#Hunting gives deer-damaged forests in state parks a shot at recoveryregulated deer hunts in Indiana state parks have helped restore the health of forests suffering from decades of damage caused by overabundant populations of white-tailed deer
The health of deer in state parks also dwindled as their food sources shrank. To check the overabundant deer populations the DNR introduced controlled hunts in state parks in 1993 with most parks adopting the strategy by 1996.
#Climate change provides good growing conditions for charcoal rot in soybeanswith over 100 diseases that can attack soybean crops why would charcoal rot rise to the top of the most wanted list?
If we look at diseases of soybean we find that soybean cyst nematode (SCN) is at the top
but in the past decade or so charcoal rot has become one of the top 10 diseases that affect soybean yield.
I plant pathologist Radwan said. His team is screening for charcoal rot resistance and I am screening for drought tolerance Radwan said.
and in this way improve soybean tolerance to both the pathogen and the extreme weather conditions. The review of research on the subject has been written along with Hartman and Schuyler Korban from U of
One intriguing direction Radwan described that shows promise is that there may be interactions between M. phaseolina and other soil pathogens such as soybean cyst nematode (SCN) and sudden death syndrome (SDS.
or decrease the incidence of charcoal rot as resistance to both pathogens might be controlled by two different pathways Radwan said.
He explained that biotrophic pathogens such as SCN need plant tissue to survive but the fungus that causes charcoal rot is necrotrophic meaning that it kills the plant tissue then lives on the dead plant cells.
We need to understand at the molecular level how these two pathogens interact when they are present in soybean fields.
and breeders to design an effective method to control both diseases and to breed soybean for resistance to both pathogens he said.
Although no plants have complete immunity from the fungus some soybean lines have been shown to have partial resistance to it.
because they are deadly poisonous Bohs says. The Solanaceae family including the Genus solanum is known as the nightshade family
and many of the plants are toxic hallucinogenic or medicinal although others--like tomatoes potatoes and chili peppers--are edible.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of endangered and threatened species categorizes the status of newly identified S. cordicitum as data deficient
#Cinnamon may be used to halt progression of Parkinsons disease, study suggestsneurological scientists at Rush University Medical center have found that using cinnamon a common food spice
and flavoring material can reverse the biomechanical cellular and anatomical changes that occur in the brains of mice with Parkinsonâ##s disease (PD).
The results of the study were published recently in the June 20 issue of the Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology. â#oecinnamon has been used widely as a spice throughout the world for centuriesâ#said Kalipada Pahan Phd study lead researcher
and the Floyd A. Davis professor of neurology at Rush. â#oethis could potentially be one of the safest approaches to halt disease progression in Parkinsonâ##s patients. â#â#oecinnamon is metabolized in the liver to sodium benzoate
which is approved an FDA drug used in the treatment for hepatic metabolic defects associated with hyperammonemiaâ#said Pahan.
spectrometric analysis we have seen that Ceylon cinnamon is much more pure than Chinese cinnamon as the latter contains coumarin a hepatotoxic moleculeâ#said Pahan. â#oeunderstanding how the disease works is important to developing effective drugs that protect the brain
and DJ-1 decrease in the brain of PD patients. â#The study found that after oral feeding ground cinnamon is metabolized into sodium benzoate
This research was supported by grants from National institutes of health. â#oenow we need to translate this finding to the clinic and test ground cinnamon in patients with PD.
If these results are replicated in PD patients it would be a remarkable advance in the treatment of this devastating neurodegenerative diseaseâ#said Dr. Pahan.
Parkinson's disease is a slowly progressive disease that affects a small area of cells within the midbrain known as the substantia nigra.
The decrease in dopamine results in one or more of the classic signs of Parkinson's disease that includes:
The cause of the disease is unknown. Both environmental and genetic causes of the disease have been postulated.
Parkinson's disease affects about 1. 2 million patients in the United states and Canada. Although 15 percent of patients are diagnosed before age 50 it is considered generally a disease that targets older adults affecting one of every 100 persons over the age of 60.
This disease appears to be slightly more common in men than women. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Rush University Medical center.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference e
#Ancient hedgehog and tapir once inhabited British Columbiathe Earth has experienced many dramatic changes in climate
since the dinosaurs went extinct 66 million years ago. One of the warmest periods was the early Eocene epoch 50 to 53 million years ago.
During this interval North american mammal communities were quite distinct from those of today. This is illustrated by a study published in the latest issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology that describes an ancient hedgehog
Within Canada the only other fossil localities yielding mammals of similar age are from the Arctic so these fossils from British columbia help fill a significant geographic gap said Dr. Natalia Rybczynski of the Canadian Museum of Nature
Rather it was scanned with an industrial high resolution CT (computed tomography) scanner at Penn State university so it could be studied without risking damage to its tiny teeth.
which fits nicely with the rainforest environment indicated by the fossil plants at Driftwood Canyon said Dr. Jaelyn Eberle of the University of Colorado lead author of the study.
and Australian species. Discovering mammals allows us to paint a more complete picture of this lost world said Dr. David Greenwood of Brandon University a co-author of the study.
Many young smokers arent aware of dangerdespite warnings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that hookah smoking can be
just as dangerous as cigarettes many young adults believe that using the water pipes is not harmful to their health according to a UCLA School of nursing study.
and asked patrons between the ages of 18 and 30 Do you believe smoking hookah is harmful to your health?
and preferences toward hookah smoking said Mary Rezk-Hanna a UCLA nursing doctoral student and lead researcher for the study which was published in the July-August issue of the journal Nursing Research.
Other recent studies have shown that even as cigarette use continues to decline hookah smoking is increasing especially among college students.
And although 43 percent of hookah smokers said they believe the practice is indeed harmful socializing with friends appeared to outweigh health concerns Rezk-Hanna said.
#Adults with mental illness twice as likely to use tobaccokansas adults with mental illness are twice as likely to use tobacco as adults without mental illness according to a new report by RTI International and funded by the Kansas Health Foundation.
The report found 37.8 percent of Kansas adults with mental illness smoke compared to 17.3 percent of adults without mental illness.
Nearly one-half of Kansas adults who experience mental illness reported smoking in the last 30 days.
Smoking rates are highest among those with serious mental illness multiple disorders and substance use disorders.
The smoking rate among adults with mental illness remains high despite progress made in tobacco control
and the decrease of smoking among the general population said Betty Brown research health analyst at RTI
and lead author of the study. As a result people with mental illness are increased at an risk of negative health financial and social outcomes associated with their tobacco use.
To conduct the study researchers used data from the 2012 Kansas Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance system and the 2011 Kansas Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance system
and health behaviors and include questions about tobacco use and mental health. The analysis also showed that low-income Kansans with mental illness are more likely to be smokers (40.1 percent.
Individuals below the poverty level make up 9. 8 percent of the adult population in the state
but account for 24 percent of the adult population with mental illness. While smoking rates are highest among Kansans with mental illness the report found that adults with mental illness are more likely to have tried to quit smoking than those without mental illness.
The research showed 64.7 percent of Kansas smokers with mental illness made an attempt to quit compared to 55.3 percent of those without mental illness.
Additional findings include: -In 2012 10.2 percent of Kansas adults reported experiencing mental illness and 3. 4 percent of adults reported experiencing serious mental illness.
-Mental illness is associated significantly with poor physical health including health problems exacerbated by smoking. -Youth who reported mental illness were more than twice as likely to be current smokers (26.8 percent) as youth without mental illness (10.9 percent.
Our findings emphasize the importance of collaboration between the mental health and tobacco control communities to provide cessation support to individuals with mental illness who use tobacco Brown said.
To address the issue of tobacco use among those with mental illness and the challenges associated with making progress toward a solution the Kansas Health Foundation has launched a new effort to address tobacco use among Kansans with serious mental illness through its Fellows leadership program.
Through the years we've seen significant decreases in the percentage of Americans who smoke
but we've done very little to make strides in decreasing those rates among people with mental illness said Dr. Jeff Willett vice president for programs at the Kansas Health Foundation.
People with mental illness smoke at nearly double the rate of the general population. We see this collaborative effort being a call to action to both the mental health
and tobacco control communities. The report can be found online at: http://kansashealth. org/sites/default/files/T%26mi--Final 2. pdfstory Source:
The above story is provided based on materials by RTI International. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length h
#Fungus in yogurt outbreak poses threat to consumersthe fungus responsible for an outbreak of contaminated Greek yogurt last year is not harmless after all
but a strain with the ability to cause disease according to research published in mbioâ the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
In September 2013 customers of Chobani brand Greek yogurt complained of gastrointestinal (GI) problems after consuming products manufactured in the company's Idaho plant.
The company issued a recall and it was believed at the time that the fungal contaminant Murcor circinelloides was only a potential danger to immunocompromised individuals.
However as complaints of severe GI discomfort continued from otherwise healthy customers researchers began to question the fungus
and its ability to cause harm in healthy humans. When he heard about the Chobani recall after reports of people becoming sick from yogurt contaminated with Mucor circinelloides we thought the M. circinelloides strain could cause more serious problems than one might think. says Soo Chan Lee of Duke university an author on the study.
In the study the researchers isolated a strain of the fungus from a yogurt container that was subject to recall.
Using a technique known as multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) they identified the strain as Mucor circinelloides f. circinelloides (Mcc.
Unlike other strains of the fungus that particular subspecies is associated commonly with human infections. Whole-genome sequence analysis of the yogurt isolate confirmed it as being closely related to Mcc
and also revealed the possibility that this fungus could produce harmful metabolites that were previously unknown in this species. The researchers then tested the strain on mice where the fungus showed an ability to cause lethal infections
When people think about food-borne pathogens normally they list bacteria viruses and maybe parasites. Fungal pathogens are considered not as food-borne pathogens.
However this incidence indicates that we need to pay more attention to fungi. Fungal pathogens can threaten our health systems as food-borne pathogens says Lee.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by American Society for Microbiology. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
#From antibiotics to yeast: Latest student science heads for spaceastronauts on future missions may nibble on lettuce
and grow their own antibiotics depending on the results of research that student scientists plan to conduct on the International Space station.
which could be used as antiseptics or in food production in space. A study by Murray Hill Middle school in Maryland investigates the effects of microgravity on microencapsulation a process that could be used to help control the rate at
which a drug is released in the body. If you cut a Dugesia Planarian worm would it grow back in microgravity?
Sixth graders at North Attleborough Middle school in Massachusetts want to know the answer which could eventually be put to use healing wounds in space and On earth.
Eighth graders at Pennsauken Phifer Middle school in New jersey will examine the growth rate in microgravity of penicillium which future astronauts could grow as an antibiotic to treat infections.
Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical school in Massachusetts has a team monitoring the effect of microgravity on the growth of Bacillus subtilis also useful as an antibiotic.
cigars and various smokeless tobacco products according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC.
Now a new study by researchers affiliated with New york University's Center for Drug Use
and HIV Research (CDUHR) in the August 2014 edition of Pediatrics identifies how prevalent Hookah use is and
What we find most interesting is that students of higher socioeconomic status appear to be more likely to use hookah said Joseph J. Palamar Phd MPH a CDUHR affiliated researcher and an assistant professor of Population Health at NYU Langone Medical center (NYULMC.
and those who had used ever alcohol marijuana or other illicit substances were more likely to use hookah.
and mortality in the US said a study co-author Michael Weitzman MD a professor of Pediatrics and of Environmental Medicine at the NYULMC.
whereas evidence suggests that they are even more damaging to health than are cigarettes. While the US is experiencing an alarming increase in hookah use among adolescents Dr. Palamar does point out that Use tends to be much different from traditional cigarette smoking.
Right now it appears that a lot of hookah use is used more ritualistic occasionally--for example in hookah bars
However times are beginning to change notes Dr. Palamar. Now something called hookah pens which are similar to e-cigarettes are gaining popularity.
These nifty little devices are likely to attract curious consumers possibly even non-cigarette smokers said Dr. Palamar.
This portends a potential epidemic of a lethal habit growing among upper and middle class adolescents said Dr. Weitzman.
They stress that it is crucial for educators and public health officials to fill in the gaps in public understanding about the harm of hookah smoking.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by New york University. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Their discovery should help biologists better understand how the steadily increasing levels of CO2 in our atmosphere (which last spring for the first time in recorded history remained above 400 parts per million) are affecting the ability of plants and economically important crops to deal with heat stress and drought.
Less evaporation adds to heat stress in plants which ultimately affects crop yield. â#Schroeder is also co-director of a new research entity at UC San diego called â#oefood and Fuel for the 21st Centuryâ
which when mutated abolished the plantâ##s ability to respond to CO2 stress. Cawas Engineer a postdoctoral scientist in Schroederâ##s lab and the first author of the study found that
but have lost their ability to produce certain defense chemicals making them vulnerable to attack by insects and pathogens.
The researchers led by Dr Ted Turlings (University of Neuchã¢tel Switzerland) found that many varieties of modern maize have lost their ability to produce a chemical called E-Î-caryophyllene.
Plant defences can be direct such as the production of toxins or indirect using volatile substances that attract the natural enemies of the herbivores says lead scientist Dr Ted Turlings (University of Neuchã¢tel Switzerland).
One of the types of toxins that maize plants produce against their enemies is a class of chemicals called benzoxazinoids.
These protect maize against a range of insects bacteria and fungi pests yet some species have developed resistance against these toxins
and may even exploit them to identify the most nutritious plant tissues. These results show how knowledge of natural plant defenses can be applied practically in agricultural systems.
We are studying the wild ancestor of maize (teosinte) to find out which other chemical defenses may have been lost during domestication of maize Dr Turlings added.
#Developing better vaccine for mutating virus in cowsbovine viral diarrhea virus infections result in one of the most costly diseases among cattle with losses in U s. herds estimated at $2 billion per year according to professor Christopher
It is an immune-suppressive disease he explains. The virus shuts down the immune system and makes the animal vulnerable to pneumonia and other respiratory diseases.
Identifying persistent infectionswhen a pregnant cow becomes infected the developing calf is at risk. If the infection occurs between 40 and 120 days of gestation the calf will be born persistently infected according to the U s. Department of agriculture.
The calf appears healthy but is what Chase refers to as a walking time bomb that can infect the entire herd.
It's like Typhoid Mary a BVDV Bossy he says. The animal will shed the virus for its entire life.
Most cattle producers vaccinate yearly but when testing is done anywhere from one to 15 percent of a herd can test positive.
The surviving calves all of whom died of mucosal disease within a year provided Chase and his graduate researchers a gold mine of samples.
This makes developing a vaccine to prevent the virus challenging. Triggering immune responsethrough a five-year SDSU-USDA Experiment Station grant Chase his colleague immunology expert Alan Young
and assistant professor Adam Hoppe of SDSU Chemistry and Biochemistry Department are examining how BVDV suppresses the cow's immune response.
The ultimate goal is to develop better modified live vaccines. Hoppe's unique microscope setup allows the researchers to use fluorescence to see what's happening at a molecular level in live cells.
They surmise that different virus strains will require different vaccine strategies. Ultimately the best kind of immunization would be to increase the mucosal immune response antibodies secreted on the surfaces of the throat gastrointestinal tract
and respiratory system Chase explains. Research performed with Colorado State university showed that the virus quickly infects Kupffer cells in the liver
which help trigger the body's immune response. This discovery may help the scientists figure out how persistence occurs according to Chase.
The results derived from the model in the Nature paper entitled A dynamic model of bovine tuberculosis spread
and control in Great britain demonstrated that the majority of herd outbreaks are caused by multiple transmissions routes--including failed cattle infection tests cattle movement and reinfection from environmental reservoirs (infected pastures and wildlife).
The study suggests that improved testing vaccination of cattle and culling all cattle on infected farms would be the most effective strategies for controlling the disease.
Based on a study of cattle and the causes of btb in Great britain the model sought to ascertain how
and why the epidemic has grown over the past 15 years. Using Animal health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency
whilst badgers form part of the environmental reservoir they only play a relatively minor role in the transmission of infection.
and the local environment that are driving the front of the epidemic. Imperfect cattle skin tests contribute to the spread by delaying the time until infected herds are detected for the first time
and incorrectly identifying herds as clear of infection says co-author Dr Ellen Brooks-Pollock of the University of Cambridge.
For the researchers one of key results from the model is the large variation in
We found that the vast majority of infected farms don't spread the infection to any other farms before they clear infection themselves.
Only a small number of farms spread the infection and they can cause the majority of new cases argues Dr Brooks-Pollock.
The researchers argue that the findings are essential for improving the targeting control measures. If infected farms can be identified
and caught early then it might be possible to make substantial progress in tackling the epidemic.
more frequent or more accurate testing vaccination of cattle and culling all cattle on infected farms.
The control measures the researchers investigated were designed to be idealized'control options to understand what measures in theory could stop the increasing epidemic.
or economics of implementing control measures says Dr Brooks-Pollock that needs to be the subject of further work.
#Boron tolerance discovery for higher wheat yieldsaustralian scientists have identified the genes in wheat that control tolerance to a significant yield-limiting soil condition found around the globe--boron toxicity.
The researchers from the Australian Centre for Plant Functional genomics at the University of Adelaide's Waite campus within the University's School of Agriculture Food and Wine say that in soils where boron toxicity is reducing yields genetic improvement
About 35%of the world's seven billion people depend on wheat for survival says project leader Dr Tim Sutton.
and subsoil constraints including boron toxicity. In southern Australia more than 30%of soils in grain-growing regions have too high levels of boron.
Boron tolerant lines of wheat however can maintain good root growth in boron toxic soils
Our identification of the genes and their variants responsible for this adaptation to boron toxicity means that we now have molecular markers that can be used in breeding programs to select lines for boron tolerance with 100%accuracy.
Dr Sutton says wheat has been difficult to work with in genomics. The wheat genome is very large with about six times the number of genes as humans.
and adaptation to environmental stresses have remained extremely challenging to identify. Advances in molecular biology and genetics technologies of the past few years coupled with the extensive collections of wheat genetic material available around the world have paved the way for a new era in the analysis of complex genomes such as
and the knowledge to select for the right variants of the tolerance gene needed to do the job in specific environments says Dr Sutton.
The researchers used stable isotope analysis a chemical assay of a tissue biopsy that provides an integrative view of what the animal ate in previous months.
If conventional IF steel is made strong enough to withstand 450 megapascals (MPA) of stress it has very low ductility--the steel can only be stretched to less than 5 percent of its length without breaking.
The researchers are interested also in using the gradient structure approach to make materials more resistant to corrosion wear and fatigue.
#Deforestation remedies can have unintended consequenceswhen it comes to fixing deforestation and forest degradation good intentions can lead to bad outcomes.
and use policies people need to consider several factors including short-and long-term financial profits biodiversity and local needs for timber and non-timber forest products such as medicinal plants.
#Food allergies: A new, simple method to track down allergensalthough food allergies are common sufferers often don't know exactly what in foods cause their allergic reactions.
This knowledge could help develop customized therapies like training the body's immune system to respond to certain proteins found in foods.
However determining which protein in a food causes an allergic response to a patient requires time-consuming tests that often ignore rare or unexpected allergens.
Publishing in Analytical Chemistry EPFL scientists have developed a highly sensitive method that can quickly and accurately identify the culprit proteins even at very low concentrations.
The method has been tested successfully in the context of cow milk allergy. Food allergies are becoming widespread in the Western world today affecting around 6-8%of children and about 3%of adults.
These types of allergies occur when the body's immune system mistakes a harmless food protein for a threat
and attacks it as it would normally do with a bacterium or a virus. This causes symptoms like swelling rashes pain and even life-threatening anaphylactic shocks.
Cow milk allergy is common among children preventing them from breast feeding and drinking milk although some outgrow the allergy by six years of age.
Allergies including food allergies are caused when our immune system produces antibodies to destroy enemy molecules like those from bacteria and viruses.
In the case of milk allergies the antibodies are called Ige. Medical doctors can diagnose milk allergies by simply detecting an overproduction of Ige
but that does not tell them which one of the numerous proteins in milk--and other foods--is causing the allergic response.
The team of Hubert Girault at EPFL has developed a highly sensitive method that uses a patient's Ige to determine specifically which protein induces allergic responses in them.
The method uses a well-established technique called immunoaffinity capillary electrophoresis (IACE. First Ige antibodies from the patient's blood are isolated by interaction with magnetic beads that are coated with a different type of antibody.
The bead antibodies recognize and bind the patient's Ige antibodies. This takes place inside a long and narrow glass tube only 50 micrometers in diameter called a capillary.
The bound antibodies are flushed then out of the capillary and powerfully attached to the magnetic beads through a process called'crosslinking
'which keeps them from detaching. The beads with the patient's Ige are placed then again inside the capillary.
The test begins when milk is injected through the capillary. As the milk's proteins pass over the patient's Ige antibodies the ones that cause allergies are caught by them
while the others exit on the other side. The beads are washed then with a strong chemical that causes the allergy-inducing protein to dissociate from the patient's Ige antibodies.
The isolated culprit protein is identified then using mass spectrometry which is a technique that analyzes compounds according to their mass and electrical charge.
The method offers a personalized way to identify the exact proteins that can cause food allergies to a patient which can help develop an effective treatment.
It is also quicker as it does not require the detection and quantification of a patient's specific Ige antibodies or the laborious and resource-intensive diagnostic methods used currently.
Finally it provides higher accuracy than conventional allergy-testing methods as it can detect tiny amounts of allergic proteins
even if they are unexpected and rare. This also means that the method can be extended beyond milk to other foods like nuts and wheat products.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Ecole Polytechnique FÃ dã rale de Lausanne.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference r
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