demonstrate that patients with type 2 diabetes can safely achieve target blood sugar (glycemic) levels faster and more frequently when insulin glargine (a basal, long-acting insulin) is added to therapy, versus using oral agents alone. In addition to achieving better glycemic control, patients using insulin gl
Even though previous research has shown that fatty acids from fish oil reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death, patients with implantable defibrillators who took fish oil supplements did not see a reduction in serious heart rhythm abnormalities, according to a study in the June 15 issue of JAMA.
Since the original observations that Greenland Eskimos eating a diet high in omega-3 polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) from sea mammals and fish had an unexpectedly low risk of cardiac death,
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