The global poaching crisis for elephants is at epidemic proportions said WCS Executive vice president for Conservation and Science John Robinson.
A weapon in the fight against kidney disease caused by high-fat dietsnew insight into grape seed extract as a therapeutic and preventative measure to fight obesity-induced kidney damage is presented in a new study.
and Metabolism is the first to make a link between GSSES and high-fat-diet-induced renal disease.
The researchers found increased deposits of triglycerides (TG)( especially saturated fatty acids) increased signs of oxidative stress and depleted copper levels in the kidneys.
Furthermore the GSSE prevented the oxidative stress and copper depletion. In our research obesity-induced leaky kidney and proteinuria are shown to be prevented by GSSE
which suggests the use of GSSE as a preventive nutriceutical for high-risk patients said co-author Kamel Charradi a researcher with the Laboratory of Bioactive Substance at the Center of Biotechnology of Borj-Cedria (CBBC) in Tunisia.
This research group has published previously work showing the benefits of GSSE in combating obesity heart dysfunction brain lipotoxicity and kidney cancer.
The article Grape seed and skin extract alleviates high-fat-diet-induced renal lipotoxicity and prevents copper depletion in rats is available Open Access in the journal Applied Physiology Nutrition and Metabolism.
#Research supports promise of cell therapy for bowel diseaseresearchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical center and colleagues have identified a special population of adult stem cells in bone marrow that have the natural ability to migrate to the intestine
and produce intestinal cells suggesting their potential to restore healthy tissue in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
which is characterized by frequent diarrhea and abdominal pain. IBD actually refers to two conditions--ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease--in
which the intestines become red and swollen and develop ulcers probably as the result of the body having an immune response to its own tissue.
While there is currently no cure for IBD there are drug therapies aimed at reducing inflammation and preventing the immune response.
Because these therapies aren't always effective scientists hope to use stem cells to develop an injectable cell therapy to treat IBD.
The research findings are reported online in the FASEB Journal (the journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) by senior researcher Graca Almeida-Porada M D. Ph d. professor
of regenerative medicine at Wake Forest Baptist's Institute for Regenerative Medicine and colleagues. The new research complements a 2012 report by Almeida-Porada's team that identified stem cells in cord blood that are involved in blood vessel formation
and also have the ability to migrate to the intestine. We've identified two populations of human cells that migrate to the intestine--one involved in blood vessel formation
Our hope is that a mixture of these cells could be used as an injectable therapy to treat IBD.
and have the intrinsic ability to restore tissue health. Almeida-Porada said that while the two studies show that the cells can migrate to
The above story is provided based on materials by Wake Forest Baptist Medical center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
But new research from Dr. Jay Narayan John C. Fan Distinguished Chair Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at NC State may revolutionize the sintering process.
Now breakthrough research led by Field Museum curator Dr. Jonathan Haas is providing new resolution to the issue by looking at microscopic evidence found in soil on stone tools
While maize is grown in the area today they were able to rule out modern day contamination
The presence of some species like the scarlet tanager are a good indicator of undisturbed forest health.
and others to study how livestock diet affected the transport of pathogens in field runoff from manure-amended soils.
Results from these studies have been published in Foodborne Pathogens and Disease Applied and Environmental Microbiology and Transactions of the ASABE.
In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics researchers determined that small inexpensive changes to school cafeterias influenced the choice and consumption of healthier foods.
Dr. Hanks notes This not only preserves choice but has the potential to lead children to develop lifelong habits of selecting
These simple changes could also be effective in the cafeterias of other organizations including hospitals companies and retirement homes.
The above story is provided based on materials by Elsevier Health Sciences. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Dr Heather Whitney a co-author of the study said: This novel communication channel reveals how flowers can potentially inform their pollinators about the honest status of their precious nectar and pollen reserves.
Another similarity Berwick notes relates to an insight of celebrated MIT professor emeritus of linguistics Morris Halle who as Berwick puts it observed that all human languages have a finite number of stress patterns
and compounds associated with oxidative stress compared to those grown on conventional farms according to research published February 20 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Maria Raquel Alcantara Miranda and colleagues from the Federal University
According to the authors organic farming exposes plants to greater stress than conventional farming. They suggest that this increased stress may be the reason organic tomatoes had higher levels sugars Vitamin c and pigment molecules like lycopene an antioxidant compound--all of
which are associated with the biological response to stress. Based on these observations the authors suggest that growing strategies for fruits
and vegetables should aim to balance plant stress with efforts to maximize yield and fruit size rather than trying to eliminate stress to increase yields.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Public library of Science. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
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#Turning pine sap into evergreen plasticsplastic bags are a bane of nature. And not just bags--just about all plastics really.
#Modifying infants diet may reduce celiac disease risk, Swedish study suggestsceliac disease is much more common in Sweden than in the rest of Europe
and the U s. but may be prevented with gradually introducing gluten-containing foods to breast-feeding infants according to a comprehensive study led by researchers at Ume㥠University.
Celiac disease also known as gluten intolerance is a chronic disease whose only treatment is a lifelong strict gluten-free diet
Until the 1970s celiac disease was unusual and was diagnosed in only 0. 001%of all children.
Between 1984 and 1996 however Sweden was hit by an epidemic of celiac disease in children under 2 years of age.
A fourfold increase in incidence of clinically detected disease followed by a comparable decrease decade later was conï rmed through the National Swedish Childhood Celiac disease Register.
Through further investigation of the epidemic researchers have shown now that celiac disease currently affects up to 3%of all young people.
Two-thirds of them have received still not diagnosis and treatment. It is shown also that the risk of developing the disease can be reduced
when the child is breastfed and preferably starting with small amounts of gluten while breastfeeding is still ongoing.
and in the United states. We now have proven this way of introducing gluten reduces the risk of getting celiac disease says Dr. Anneli Ivarsson.
The findings in the study published online Feb 18 and in the March print issue of the journal Pediatrics are based on ETICS--Exploring the Iceberg of Celiacs in Sweden
which is part of the Preventcd European project ETICS is a screening study conducted in 2005-2011 among 12-year-olds born during the epidemic (1993) and after (1997).
Among them 69%were given blood tests. The blood samples were analysed for celiac disease and the children who had elevated levels were called to the nearest pediatric clinic for a small intestinal biopsy to check for disease suspicion.
In summary for a twelve year period starting in 1984 Sweden experienced a unique epidemic of celiac disease in the youngest children.
It was developed by a decade of adverse infant nutrition and Sweden has by far the highest incidence of celiac disease in Europe
and the United states. It is estimated that there are upwards of 150000 people with celiac disease in Sweden
of which about 100000 have not yet received proper diagnosis and treatment. Increased attention is needed at all for so many victims as possible to get the proper diagnosis
and treatmentceliac disease is much more common in Sweden than in the rest of Europe
and the U s. but may be prevented with gradually introducing gluten-containing foods to breast-feeding infants according to a comprehensive study led by researchers at Ume㥠University.
Celiac disease also known as gluten intolerance is a chronic disease whose only treatment is a lifelong strict gluten-free diet
i e. to exclude anything that contains wheat rye or barley. Until the 1970s celiac disease was unusual
and was diagnosed in only 0. 001%of all children. Between 1984 and 1996 however Sweden was hit by an epidemic of celiac disease in children under 2 years of age.
A fourfold increase in incidence of clinically detected disease followed by a comparable decrease decade later was conï rmed through the National Swedish Childhood Celiac disease Register.
Something similar had never been seen before anywhere in the world. Through further investigation of the epidemic researchers have shown now that celiac disease currently affects up to 3%of all young people.
Two-thirds of them have received still not diagnosis and treatment. It is shown also that the risk of developing the disease can be reduced
when the child is breastfed and preferably starting with small amounts of gluten while breastfeeding is still ongoing.
These findings have contributed to the current Swedish recommendations on infant nutrition and has influenced recently also the recommendations in the rest of Europe
and in the United states. The researcher team led Dr. Anneli Ivarsson at the Department of public health and Clinical Medicine speculate that there may be a window of opportunity in which an infanwe now have proven this way of introducing gluten reduces the risk of getting celiac disease says Dr
. Anneli Ivarsson. The findings in the study published online Feb 18 and in the March print issue of the journal Pediatrics are based on ETICS--Exploring the Iceberg of Celiacs in Sweden
which is part of the Preventcd European project ETICS is a screening study conducted in 2005-2011 among 12-year-olds born during the epidemic (1993) and after (1997).
Invited in the study were more than 18000 sixth graders from five locations in Sweden: Lund Växjã Norrkã ping Norrtã¤lje and Umeã¥.
Among them 69%were given blood tests. The blood samples were analysed for celiac disease and the children who had elevated levels were called to the nearest pediatric clinic for a small intestinal biopsy to check for disease suspicion.
In summary for a twelve year period starting in 1984 Sweden experienced a unique epidemic of celiac disease in the youngest children.
It was developed by a decade of adverse infant nutrition and Sweden has by far the highest incidence of celiac disease in Europe
and the United states. It is estimated that there are upwards of 150000 people with celiac disease in Sweden
of which about 100000 have not yet received proper diagnosis and treatment. Increased attention is needed at all for so many victims as possible to get the proper diagnosis and treatmentstory Source:
The above story is provided based on materials by Ume㥠University. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
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#Climate change effect on plant communities is buffered by large herbivores, new research suggestscan existing ecological communities persist intact as temperatures rise?
This is a question of increasing relevance in the field of climate change and is the focus of a new study to be published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society of London on 20 february.
A University of Colorado Cancer Center review published in this month's issue of the journal Current Opinion in Gastroenterology shows that resistant starch also helps the body resist colorectal cancer through mechanisms including killing pre-cancerous cells
and reducing inflammation that can otherwise promote cancer. Resistant starch is found in peas beans
But consumed correctly it appears to kill pre-cancerous cells in the bowel says Janine Higgins Phd CU Cancer Center investigator and associate professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of medicine.
and sizes of lesions due to colorectal cancer and an increased number of cells that express the protein IL-10 which acts to regulate the body's inflammatory response Resistant starch may also have implications for the prevention
of breast cancer Higgins says. For example if you let rats get obese get them to lose the weight
This effect on obesity may help to reduce breast cancer risk as well as having implications for the treatment of colorectal cancer.
There are a lot of things that feed into the same model of resistant starch as a cancer-protective agent Higgins says.
and small clinical trials but the evidence is encouraging. On the table now is a menu of benefits
which benefits exactly will pan out as mechanisms of cancer prevention one thing is clear: resistant starch should be on the menu.
when given nicotine lozenges or tobacco-free snuff in a Mayo Clinic study. The findings are published in the February issue of Addictive Behaviors.
The reason why that is so striking and important to us is had these patients no intention of quitting says addiction expert Jon Ebbert M d. a tobacco researcher at the Mayo Clinic Nicotine Dependence Center.
and were successful in doing So long-term smokeless tobacco use is associated with cardiovascular disease and cancer.
but no comparative effectiveness trials of these two products have been conducted Dr. Ebbert says. The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute (R01 CA121165.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Mayo Clinic. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
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#Growing medicines in plants requires new regulations, experts sayscientists say amending an EU directive on GMOS could help stimulate innovation in making cheaper vaccines pharmaceuticals
and organic plastics using plants. In a paper to be published in Current Pharmaceutical Design six scientists from the US
and Europe including Dr Pennysparrow from the John Innes Centre compare risk assessment and regulation between the two continents.
In the EU plant-made pharmaceuticals have to be authorised in the same way as GM agricultural crops.
In theory agricultural crops can be grown by any farmer in the EU once approved. But for crops producing pharmaceuticals this would never actually happen.
Drug companies would likely license farmers to grow these crops under controlled defined and confined conditions.
We need tight regulations enforced by continuous oversight to encourage investment while maintaining trust said Dr Penny Sparrow from the John Innes Centre.
This will be of high importance especially in Europe where the issues surrounding the cultivation of GM agricultural crops remains a contentious concern.
Plant-made pharmaceuticals challenge two sets of existing EU regulations and to make progress in this area we need to make sure they are applied sensibly to allow pharmaceuticals to be produced in plants.
Advantages of using plants to produce therapeutic proteins include the ability to produce large quantities quickly and cheaply the absence of human pathogens the stability of the proteins and the ease with
which raw material can be stored as seed. This could be of huge benefit in developing countries where problems with storage can render vaccines useless.
If seed could be transported to local production and extraction facilities the technology could also help boost local economies.
But potential cost savings are eliminated under current regulations set up for GM agricultural crops not pharmaceuticals.
They propose amendments to EU Directive 2001/18 to allow pharmaceutical products from GM plants to be commercialised without needing authorisation to enter the human food or animal feed chain.
Instead the scientists say they should be grown under clearly defined and enforced conditions to keep the food and animal feed chain'contamination free'.
Dr Sparrow was involved in a collaboration with EU partners to road test the challenges faced by potential investors.
They chose the first plant-derived anti-HIV monoclonal antibody to be tested in humans. It was isolated purified
One result of the project was preparing a regulatory pathway that others could follow to take a product into clinical trials.
#Phosphorus starvation linked to symptoms of citrus disease Huanglongbing in new studythe citrus disease Huanglongbing (HLB) meaning yellow shoot disease in Chinese
and also called citrus greening in English-speaking countries is the most destructive disease threatening the citrus industry worldwide.
A new study'Small RNA profiling reveals phosphorus deficiency as a contributing factor in symptom expression for citrus Huanglongbing disease'published online February 19 in the journal Molecular Plant profiled small
and found that some of these tiny molecules could potentially be developed into early diagnosis markers for HLB.
Symptoms of the disease include blotchy mottled leaves sections of yellow and underdeveloped vegetative growth premature fruit drop
These high costs are largely due to the need for more additional treatments to mitigate the disease's effects
and therefore early rapid and robust detective methods are required especially presymptomatic diagnosis. The study's author Dr Hailing Jin of The University of California Riverside explains srnas are important gene expression modulators some
of which regulate plant responses to microbial infections. To study the expression of citrus srnas in response to HLB we grafted 19 greenhouse-grown healthy sweet orange plants with HLB-positive bark or leaf pieces.
Both donor and receptor trees tested negative for other graft-transmissible pathogens of citrus. As controls five plants were mock-inoculated with pathogen-free healthy tissue.
Samples were collected at 10-and 14-week post inoculation/grafting for small RNA profiling. Leaves were collected also continuously at later points to ensure that the tissue used for srna libraries was from the diseased trees. srnas ranging from 18 to 28 nucleotides were isolated cloned
and sequenced. This resulted in the discovery of ten new micrornas (mirnas) along with 76 conserved mirnas and many small interfering mirnas.
which means that they can potentially be developed into early diagnosis markers for the disease. This is important because
In particular mir399 which is induced by P starvation in other plant species was discovered to be induced by HLB infection in the diseased citrus trees.
Dr Jin writes we hypothesized that applying P solutions to the Las-positive trees would reduce HLB symptoms
#Thigh fat may be to blame for older adults who slow downa new study from Wake Forest Baptist Medical center shows that an increase in fat throughout the thigh is predictive of mobility loss in otherwise healthy
and in older adults slower walking speed is a predictor of disability nursing home admission and even death.
The researchers used data from the National Institute on Aging's Health Aging and Body Composition (Health ABC) study a prospective cohort of several thousand initially well-functioning white and black adults aged 70-79.
Body composition measures were assessed via computed tomography (CT). Results published online ahead of print in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found both increasing thigh intermuscular fat and decreasing thigh
As the burden of disability becomes increasingly common and expensive identification of modifiable contributors to functional decline in older adults is emerging as a significant priority of public health research Beavers said.
This research was supported by the NIA (contracts N01-AG-6-2101n01-AG-6-2103 and N01-AG-6-2106 and grant R01-AG028050) the National Institute on Nursing
to KMB) and supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH NIA.
The above story is provided based on materials by Wake Forest Baptist Medical center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
so will the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere says Dr Frans-Jan Parmentier a researcher at Lund University Sweden.
which has a strong negative impact on the climate according to Dr Frans-Jan Parmentier. In addition to the changes on land the present study shows that there are a number of uncertainties surrounding the effects of the melting ice on the amount of greenhouse gases exchanged by the ocean through natural processes.
We know very little about how the shrinking sea ice cover disturbs the balance of greenhouse gases in the sea in the long term says Dr Parmentier.
#Microbes team up to boost plants stress tolerancewhile most farmers consider viruses and fungi potential threats to their crops these microbes can help wild plants adapt to extreme conditions according to a Penn State virologist.
A leafy plant related to a common weed known as lamb's quarter was infected also with a virus that caused a local infection.
The infection was enough to boost the plant's drought tolerance and may mean that the virus does not have to actively replicate in the cells where the resistance to drought occurs according to Roossinck.
and grow them better and more tolerant of environmental stress like heat and drought or pathogens?
This may lead to more natural methods of creating crops that are more heat drought and stress tolerant.
#Links between ozone levels and cardiac arrest analyzedresearchers at Rice university in Houston have found a direct correlation between out-of-hospital cardiac arrests and levels of air pollution and ozone.
if there is a link between ambient ozone levels and cardiac arrest. Ensor is a professor and chair of Rice's Department of Statistics and Raun is a research professor in Rice's Department of Statistics.
and more than 11000 concurrent out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) logged by Houston Emergency Medical Services (EMS).
) health conditions. Increases in ozone level were similar but on a shorter timescale: Each increase of 20 parts per billion over one to three hours also increased OHCA risk with a peak of 4. 4 percent.
Ensor and Raun noted the patients died in more than 90 percent of the cases which occurred more during the hot summer months (55 percent of total cases).
and equipment and provide early warnings to health officials and the public when weather and/or incidents warrant an alert for high ozone levels in specific areas Ensor said.
Co-author David Persse Houston Fire department EMS physician director and a public-health authority for the city said it's long been thought by EMS workers that certain types of air pollution including ozone have significant negative effects on cardiac and respiratory health.
But this mathematically and scientifically validates what we know he said Houston is already acting upon the results.
Early intervention is seen as critical as the chance of survival for a person suffering cardiac arrest drops 10 percent for every minute he
She said statistics show one life is saved for every 26 to 36 people who receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation from a bystander.
though none are substitutes for the primary strategy of improving air quality according to the city's Health and human services Department.
Cohan's talk focused on uncertainties in estimating the health benefits that will result from efforts to control ozone pollution.
but some epidemiological studies show that substantial health benefits can also result from reducing ozone at other times he said.
Thus emission-control strategies aimed solely at achieving regulatory standards may not yield as great a health benefit as strategies that reduce ozone year-round.
At the same time we want to enhance our understanding of the health cost of pollution --and celebrate its continuing reduction.
and Prevention Houston Department of health and human services supported the research. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Rice university.
The beetles don't carry disease but their larvae feed on the ash trees'sap effectively killing the trees by depriving trees of their nourishment.
In the last 15 years disease ecology has really come to the fore as a basic science. Most of what is known about plant viruses comes from studies of crops.
because the males have a large genital forceps that resembles the cerci of earwigs. A new species of forcepfly Meropeidae (Mecoptera) from Brazil was described representing only the 3rd extant species described in this family
Certainly there are many more mecopterans species yet to be discovered in these forests said the lead author Dr Renato Machado from the Texas A & M University college Station USA.
and still thriveresearchers have studied viruses as agents of disease in humans domestic animals and plants but a study of plant viruses in the wild may point to a more cooperative benevolent role of the microbe according to a Penn State virologist.
When most people think of viruses they think of serious diseases and death such as the AIDS virus Roossinck said.
However on a research trip in Costa rica a biodiversity hot spot in Central america she noticed that unmanaged wild plants looked healthier than managed agricultural fields.
In the melons it was causing severe disease while in the wild plants there were no symptoms.
Roossinck said she is curious about how the wild plants avoid disease and if there is a way this can be used in agriculture.
#Researchers find potential new therapeutic target for treating non-small cell lung cancerresearchers at Moffitt Cancer Center have found a potential targeted therapy for patients with tobacco-associated non-small cell lung cancer.
which helps regulate immune response. The study appeared in the Feb 13 online issue of Oncogene. The IKBKE gene is part of a family of enzyme complexes involved in increasing cellular inflammation.
IKBKE overexpression has been associated with breast and prostate cancers. However it had not been linked to environmental carcinogen such as tobacco smoke until now.
Tobacco smoke is documented the strongest initiator and promoter of lung cancer. The traditional model holds that tobacco components promote carcinogenesis through a process that leads to DNA damage.
Recent studies have shown that tobacco smoke can also promote lung cancer through changes in the pathways that regulate cell proliferation and survival.
in order to find potential drug targets to treat non-small cell lung cancer. In this study IKBKE was found to be induced by two tobacco carcinogens:
Their findings suggest that IKBKE is a key molecule related to tobacco-induced lung cancer. Since IKBKE kinase is induced by tobacco small molecular inhibitors of IKBKE could have a therapeutic drug potential for lung cancer explained lead author Jin Q. Cheng Ph d. M d. senior member
of the Molecular Oncology Department at Moffitt. Current treatments for non-small cell lung cancer include surgery radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
However patients eventually develop resistance to treatment. There is a great need to better understand the molecular mechanism of resistance
and develop new gene-targeted therapies that can circumvent resistance said the authors. In this study the researchers also reported for the first time that IKBKE is a target of STAT3 a transcription factor that plays a key role in many cellular processes such as cell growth
and programmed cell death. According to the researchers STAT3 is activated frequently in various types of human cancers and when activated STAT3 increases IKBKE overexpression and protein levels.
In non-small cell lung cancer nicotine-induced IKBKE depends on STAT3. The authors noted that the activation stage of STAT3 represents an attractive therapeutic potential
because IKBKE is a STAT3 target. While IKBKE induces chemotherapy resistance knocking down IKBKE sensitizes cancer cells to chemotherapy
and reduces cancer cell survival. Since the IKBKE kinase overexpression is induced by tobacco smoke and IKBKE levels increase in response to nicotine and nicotine-derived nitrosamine ketone this evidence can be used potentially to develop a non-small cell lung cancer intervention strategy that targets IKBKE concluded Cheng.
The work was supported by National Cancer Institute Grants CA137041 and P50 CA119997 and James & Esther King Biomedical Research Program 1kg02 1kd04 and 1kn08.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute.
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