#Nitrogen deposition poses threat to diversity of Europes forest vegetationunless nitrogen emissions are curbed the diversity of plant communities in Europe's forests will decrease.
#Ethanol blends carry hidden riskblending more ethanol into fuel to cut air pollution from vehicles carries a hidden risk that toxic
and toxic hydrocarbons could cause health woes he said. The timely warning comes as the United states works to stimulate the production and consumption of ethanol.
because small amounts of ethanol and benzene a toxic volatile hydrocarbon present in gasoline degrade rapidly in the presence of oxygen.
According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention long-term exposure can harm bone marrow and cause a decrease in red blood cells leading to anemia.
It can also cause excessive bleeding and affect the immune system. Alvarez said studies have assessed the amount of methane generated by spills
and need disinfectant you don't dive into a pool of medicine you apply it only where you need it and in the quantity that is strictly necessary;
Above all globalization and perhaps climate change bring not only more foreign plants and invertebrates to these shores but also--more worrying by far--new pests and diseases especially of trees such as the recent ash chalara.
#Study documents secondhand exposure to nicotine from electronic cigaretteselectronic cigarettes when used indoors may involuntarily expose non-users to nicotine according to a study led by Maciej Goniewicz Phd Pharmd of Roswell Park Cancer
but did not emit substantial amounts of carbon monoxide and toxic volatile organic compounds. The level of secondhand exposure to nicotine depended on the e-cigarette brand.
The U s. Surgeon general found that there is no safe level of secondhand tobacco smoke but has evaluated not health risk from secondhand exposure to e-cigarette vapors.
To our knowledge this is one of the first studies to measure the air concentrations of nicotine
and volatile organic compounds and compare the emissions from electronic and conventional tobacco cigarettes said Dr. Goniewicz a researcher and Assistant professor of Oncology in RPCI's Department of Health Behavior.
However more research is needed to evaluate the health consequences of secondhand exposure to nicotine from e-cigarettes especially among vulnerable populations including children pregnant women and people with cardiovascular conditions.
and exposures to other toxins and compounds identified in e-cigarettes such as formaldehyde acetaldehyde and acrolein.#¢
#¢Data also are needed to determine whether secondhand exposure to e-cigarette vapors results in reinforcement of nicotine addiction.#¢
Questions remain regarding the health impact of e-cigarettes among smokers and nonsmokers. It remains unclear
thus circumventing tobacco-free laws said Andrew Hyland Phd Chair of the Department of health Behavior at RPCI.
The above story is provided based on materials by Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
#Work with Brazilian citrus greening genome could aid Florida industrya University of Florida researcher has mapped the DNA genome of a new strain of citrus greening that could further threaten Florida's beleaguered $9 billion citrus industry.
Knowing the genetic makeup of the various strains is critical to finding a cure. Dean Gabriel a plant bacteriology specialist with UF/IFAS helped sequence
and map the genome of the most prevalent form of the disease in Florida and now he and colleagues have done the same for a new strain of the disease discovered in Brazil.
There is no cure for either strain although researchers believe that knowing the genetic makeup of the disease is critical to finding one.
Gabriel said by having that roadmap of the bacteria genome they will be certain there are no surprises in the Brazilian species
which has now been found in Texas . In addition the mapping should help guide them to improvements in control methods and toward more usable genes and treatments.
The disease has affected already millions of citrus trees in North america. Gabriel's team's work will be outlined in a research paper that will be published in February in the journal Molecular Plant-Microbe Interaction.
similar to roosters cresta rare mummified specimen of the duck-billed dinosaur Edmontosauraus regalis described in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on December 12 shows for the first time that those dinosaurs'heads were adorned with a fleshy comb most
and in reconstructing habitats of human forebears of the time said Scott Simpson professor of anatomy at Case Western Reserve's School of medicine and coauthor of the research.
Horse expert Raymond L. Bernor from the Laboratory of Evolutionary Biology at the Howard University college of Medicine in Washington D c. led the fossil analysis. The bones
While associated with the acute stress response this can be a good thing. But organisms face serious trade-offs
Testosterone levels are highly reactive to environmental factors including pathogens parasites and food scarcity. If you get sick at all you see a decrease in testosterone said Trumble.
The Tsimane experience higher exposure to parasites and pathogens and less food security thus they face a tradeoff between investing energy to maintain good immune function
and its effect on the open food trade says Professor Dr. John R. Porter from the University of Copenhagen who is leading author on the study recently published online in the journal Global Food security.
Also we get a unique chance to stimulate the discussion with input from expertise of other disciplines such as economy biodiversity and health.
These systems provide growers with real-time data needed to make irrigation decisions said Dr. Andrew Mcelrone a US Department of agriculture
and legume forages promote cow health and improve the fatty acid profile in organic dairy products. Still said WSU researcher Dr. Charles Benbrook the study's lead author We were surprised by the magnitude of the nutritional quality differences we documented in this study.
After fruits and vegetables dairy products are the largest category of the growing $29 billion organic food sector according to the Organic Trade Association's 2013 Organic Industry Survey.
The consumption of more omega-6 fatty acids than omega-3 fatty acids is a well-known risk factor for a variety of health problems including cardiovascular disease cancer excessive inflammation and autoimmune diseases.
The higher the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 the greater the associated health risk.
while a ratio of 2. 3-to-1 is thought to maximize heart health. The team modeled a hypothetical diet for adult women with a baseline omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of 11.3
and seed size and production defense against pests and pathogens and response to abiotic stresses such as drought and ozone Pandey said.
#Toxic substances in banana plants kill root pestsbananas are a major food staple for about 400 million people in the tropical and subtropical regions of Asia Africa and Latin america.
Dirk HÃ lscher from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena Germany and an international team of researchers have discovered that some banana varieties accumulate specific plant toxins in the immediate vicinity
The toxin is stored in lipid droplets in the body of the nematode and the parasite finally dies.
In the final stage of the disease plants topple over often when already bearing an immature fruit bunch.
which not only cause ecological damage but can also have severe negative effects on the health of people who are exposed to these chemicals.
Research and Infection Biology and the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology in Jena have taken now a closer look at the plant-nematode interactions in the context of resistance versus susceptibility.
The concentration of the most active compound anigorufone however was much higher in the immediate vicinity of lesions on the roots of resistant bananas in comparison to infected root tissues of the nematode susceptible banana plants.
The production of the toxin alone is not responsible for the banana plant's resistance to nematodes.
We measured far higher concentrations of the toxin in these localized regions in the resistant banana variety Dirk HÃ lscher summarizes the results.
Lipid droplets containing the active compounds visible in the nematodethe toxic effect of anigorufone and other substances was tested on living nematodes.
which was most toxic to the pest organism. By using imaging techniques the researchers were able to visualize the plant toxin within the body of the roundworm.
There the lipid-soluble anigorufone accumulated in lipid droplets which increased in size as they converged
or excrete the toxin still needs to be clarified. However it is likely that the growing lipid droplets displace the inner organs of the nematode causing an eventual metabolic dysfunction.
This could help to minimize the excessive use of highly toxic pesticides in banana plantations
Their research on wasps and leaf disease reveal that a Canadian wasp is an efficient killer of an agricultural pest
Young found a mentor in Dr. Peter Mason a Research Scientist at the Experimental Farm in Ottawa.
Kiri Daust's research on plant disease started the same way many biologists'projects start: with a walk in the woods.
In 2012 Daust noticed a weird disease on the plants. Rather than shrug off the finding Daust followed his curiosity.
He sent pictures of the disease to an expert who identified the culprit as a rare kind of rust fungus about
Daust photographed the leaves of plants with different levels of infection and checked back on the plants as the season progressed.
He found that plants with higher levels of infection produced berries that were infected undeveloped and had less sugar than uninfected plants'berries.
Dr. Karen Price is an ecologist and Kiri Daust's mom and homeschool teacher. My role is simply to encourage Kiri's curiosity Price explained.
Dr. Matthias Kästner Director of the Department Environmental biotechnology at the Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research--UFZ in Leipzig.
One has assumed always previously that these residues were per se toxic. This is why pesticides that form more than 70%bound residues are no longer in compliance today.
i e. whether or not they really are toxic or what chemical structures they have hidden could not yet been evaluated.
#Can celebrity cancer diagnoses prompt quitting smoking? Millions of people will make a resolution to quit smoking around Jan 1
celebrity cancer diagnoses. In a study published this week in Preventive medicine researchers from San diego State university the Santa fe Institute the University of North carolina
and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public health found that when celebrities publicly discuss their struggles with cancer diagnoses the resulting media coverage prompts more smokers to search for information on quitting than events like New year's day or World No Tobacco Day.
Public health experts have known long these discussions spur others to get screened for cancer or consider the same treatments
but it was unclear whether these discussions also promoted cancer prevention behaviors like quitting smoking.
This question has evaded study because the method most commonly used to assess cancer-related behaviors--annual telephone surveys--isn't fine-grained enough to tell researchers which events are influencing respondents'answers.
The researchers led by San diego State university research professor John W. Ayers investigated whether a different method might yield new insights.
Using the case of former Brazilian President Lula da Silva who was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer in October 2011
and attributed his cancer to his long-held smoking habit the researchers analyzed both media coverage of smoking cessation
and the public's online search activity surrounding the event. By mining Google news archives the team found Brazilian news coverage of quitting increased as much as 500 percent immediately after the diagnosis
--and remained 163 percent higher for one week--before returning to typical levels. At the same time Brazilian Google searches related to quitting smoking increased by 67 percent.
However long after the media stopped covering Lula's diagnosis the public had forgotten not. Two weeks after the diagnosis quitting-related Google searches remained 153 percent higher than expected
and remained 130 percent and 71 percent higher three and four weeks respectively after Lula's announcement.
Lula's announced cancer diagnosis though tragic was potentially the greatest smoking cessation-promoting event in Brazilian history Ayers said.
Interest in quitting smoking as indicated by Google searches reached its highest recorded level after Lula's diagnosis even
Benjamin Althouse the study's coauthor and Santa fe Institute epidemiologist added In practical terms we estimated there were about 1. 1 million more quit-smoking queries in Brazil the month after Lula's diagnosis than expected.
Not only will quitting prevent throat cancer but it can prevent nearly all cancers including lung stomach breast etc.
The benefits don't end there. Following Lula's diagnosis Brazilian legislators passed a number of new laws strengthening anti-tobacco measures in the country making Brazil the largest smoke-free nation in the world said Joanna E
. Cohen another coauthor and director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Global Tobacco Control. This study is the first to demonstrate that celebrity diagnoses can prompt the public to engage in behaviors that prevent cancer said Seth M. Noar coauthor and health communication professor at the University of North carolina at Chapel hill.
Harnessing this finding will save far more lives than screening alone. The study has a compelling lesson for tobacco control advocates concluded Ayers:
when the public is more receptive to messages about cancer than is ordinarily the case.
and cancer prevention advocates should better leverage these opportunities to promote behaviors that will prevent all future cancers.
Dr. Ralf Schulz has compared now 417 measured field concentrations of fungicides in surface waters and sediments with the environmental concentrations predicted by FOCUS.
and animal life in surface waters nor do they predict properly the level of fungicide concentrations actually found later in surface waters explains Prof Dr. Ralf Schulz of the Institute for Environmental sciences Landau of the University of Koblenz-Landau.
The conflicts arise over attacks on wildlife raids on crops disease and use of bushmeat.
Primates are seen as the worst plague and the animals that are the most destructive. Olive baboons vervets and other primates are the main culprits.
Diseases from wild animals can also spread to domesticated animals. Disease and loss of livestock due to them is a bigger problem in the villages closest to the national park. Illegal bushmeat markets
While the hunting of bushmeat is most common close to Serengeti illegal markets are also found in the villages further away.
#Tuberculosis in Zambia: spread, control of infectionin Zambia the incidence of all forms of human tuberculosis is estimated to be 444 per 100000.
There is also a high incidence of HIV and AIDS in the country. In the Kafue area a high incidence of Mycobacterium bovis in both cattle and the Kafue lechwe antilope has been detected.
This bacterium can infect humans and has been found in humans in the studied region of Namwala.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis which is the main cause of human tuberculosis has also been detected in cattle in this region.
Human tuberculosis is caused by bacteria belonging to the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. Sidney Malama's doctoral research shows that Mycobacterium tuberculosis which is the most prevalent tuberculosis bacterium in humans also occurs in cattle in Namwala.
In other words this bacterium is zoonotic. Malama has detected a large degree of genetic variation amongst M. tuberculosis in humans in this area of Zambia
and has also found that M. tuberculosis bacteria isolated from humans and cattle respectively are related.
The fact that this bacterium is found in cattle means that these animals can be a reservoir for human tuberculosis
and that humans can become infected with both M. bovis and M. tuberculosis by drinking unpasteurised milk
and eating meat that has not been tested properly. Malama used a standard 15 MIRU-VNTR loci-method for the genotyping of M. tuberculosis
when he studied the epidemiology of M. tuberculosis in the Namwala district. However this method has drawbacks
when it comes to studying M. bovis in this area because some loci recommended by the European Reference Laboratory (EURL) for M. bovis are not suitable for genotyping the bacterium in Zambia.
Sidney Malama's research shows that cross infection of both M. tuberculosis and M. bovis occurs between humans and animals in this region.
Finds of similar genotypes of M. tuberculosis in humans and cattle and of M. bovis in humans cattle and Kafue lechwe in Namwala indicate that the same tuberculosis bacteria are circulating between humans and animals.
Health authorities wildlife managers and cattle owners must work together to stop zoonotic tuberculosis in Namwala and the bordering areas in Kafue.
M. bovis has also been isolated from humans only suffering from tuberculosis of the lungs and this may suggest that the bacterium is transmitted between people and not just between cattle and humans.
Malama comes to the conclusion that zoonotic tuberculosis is a considerable threat to public health in Zambia
and that a One Health approach adapted to local needs is required in order to control the spread of infection in the area.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Norwegian School of Veterinary Science. Note:
Materials may be edited for content and length h
#Perfect storm needed for salmonella to spread in postharvest tomatoesuniversity of Florida researchers have gained new insight into produce-associated salmonella that they hope will eventually reduce the number and severity of the illness-causing outbreaks.
Tomato variety and weather can combine to make what the researchers call a perfect storm for salmonella to proliferate in harvested tomatoes a new study shows.
It remains unclear how much each contributes to salmonella's spread but scientists say understanding the process is key to eventually curbing produce-associated outbreaks.
but can be damaging to public health and the food-crop business when it does. During the past decade fruits and vegetables have been among the foods most often linked to gastroenteritis outbreaks caused by E coli
and non-typhoidal salmonella the study said. Those outbreaks resulted in public illness and multimillion-dollar losses for the food-crop industry.
Since 2006 at least 16 salmonella outbreaks have been linked to tomatoes cantaloupes sprouts cucumbers mangoes peanut butter and peppers in addition to frozen foods containing plant products.
or E coli and the contamination becomes a problem only when it contaminates other food or is consumed raw.
Gastrointestinal illnesses caused by pathogens such as E coli and salmonella pathogens have been sporadic with scientists struggling to pinpoint exact causes
and their random nature argues for a perfect storm scenario the study said. It is now clear that salmonella
and other human pathogens can contaminate produce at any stage of the production cycle from farm to fork the UF/IFAS study said.
and crop and pathogen genotypes affect salmonella's ability to multiply in the fruit. They grew three types of tomatoes--Bonny Best Florida-47 and Solar Fire during three production seasons over two years in Live oak and Citra.
and injected with seven strains of salmonella Marvasi said. Researchers chose those three varieties because in preliminary greenhouse experiments they showed varying degrees of salmonella resistance said Max Teplitski a UF associate professor of soil and water science.
Bonny Best is an heirloom variety often used as a control variety in plant pathogen experiments he said.
Tomato maturity and cultivar particular strains of salmonella and seasonal differences were the strongest factors affecting proliferation.
Salmonella infection ranks among the most common foodborne illnesses often spread by raw or undercooked meat poultry or eggs but sometimes results from eating contaminated produce.
Symptoms can include abdominal pain fever nausea and vomiting. In 2008 federal health officials erroneously blamed a salmonella outbreak on domestically grown tomatoes
but later said imported contaminated peppers were responsible. Growers in Florida and other states lost an estimated $100 million in sales.
They are being investigated at Rice and elsewhere for use in sophisticated electronic and medical applications.
since this has huge ramifications for the agriculture industry says Dr. Hannah Burrack an associate professor of entomology at NC State
However small native bees did not have high abundance nor appear to have high visitation rates This highlights the importance of incorporating multiple metrics says Dr. David Tarpy an associate professor of entomology at NC State
This parasite causes intestinal infections in the European and native bumblebee species in South america. It modifies the behaviour of the workers increases their mortality rate
Education efforts that help individuals and families make healthy food choices are clearly an important part of our overall health
while engaging parents and caregivers through take-home materials that helped to address concerns about providing healthy foods on a tight budget.
However in an article in the Journal of Economic Entomology called Evaluation of Tolerance to Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins Among Laboratory-Reared Western Bean Cutworm (Lepidoptera:
The ability to mass produce this pest insect will enhance fundamental research including evaluation of control tactics and toxin susceptibility.
but partial control has been observed by corn varieties that express Cry1 F toxins. The new rearing procedure described in the article allowed the researchers to gather the first reported data for western bean cutworm susceptibility to Cry toxins using laboratory dose-response bioassays.
With the ability to rear western bean cutworm in the laboratory it may be possible in the future to select strains with varying levels of Cry1f toxin susceptibilities which could in turn be used to investigate the genetic basis of resistance.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Entomological Society of America. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length h
Can anti-nutritional substances damage health? Seeds from soya peas lupins and other legumes are protein-rich feedstuffs
and can have a negative effect on the growth and health of salmon. Elvis Chikwati's doctoral research has increased our knowledge about how ingredients in feed influence intestinal functioning and health
which will make it easier to increase production of salmon while at the same time maintaining good intestinal health.
When Chikwati began work on his Phd it was well known that the commonest and cheapest soya products result in enteritis in salmon.
Chikwati set out to find out more about the mechanisms causing the effects that raw materials from legumes have on the functioning of the intestines and about what role some of the anti-nutritional agents play in causing enteritis.
His overall objective was to make it easier to use such ingredients in fish feed as he set out to find the answer to three questions:
But after five days enteritis could clearly be seen in the microscope. At the same time activity involving enzymes from the pancreas in the rear intestine increased perhaps
It also throws light on how diet-induced enteritis develops and how specific anti-nutritional substances affect the functioning and health of the intestines.
This knowledge will help us to reach our aim of increasing salmon production while at the same time safeguarding good intestinal health.
Master of Aquatic Medicine Elvis Chikwati defended his doctoral research on 3rd december 2013 at the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science (NVH) with a thesis entitled Diet-induced physiological and pathophysiological responses
in the intestine of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.)-effects of plant protein ingredients and anti-nutritional factors.
Thin films are an essential component of many electronic optical and medical technologies but the grains in these films are typically smaller than one micrometer.
#Feeding by tourists compromises health of already-endangered iguanas, study findsfeeding wildlife is an increasingly common tourist activity
and endoparasitic infection rates between northern Bahamian rock iguanas inhabiting tourist-visited islands and those living on non-tourist-visited islands.
Among both males and females from tourist areas there was a 100%endoparasitic infection rate. Tourist-fed iguanas also displayed atypical loose faeces.
Dr Knapp says Both sexes on visited islands consume food distributed by tourists although male iguanas are more aggressive
An overabundance of grapes in those iguanas'diets could also explain the excessive diarrhea observed during the study.
Dr Knapp says The biological effects of altered biochemical concentrations may not be manifested over a short time period
but could have deleterious effects on long-term fitness and population stability. While the researchers acknowledge that increased population density
Dr Knapp says The complete restriction of feeding by tourists may not be a realistic option.
Lead researcher Dr Joseph Hawes from UEA's School of Environmental sciences said: We examined dietary data to quantify how much different primate species feed on fruit leaves and insects--particularly in relation to their body size.
because their guts can tolerate high levels of cellulose and toxins --which are unpalatable or indigestible to smaller primates.
The work should be significant for pharmaceutical companies that design drugs through painstaking processes and at great cost by eliminating some of the trial and error in identifying new sites on proteins that could be manipulated more easily to treat disease said Rice biological physicist Jos Onuchic.
The research appears online this week in an open-access paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
You can't design drugs in a vacuum he said. These simulations give us possible targets to subject to much more detailed simulations.
and ways to manipulate them#These insights may lead to new ways to control insects especially those that destroy crops or transfer diseases.
Dr. Sauther and Dr. Cuozzo mentored and guided me through the process of creating and conducting a unique research project.
and cast Joanna Chiu as a central figure in future Drosophila suzukii genomic studies related to topics such as insecticide detoxification odorant reception and regulatory entomology Zalom
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