Xpert

South America's vast pantanal wetland may become next everglades, UNU experts warn

South America's giant Pantanal wetlands, one of the world's most bio-diverse ecosystems, is at growing risk from intensive peripheral agricultural, industrial and urban development ?problems expected to be compounded by climate change, United Nations University experts warn. Covering more than 165,000 square kilometers ?an area roughly equal to Florida ?in the heart of South America, the P...

Hopkins AIDS experts issue warning about global efforts to provide drug therapies

Johns Hopkins infectious disease specialists who have spent more than two decades leading efforts to combat HIV and AIDS worldwide are warning that limited international relief supplies of antiretroviral therapies currently being distributed in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean will not get to those who can least afford to pay for them. In an article appearing in the American Journal of Publi...

Crisis in African fish supplies looms, experts warn Africa leaders

32% increase of African fish supply needed by 2020 just to maintain consumption levels Calling fisheries critical for nourishing the poor and for helping Africa cope with the health, economic and social devastation of problems like HIV and AIDS, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the WorldFish Center and partners are making an urgent appeal to boost the continent's fish...

Climate experts search for answers in the oceans

By absorbing half of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere, the oceans have a profound influence on climate. However, their ability to take up this carbon dioxide might be impaired as a result of climate change. To determine their response to global warming, ESA has backed two projects that provide systematic data on key oceanic variables ?color and temperature. The Medspiration p...

Experts discuss use of human stem cells in ape and monkey brains

Covering ship hulls with artificial shark skin could help ships sailing smoothly. The growth of marine organisms such as barnacles on ship hulls is a major cause of increased energy costs in the naval industry. Shark skin offers a structural design that prevents this so called 'bio-fouling'. Ralph Liedert from the University of Applied Sciences, Bremen, Germany, is presenting his work on t...

AIDS expert says global strategy needed to combat feminization of HIV/AIDS

Thomas C. Quinn, M.D., a Johns Hopkins physician and scientist, who has spent the best part of the last 25 years leading major efforts to combat HIV and AIDS throughout the world, is calling for global strategies and resources to confront the rapid "feminization" of the AIDS pandemic. Quinn, a professor of infectious diseases at Hopkins and a senior investigator at the National Institute o...

Infectious disease expert warns of spread of Rocky Mountain spotted fever

An infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins who has spent nearly three decades studying the life-threatening, tick-borne infection known as Rocky Mountain spotted fever warns that the first widespread outbreak of the bacterial disease in Arizona is a growing and dangerous sign of how humans can inadvertently help spread infectious organisms beyond traditional state boundaries. In an arti...

Tsunami + 1 year: Reviving exhausted fisheries should trump replacing boats, gear, experts say

One year after a tsunami devastated South Asian communities, global fisheries experts say habitat restoration, retraining and education programs are much needed to revive severely exhausted fisheries and steer survivors into more sustainable livelihoods than fishing. According to new analyses by the Malaysia-based WorldFish Centre (see ? Rebuilding Boats May Not Equal Rebuilding Livelihood...

Johns Hopkins flu expert calls for mandatory vaccination of health care workers

Johns Hopkins' senior hospital epidemiologist and flu expert is calling for mandatory vaccination of all health care workers as the best means of protecting patients and hospital staff from widespread outbreaks of the viral illness. Studies by other United States researchers show that voluntary vaccination programs don't do the job and that each year, nearly 40,000 Americans die from influenza,...

Expert dispels bird flu paranoia

The risk of human bird flu infection is small in Australia and people can still safely eat chicken and keep pet birds, according to bird medicine specialist Dr Bob Doneley. "You're more likely to have a light pl...

Evidence for omega 3 fats less conclusive than we thought, say experts

A study published online by the BMJ today doesn't find evidence of a clear benefit of omega 3 fats on health. Consumption of long chain omega 3 fatty acids, found in oily fish and fish oils, and a shorter chain omega 3, found in some p...

Medical experts: US unlikely to have enough vaccines to stop avian flu

A group of medical experts who attended a national avian flu conference last fall believe there is little chance the United States will be able to manufacture and stockpile enough vaccine or antiviral medication to stop a bird flu pandemic should the virus mutate into a form that can be spread easily from human to human, according to a survey led by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University. The...

Deep-rooted plants have much greater impact on climate than experts thought

Trees, particularly those with deep roots, contribute to the Earth's climate much more than scientists thought, according to a new study by biologists and climatologists from the University of California, Berkeley. While scientists studying global climate change recognize the importance of vegetation in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and in local cooling through transpiration,...

End of deforestation in view? Experts advance new way to size up global forest resources

An increasing number of countries and regions are transitioning from deforestation to afforestation, raising hopes for a turning point for the world as a whole, according to researchers advancing a more sophisticated approach to measuring forest cover. The novel approach looks beyond simply how much of a nation's area is covered by trees and considers the volume of timber, biomass, and cap...

Comments, experts and background on the 2006 Nobel Prize in chemistry

"The research Dr. Kornberg did will help open the door to understanding and treating many human ailments, including cancer, heart disease and inflammation, and will help scientists better understand stem cells and their potential for therapeutic applications. "This Nobel Prize also underscores the key role of chemistry in the scientific research into genetics. In order to take the first ac...

British cattle give TB to badgers, finds UC Davis expert

The controversial practice of killing wild badgers to prevent tuberculosis in cattle is unlikely to succeed, according to a newstudy led by Rosie Woodroffe, an ecologist at the University ofCalifornia, Davis, and a member of Britain's Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB. In Britain, farming interests and badger protectionists have battled for 30 years over the merits of culling badge...

Transfusion expert urges wider use of filtered blood

Filtering white cells from donor blood before a transfusion is much safer for patients and long overdue as a national standard for all surgical procedures, according to University of Rochester researchers who present their analysis in the April journal, Transfusion. The practice of removing the white cells from blood is called leukoreduction. But despite the recommendations of two national...

Experts predict Tamiflu could halve the pandemic influenza death toll versus no intervention

Treatment with the oral antiviral Tamiflu (oseltamivir) and prophylaxis for people exposed to infected patients could be one of the most cost-effective strategies for reducing illness and death during an influenza pandemic. According to modelling research presented by Beate Sander, University of Toronto, Canada, a stockpile of Tamiflu sufficient to cover 65% of a country’s population could cut...