University of Nevada study finds plants assimilate mercury from air
Mercury gets around. A naturally occurring contaminant, mercury is found in water and soil but scientists are not exactly sure how mercury makes its way through the environment. Concerns over increasing levels of mercury contamination have sparked fish consumption advisories in certain areas.
Knowing how mercury ends up in these locations, however, is an area of concern for environmental scientists
Agents designed to attack blood vessels that feed a growing tumor are effective against tumor growth in laboratory experiments. However, results of early clinical trials with these inhibitors have not yet exhibited the same success observed in animal models. Now, a new study published in the December issue of Cancer Cell demonstrates that a unique time period exists during which combined radiation and antiangiogenic therapy can exert a remarkable synergistic effect that significantly slows tumor
The costs of caring for elderly Florida patients hospitalized for colon surgery are not reduced by Medicare HMOs, report University of South Florida researchers in the December issue of the Archives of Surgery.
Despite significantly shorter hospital stays, Medicare HMO beneficiaries who underwent colon resections — surgery to remove a diseased section of the large intestines — incurred the same overall hospital charges as patients covered by traditional fee-for-service Medica
Emergency department patients with unmet substance abuse treatment need generate much higher hospital and emergency department charges than patients without such need, according to a new study to be published today as an advance online publication of Annals of Emergency Medicine (Unmet Substance Abuse Treatment Need, Health Services Utilization, and Cost: A Population-Based Emergency Department Study).
Researchers led by Ian Rockett, PhD, from West Virginia University’s D
Experiments led by Nicolas Dauphas of the University of Chicago and Chicago’s Field Museum have validated some controversial rocks from Greenland as the potential site for the earliest evidence of life on Earth.
“The samples that I have studied are extremely controversial,” said Dauphas, an Assistant Professor in Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago and a Field Museum Associate. Some scientists have claimed that these rocks from Greenland’s banded iron for
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh will examine the way a fish-rich diet helps maintain a low risk of heart attack amongst Eskimos, in the first study of its kind to be carried out in the city. Investigators hope that the results would help to guide the development of future heart treatments.
Researcher Dr Jehangir Din explained: “We know that fish oils benefit the heart, but we don’t know how exactly how this process works. We intend to look at the action of both fish
Two studies by University of Illinois food science and human nutrition professor Sharon Donovan show that the soy isoflavone genistein, in amounts present in commercial soy infant formulas, may inhibit intestinal cell growth in babies. So what are we to think about soy in a baby’s diet?
Donovan said it’s an important question to ask because almost 25 percent of formula-fed babies in the United States consume soy formula. Although babies on soy formula appear to grow normally, th
Stiffer building codes in the Los Angeles basin may come in the near future as a result of a new study completed by University of Nevada, Reno seismologists of an anticipated large thrust-fault earthquake.
“Our study in California’s Kern County is a good indicator of what could happen in Los Angeles because the geology of the areas is so similar,” said James Brune, seismology pioneer and University Foundation Professor. The conditions, he said, would indicate “high motion” i
Perhaps Ukrainian Viktor Yushchenko should try olestra to get rid of dioxin. It’s worked before. A new study shows how diet affects chlorinated hydrocarbons trapped in body fat and how olestra raises their excretion rate up to 30-fold.
Perhaps Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko should try an “Olestra diet” to rid his body of dioxin. It wouldn’t be the first time that the “fake fat” product was used as an emergency agent to flush out dioxin, one of a group of
A child’s level of anxiety prior to surgery is predictive of whether they will experience post-surgical delirium and maladaptive behavioral changes, including anxiety, nighttime crying, and bedwetting, according to a Yale study published in the journal Anesthesia & Analgesia.
“This finding is of importance to the clinician, who can now better predict the development of adverse postoperative phenomena in children based on the child’s preoperative anxiety,” said Zeev K
A new study by researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center shows that genetic testing offers a less invasive and more cost efficient alternative in diagnosing inner ear hearing loss in children. In fact, the study shows that some of the standard tests conducted today are not necessary and should only be done on a case by case basis.
“Our paradigm emphasizes the use of genetic tests, particularly a screen for the GJB2 gene, as the initial diagnostic test of choice.
Seeking to find a way to lessen patients’ vulnerability to deadly infections following chemotherapy, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have figured out a way to boost the immune function in animals following such treatments. Their approach involves increasing the pool of cells that give rise to neutrophils, a type of white blood cell that is critical for fighting bacterial and fungal infections but is particularly ravaged by chemotherapy.
“Our approach ha
More than half of adults over the age of 65 have trouble sleeping, characterized by both lighter sleep and frequent awakenings during the night. A decline in cognitive function is common with advanced age, and research has shown that disturbed sleep in younger adults and in the elderly causes daytime sleepiness and negatively affects cognitive performance.
Now, a study by sleep researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine suggests that even short-term ex
Except for women in their 40s, women who are screened with mammography every 2 years may not have an increased risk of late-stage breast cancer compared with women screened every year, according to a new study in the December 15 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The ideal interval between screenings for breast cancer using mammography has not been determined. In the United States, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends screening with mammograph
Keeping blood pressure & cholesterol low may help some dementia patients more than Alzheimer’s drugs
Could the same actions that help prevent a heart attack or stroke also prevent or slow the memory loss, confusion and thinking problems of dementia? A new study suggests that for many people, the answer could be yes. And for some, the impact of steps like controlling blood pressure and cholesterol might be greater than the effect of high-priced memory-preserving drugs.
Journal of The Royal Society Interface
Sharks can detect changes in the geomagnetic field by Dr G Meyer, Dr N Holland and Mr P Papastamatiou
Scientists have long suspected that sharks are able to use the earth’s magnetic field to navigate across seemingly featureless oceans but until now evidence of this ’compass sense’ has been circumstantial. We showed that captive sharks can be trained to swim over a target whenever an artificial magnetic field is activat
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