to treat seriously burned patients. A team of investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) report that skin grafts from pigs lacking the Gal sugar molecule were as effective in covering burn-like injuries on the backs of baboons as skin taken from other
baboons a finding that could double the length of time burns can be protected while healing.
of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery corresponding author of the Transplantation paper. We are actively exploring options for establishing clinical-grade production of these grafts
and hope to begin a clinical trial in due course. A key component in the treatment of major burns particularly those involving more than 30 percent of the body surface is removing the damaged skin and covering the injury preferably with a graft of a patient's own tissue.
When insufficient undamaged skin is available for grafting tissue from deceased donors is used as a temporary covering.
But deceased-donor skin grafts are in short supply and expensive--disadvantages also applying to artificial skin grafts--must be tested carefully for pathogens
and are rejected eventually by a patient's immune system. Once a deceased-donor graft has been rejected a patient's immune system will reject any subsequent deceased-donor grafts almost immediately.
The current study was designed to investigate whether a resource already available at the MGH might help expand options for protecting burned areas following removal of damaged skin.
For more than 30 years David H. Sachs MD founder and scientific director of the TBRC has been investigating ways to allow the human body to accept organ
Sachs and his team developed a strain of inbred miniature swine with organs that are close in size to those of adult humans.
and his collaborators used the strain that he developed to generate miniature swine in which both copies of the gene encoding Galt (galactosyltransferase) the enzyme responsible for placing the Gal molecule on the cell surface were knocked out.
When Cetrulo's team used skin from these Gal-free pigs to provide grafts covering burn-like injuries on the backs of baboons--injuries made
while the animals were under anesthesia--the grafts adhered and developed a vascular system within 4 days of implantation.
As with the use of second deceased-donor grafts to treat burned patients a second pig-to-baboon graft was rejected rapidly.
But if a pit-to baboon was followed by a graft using baboon skin the second graft adhered to the wound
not only of providing an alternative to deceased-donor skin for many patients but also that in patients
Surgery. A high-quality alternative to deceased-donor skin that could be produced from a specially maintained pathogen-free herd of Galt-knockout miniature swine would be an important resource for burn management in both civilian and military settings.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Massachusetts General Hospital. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Journal Reference e
#Rules to cut carbon emissions also reduce air pollution harmful to people, environmentsetting strong standards for climate-changing carbon emissions from power plants would provide an added bonus--reductions in other air pollutants that can make people sick;
and harm fish and wildlife. This according to a first-of-its-kind study released today by scientists at Syracuse University
and Harvard who mapped the potential environmental and human health benefits of power plant carbon standards.
The scientists state that the resulting air quality improvements are likely to lead to significant gains in public and environmental health.
and other pollutants said Dr. Charles Driscoll of Syracuse University. One of the policy options we analyzed cut emissions of these non-carbon pollutants by approximately 75000 tons per year by 2020 Driscoll said.
We know that these other pollutants contribute to increased risk of premature death and heart attacks as well as increased incidence and severity of asthma and other health effects.
They also contribute to acid rain ozone damage to trees and crops and the accumulation of toxic mercury in fish added Driscoll.
and to improve human health he said. In addition to summarizing changes in emissions the study quantifies the resulting improvements in air quality.
and public health said Dr. Jonathan Buonocore of the Harvard School of Public health at Harvard university. With a mix of stringency and flexibility the new EPA rules have the potential to substantially reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from power plants
and protect public health. The U s. EPA is expected to release its proposed rules for carbon pollution from existing power plants June 2.
#Scientists map the worst times of day for people allergic to grass pollenatishoo! Help there are flowering grasses around please stay indoors
Traditionally people allergic to grass pollen are advised to be aware of high pollen concentrations during the day
Dr. Robert Peel Aarhus University explains: People should avoid being outdoors during the peak hours in periods one and two especially between 16 and 20.
Later in the summer allergy sufferers should avoid being outdoor in the middle of the day. Different species have different patternsconcentrations of grass pollen are influenced by many factors the most important being the weather and the emissions
Research associate Bethany Yon in a study recently published in the Journal of School Health in fact has shown that it's worked with flavored milk.
But she remains particularly concerned with the health of children. Most recently Johnson worked with NBC News to develop the nutrition content for the network's new website Parent Toolkit
In the main oilseed rape has been bred to improve oilseed yield and disease resistance without paying much attention to the straw.
Preterm birth is a leading cause of infant disease and death and occurs in approximately one in 10 pregnancies globally.
Anything we can do to better understand the conditions that lead to preterm birth will be important in helping to improve survival and long-term health outcomes for children says the lead author of the paper Dr Jessica Grieger Posdoctoral Research Fellow with the Robinson
Research Institute based at the Lyell Mcewin Hospital. In our study women who ate protein-rich foods including lean meats fish
and other foods high in saturated fat and sugar were more likely to have born babies preterm Dr Grieger says.
It is important to consume a healthy diet before as well as during pregnancy to support the best outcomes for the mum and baby Dr Grieger says.
and improve the overall health of children she says. Dr Grieger will present her research findings at the upcoming SA Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian Society for Medical Research during ASMR Medical Research Week on Wednesday 4 june.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of Adelaide. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
These findings prompted the researchers at the Institute for Parasitology to look for a way to increase the level of these antibodies in sows.
The ultimate goal was to provide the piglets with as much antibodies as possible via their mother's milk during the first few days of life.
Piglets from infected sows suffered less from the infection than piglets from non-infected sows.
Overall offspring from immunised mothers had less severe diarrhea or no diarrhea at all. Piglets that became ill recovered faster
An infection with Cystoisospora suis causes serious gastrointestinal disease in piglets. The infection is continues completely asymptomatic in adult pigs explains lead author Schwarz.
Sows produce antibodies for their offspringto stimulate antibody production against Cystoisospora suis in sows researchers exposed pregnant sows to infectious stages (oocysts) of the parasite two weeks before parturition.
Oocysts as the primarily infectious stage stick to the floor and other objects in the farrowing barns.
This leaves farmers faced with the likelihood of new infections. Sows also ingest the parasite
High concentrations of antibodies against the parasites are passed on to the piglets in the first few hours of life through their mother's milk where they enter the blood stream
and the intestines of the newborns who cannot yet produce their own antibodies. These maternal antibodies protect the piglets from infections in the first few weeks of life.
The higher the concentration of antibodies in the sow's milk the better protected her offspring are.
More antibodies mean less diarrheapiglets with milder symptoms showed higher concentrations of Iga in their blood.
These immunoglobulins are not just in the bloodstream they are primarily found on the surface of the mucous membranes including the intestines where they serve as a defence against pathogens.
Researchers found equally high levels of Iga in the blood of the infected mothers. To date it has been assumed that immunoglobulins do not play a role in the course of swine coccidiosis.
Additional studies are required to identify the exact role played by the antibodies Schwarz explains. Protective milk as the basis for a vaccineresearchers found particularly high concentrations of Iga in the very first milk known as colostrum a highly nutritious milk all mammals ingest during the first days of life.
This form of milk vaccination might serve as a basis for developing an immunisation strategy to prevent swine coccidiosis.
There are some effective medications for swine coccidiosis but we would like to use the piglet's immune response to stop it in its tracks before the infection even gets started lead author Lukas Schwarz concludes.
The importance of Cystoisospora suisneonatal porcine coccidiosis caused by Cystosisospora suis is a severe parasitic disease of the intestinal tract of neonatal piglets caused by the unicellular organism Cystoisospora suis.
Coccidiosis is associated with extensive destruction of the gut mucosa and thus with reduced food conversion causing decreased weight gain and economic losses for farmers.
Infection with Cystoisospora suis results in heavy diarrhea and may cause fatalities if secondary bacterial infections are present.
For animal welfare considerations as well as for economic reasons there is considerable interest in trying to control the disease.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Veterinã¤rmedizinische Universitã¤t Wien. Note:
The research by Rice chemist Ed Billups and his colleagues appears in the American Chemical Society's Journal of Physical chemistry Letters.
and his colleagues at the Technological Institute for Superhard and Novel Carbon Materials in Moscow to explain what the chemists saw.
In the past two decades the European union has spent â1 billion on agri-environment schemes which aim to improve the rural landscape health
#Low-carb vegan diet may reduce heart disease risk, weightresearchers at St michael's Hospital have shown for the first time that
in addition to weight loss a specific low-carbohydrate diet may also reduce the risk of heart disease by 10 per cent over 10 years.
The diet often called Eco-Atkins is a low-carbohydrate vegan diet. Many low-carbohydrate diets have been proven to improve weight loss
and oils may reduce the risk of heart disease by lowering bad cholesterol. We killed two birds with one stone
--or rather with one diet explained lead author Dr. David Jenkins who is director of the Clinical Nutrition and Risk Modification Centre of St michael's Hospital and a Nutritional Sciences professor at the University of Toronto.
The findings which were published in British Medical Journal Open compared Eco-Atkins to a high-carbohydrate low-fat diet.
and preferences said Dr. Jenkins who is a vegan. Participants were given menu plans that outlined food items and amounts.
The above story is provided based on materials by St michael's Hospital. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length h
But in contrast to the current paradigm the new research shows that they may be the cause rather than the cure for the nutrient scarcity.
Franklin says This syndrome is aggravated by rising CO2. As more carbon becomes available to the trees the limitation of nitrogen generated by mycorrhizae becomes even more important possibly eliminating
Cancer Journal for Clinicians. Obesity rates in the U s. have been going up for decades said University of Illinois kinesiology and community health professor Ruopeng An who led the new analysis with Roland Sturm of the RAND Corp. in Santa monica California.
University of Illinois kinesiology and community health professor Ruopeng An (pictured) and his colleague Roland Sturm of the RAND Corporation say long-term trends can help better understand the obesity epidemic in the U s. Photo by L
. Brian Stauffermany factors have been suggested as causes the researchers wrote. Snack food fast food automobile use time spent viewing television
A common misbelief is that the obesity epidemic reflects increasing social disparities and that the largest weight gains are concentrated in groups identifiable by race ethnicity income education
So a reversal of the obesity epidemic would need universal intuitions rather than a focus on certain groups.
So we are kind of in a dilemma trying to figure out what really contributes to the obesity epidemic.
Lead researcher Dr Erika Berenguer from Lancaster University said: The impacts of fire and logging in tropical forests have always been overlooked largely by both the scientific community
The second author Dr Joice Ferreira from Embrapa in Brazil said: Our findings also draw attention to the necessity for Brazil to implement more effective policies for reducing the use of fire in agriculture as fires can both devastate private property
but it is good for our health since we benefit from clean air and clean water Oldani said.
The majority of people are unaware of the dimensions of the biodiversity crisis said Dr. Quentin Wheeler founding director of the IISE and ESF president.
or documented said Dr. Antonio Valdecasas chair of the selection committee and a biologist and research zoologist with Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid Spain.
Members of the international selection committee in addition to Valdecasas are Dr. Cristina Damborenea Divisiã n Zoologia Invertebrados Museo de La plata Argentina;
Dr. Andrew Polaszek Natural history Museum England; Dr. Ellinor Michel Natural history Museum England; Marcelo Rodrigues de Carvalho Universidade de SãO Paulo;
Prof. Aharon Oren The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Dr. Mary Liz Jameson Wichita State university U s a.;
Dr. Alan Paton Kew Royal Botanical gardens England; Dr. James A. Macklin Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Canada;
Dr. Zhi-Qiang Zhang Landcare Research New zealand; and Carol Hughes MLST Director Strategic Content and Media Office of Public relations and Communications Depaul University.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by SUNY College of Environmental science and Forestry.
The original article was written by Claire B. Dunn and Karen B. Moore. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length o
There was a physiological stress that was not related to the females'choice notes Moiroux. They intended to spawn as many females as during medium temperature
Increasing fitnessin insects fitness is correlated positively with the size of an individual and this relationship is greater in females than in males.
and winter in Central and South america contribute greatly to the health of forests. But they are being affected negatively in areas where there are high densities of shallow oil
#Healthy diet linked with better lung function in COPD patientssure everyone knows a healthy diet provides lots of health benefits for patients with respiratory diseases
but now a new study has shown a direct link between eating fish fruit and dairy products and improved lung function among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
. and Europe the study specifically looked at COPD patients'lung function within 24 hours of eating grapefruit bananas fish and cheese.
and progression of many diseases and there is evidence that diet plays a role in both the development
and clinical features of COPD said study lead author Corinne Hanson Ph d. This study aimed to evaluate that association.
and to identify biomarkers associated with the disease. Limited diet records were available for 2167 ECLIPSE participants who provided dietary intake information at eight time points over a three-year period.
or cheese had showed improvement in lung function less emphysema improved six-minute walk scores improved SGRQ scores
This study demonstrates the nearly immediate effects a healthy diet can have on lung function in in a large and well-characterized population of COPD patients Hanson said.
It also demonstrates the potential need for dietary and nutritional counseling in patients who have COPD.
oils--canola soybean and corn--to the rising incidence of lung inflammation and possibly asthma.
The new study shows drastically different health effects of Vitamin e depending on its form. The form of Vitamin e called gamma-tocopherol in the ubiquitous soybean corn and canola oils is associated with decreased lung function in humans the study reports.
as a result of their high gamma-tocopherol consumption said senior author Joan Cook-Mills an associate professor of medicine in allergy/immunology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of medicine.
Rates of asthma in the U s. have been climbing in the last 40 years coinciding with a switch in U s. diets from lard
which were thought to be healthier for the heart Looking at other countries'rates of asthma Cook-Mills said those with significantly lower rates of asthma have diets high in olive and sunflower oils.
In the U s. asthma prevalence (the percentage of people who have been diagnosed with asthma and still have asthma) was 8. 4 percent in 2010 as reported by the U s. Department of health and human services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the U s. the average blood plasma level of gamma-tocopherol is four or more times higher than those of European and Scandinavian countries that consume sunflower and olive oil Cook-Mills noted.
and sunflower oil have the lowest rate of asthma and those that consume soybean corn and canola oil have the highest rate of asthma Cook-Mills said.
When people consume alpha-tocopherol which is rich in olive oil and sunflower oil their lung function is better.
Cook-Mills had done previous allergy research in mice showing alpha-tocopherol decreased lung inflammation protecting healthy lung function and gamma-tocopherol increased lung
inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness a characteristic of asthma. She hypothesized that they might have similar effects in humans.
People with asthma already have lower lung function so if they have high gamma-tocopherol levels they would have even more difficulty breathing Cook-Mills said.
The individuals in CARDIA with asthma and high gamma-tocopherol had the lowest lung function.
#Transplant programs produce high one-year survival ratesin the latest national report on organ transplant outcomes patients receiving a new liver at the Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center had the best one-year
survival outcomes of all hospitals in the Los angeles region with 90%of liver transplant patients surviving beyond that important milestone.
Patients receiving new kidneys at the medical center also did extremely well with 97 percent of them surpassing the one year bench mark.
and researchers at Cedars-Sinai said Andrew S. Klein MD MBA the Esther and Mark Schulman Chair in Surgery and Transplantation Medicine.
At the Comprehensive Transplant Center we have a commitment to include care for the very sickest high risk patients in need of a lifesaving organ transplant.
The success with kidney transplant patients is given particularly noteworthy the number of very ill people who come to the medical center with a high probability of rejecting a donor organ because of high amounts of antibodies in their blood.
Antibodies are protein molecules that are an important part of the body's immune defense system but can cause rejection of a transplanted organ.
Stanley C. Jordan MD director of Kidney Transplantation and Transplant Immunology is a prominent pioneer in designing treatment approaches that have significantly reduce the amount of antibodies thereby reducing the risk of organ rejection.
The fact that nearly all of our kidney transplant patients are thriving one year later indicates the research
The registry collects information from hospitals and donor procurement agencies across the nation to evaluate the scientific and clinical state of transplantation in the United states. The lung transplant program at Cedars-Sinai is one of the few medical centers in Southern California with Medicare certification
and it accepts some of the sickest most chronically ill lung patients from around the country.
The latest one-year survival outcomes report is encouraging with nearly three-quarters of those transplanted doing well.
We have assembled a great team of transplant surgeons and researchers here so we can offer patients in critical need of a lung transplant the highest level of care with the expectation of the best possible outcomes for them said Paul Noble MD director of the Women's Guild Lung Institute at Cedars
-Sinai and chair of the Department of Medicine. Cedars-Sinai leads the nation in the number of adult heart transplants done annually
and nearly 90 percent of those patients are alive and doing well one year after getting a new heart according to the latest report.
Organs for transplantation are such a precious resource it is imperative that we continue to do all we can to maximize transplant success improving the longevity
and quality of our patients'lives said Klein. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Cedars-Sinai Medical center.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length h
#Central Valley sees big drop in wintertime fog needed for fruit, nut cropscalifornia's winter tule fog--hated by drivers
In 2010 co-author of the study Dr Dave Hodgson from the University of Exeter discovered along with amateur scientist Ruth Brooks that snails have a homing instinct.
After collecting the results Professor Dunstan teamed up with Dr Hodgson to statistically analyse the data from his 2001 experiment using computer simulations to see
As for the next stage of the research co-author Dr Dave Hodgson said: Snails reveal themselves as an abundant amenable and enigmatic model organism for the study of animal behaviour and statistical modelling.
and public health--has shifted from whether climate change exists to how best to manage it and mitigate the likely impacts Mosley-Thompson said.
From piecing together thousands of years of climate data preserved in ice cores around the world Thompson has learned that periods of extended drought correspond with major world crises--famine disease and war.
Meanwhile the Ohio Hospital Association (OHA) is leading an initiative that is unique in the nation:
I wanted to save hospitals money and I saw an opportunity said Rick Sites Regulatory Counsel for OHA.
Six of the 10 largest employers in Ohio are hospitals. There's a chance to make a big impact.
By enabling Ohio hospitals to obtain Energy star ratings OHA encourages hospitals to boost efficiency and resilience in the face of power outages.
So far the association's energy audits have earned participating hospitals more than $6 million in government energy rebates
which aids public health--a natural goal for hospitals to have said Sites. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Ohio State university.
fun image of hookah smoking ignore health harmseducational campaigns meant to dissuade college students from initiating hookah tobacco smoking may be more successful
The research supported by the National Cancer Institute examined the sequence of events around which university students first smoke tobacco from a hookah also known as a water pipe in an effort to determine the driving factors behind the decision.
when they were aware of the health dangers associated with hookah tobacco smoking at baseline still went on to use a hookah for the first time said lead author Jaime Sidani Ph d. M p h. senior research specialist in the Program for Research on Media
and Health (PROMH) at Pitt. However students who had less positive attitudes toward hookah smoking were significantly less likely to initiate.
This suggests that countering positive attitudes may be at least as effective as emphasizing harm in preventing initiation of hookah tobacco smoking.
Dr. Sidani and her colleagues analyzed a sample of 569 first-and second-year University of Florida college students who were surveyed twice over a seven-month period about their attitudes knowledge and behaviors regarding hookah smoking.
Hookah tobacco smoking does not seem to be hampered by many of the negative social stigmas of cigarette smoking said Dr. Sidani.
and marketing of hookah products and regulation of hookah bars and cafes may be another way to counteract the positive attitudes young adults hold toward hookah smoking Dr. Primack said.
The above story is provided based on materials by University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences.
One idea about the current obesity epidemic is that appetite suppression systems that evolved to work with a paleo diet are off-kilter today.
Although scientists have been trying to answer this question for decades their mystery remains as yet unresolved states Dr. Stephan Getzin from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig
Continued studies may help predict future health of rain foreststwo major droughts within a five-year period have done significant damage to the Amazon forest in Brazil
and affects vegetation health he said. Based upon the results the scientists will try to predict the vulnerability and response of the forest to future changes in climate and land cover.
which was designed to make an insect-killing bacterial protein called Bt toxin. The results could have major impacts for managing pest resistance to Bt crops.
Based on laboratory experiments aimed at determining the molecular mechanisms involved scientists knew that pink bollworm can evolve resistance against the Bt toxin
In the U s. pink bollworm populations have not evolved resistance to Bt toxins in the wild. However resistant pink bollworm populations have emerged in India
but are not toxic to people and most other organisms. Pest control with Bt proteins--either in sprays or genetically engineered crops--reduces reliance on chemical insecticides.
The emergence of resistant pink bollworm in India provided the researchers an opportunity to test the hypothesis that insects in the field would evolve resistance to Bt toxin by the same genetic mechanism found previously in the lab. In the lab strains the scientists had identified mutations in a gene
Binding of Bt toxin to cadherin is an essential step in the intoxication process. Mutations that disrupt cadherin block this binding
which leaves the insect unscathed by the Bt toxin. We wanted to see if field-resistant pink bollworm from India harbored these same changes in the cadherin gene Fabrick said.
An important implication is that DNA screening would not be efficient for monitoring resistance of pink bollworm to Bt toxins.
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