Researchers find oral sex, masturbating linked to recurrent infections
Women may blame their husbands or boyfriends for headaches, tears and stress. But they can’t be blamed for those nasty recurrent yeast infections, contrary to popular belief.
A new study by University of Michigan Health System researchers finds that the presence of yeast in male sex partners do not make women more prone to recurrent yeast infections. Certain sexual activities, however, were linked to
Scientist plans similar studies on tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay
A study released in early December by a group of scientists shows that hormones leaking into streams from cattle feedlots are altering the sexual characteristics of wild fish.
Edward Orlando, assistant professor of biology at St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM), was the leading author in the study that included researchers from five U.S. institutions. The scientists examined minnows in three streams
A team of researchers led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has discovered a family of proteins that connect the immune system to the body’s lipids – the fat molecules that are a major building block of the human body.
“This is the first time someone has shown how the immune system and lipid metabolism merge,” says Associate Professor Luc Teyton, M.D., Ph.D., of Scripps Research. Teyton is the lead author of the study.
In the study, Teyton and his colleagues wer
Hundreds of billions of plastic food and beverage containers are manufactured each year in the U.S. All of these packages must undergo sterilization, which at present is done using high temperatures or chemicals. Both of these methods have drawbacks. Chemicals often leave a residue that can affect the safety and taste of the product, and produce undesirable waste. Heat is effective and sufficiently rapid, but necessitates the use of costly heat-resistant plastics that can withstand sterilization temp
Humans are not alone in suffering the ravages of aging. Cockroaches endure it, too.
Case Western Reserve University researchers reported in the Journal of Experimental Biology that as the roach’s life wanes between 60-65 weeks after the onset of adulthood, and the cockroach slows down, experiences stiff joints and has problems climbing and a decreased spontaneous fleeing response. Death comes shortly after the onset of these movement problems.
Angela Ridgel, a post doc
New approaches yield gene-rich regions, accelerate sequencing
Decoding of a variety of plant genomes could accelerate due to two complementary methods that remove from analysis vast stretches of DNA that do not contain genes.
The approaches, applied jointly in efforts to determine the gene sequences in maize, are described in the Dec. 19 issue of the journal Science. The evaluation of these methods and the assembly of the resulting sequences were undertaken by two groups led
Grape juice joins blueberries as possible anti-aging ’brain food’
Consuming Concord grape juice significantly improved laboratory animals’ short-term memory in a water maze test as well as their neuro-motor skills in certain of the coordination, balance and strength tests, according to preliminary research presented at the 1st International Conference on Polyphenols and Health recently held in Vichy, France.
“In the study we subjected 45 senescent rats-meaning
Nearly 99 percent alike in genetic makeup, chimpanzees and humans might be even more similar were it not for what researchers call “lifestyle” changes in the 6 million years that separate us from a common ancestor. Specifically, two key differences are how humans and chimps perceive smells and what we eat.
A massive gene-comparison project involving two Cornell University scientists, and reported in the latest issue of the journal Science (Dec. 12, 2003), found these and many other differen
An instrument aboard NASA’s recently launched orbiting infrared observatory has found evidence of organic molecules in an enormously powerful galaxy some 3.25 billion light years from the Earth. So powerful is the source, that it is equal to 10 trillion times the luminosity of the sun, making it one of the brightest galaxies ever detected.
The instrument on the newly named Spitzer Space Telescope (previously called the Space Infrared Telescope Facility, or SIRTF) is the infrared spectr
Studies of the unique landscape in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica provide new insights into the origin of similar features on Mars and provide one line of evidence that suggests the Red Planet has recently experienced an ice age, according to a paper in this week’s issue of the journal Nature.
The distribution of hexagonal mounds and other features on the Martian surface at mid-latitudes similar to those in the Dry Valleys also supports previous scientific assertions that a significant amou
In one of the clearest models of cancer metastasis, scientists have shown that spreading cancer cells receive growth-sustaining signals from nearby blood vessels telling them where to go for permanent nourishment and oxygen.
These signals actually protect the fledgling cancer cells long before new blood vessels have grown around the cancer to supply it with a more permanent source of nutrients and oxygen, said the researchers from the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Their result
Silver cars are less likely to be involved in a crash resulting in serious injury than cars of other colours, finds a study in this week’s Christmas issue of the BMJ.
Researchers in New Zealand examined the effect of car colour on the risk of a serious injury in over 1,000 drivers who took part in the Auckland car crash injury study between 1998 and 1999.
Factors that could affect the results, such as age and sex of driver, seat belt use, vehicle age, and road conditions, were taken
An international group of scientists is warning that the traditional Christmas snack of Brazil nuts could be under threat if intensive harvesting practices continue in persistently exploited areas.
Writing in this week’s edition of the international journal Science (19 December 2003) the main author of the report, Dr Carlos Peres of the University of East Anglia, says: “The clear message is that current Brazil nut harvesting practices at many Amazonian forest sites are not sustainable in the
By the time you reach your 60th birthday, your heart could still be out performing the hearts of inactive 20-year-old whippersnappers, according to a study on cardiac output in healthy men carried out by Paul Chantler and his team from Liverpool John Moores Hospital. Unfortunately, you will have to be prepared to run nearly 30 miles a week for the 20 years preceding the celebration to achieve this.
The study’s findings, to be presented at this year’s Physiological Society conference on Frid
Hundreds of thousands of animals are killed in traffic every year. The threat traffic represents to badgers is greater than was previously known. A new dissertation at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) illuminates the conflict between traffic and animals in Sweden and provides models that predict the risk of accidents involving wild animals.
It is only in recent years that the impact of traffic on animal populations has been taken seriously. Today increasing traffic is re
Natural warning sounds may be the future in airplanes and perhaps in cars as well. A “slurp” when fuel is low works better than a monotonous beeping sound. In a dissertation at The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden, Pernilla Ulfvengren has studied how warning sounds function, how we associate sounds, and how new sounds can be designed.
In the cockpit of an airplane there are a large number of warning units. If something happens to the plane, some twenty alarms may go off simultan
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