In addition to causing direct injury to the plant feeding can also provide the opportunity for infection by rot-inducing bacteria and fungi.
and extreme events which are all areas that concern key sectors such as energy health and agriculture.
Dr Mani Shrestha from Monash University and his colleague Prakash Bhattrai from the Tribhuvan University Kathmandu collected spectral data from more than 100 flowering plants in Nepal over a range of altitudes from 900
Dr Shrestha said flowers from both subtropical (900-2000m) and alpine (3000-4100m) regions showed evidence of having evolved color spectral signatures to enhance discrimination by bee pollinators.
and these insects have been such effective pollinators that they have led to the evolution of distinctive bee-friendly colors Dr Shrestha said.
#Culling vampire bats to stem rabies in Latin america can backfireculling vampire bat colonies to stem the transmission of rabies in Latin america does little to slow the spread of the virus
Poison and even explosives have been used since the 1960s in attempts to control vampire bat populations but those culling efforts have failed generally.
Now the same team has combined the field findings with new computer models of rabies transmission and data from infection studies using captive vampire bats to show that culling has minimal effect on containing the virus
and can in some cases actually increase its spread by driving infected bats into neighboring colonies.
The team's new paper scheduled for online publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Dec 2 also establishes that rabies is usually not lethal among vampire bats.
In the paper last year we demonstrated that bat colony size wasn't a predictor of rabies prevalence
and epidemiologist Pejman Rohani senior author of the PNAS paper (the first author is Julie Blackwood a former postdoctoral research associate in Rohani's lab who is now at Williams College).
Developing effective control strategies for vampire bat-transmitted rabies virus in Latin america requires an understanding of the mechanisms that have allowed the highly virulent pathogen to persist
despite recognition of the virus and its health risks since the early 1900s To determine those persistence mechanisms Rohani
and colleagues created four mathematical models of rabies transmission each representing an alternative hypothesis for the biology of rabies infection.
Then they tested the models against data from the University of Georgia-led field study of rabies exposures in wild vampire bat colonies across Peru.
That study tracked rabies exposures in individually marked Desmodus rotundus vampire bats from 17 colonies in four regions of Peru between 2007 and 2010 and yielded the most complete dataset on rabies exposure patterns ever collected for any bat
or disturbance-mediated dispersal culling could perversely have the opposite of the intended effect on rabies transmission.
Rohani and colleagues say that such a phenomenon has recently been observed in controlled badger culls in the United kingdom where disruption of badger social dynamics and subsequent dispersal led to increased tuberculosis transmission in cattle at neighboring sites.
and sustain the virus. The probability of a vampire bat developing a lethal infection upon exposure to rabies is around 10 percent much lower than the 50-to-90 percent mortality rate seen in previous experimental challenges studies that involved inoculating vampire bats with rabies virus
according to the researchers In Latin america coordinated efforts to eliminate human rabies transmitted by dogs began in 1983 and led to a roughly 90 percent reduction in human and canine rabies according to the U s. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Since 2000 vampire bats have been the leading cause of human rabies there especially in remote areas of the Amazon region in Peru Ecuador and Brazil according to the CDC.
Continued growth of the livestock industry likely exacerbates rabies outbreaks in the region by providing an almost unlimited food source for the blood-feeding bats fueling population growth and range expansion.
They use razor-sharp upper incisors to create small wounds. An enzyme in the saliva prevents clotting as the bat feeds
Worldwide more than 55000 people die of rabies each year according to the World health organization. More than 95 percent of the human deaths occur in Asia
and Africa and dogs are the source of infection in nearly all of those deaths according to THE WHO. Story Source:
Saint louis University associate professor of physical therapy and athletic training Ethel Frese DPT offers the following tips as an approach for someone who wants to offset holiday calories by becoming more active.
Exercise offers many overall health benefits and burning off even an extra hundred calories a day makes a significant difference.
The above story is provided based on materials by Saint louis University Medical center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length h
#Protecting vital crops in Chinaevidence of disease in oilseed rape crops across China and how it may spread has been mapped by researchers led by the University of Hertfordshire--providing new strategic information on crop protection to the Chinese government.
Oilseed rape is prone to phoma stem canker also known as blackleg disease caused by two Leptosphaeria species. The more damaging pathogen Leptosphaeria maculans (L. maculans) has been spreading globally in oilseed rape crops over the last thirty years causing widespread losses
This put China the world's biggest producer of rapeseed at risk of this highly infectious crop pathogen.
Given the fragile state of the world's economy and concern over food shortages we need to protect our arable crops from disease.
The researchers modelled the potential spread of the destructive L. maculans pathogen across the oilseed rape crops in China--with predicted rates of spread of up to seventy kilometers per year
There is a pressing need to decrease the amounts of crop debris a potent source of pathogen inoculum in seed imports.
And a number of the recommendations about preventing severe epidemics of phoma stem canker have already been taken up.
Short term strategies for the Chinese government include training farmers to recognise the symptoms of the disease to import oilseed rape through Chinese ports in regions where little oilseed rape is grown to test for the pathogen on imported seed
Longer-term strategies focus on introducing genes to the Chinese oilseed rape plants to build disease resistance.
and often inhabited by only a few scattered individuals--unlike our native European conifer forests that cover large areas says Dr Patrick Knopf from the RUB Department of Evolution and Biodiversity of Plants.
or even impossible to identify them only by their appearance explains the RUB biologist Dr Christian Schulz.
At the Botanical garden's Pfizer Plant Research Laboratory they worked with Garden scientist Dr. Damon Little to generate DNA barcodes for all of the individuals
Relevance in the timber industry and cancer researchpodocarpaceae constitute the second-largest conifer family. They grow mainly in mountainous regions in the Southern hemisphere.
Certain substances in their leaves moreover are playing an increasingly important role in cancer research.
#Genetic mutation increases risk of Parkinsons disease from pesticidesa team of researchers has brought new clarity to the picture of how gene-environmental interactions can kill nerve cells that make dopamine.
For the first time we have used human stem cells derived from Parkinson's disease patients to show that a genetic mutation combined with exposure to pesticides creates a'double hit'scenario producing free radicals in neurons that disable specific molecular pathways that cause nerve-cell death
Until now the link between pesticides and Parkinson's disease was based mainly on animal studies and epidemiological research that demonstrated an increased risk of disease among farmers rural populations
and others exposed to agricultural chemicals. In the new study Lipton along with Rajesh Ambasudhan Ph d. research assistant professor in the Del E. Webb Center and Rudolf Jaenisch M d. founding member of Whitehead Institute for Biomedical
Research and professor of biology at the Massachusetts institute of technology (MIT) used skin cells from Parkinson's patients that had a mutation in the gene encoding a protein called alpha-synuclein.
Alpha-synuclein is the primary protein found in Lewy bodies--protein clumps that are the pathological hallmark of Parkinson's disease.
Using patient skin cells the researchers created human induced pluripotent stem cells (hipscs) containing the mutation
Next they reprogrammed all of these cells to become the specific type of nerve cell that is damaged in Parkinson's disease called A9 dopamine-containing neurons
Since several FDA-approved drugs contain derivatives of isoxazole our findings may have potential clinical implications for repurposing these drugs to treat Parkinson's.
and the environment interact to contribute to Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and ALS.
In the future we anticipate using the knowledge of mutations that predispose an individual to these diseases
Moreover we will be able to screen for patients who may benefit from a specific therapy that can prevent treat
or possibly cure these diseases Lipton said. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute.
The original article was written by Susan Gammon Ph d..Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Finally fitness costs--or negative effects--of resistance in rootworms appear to be low. One approach to IRM is not necessarily optimal for all insect pests according to the authors who recommend that growers use the following IPM approaches to delay further rootworm resistance to Bt corn:
This assessment is a major step towards addressing the substantial information gap regarding the conservation status of bonobos across their entire range said lead author Dr. Jena R. Hickey of Cornell University
and to points of human access are more vulnerable to poaching one of their main threats said Dr. Janet Nackoney a Research Assistant professor at University of Maryland and second author of the study.
Dr. Nate Nibbelink Associate professor at the University of Georgia added: The bonobo habitat suitability map resulting from this work allows us to identify areas that are likely to support bonobos
and activities for the next decade said Dr. Hjalmar S. KÃ hl of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
The future of the bonobo will depend on the close collaboration of many partners working towards the conservation of this iconic ape said Dr. Liz Williamson of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group
brief by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. The study found that 60 percent of all children between the ages of 2 and 5 had eaten fast food at least once in the previous week.
A weekly happy meal is an unhappy solution especially for toddlers said Susan Holtby the study's lead author and a senior researcher at the Public health Institute.
The new study used data from several cycles of the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) to examine dietary behaviors of very young children including their consumption of fast food sugar-sweetened beverages fruits
Fast food combined with drinking soda at such a young age can set these kids up for obesity-related health problems Holtby said.
what every parent wants--the good health of their children said Camille Maben executive director of First 5 California which funded the study.
Competition also increases trees'risk to bark beetles and diseases and subsequently leads to a buildup of dead fuels.
A recent study led by Dr. Jianwei Zhang research forester at the U s. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station considered
Dr. Zhang said. By establishing the self-thinning boundary lines from the size-density trajectories the onset of mortality risk can be determined for ponderosa pine stands.
Rhizophagus irregularis is the next in this linage to be released by the DOE JGI it follows the ectomycorrhizal fungal symbiont Laccaria the poplar rust pathogen Melampsora and dozens of bacterial genomes.
For example it can't make most of the toxins other plant-interacting fungi release probably the researchers speculate to avoid setting off the host plant's immune system.
FDA model underestimated the health impact of graphic warningsin 2011 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimated the impact of graphic warning labels on U s. smoking rates based on Canada's experience.
This analysis was a key factor in an August 2012 decision by the U s. Court of appeals for the D c. Circuit that found that the FDA's analysis essentially concedes the agency lacks any evidence that the graphic warnings are likely to reduce smoking rates.
and Frank J. Chaloupka of theuniversity of Illinois at Chicago and Geoffrey T. Fong of the University of Waterloo and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research in Canada--assert that the model used by the FDA significantly underestimated the actual impact
and proves the effectiveness of health warnings that include graphic pictures. Dr. Huang the lead author of the paper stated These findings are important for the ongoing initiative to introduce graphic warnings in the United states. The original proposal by the U s. Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) was challenged successfully by the tobacco industry and the court cited the very low estimated impact on smoking rates as a factor in its judgment.
Our analyses corrected for errors in the FDA's analysis concluding that the effect of graphic warnings on smoking rates would be much stronger than the FDA found Our results provide much stronger support for the FDA's revised proposal for graphic warnings
Global importance of graphic warningsarticle 11 of THE WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) requires Parties to the FCTC to implement large rotating health warnings.
since been inspired to use this powerful method of communicating the harms of cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Although the revision of the warnings in 2012 was an important step in bolstering the impact of the warnings it is important to continue efforts to reduce the use of a product that is by far the leading cause of disease and death in Canada.
which the tobacco industry has used effectively to promote their products especially to youth Evidence shows that plain packaging both reduces the appeal of tobacco products and increases the effectiveness of health warnings.
Dr. Judith Mackay Senior Advisor at the World Lung Foundation and a tobacco control leader in Asia
These new research findings show clearly the value of graphic warnings for countries all over the world especially low-and middle-income countries where knowledge about the health harms and awareness of the addictiveness of cigarettes and other
Our results provide strong evidence showing the public health benefits of large graphic warnings and we hope that this will help to support initiatives to implement more effective health warnings throughout the world.
Using graphic warnings to inform smokers and nonsmokers alike about the harms of tobacco is a sensible and proven method for increasing knowledge changing attitudes motivating smokers to quit and discouraging youth from initiating smoking.
Why Canada was used as a benchmark for the USTHE US FDA and the researchers for this study used Canada as a benchmark because:
If breastfeeding is not possible physicians give a lower concentration pill directly to the infant.
Half the mothers were given an iodine capsule and the baby a placebo. The parameters were reversed for the other half of participants.
The pills were administered along with the first vaccination given during the first eight weeks following birth.
Both methods reduced disorders of the thyroid which requires iodine in order to produce hormones in the infant.
The strategy undertaken in the study to give the iodine capsule regularly at the time of the first vaccination after birth is also a highly promising approach that could become an official recommendation.
and other institutes have succeeded in unraveling the whole genome sequence of desert poplar Populus euphratica and the genetic bases underlying poplar to against salt stress.
and is an important species for studying the effects of salt stresses on trees. Notably it maintains higher growth
However the knowledge of the genomic mechanisms of desert poplar under salt stress remains very limited.
and exhibited extensive collinearity across the gene space species-specific genes involved in stress tolerance such as ion transport ATPASE activity transcript factor activity
When studying the adaptation mechanisms to against salt stress researchers found that several gene families likely to be involved in tolerance to salt stress contain significantly more gene copies in the P. euphratica lineage.
They also compared the P. euphratica in response to salt stress with salt-sensitive poplar (P. tomentosa)
and homeostasis such as Nhad1 KUP3 and NCL were distinctly upregulated under salt stress. The complete genome sequencing of desert poplar revealed the underlying genetic mechanisms of poplar to against salt stress laying a solid foundation for accelerating the genetic breeding of cultivated poplars for saline and desert fields. said Junyi
Wang Project Manager at BGI Our work also demonstrate that trans-omic approach to study salt-tolerant plants is applicable on both herbaceous plant
like a tick it produces a disease in the colony called varroasis that can kill entire hives being the main problem that beekeepers face worldwide.
and placed in hives 90 days before bloom begins The most part of the honey produced in Mexico is exported mostly to Europe where health standards are very high mainly concerning chemical residues.
#Link between allergies, increased risk of blood cancers in womena team of scientists looking into the interplay of the immune system and cancer have found a link between a history of airborne allergies--in particular to plants grass and trees
--with risk of blood cancers in women. Notably the study did not find the same association in men which suggests a possible gender-specific role in chronic stimulation of the immune system that may lead to the development of hematologic cancers.
The findings are published online ahead of the December print issue of the American Journal of Hematology.
To the best of our knowledge ours is the first study to suggest important gender differences in the association between allergies
and hematologic malignancies wrote first author Mazyar Shadman M d. M p h. a senior fellow in the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research center.
According to Shadman who led the research the immune system's potential role in cancer causation is a focus of intense scientific interest.
If your immune system is over-reactive then you have problems; if it's under-reactive you're going to have problems.
Increasing evidence indicates that dysregulation of the immune system such as you find in allergic and autoimmune disorders can affect survival of cells in developing tumors.
For the study Shadman principal investigator Emily White Ph d. of the Public health Sciences Division at Fred Hutch and their colleagues drew on a large population-based sample of men and women from the VITAMINS And Lifestyle (VITAL) cohort
health history and cancer risk factors medication and supplement use and diet. Participants provided information on age race/ethnicity education smoking diet (fruit
and vegetable intake) and other lifestyle characteristics self-rated health medical history and family history of leukemia or lymphoma.
History of asthma and allergies was taken also including allergies to plants grasses or trees; mold or dust;
and medications. Of the 79300 VITAL participants who filled out the questionnaires more than 66000 individuals were selected after eliminating those who had a prior history of malignancies other than non-melanoma skin cancers and missing information on baseline cancer history.
Participants were followed for a median of eight years until they withdrew from the study moved away had a cancer diagnosis other than hematologic malignancy
or non-melanoma skin cancer or died. Incidence of hematologic malignancies and other cancers was identified via the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) cancer registry of western Washington.
Of the participants 681 developed a hematologic malignancy during the follow-up period. These participants were more likely to be male to have two
or more first-degree relatives with a family history of leukemia or lymphoma to be less active and rank their health status as low.
A history of allergies to airborne antigens was associated with a higher risk of hematologic malignancies.
The most statistically significant association was seen with allergies to plants grass and trees. Further the study looked at associations between the different subtypes of allergies
and hematologic malignancies and found that a history of allergies to plants grass and trees was associated significantly with mature B-cell neoplasms one of four major categories of lymphoma.
There was also an increased risk of plasma-cell neoplasms for participants who reported a history of allergies to cats dogs or other animals.
Plasma-cell neoplasms are conditions both cancerous and noncancerous in which the body makes too many plasma cells.
When stratified by gender the incidence of blood cancers in response to these allergens was increased in women but not in men.
The reason for this is as yet unknown. It is tempting to speculate that the additional effect of allergy may reach statistical significance in women because of their lower baseline risk for the development of hematologic malignancies compared to men the authors wrote.
However hormonal effects on the immune system and interactions with carcinogenesis may offer an alternative biological explanation that will require further mechanical studies in particular
if our findings are replicated in an independent study cohort. The data analysis took into account potential confounding factors such as sex race/ethnicity education history of smoking consumption of vegetables
and fruits level of exercise family history of leukemia/lymphoma and self-reported health status. Types of allergy medication participants used were controlled not for.
It's tough to eliminate allergy treatment as a confounder because just about everyone with allergies is on some medication.
But none of the allergy medications are known to cause cancer Shadman said. The authors cite the study's strengths as its large population size the comprehensive baseline data regarding cancer risk
and medical conditions its prospective design and its use of the SEER registry an award-winning cancer registry program based at Fred Hutch.
Meanwhile the authors acknowledge the study's limitations namely the reliance on self-reporting of allergies the limitation of soliciting answers about current allergies only and particularly the limited number of hematologic cancers for each subset of allergy types.
Given the limited number of cases within each subtype of hematologic cancer the risk estimates need to be interpreted with caution
#and the possibility of chance finding due to multiple testing should be recognized Shadman and colleagues wrote.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Journal Reference e
#Preindustrial rise in greenhouse gases had natural and anthropogenic causesfor years scientists have argued intensely over
whether increases of potent methane gas concentrations in the atmosphere-from about 5000 years ago to the start of the industrial revolution-were triggered by natural causes or human activities.
A new study which will be published Friday in the journal Science suggests the increase in methane likely was caused by both.
Lead author Logan Mitchell who coordinated the research as a doctoral student at Oregon State university said the early anthropogenic hypothesis which spawned hundreds of scientific papers as well as books cannot fully explain on its own the rising levels of atmospheric
methane during the past 5000 years a time period known as the mid-to late-Holocene. That theory suggests that human activities such as rice agriculture were responsible for the increasing methane concentrations.
Since coming out of the ice age some 10000 years ago summer solar insolation in the Northern hemisphere has been decreasing as a result of the Earth's changing orbit according to Edward Brook a paleoclimatologist in Oregon State's College of Earth Ocean
Theoretically methane levels should have decreased with the loss of solar insolation in the Northern hemisphere or at least remained stable instead of increasing said Brook a co-author on the Science article.
#Research finds combo of plant nutrients kills breast cancer cellsa study led by Madhwa Raj Phd Research Professor in Obstetrics
and Gynecology at LSU Health Sciences Center New orleans and its Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center has found that a super cocktail of six natural compounds in vegetables fruits spices
and plant roots killed 100%of sample breast cancer cells without toxic side effects on normal cells.
The results which also revealed potential treatment target genes are published in the November 2013 issue of The Journal of Cancer.
One of the primary causes of both the recurrence of breast cancer and deaths is a small group of cancer stem cells that evade therapy notes Dr. Raj.
These often multi-drug-resistant cells have the ability to generate new tumors so it is critically important to develop new approaches to more effective and safer treatment or prevention of breast cancer.
The research team tested ten known protective chemical nutrients found in foods like broccoli grapes apples tofu
The researchers administered these six at bioavailable levels to both breast cancer and control cells. They tested the compounds individually and in combination.
When combined though the super cocktail suppressed breast cancer cell growth by more than 80%inhibited migration
and triggered the process leading to cell death resulting in the death of 100%of the breast cancer cells in the sample.
which could serve as markers to follow the progress of therapy. Although the cocktail was tested not against BRCA1
According to the National Cancer Institute's SEER Program which includes data from LSU Health Sciences Center New orleans breast cancer is the second most common cancer with 232340 new cases estimated this year
There are an estimated 2829041 women currently living with breast cancer in the United states. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Louisiana State university Health Sciences Center.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference r
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011