and is an academic research tool that has many of the same features as powerful learning aids that are currently on the market.
These tools which are called sometimes digital tutors can be used as study aids or as platforms for administering homework
but it could play a larger role in fighting infections the researchers predicted. The unique property of honey lies in its ability to fight infection on multiple levels making it more difficult for bacteria to develop resistance said study leader Susan M. Meschwitz Ph d. That is it uses a combination of weapons including hydrogen peroxide
acidity osmotic effect high sugar concentration and polyphenols--all of which actively kill bacterial cells she explained.
and Ruth Nussinov a researcher at the National Cancer Institute in Frederick Md. and a professor at the Sackler School of medicine at Tel aviv University pulls together current thinking on how an explosion of data combined with ever more powerful computers is bringing about a second
Ultimately understanding these machines will help researchers design drugs to treat diseases like cancer the focus of Rice's Center for Theoretical Biological Physics.
and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. Onuchic is the Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Chair of Physics and Professor of Physics and Astronomy.
and death--food and water tainted with pathogens from fecal matter results in the deaths of roughly 700000 children each year.
and transferred to the fiber-optic cable system--similar in some ways to a data transmission line--can heat up the reaction chamber to over 600 degrees Fahrenheit to treat the waste material disinfect pathogens in both feces and urine and produce char.
E-cigarettes are used both as cessation aids and as safer alternatives to combustible tobacco: ultimately it depends not on how we classify these new products
The second att 1 aids in the insects'immune response. These genes have been found to play a role in rootworm resistance to crop rotation.
#No greater injury risk on artificial playing surfaces, study showsnew research presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) found no greater injury risk for athletes
Despite these advantages many elite professional soccer teams are reluctant to install artificial turf because of a perception that injuries occur more often on these types of surfaces.
In the study Safety of Third Generation Artificial Turf in Male Elite Professional Soccer Players Italian researchers reviewed injuries involving players in the top Italian football (soccer) league
For every 1000 hours of play there were 23 injuries recorded on artificial surfaces and 20 on grass with muscle strains being the most common injury (13 on artificial turf 14 on grass).
The authors of the study do not consider the injury rates between the two surfaces to be statistically significant as only three injuries per 1000 hours of play were attributable to artificial surfaces.
The study authors concluded that there are no major differences between the nature and causes of injuries sustained on artificial turf
and those that occur on natural grass surfaces. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
he was diagnosed with early-onset epileptic encephalopathy of unknown etiology. The patient had experienced treatment-resistant seizures since 3 months of age
Pierson added that many other genes have been associated with several forms of epilepsy in infancy but only few other instances of early-onset epileptic encephalopathy involved the GRIN2A gene.
The GRIN2A gene influences electrochemical events that affect the flow and strength of electrical impulses in the brain.
Memantine a drug developed to treat Alzheimer's disease was shown to have some effect. This medication was previously found to have anticonvulsant effects in animal models of epilepsy
and has been used safely in children with autism said Hongjie Yuan MD Phd scientist in the Department of Pharmacology at the Emory University School of medicine.
Our results suggest that children with early-onset epileptic encephalopathy should undergo evaluation for similar gene variants with the possibility of using memantine
and NIH colleagues that provides a more thorough description of how the GRIN2A mutation results in epilepsy.
This digestion difficulty can cause stomach cramps and diarrhea among other symptoms. But many people who report discomfort after consuming dairy products haven't been tested formally for the condition making it difficult to know how many meet the clinical standards for lactose-intolerance Gardner said.
and diarrhea or you don't. For the pilot study Gardner's team recruited 16 participants who were tested to confirm their lactose-intolerant status. The test measures the amount of hydrogen in a person's breath after drinking a beverage that contains lactose.
which to record the severity of four symptoms--gas diarrhea audible bowel sounds and abdominal cramping--on a scale of 0 to 10 with 10 being the most severe.
#Spring allergy season is imminent, despite this winters polar vortexthis winter has been one of the coldest on record
but spring allergy season is already beginning and it's time for sufferers to start preparing now.
An estimated 50 million Americans suffer from allergies which are called commonly hay fever. Symptoms include itchy eyes nose and throat;
sneezing; stuffy or runny nose; tearing or dark circles under the eyes. Even with snow still on the ground trees have started budding
and are the first to produce pollen creating major problems for people with allergies said David Rosenstreich M d. director of the Division of Allergy and Immunology at Montefiore Medical center.
but if it happens every year at this time it's most likely allergies. An allergy symptom is the result of the immune system overreacting.
It mistakes the pollen for a foreign invader and attacks it which leads to the release of chemicals called histamines into the blood.
This inflammation causes many familiar allergy symptoms. People with asthma are affected especially by allergies and may have asthma attacks which can be dangerous and even life-threatening.
Asthma often is triggered by allergies; however most people with allergies do not develop asthma. Over-the-counter medications often make people experiencing allergies feel better
but if they experience difficulty breathing or the symptoms become more severe they should seek medical attention.
Antihistamine drugs work by blocking the histamine from affecting these cells. Additionally a physician can prescribe stronger medications if needed.
By taking medicine early you can prevent the symptoms before they begin Dr. Rosenstreich said.
If you start after the symptoms are in full swing it's much harder to stop the allergic reaction than to prevent it from the beginning.
In addition to medications lifestyle changes also can help relieve symptoms. Several to consider include: â#¢Limiting outdoor activities during days with high pollen counts. â#¢Keeping windows closed (at home
and pine trees causing the biggest allergic triggers. Tree pollination in the Northeast has begun already according to Dr. Rosenstreich
Grass pollen allergies typically arise in late spring and weeds cause hay fever from the summer through the fall.
Ragweed is often one of the biggest offenders in most regions as it can grow in nearly every environment.
There's no reason for people with allergies to suffer Dr. Rosenstreich said. As long as you take the proper precautions you should be able to enjoy the outdoors
When gut microbiota gets out of balanceirritable bowel syndrome (IBS) belongs to the most widespread diseases in Western countries causing up to sixty per cent of the workload of gastrointestinal physicians.
but IBS in general was perceived frequently as a mainly psychological condition mostly affecting young predominantly female and anxious patients with no detectable abnormalities in their bowels.
Probably the best example of this interaction is the discovery that IBS symptoms develop in up to 10 percent of previously healthy subjects after a single episode of gastroenteritis caused by an infection through bacterial pathogens like Salmonella Shighella or Campylobacter
An additional problem results from the fact that not only infections but also the antibiotics that are used as a remedy may increase the risk for IBS as they too can alter the gut microbiota in a negative way.
and memory functions and to an increased risk of mild cognitive impairment in a 21-year follow-up.
It was shown also that a higher saturated fat intake was associated with an increased risk of dementia among those carrying a genetic risk factor of Alzheimer's disease the epsilon 4 variant of the apolipoprotein E (Apoe) gene.
#Birds of all feathers and global flu diversitya group of international scientists have completed the first global inventory of flu strains in birds by reviewing more than 50 published studies
and performed as part of the USAID PREDICT project identified over 116 avian flu strains in wild birds.
Avian flu outbreaks come with no warning. In 2013 an H7n9 avian flu strain caused a deadly outbreak in people in China.
This surprised virologists as the strain had caused never before disease in humans. To date there have been more than 300 clinical cases of H7n9 with a 33 percent mortality rate.
(when a virus jumps from one species to another) of avian flu can be traced back to human contact with domestic poultry.
Although avian flu strain diversity often originates in wild birds it is the mixing of viruses among poultry pigs
and monitor the diversity of all avian flu viruses--not just those known to cause disease.
Completing the first global inventory of flu strains in birds is a key step in building that understanding.
This snapshot of the world of flu virus diversity in birds is the outcome of many years of ecology
and adequately financing surveillance to describe global flu diversity. To address this the authors introduced a new method
which borrows on approaches used by ecologists to estimate the diversity of flu viruses in a particular location.
With this approach health authorities can design surveillance programs to detect a given percentage of flu virus diversity.
The scientists also looked at patterns of flu diversity in different bird hosts. Mallards carry the highest number of strains at 89
Given that flu viruses can jump from domestic poultry to people ongoing efforts at improving biosecurity at poultry farms
By way of a'blind test'Cherubini recently asked 10 experts in five tree-ring laboratories in various countries to date the same wood samples from olive-tree branches.
and Africa in an attempt to alleviate malnutrition. But exposed to hot climates tropical diseases
In low-and middle-income nations 13 livestock-related zoonoses (diseases transferable between animals and humans) cause 2. 4 billion cases of human illness and 2. 2
and given that China is the worldâ##s most populous country millions of people may be exposed to health risks from contamination.
Diarrhea can last several days and can leave the body without the water and salts that are necessary for survival.
Most people who die from diarrhea actually die from severe dehydration and fluid loss. Based on their findings the researchers concluded that the probability curves of the annual disease burden â#oeexceeded the WHOÂ##s threshold for acceptable level of risk from wastewater reuse by two to three orders of magnitude
and contaminants that are retained. Vegetables such as bok choy posed the least risk and choy sum the greatest risk
The probability of rotavirus infection is affected by uncertainty in virus concentration and variation in vegetable consumption.
The dose-response model which characterizes the relationship between exposure level to contaminants and the probability of developing disease is a source of uncertainty in the risk assessment.
The rotavirus infection rates were based on data from an infectivity trial in adults but rotavirus primarily affects children.
Roundwormsthe banana variety Yangambi km5 produces toxic substances that kill the nematode Radopholus similis a roundworm that infects the root tissue of banana plants--to the frustration of farmers worldwide.
and Dirk De Waele (Laboratory for Tropical Crop Improvement) bodes well for the Grande Naine the export banana par excellence which is very susceptible to the roundworms.
This roundworm infects banana crops worldwide. The nematodes are invisible to the naked eye but they can penetrate the roots of banana plants by the thousands.
Lesions in the roots also make the plant more susceptible to other diseases. Eventually the roots begin to rot.
We have wondered always how the Yangambi km5 fights off roundworms. This study offers an answer.
Researchers have wondered always how the Yangambi km5 manages to fight off roundworms says De Waele. This study goes a long way in answering that.
These trees are also more tolerant to drought to the presence of weed-killer to in vitro and ex vitro crops to contamination
In addition and although to a lesser extent these infants have a greater sudden death rate and a greater risk of suffering cancer and respiratory disease in childhood as well.
Preterm delivery (before 37 weeks of pregnancy) is associated with significant short and long term ill-health and accounts for almost 75%of all newborn deaths.
To be included participants had to be free of diabetes have delivered a live single baby and completed a validated food frequency questionnaire on dietary habits during the first four to five months of pregnancy.
and hypertension were more likely to have lost 10 pounds in six months if they had secure online access to a dietitian than
They each had one in-person visit with a dietitian where together they created a plan to reduce their heart risk including the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet with eight to 10 servings of vegetables and fruits per day.
Heart disease and stroke are the number-one cause of death in the United states but they don't have to be said Dr. Green.
and combine hypertension drugs. Although the pharmacists helped patients set lifestyle goals weight loss was not statistically significant.
We're planning a larger randomized controlled trial where we will tailor the e-care for the patients who have hypertension Dr. Green said.
The new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that growing reliance on a few food crops may also accelerate the worldwide rise in obesity heart disease and diabetes
not only to combat hunger malnutrition and over-nutrition but also to protect global food supplies against the impacts of global climate change.
Now it is being put through its paces by science in the fight against pancreatic cancer with the potential to make inroads against several more.
UT Health Science Center researcher A. Pratap Kumar was already exploring the cork tree extract's promise in treating prostate cancer
when his team found that deadly pancreatic cancers share some similar development pathways with prostate tumors.
In a paper published today in the journal Clinical Cancer Research the researchers show that the extract blocks those pathways
Fibrosis is a process of uncontrolled scarring around the tumor gland said Dr. Kumar a professor of urology in the School of medicine at the Health Science Center and the study's principal investigator.
Once you have fibrotic tissue the drugs cannot get into the cancer. Liver and kidney tumors also develop fibrosis
and the resulting resistance to drugs he said and there are no drugs currently targeting that pathway in those cancers.
The two pathways or proteins that contribute to fibrosis in those tumors also encourage Cox-2 an enzyme that causes inflammation
and the cork tree extract appears to suppress that as well Dr. Kumar said. The complex interrelationship of these substances is the million-dollar question he said
In a promising prostate cancer clinical study of 24 patients that Dr. Kumar helped spearhead all the patients tolerated the treatment well he said.
#Asthma drug aids simultaneous desensitization to several food allergies, study findsan asthma drug accelerates the process of desensitizing patients with food allergies to several foods at the same time a new study
The findings come on the heels of a recent study by the same team showing that people with multiple food allergies can be desensitized to several foods at once.
The two studies both phase-1 safety trials provide the first scientific evidence that a promising new method for treating people for multiple food allergies works.
Patients who took the asthma drug omalizumab became desensitized to multiple food allergens at a median of 18 weeks;
The results of the new study was published online Feb 27 in the journal Allergy Asthma & Clinical Immunology.
In oral immunotherapy the desensitization method used in both studies allergic patients build up tolerance to a food by ingesting it in tiny gradually increasing doses under a doctor's supervision in a hospital setting.
because nearly 4 million Americans are allergic to more than one food. Parents came up to me and said things like'It's great that you're desensitizing children to their peanut
or milk allergies but my daughter is allergic to wheat cashews eggs and almonds. What can you do about that?'
Patients'options for dealing with food allergies are limited. Physicians advise them to avoid allergy triggers
and carry injectable epinephrine at all times because they run a constant risk of anaphylactic shock from accidental consumption.
and adults with multiple allergies ate tiny doses of their allergens--as many as five--as highly purified food powders each day.
The researchers monitored the treatment's safety noting some mild allergic reactions such as itching in the mouth
and adults with multiple food allergies underwent a similar protocol--but with an additional step.
This drug reduces activity of the body's Ige molecules the antibodies involved in allergic responses
and had been shown in a previous Stanford study to speed the success of oral immunotherapy for children with milk allergies.
this discontinuation was associated not with additional allergic reactions. The patients continued consuming food powders until they could safely eat 4 grams of each food protein.
Many of the study subjects had more than five food allergies the maximum number treated. However the researchers saw something curious:
Some people with nut allergies were desensitized to related tree nuts to which were also allergic
but that were included not in their immunotherapy.''Bystander effect'We saw this'bystander effect'in about 60 percent of patients where for example we gave someone pecan powder
when plant extracts fed to sick pigsporcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is the most expensive and invasive disease for pig producers on a global scale.
E coli a bacterial illness of the gut is marked by diarrhea decrease in appetite decrease in body weight and in some cases a higher mortality rate.
The pigs in the study challenged with E coli that had been fed any of the three plant extracts had a lower frequency of diarrhea (20 percent) than the pigs fed the control diet (40 percent.
Liu noted that even the pigs in the non-challenged group with a low frequency of mild diarrhea benefited from the plant extracts.
Because there is a relatively high diarrhea rate in post-weaning pigs as they are moved from the mom
Common symptoms of PRRS a viral infection of the lung include fever lethargy trouble breathing loss of appetite and decreased growth performance.
and prevent secondary infections. The researchers believe the benefits resulted from the effects on the pigs'immune systems
Protocol used to demonstrate brucellosis-free bison from infected herdsa new study from the USDA Animal
and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) demonstrates that it is possible to qualify bison coming from an infected herd as free of brucellosis using quarantine procedures.
In response to Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP) guidelines on federal and state bison management actions the USDA APHIS Brucellosis Eradication:
if it could successfully be used to qualify the animals as brucellosis-free. Results of the study indicated that it is feasible to take young bison from an infected population
and Rule (UM &r) qualify them as brucellosis-free in less than three years. Between 2005 and 2008 more than 200 bison calves of Yellowstone national park origin were transported to a quarantine facility at Corwin Springs Montana just outside Yellowstone national park.
and tested for brucellosis. Those animals that tested positive were euthanized and those remaining were tested until all had two consecutive negative tests.
Since the primary mode of brucellosis transmission is via abortion and birthing events all animals testing negative were held until they produced their first calf
At that point the bison were considered brucellosis-free. The study showed that all bison continued to be brucellosis-free over the course of the seven-year study after the initial screening period and through several calving cycles.
No evidence of brucellosis was found in either newborn calves or their mothers. The results of this study indicate that under the right conditions there is an opportunity to produce live brucellosis-free bison from even a herd with a large number of infected animals like the one in Yellowstone national park said Dr. Jack
Rhyan APHIS Veterinary Officer. Additionally this study was a great example of the benefits to be gained from several agencies pooling resources
and expertise to research the critical issue of brucellosis in wildlife. The authors of the study note that agencies charged with the management of bison agree that capture
and relocation of bison to other suitable habitats would be an appropriate alternative to the lethal removal of bison that exceed population objectives for Yellowstone national park as defined by the IMBP.
and would not transmit brucellosis to cattle or other animals. At the same time a movement to ecologically restore bison to large landscapes is gaining momentum throughout the United states
and Canada and brucellosis-free bison may be needed to seed those landscapes. In particular the genetics of Yellowstone bison are important
and these research findings enable us to practice genetic rescue from brucellosis infected bison herds.
We've also learned a great deal about brucellosis blood testing and how to better interpret results when screening animals for this disease.
His efforts to control the pathogen using foliar applications of a bactericide has had good results for two years
In his approach to the plant defense response French said he is trying to produce something like a systemic acquired resistance or induced systemic resistance response from the potato against the pathogen.
if the plant can actually trigger a mechanism to defend itself from the pathogen and the psyllid as well he said.
or the pathogen and any nutrient imbalances that result or any phytotoxicity that might occur after applying pesticides French said.
whether it is for plant defense responses pathogen control plant health on top of what the growers is applying he said.
Boiling water to remove contaminants requires a great deal of fuel to heat the water. Membrane-based filters while able to remove microbes are expensive require a pump
but did not filter out contaminants. There's huge variation between plants Karnik says. There could be much better plants out there that are suitable for this process.
and the fact that their saliva is the primary cause of feeding injury to plants
#Climate change puts wheat crops at risk of diseasethere is a risk that severity of epidemics of some wheat diseases may increase within the next ten to twenty years due to the impacts of climate change
The researchers carried out a survey in China to establish a link between weather and the severity of epidemics of fusarium ear blight on the wheat crops.
During severe epidemics wheat crop losses can be as much as sixty per cent. These losses can become larger as under certain conditions the fusarium pathogen produces toxic chemicals known as mycotoxins.
The levels of mycotoxins present in the grain may render it unsuitable for either human
The research suggests that climate change will increase the risk of serious ear blight epidemics on winter wheat in Central China by the middle of this century (2020-2050.
Some operations that rear and sterilize insects such as one in Guatemala that produces many of the sterile medflies dropped over Florida's major ports roughly every seven days do employ low-oxygen conditions called hypoxia or anoxia.
This is the first time a study has been published that supports the protective role of the bioactive compounds in strawberries in tackling recognised markers and risk factors for cardiovascular diseases.
#Drone shows new view of energy coal ash spillaerial images captured by a drone aircraft provide a new look at the extent of contaminants leaked into a North carolina river from a Duke energy coal ash dump as concerns about water pollution grow
It could be an effective means to monitor the extent of environmental contamination in the case of similar incidents.
With the continuing rise of resistance the research published in the journal Genome Biology is key as scientists say that this knowledge could help improve malaria control strategies.
Mosquitoes (Anopheles funestus) are vectors of malaria and most strategies for combating the spread of the disease focus on control of mosquito populations using insecticides.
or viral infections that might be as benign as the sniffles or as debilitating as influenza.
But almost nothing is known regarding how pathogens of pollinators are transmitted at flowers postdoctoral researcher Scott Mcart
and Professor Lynn Adler at the University of Massachusetts Amherst write. As major hubs of plant-animal interactions throughout the world flowers are ideal venues for the transmission of microbes among plants and animals.
and identify promising areas for future research on how floral traits influence pathogen transmission. As the authors point out Given recent concerns about pollinator declines caused in part by pathogens the role of floral traits in mediating pathogen transmission is a key area for further research.
They say their synthesis could help efforts to control economically devastating pollinator-vectored plant pathogens such as fire blight
which affects rose family fruits such as apples and pears and mummyberry disease which attacks blueberries. Mcart adds Our intent with this paper is to stimulate interest in the fascinating yet poorly understood microbial world of flowers.
We found several generalities in how plant pathogens are transmitted at flowers yet the major take-home from our paper may be in pointing out that this is an important gap in our knowledge.
The authors identified 187 studies pertaining to plant pathogens published between 1947 and 2013 in
and where transmission must have occurred at flowers or pathogen-induced pseudoflowers. These are flower-like structures made by a pathogen that can look
and smell like a real flower for example. Regarding animal pathogens they identified 618 studies published before September 2013 using the same criteria.
In total we found eight major groups of animal pathogens that are transmitted potentially at flowers including a trypanosomatid fungi bacteria
and RNA VIRUSES they note. Their paper Arranging the bouquet of disease: Floral traits and the transmission of plant and animal pathogens was featured in the publisher's News Round up of most newsworthy research.
Traditionally research on flower evolution has focused largely on selection by pollinators but as Mcart and colleagues point out pollinators that also transmit pathogens may reduce the benefits to the plant of attracting them depending on the costs and benefits of pollination.
The researchers say more work is needed before scientists can know whether a flower's chemical or physical traits determine the likelihood that pathogens are transmitted for example
and whether infection by pathogens is an inevitable consequence of pollinator visitation. Plant pathologists have made great strides in identifying floral traits that mediate host plant resistance to floral pathogens in individual systems;
synthesizing this literature can provide generality in identifying traits that mediate plant-pathogen dynamics. From the pollinator's perspective there has been surprisingly little work elucidating the role of flowers and floral traits for pathogen transmission.
Given recent concerns about pollinator declines caused in part by pathogens understanding the role of floral traits in disease transmission is a key missing element say Mcart and colleagues.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Note:
Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference e
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