Don't panic: The animal's guide to hitchhiking |  |
- Don't panic: The animal's guide to hitchhiking
- Association of quantity of alcohol and frequency of consumption with cancer mortality
- ASE-EAE to issue guidelines for the echocardiographic evaluation of cancer patients
- Scientists determine family tree for most-endangered bird family in the world
- Acid-suppressing medications may be overprescribed for infants
- Scientists hope to create robot strawberry pickers
- Blue stragglers
- Project leads next decade of ageing research across Europe
- A new age in brain research
- Magnifying research: Scientists team together to upgrade supercomputer
| Don't panic: The animal's guide to hitchhiking Posted: 20 Oct 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New research suggests that hitch-hiking, once believed to be the exclusive domain of beat poets and wanderers, is in fact an activity that daring members of the animal kingdom engage in. And it may lead to a serious ecological problem. Dr David Chapple, Dr Bob Wong and Sarah Simmonds from Monash University's School of Biological Sciences, have published two complementary studies on invasive species, which are taking the opportunity to jump on board freight and cargo transports to explore, and settle, new lands. The researchers found that particular personality traits may equip animals to become successful, if unintentional, invaders. Dr Chapple said the process of moving to new territory was difficult and only naturally bold species were able to do this successfully. Not only do animals need to be in the right place at the right time in order to be inadvertently transported by humans, but they also need to be able to survive the often harsh and lengthy journey inside consignments of freight. When they arrive at the new destination, the stowaways have to contend with being strangers in a strange land and successfully adapt to new environments. In the face of these challenges, the new colonists must also thrive and reproduce before spreading out across the landscape, Dr Chapple said. Dr Wong said it was the ability to overcome these significant hurdles that makes successful invaders a formidable threat to native wildlife. The incidence and impact of unintentional invasion is increasing with globalisation - as we encroach further and further into the natural environment, animals have had more opportunities to jump on board our various transports. Given this increase, and the potential impact on biodiversity, it's important that we understand this phenomenon better. Personality and behavioural traits are an important and, to date, unexplored component of the success of these species' invasions, Dr Wong said. Ms Simmonds said... http://www.rxpgnews.com    |
| Association of quantity of alcohol and frequency of consumption with cancer mortality Posted: 20 Oct 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A paper from the National Institutes of Health in the United States has evaluated the separate and combined effects of the frequency of alcohol consumption and the average quantity of alcohol drunk per occasion and how that relates to mortality risk from individual cancers as well as all cancers. The analysis is based on repeated administrations of the National Health Interview Survey in the US, assessing more than 300,000 subjects who suffered over 8,000 deaths from cancer. The research reports on total cancer deaths and deaths from lung, colorectal, prostate, and breast cancers. The overall message of this analysis is that light to moderate alcohol intake does not appear to increase the risk of all-site cancer (and light drinking was shown in this study to be associated with a significant decrease in risk). Similarly, light to moderate consumption was not associated with site-specific cancers of the lung, colorectum, breast, or prostate. As quantity consumed increased from 1 drink on drinking days to 3 or more drinks on drinking days (US drinks are 14g), risk of all-site cancer mortality increased by 22% among all participants. For total alcohol consumption (frequency x quantity), the data indicate a significant reduction in the risk of all-site cancers (RR=0.87, CI 0.80-0.94). Moderate drinking consistently shows no effect in the analysis, and only heavier drinking was associated with an increase in all-site cancer risk. For site-specific cancers, an increase in risk of lung cancer was seen for heavier drinkers, with a tendency for less cancer among light drinkers. There was no evidence of an effect of total alcohol consumption on colorectal, prostate, or breast cancer. The authors excluded non-drinkers in a second analysis in which they used categories of usual daily quantity and of frequency of consumption in an attempt to investigate their separate effects. For all-site cancer and for lung cancer, these results again... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| ASE-EAE to issue guidelines for the echocardiographic evaluation of cancer patients Posted: 20 Oct 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Considering that the early detection of cardio toxicity is a critical issue for patients undergoing chemotherapy, the ASE and the EAE have come together to write guidelines which will highlight the technical advantages of echocardiography in identifying cardio toxicity early, explained Prof Juan Carlos Plana, Co-Director of the Cardio-oncology Center, Cleveland Clinic, from the ASE. This would help select patients who would benefit from cardio protective regimens, so that heart failure does not become an obstacle to the oncologist during therapy, and to the patient during his/her survival. In the last decade cancer therapy has had an enormous progress leading to an important reduction of morbidity and mortality of several types of cancer. The therapeutic management of patients with cancer includes a combination of drugs, radiation therapy, and surgery. Several of these therapies, mainly anthracyclines, produce potential adverse cardiac reactions which can negatively impact the quality of life as well as the prognosis of oncologic patients. The new generation of targeted therapies (i.e. trastuzumab in breast cancer) has also been associated with unexpected unfavorable side effects on myocardial function. Currently, 17% of patients have to stop cancer therapy due to heart involvement. Detecting cardio toxicity is a critical issue in the clinical setting, in order to appropriately modulate and, hopefully, not interrupt cancer therapy. The traditional screening of patients with cancer includes a cardiac examination, and both an electrocardiogram (EKG) and a 2D echocardiogram with Doppler at baseline. The monitoring of cardiovascular toxicity might be more accurate using endomyocardial biopsy. However, the test is highly invasive and not free from complications, stated Dr Maurizio Galderisi, from the Federico II University in Naples, Italy and chairperson of the EAE task force. Echocardiography has emerged as the modality of choice... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Scientists determine family tree for most-endangered bird family in the world Posted: 20 Oct 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Using one of the largest DNA data sets for a group of birds and employing next-generation sequencing methods, Smithsonian scientists and collaborators have determined the evolutionary family tree for one of the most strikingly diverse and endangered bird families in the world, the Hawaiian honeycreepers. Not only have the researchers determined the types of finches that the honeycreeper family originally evolved from, but they have also linked the timing of that rapid evolution to the formation of the four main Hawaiian Islands. There were once more than 55 species of these colorful songbirds, and they are so diverse that historically it wasn't even entirely clear that they were all part of the same group, said Heather Lerner, who was a postdoctoral researcher at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute's Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics when she conducted this research, and is currently an assistant professor of biology at Earlham College and Joseph Moore Museum director. Some eat seeds, some eat fruit, some eat snails, some eat nectar. Some have the bills of parrots, others of warblers, while some are finch-like and others have straight, thin bills. So the question that we started with was how did this incredible diversity evolve over time,Lerner said. The answer is unique to the Hawaiian Islands, which are part of a conveyor belt of island formation, with new islands popping up as the conveyor belt moves northwest. Each island that forms represents a blank slate for evolution, so as one honeycreeper species moves from one island to a new island, those birds encounter new habitat and ecological niches that may force them to adapt and branch off into distinct species. The researchers looked at the evolution of the Hawaiian honeycreepers after the formation of Kauai-Niihau, Oahu, Maui-Nui and Hawaii. The largest burst of evolution into new species, called a radiation, occurred between 4 million and 2.5... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Acid-suppressing medications may be overprescribed for infants Posted: 20 Oct 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Frequent spitting up, irritability and unexplained crying in infants are often very distressing to parents. Physicians frequently prescribe acid-suppressing drugs for these symptoms. However, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is an uncommon cause of these symptoms in otherwise thriving infants, and in his commentary published in the Journal of Pediatrics, Dr. Eric Hassall cautions against over-diagnosis of GERD and over-prescription of acid-suppressing drugs in children under one year of age. Dr. Hassall, a member of the division of gastroenterology at BC Children's Hospital, a professor of pediatrics at the University of British Columbia, and an advisor to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, traces the history and current uses of acid-suppressing medication in children and infants, mostly focusing on proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). He points out that clinical studies have shown PPIs to be highly effective in children 1 to 17 years of age who have proven GERD. In children under the age of one year, the use of these drugs has enormously increased in the last decade, a change in medical practice that Dr. Hassall says is not based in medical science. The rise of prescriptions owes a lot to direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceutical products, with its promotion of the misleading term acid reflux, frequent self-misdiagnosis, and demand for medication. As Dr. Hassall observes, it is recognized that more advertising leads to more requests by patients for advertised medicine, and more prescriptions; the term 'acid reflux' as used in the marketing of PPIs to adults, has simply trickled down to infants. He points out that most reflux in infants is not acid, because stomach contents have been buffered by frequent feedings. Randomized, controlled studies have shown that PPIs are no better than placebo for most infants with symptoms of spitting up and irritability, or unexplained crying. Dr Hassall explains that this is... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Scientists hope to create robot strawberry pickers Posted: 19 Oct 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Scientists at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the UK's Measurement Institute, have developed an imaging technology which can identify the ripeness of strawberries before they are picked. The developers now hope to work with the agricultural industry to turn it into fruit picking robots that will reduce food waste and improve productivity. Successful trials have been completed on strawberries as well as a number of other crops. The software has also been designed to 'learn' based on past experience, so tests for new crops can be quickly developed. The work began in 2009, as a project to identify the ripeness of cauliflowers, which were a problem for pickers due to their leafy exterior. The technology was completed and successfully demonstrated, but a drop off in demand for cauliflowers stalled the project. Having proved the concept, lead scientist Dr Richard Dudley, began developing the technology for a wider range of fruit and vegetables and is taking it to market. Dudley said: The focus now is strawberries. This is a fairly easy fruit to measure as it has high water content and dry leaves, and microwave imaging is particularly useful for identifying water levels. Strawberries are also a high value fruit which are very time-consuming to pick so there is a stronger business case to implement automated picking technology for strawberries than with some other crops. Annual waste from picking unripe crops can be high and can mean many thousands of pounds of lost revenue for farms every year. As a result the agriculture industry is constantly on the lookout for more efficient ways of harvesting crops. NPL's new technology uses radio frequencies, microwaves, terahertz and the far-infra red. These four parts of the electromagnetic spectrum all have potential to safely penetrate the crop layers and identify whether the crop meets the pre-designed criteria for ripeness, for a relatively low cost. NPL has developed this... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Posted: 19 Oct 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Mysterious blue stragglers are old stars that appear younger than they should be: they burn hot and blue. Several theories have attempted to explain why they don't show their age, but, until now, scientists have lacked the crucial observations with which to test each hypothesis. Armed with such observational data, two astronomers from Northwestern University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison report that a mechanism known as mass transfer explains the origins of the blue stragglers. Essentially, a blue straggler eats up the mass, or outer envelope, of its giant-star companion. This extra fuel allows the straggler to continue to burn and live longer while the companion star is stripped bare, leaving only its white dwarf core. The scientists report their evidence in a study to be published Oct. 20 by the journal Nature. The majority of blue stragglers in their study are in binaries: they have a companion star. It's really the companion star that helped us determine where the blue straggler comes from, said Northwestern astronomer Aaron M. Geller, first author of the study. The companion stars orbit at periods of about 1,000 days, and we have evidence that the companions are white dwarfs. Both point directly to an origin from mass transfer. Geller is the Lindheimer Postdoctoral Fellow in the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) and the department of physics and astronomy in Northwestern's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. Robert Mathieu, professor of astronomy and chair of the astronomy department at UW-Madison, is co-author of the study. The astronomers studied the NGC 188 open cluster, which is in the constellation Cepheus, situated in the sky near Polaris, the North Star. This cluster is one of the most ancient open star clusters, but it features these mysterious young blue stragglers. The cluster has around 3,000 stars, all about the same age, and has 21 blue stragglers.... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Project leads next decade of ageing research across Europe Posted: 18 Oct 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) An ambitious project led by researchers at the University of Sheffield is set to tackle the grand challenge of Europe's ageing population over the next 10 years. The FUTURAGE Road Map, created by Alan Walker, Professor of Social Policy and Social Gerontology in the Department of Sociological Studies, will provide the European research agenda for ageing over the next 10 years. The Road Map was launched today at a meeting of the European Parliament entitled Meeting the Grand Challenge of Ageing: the New European Research Agenda and hosted by MEPs of the Science and Technology Options Assessment (STOA) Panel. The document is the result of the unprecedented FUTURAGE project which presents a major step forward in European ageing research. FUTURAGE has brought together 24 partners, 14 European countries, eight stages of consultation and over 700 individual contributors and organisations, representing many thousands of people to create a better future for ageing in Europe. Europe is currently the oldest region in the world, and the upward trajectory of European ageing has been linear for more than 150 years. The share of the population aged 65 and over will rise from 17% in 2010 to 30% in 2060, with those aged 80 and over being the fastest growing age group, increasing from 5% to 12% over the same period. The current average of healthy life years (years of life in full health without disability) at 65 in the EU is eight years for both men and women. However, this varies among Member States from three years in Estonia to 13 years for women and 14 years for men in Denmark. The healthy life years gap between European countries exceeds the gap in life expectancy. Both these gaps are driven mainly by the low levels of life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in Central and Eastern European countries. The Road Map aims to tackle the health inequalities across Europe and will aid the EU's target to increase healthy active life by two... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Posted: 18 Oct 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Melbourne will become a magnet for the world's best and brightest brain researchers after the official opening of the Melbourne Brain Centre at The University of Melbourne Parkville by the Premier Ted Baillieu and Federal MP Michael Danby on Monday. The $225M Melbourne Brain Centre is the largest neuroscience research centre in the Southern Hemisphere. Across its three sites, it hosts 700 staff from around the globe who are working towards a better understanding of brain disorders. The Melbourne Brain Centre will use a collaborative approach to improve understanding of disorders and conditions affecting the brain. It is home to the Florey Neuroscience Institutes, the Mental Health Research Institute, and the University of Melbourne's neuroscientists. It also partners with Royal Melbourne Hospital and Austin Health to take neurosciences to the bedside. Researchers working at the centre will investigate a broad range of conditions affecting the brain, including Multiple Sclerosis, stroke, Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, trauma, depression and anxiety, epilepsy and Motor Neuron disease. The Parkville facility, opened by Premier Ted Baillieu and Federal Member for Melbourne Ports Michael Danby, is the final centrepiece in a project that received major funding from the State and Federal governments. Speaking after the ceremony, Mr Baillieu said the centre will strengthen Melbourne's and Victoria's reputations as first-rate career destinations for medical researchers. The Victorian Government invested $53 million in this project to reinforce Victoria's ability to attract and retain some of the best scientific minds in the world, Mr Baillieu said. The Centre is playing a key role in attracting leading scientists to come to Australia or retaining talented Australian researchers who might have otherwise moved or stayed overseas. Dr Ben Emery is an Australian neuroscience researcher who returned from Stanford... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Magnifying research: Scientists team together to upgrade supercomputer Posted: 18 Oct 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) MANHATTAN, KAN. -- A group of Kansas State University scientists is boosting research across campus by making the largest supercomputer in the state even larger. The project also will benefit researchers at other schools in Kansas. The scientists, led by Daniel Andresen, associate professor of computing and information sciences, have recently received a three-year $700,000 grant from the National Science Foundation's Major Research Instrumentation Program to upgrade the university's research computing cluster, called Beocat. The scientists also received $300,000 in matching funds from the university. Beocat is a cluster of servers that provides computational support for large research projects and is located in the university's computing and information sciences department in the College of Engineering. The cluster's design type is called Beowulf, so the designers called the university's form Beocat in honor of the Kansas State University Wildcats . Beocat supports research in four colleges and 12 to 15 departments across campus, and the upgrade will at least double its research capacities. While the average desktop or laptop has between two and four cores in its central processing unit, Beocat has 1,200 cores. It also has 10 machines that each have 64 gigabytes of memory -- much more than the average two to four gigabytes that come with a desktop or laptop. The upgrade will give Beocat individual machines with 512 gigabytes to a terabyte of memory and more than 2,000 total cores. That's like 1,500 laptops stacked up or 1,000 desktops stacked up and working together, Andresen said. The extra memory will be especially helpful for some of the larger research projects across campus. For example, it takes about 50 gigabytes of space to analyze a single genome. A group of biologists on campus wants to analyze 5,000 genomes -- a huge computing task that requires a lot of memory. But an upgraded Beocat will be able to handle such a... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
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