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Unprecedented water level rise in Somalia

In East Africa, where days of heavy rains and flooding have led to numerous deaths and entire villages being wiped out, locals are reporting an unprecedented rise in Somalia's Shabelle River and that a major water surge may be headed into the centre of the country, the United Nations said today. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), reports yesterd...

Low level of extinction during ice age linked to adaptability

A Johns Hopkins University graduate student may have figured out why rates of extinction were so low for many of the major groups of marine life during one of the greatest ice ages of them all, which occurred from about 330 million to 290 million years ago, late in the Paleozoic Era. The likely answer: because those aquatic life forms that did survive during this era were singularly equipp...

New lab technique identifies high levels of pathogens in therapy pool

A research team using a novel genetic cloning and sequencing technique has identified a surprisingly high number of airborne pathogens in a Midwest therapy pool, pointing to the need for closer scrutiny of public hot pools, says a new study. Led by Washington University in St. Louis and involving the University of Colorado at Boulder and San Diego State University, the new study assessed t...

Findings have implications for tracking disease, drugs at the molecular level

Researchers in the laboratory of Boston College Chemistry Professor John T. Fourkas have demonstrated that gold particles comparable in size to a molecule can be induced to emit light so strongly that it is readily possible to observe a single nanoparticle. Fourkas, in collaboration with postdoctoral researcher Richard Farrer and BC undergraduates Francis Butterfield and Vincent Chen, coaxed the...

At the molecular level, the predator is the prey

An evolutionary arms race between predatory garter snakes and their newt quarry is turning out to be something of an illusion. At the molecular level, another battle rages. And in this second, miniature realm, it's the newt who's the aggressor. Biologists at Indiana University Bloomington, Utah State University and the University of Utah present evidence in this week's Nature that a toxin...

Scientists at Galileo Pharmaceuticals confirm inflammatory response linked to glucose levels

A team of scientists has discovered three molecules –?from a search of 58,000 compounds –?that appear to inhibit a key perpetrator of Alzheimer's disease. Ken Kosik, co...

MERIS monitoring tracks planetary photosynthesis levels

Daily multispectral observations from Envisat's MERIS sensor are being combined with a sophisticated processing algorithm and powerful Grid computing to reveal global photosynthesis activity on land. This permits researchers to trace the state of health of terrestrial plant cover, identifying areas under stress and assessing damage from drought or fires. An algorithm developed by the Europ...

‘Blue Brain?project explores thought at molecular level

Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Danish Committee of Pig Breeding and Production (DCPBP) jointly announce the public release of pig genomic sequences. The released sequence data include 3.84 million pieces of the genomes of five different domestic pig breeds from Europe and China. The data are generated from the first large scale pig genome sequenc...

Scientists find evidence of catastrophic sand avalanches, sea level changes in Gulf of Mexico

Identical twins lose some fundamental similarities as they grow older, a new study reports. Researchers report in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that these differences may stem from changes in the epigeno...

High carbon dioxide levels spur Southern pines to grow more needles

A Duke University study has found that maturing stands of pines exposed to the higher levels of carbon dioxide expected by mid-century produce more needles than those absorbing today's levels of the gas, even under drought conditions. However, the study also found that lack of soil nutrients may impose limitations in many forests. Duke graduate student Heather McCarthy will describe result...

Enzyme affects hypertension by controlling salt levels in body

An enzyme known to cause hypertension increases blood pressure by activating tiny pores, or channels, in kidney cells that allow increased levels of sodium to be reabsorbed into the blood, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found. The findings shed light on the underlying mechanisms that cause hypertension, and may also help explain why patients with hypertension linked to salt in...

Field tested: Grasslands won't help buffer climate change as carbon dioxide levels rise

UCLA biochemists reveal the first structural details of a family of mysterious objects called microcompartments that seem to be present in a variety of bacteria. The discovery was published Aug. 5 in the journal Science. "This is the first look at how microcompartments are built, and what the pieces look like," said Todd O. Yeates, UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and a member...

Baby's genes affect mom's cholesterol levels

A group of Belgian researchers has determined that a pregnant woman's ability to metabolize fats is determined not only by her genes but by her baby's genes as well. The details of their findings appear in the November issue of the Journal of Lipid Research, an American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology journal. The researchers, led by Olivier S. Descamps of the Centre de Rech...

Looking for the genes that affect a person's level of response to alcohol

How a person "feels" the effects of alcohol is, in part, genetically influenced and relates to their risk for developing alcoholism. A low level of response (LR) to alcohol, or the need for a higher number of drinks to feel intoxication the first few times a person drinks, is more likely to occur in children of alcoholics, and predicts a greater risk for alcohol problems. A study in the Novembe...

Carnegie Mellon develops non-invasive technique to detect transplant rejection at cellular level

Carnegie Mellon University scientist Chien Ho and his colleagues have developed a promising tool that uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to track immune cells as they infiltrate a transplanted heart in the early stages of organ rejection. This pre-clinical advance, described in an upcoming issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), ultimately could provide a non-invas...

Males with elevated levels of testosterone lead shorter lives but have more success siring offspring

Comparative studies have studied testosterone levels and related them to mating systems and aggression, but very few studies have attempted to relate testosterone to fitness, that is, the combination of lifetime reproductive success and survival, in the wild or experimentally. Over nine breeding seasons, Wendy Reed (North Dakota State University) and her colleagues followed a group of dark-eyed j...

Salmonella bacteria use RNA to assess and adjust magnesium levels

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have added a gene in the bacterium Salmonella to the short list of genes regulated by a new mechanism known as the riboswitch. The Salmonella riboswitch is the first to sense and respond to a metal ion, substantially expanding the types of molecules that riboswitches can detect to help cells assess and react to their env...

Fish on acid: Hagfish cope with high levels of CO2

The Pacific Hagfish is a strange animal: it feeds by gnawing its way into a carcass and staying inside to feed for up to 3 days. Scientists at the University of British Columbia (Canada) believe the Hagfish's gruesome method of feeding may cause the stagnant water inside the carcass to become acidic from the build up of CO2 produced by the fish, which could explain why the fish is able to cope wi...

High estrogen levels associated with dementia in older men

A prospective population-based study has found that higher estrogen levels in older men are associated with an increased risk of dementia. By contrast, levels of testosterone were not associated with cognitive decline. The study is in the August issue of Annals of Neurology, a journal published by John Wiley & Sons. ( http://www.interscie...

Study links high levels of nitric oxide to infertility and sperm DNA damage

Iranian scientists have linked a chemical that plays an essential role in many bodily functions to sperm DNA damage and male infertility, the 22nd annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction heard today (Monday). Dr Iraj Amiri, embryology laboratory director at the IVF Centre, Fatemieh Hospital, Hamadan, Iran, said: "In recent years nitric oxide (NO) has been recognised...

Natural vitamin E tocotrienol reaches blood at protective levels

Two recent studies offer new evidence suggesting an alternative form of natural vitamin E can be taken by mouth and will reach the blood in humans at levels determined to protect against stroke and other diseases. Vitamin E occurs naturally in eight different forms. The primary vitamin E on drugstore shelves is called tocopherol, or TCP. But another natural form of vitamin E surfacing as...

Higher levels of obesity associated with greater health risks

The health risks for women who are extremely obese may be underestimated as a new study indicates they have a higher prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol than women at lower levels of obesity, according to a study in the July 5 issue of JAMA. Obesity diagnosis and treatment are typically based on body mass index (BMI) of at least 30. BMI is calculated as weight in kil...

Ozone recovering, but unlikely to stabilize at pre-1980 levels, says study

When given extra shots of the plant steroid brassinolide, plants "pump up" like major league baseball players do on steroids. Tracing brassinolide's signal deep into the cell's nucleus, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have unraveled how the growth-boosting hormone accomplishes its job at the molecular level. The Salk researchers, led by Joanne Chory, a professor i...

Obesity levels in US are grossly underestimated

Boston, MA ?The prevalence of obesity in the U.S. states has been greatly underestimated. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) analyzed data from health surveys, which are used to estimate obesity levels in states. Because people tend to provide incorrect information about their weight and height, especially in telephone surveys, the researchers concluded that estimates of ob...

High dopamine transporter levels not correlated with ADHD

Results from a brain-imaging study conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory in collaboration with Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York indicate that levels of a brain protein proposed as a diagnostic marker for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are not positively correlated with the disease. In fact, the study found lower levels of these "dop...

High hourly air pollution levels more than double stroke risk

High hourly levels of air pollution, more than double the risk of one type of stroke, suggests research published ahead of print in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The researchers assessed data on stroke de...

High levels of blindness in southern Sudan following years of war

Surveys conducted in southern Sudan, after conflict there ended in 2004, found much higher levels of blindness than anticipated. The results, published in PLoS Medicine, have major implications for the provision of health services in the region. Sudan is the largest country in Africa and one of the poorest in the world. The southern region of the country is very remote and was devastated b...

Taking 'chips' to the next level of gene hunting

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins' High Throughput Biology Center have invented two new gene "chip" technologies that can be used to help identify otherwise elusive disease-causing mutations in the 97 percent of the genome long believed to be "junk." A variety of DNA microarray technology, one of the two new chips, called the TIP-chip (transposable element insertion point) can locate in the...

Longer-lived rodents have lower levels of thyroid hormone

The thyroid may play an important role in longevity, with longer-lived rodents showing significantly lower levels of a thyroid hormone that speeds metabolism, a new study has found. The study further strengthens the theory that the faster an animal's metabolism, the shorter its life, and vice versa, said Mario Pinto, the study's lead author. The thyroid releases hormones that regulate meta...

Reef warns of sea level rise

Margaret River in WA, famed for its wine, is about to become famous for another reason: warning coastal dwellers what they may have to cope with under global warming. Investigators from the ARC Centre of Excellence for C...

Hair-growth drug artificially lowers PSA levels in prostate cancer screening, study finds

The popular hair-growth drug finasteride, taken by millions of balding men, artificially lowers the results of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, the standard screening test for prostate cancer, a multicenter study has found. The study, involving 308 men ranging in age from 40 to 60 years old, is available online in the British medical journal The Lancet and is scheduled to be publ...

Comprehensive model is first to map protein folding at atomic level

Scientists at Harvard University have developed a computer model that, for the first time, can fully map and predict how small proteins fold into three-dimensional, biologically active shapes. The work could help researchers better understand the abnormal protein aggregation underlying some devastating diseases, as well as how natural proteins evolved and how proteins recognize correct biochemica...

Low levels of neurotransmitter serotonin may perpetuate child abuse across generations

Infant abuse may be perpetuated between generations by changes in the brain induced by early experience, research shows at the University of Chicago shows. A research team found that when baby rhesus monkeys endured high rates of maternal rejection and mild abuse in their first month of life, their brains often produced less serotonin, a chemical that transmits impulses in the brain. Low...

Investment level in HIV prevention programs related to HIV incidence in the United States

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health conducted a historical analysis to examine the relationship between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) HIV prevention budget and HIV incidence in the U.S. from 1978 to 2006. The results are published in the January 2007 edition of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The researchers found that from t...

Anti-herpes treatment reduces HIV levels in women infected with both viruses

Experts call for HSV control measures, including vaccine, to rank high on international HIV prevention and research agenda as exciting trial findings are published Treating women who are infected with both the HSV-2 and HIV viruses with anti-herpes treatment can reduce the amount of HIV in the blood and genital secretions, according to the results of a trial published today in the New Engl...

Link found between immune system and high plasma lipid levels

Researchers at the University of Chicago have found an unsuspected link between the immune system and high plasma lipid levels (cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood) in mice. The finding could lead to new ways to reduce the risk of heart disease by lowering elevated lipid levels. In the April 13, 2007, issue of Science, the research team—led by James C. Lo, an MD, PhD student, in t...

Natural antibiotics yield secrets to atom-level imaging technique

Frog skin and human lungs hold secrets to developing new antibiotics, and a technique called solid-state NMR spectroscopy is a key to unlocking those secrets. Ramamoorthy's r...

Individuals and populations differ in gene activity levels, not just genes

Much like how a person's genetic code differs from other individuals, the level at which those genes are activated in the body differs from one person to another, scientists have learned. And though some of those differences in gene activity are seen between different populations ?Asians versus Europeans, for instance ?more of those variations are due to individual-level factors, further obscurin...

Sleep quantity affects morning testosterone levels in older men

The testosterone levels of healthy men decline as they get older. As sleep quality and quantity typically decrease with age, objectively measured differences in the amount of sleep a healthy older man gets can affect his level of testosterone in the morning, according to a study published in the April 1st issue of the journal SLEEP. The study, conducted by Plamen Penev, MD, PhD, of the Un...

WHO data confirms low level of resistance to Tamiflu

New data published by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed a low frequency of resistance to Tamiflu (oseltamivir) over 3 influenza seasons (2003 ?2006)1. The information, published by the Neuraminidase Inhibitor Susceptibility Network in the WHO’s Weekly Epidemiological Record, has shown that resistance of around 0.3% to oseltamivir was seen during the influenza seasons...