#Study explores 100 year increase in forestry diseasesas ash dieback disease continues to threaten common ash trees across Europe new research in the Journal of Quaternary Science explores the historic impact of forest diseases to discover
if diseases played a significant factor in vegetation change. The study explores how large-scale pathogen outbreaks were much more infrequent in the past
which suggests the human role in transporting pathogens to new locations such as the international seed trade is a major factor.
The temperate and boreal forests of Europe and North america have been repeated subject to pathogen outbreaks over the last 100 years said Martyn Waller from Kingston University.
Palaeoecology can potentially offer a long-term perspective on such disturbance episodes providing information on their triggers frequency and impact.
or bug and weed killers and solvents is associated likely with a higher risk of developing Parkinson's disease.
or country living and developing Parkinson's in some of the studies said study author Emanuele Cereda MD Phd with the IRCCS University Hospital San Matteo Foundation in Pavia Italy.
For the analysis researchers reviewed 104 studies that looked at exposure to weed fungus rodent or bug killers and solvents and the risk of developing Parkinson's disease.
or weed killers and solvents increased the risk of developing Parkinson's disease by 33 to 80 percent.
In controlled studies exposure to the weed killer paraquat or the fungicides maneb and mancozeb was associated with two times the risk of developing the disease.
and the method of application such as spraying or mixing affected Parkinson's risk said Cereda. However our study suggests that the risk increases in a dose response manner as the length of exposure to these chemicals increases.
The study was supported by the Grigioni Foundation for Parkinson's disease and the IRCCS University Hospital San Matteo Foundation.
#Research aims for insecticide that targets malaria mosquitoesin malaria-ridden parts of Africa mosquito netting protects people from being infected
but affect a broad range of species said entomologist Jeff Bloomquist a professor in UF's Emerging Pathogens Institute and its Institute of food and agricultural sciences.
The research team's goal is to develop compounds perfectly matched to the acetylcholinesterase molecules in malaria-transmitting mosquitoes he said.
but only in target species. Malaria is spread by mosquitoes in the Anopheles genus notably Anopheles gambiae native to Africa.
The disease is common in poor communities where homes may not have adequate screens to keep flying insects out.
Malaria is caused by microscopic organisms called protists which are present in the saliva of infected female mosquitoes and transmitted when the mosquitoes bite.
Initial symptoms of the disease can include fever chills convulsions headaches and nausea. In severe cases malaria can cause kidney failure coma and death.
Worldwide malaria infected about 219 million people in 2010 and killed about 660000 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About 90 percent of those infected lived in Africa. Bloomquist and colleagues at Virginia Tech where the project is based are trying to perfect mosquito-specific compounds that can be manufactured on a large scale
and applied to mosquito netting and surfaces where the pests might land. It will take at least four to five years before the team has developed
Funding for the project came from a five-year $3. 6 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases part of the National institutes of health.
In Florida malaria was a significant problem in the early 20th century transmitted by native Anopheles mosquitoes.
The disease has been curtailed greatly via mosquito-control practices but even today cases are reported occasionally in the Sunshine state.
The study was funded by grant 1r25ca117887-01a from the National Cancer Institute. Co-authors of the study are John Spangler M d. Mara Vitolins Dr. PH. Stephen Davis M. S. Edward Ip Ph d. Gail Marion Ph d. and Sonia Crandall
#Ferrets, pigs susceptible to H7n9 avian influenza viruschinese and U s. scientists have used virus isolated from a person who died from H7n9 avian influenza infection to determine
whether the virus could infect and be transmitted between ferrets. Ferrets are used often as a mammalian model in influenza research
and efficient transmission of influenza virus between ferrets can provide clues as to how well the same process might occur in people.
The researchers dropped H7n9 virus into the noses of six ferrets. A day later three uninfected ferrets were placed inside cages with the infected animals
The scientists detected viral material in the nasal secretions of the ferrets at least one day before clinical signs of disease became apparent.
The potential public health implication of this observation is that a person infected by H7n9 avian influenza virus who does not show symptoms could
The researchers also infected pigs with the human-derived H7n9 virus. In natural settings pigs can act as a virtual mixing bowl to combine avian-and mammalian-specific influenza strains potentially allowing avian strains to better adapt to humans.
and spark a pandemic so information about swine susceptibility to H7n9 could help scientists gauge the pandemic potential of the avian virus. Unlike the ferrets infected pigs in this small study did not transmit virus to uninfected pigs
All the infected ferrets and pigs showed mild signs of illness such as sneezing nasal discharge and lethargy but none of the infected animals became seriously ill.
The research was supported in part by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases part of the National institutes of health.
The above story is provided based on materials by NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases. Note:
and colleagues studied tomatoes enriched in anthocyanin a natural pigment that confers high antioxidant capacity The purple GM tomatoes have already been found to prolong the lives of cancer-prone mice
The purple tomatoes were also less susceptible to one of the most important postharvest diseases grey mould caused by Botrytis cinerea.
However at least one species of the group O. gallopava causes disease in humans who have compromised immune systems.
which was developed initially for human genome and disease research. In this way Kobayashi and Shimizu identified 98 genes that are associated with the flowering of the plant-including the genes Sbft and Sbsvp
Environmental protection and restoration of the forests have so far been hindered severely by the irregularity of the mass flowering intervals
Dr Wenxin Wang is trying to uncover therapies for diseases such as diabetic ulcers and Epidermolysis Bullosa
which causes chronic skin conditions: We are currently investigating the use of these new materials for biomedical applications such as drug/gene delivery cross linkable hydrogel materials and skin adhesives.
and the subtropical fruit may revolutionize how medical therapies like anticancer drugs are delivered to specific tumor cells.
The therapeutic potential of grapefruit derived nanoparticles was validated further through a Phase 1 clinical trial for treatment of colon cancer patients.
whether this technology can be applied in the treatment of inflammation related autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. A Common sense Approachzhang said he began this research by
It is the first time scientists have decoded the genome of a plant pathogen and its plant host from dried herbarium samples.
This opens up a new area of research to understand how pathogens evolve and how human activity impacts the spread of plant disease.
Phytophthora infestans changed the course of history. Even today The irish population has recovered still not to pre-famine levels.
and the US reconstructed the spread of the potato blight pathogen from dried plants. Although these were 170 to 120 years old they were found to have many intact pieces of DNA.
The researchers examined the historical spread of the funguslike oomycete Phytophthora infestans known as The irish potato famine pathogen.
The social upheaval during that time may have led to a spread of the pathogen from its center of origin in Toluca Valley Mexico.
Crop breeding methods may impact on the evolution of pathogens. This study directly documents the effect of plant breeding on the genetic makeup of a pathogen.
Perhaps this strain became extinct when the first resistant potato varieties were bred at the beginning of the twentieth century speculates Yoshida.
What is for certain is that these findings will greatly help us to understand the dynamics of emerging pathogens.
and tobacco smoke are at a greater risk for developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and for experiencing more frequent and severe symptoms of the disease as well as more severe airflow obstruction than those who are exposed to only one type of smoke according to the results of a new population-based study conducted by researchers in Colombia.
The results of the study will be presented at the ATS 2013 International Conference. Although previous studies have shown a definite link between wood smoke exposure
and case series of patients with similar disease or health profiles said study lead author Carlos Torres-Duque M d. director of research at the Fundacion Neumologica Colombiana in Bogota.
and the overall prevalence of COPD as well as the characteristics of the disease and those who suffer from it.
and more severe disease than those who were exposed to only one type of smoke. This result suggests that the combination of wood
For nonnative mammals such as humans they may experience life-threatening acute mountain sickness when visiting high-altitude regions.
Our research suggests that parents may play an important role in influencing their adolescents to establish behavioral patterns that improve their long-term health and chronic-disease risk.
and disease in the United states. Declines in smoking among youths were observed from the late 1990s.
and disease in the United states. Declines in smoking among youths were observed from the late 1990s.
and a cancer causing agent found specifically in tobacco smoke--known as NKK--as measured by their metabolites cotinine and NNAL.
Dr Chatterjee's research uses an approach called TILLING (Targeting Induced Lesions In The Genome) an established non-GM method for creating
#Bird flu in live poultry markets are the source of viruses causing human infectionson 31 march 2013 the Chinese National Health and Family planning Commission announced human cases of novel
H7n9 influenza virus infections. A group of scientists led by Professor Chen Hualan of the Harbin Veterinary Research Institute at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences has investigated the origins of this novel H7n9 influenza virus
and published their results in Springer's open access journal Chinese Science Bulletin (Springeropen). Following analysis of H7n9 influenza viruses collected from live poultry markets it was found that these viruses circulating among birds were responsible for human infections.
These results provide a basis for the government to take actions for controlling this public health threat.
The novel H7n9 influenza virus was identified in China as the agent that causes a flu-like disease in humans resulting in some deaths.
Of these samples 20 were positive for the presence of H7n9 influenza viruses. All of the positive samples originated from live poultry markets in Shanghai.
The analysis of these novel H7n9 influenza virus isolates showed that that the six internal genes were derived from avian H9n2 viruses
HA receptor-binding specificity is a major molecular determinant for the host range of influenza viruses.
which is characteristic of the HA gene in human influenza viruses. This finding implies that H7n9 viruses have acquired partially human receptor-binding specificity.
and culling of poultry in affected areas should be taken during this initial stage of virus prevalence to prevent a possible pandemic.
and skin cancers and has been associated with other conditions as well including heart disease type 2 diabetes cognitive deficits and adverse pregnancy outcomes.
Breastfeeding is known to offer wide-ranging preventive health benefits for babies reducing their risk for infections
and allergies and providing the perfect balance of nutrients to help infants grow into strong and healthy toddlers.
#Potential flu pandemic lurks: Influenza viruses circulating in pigs, birds could pose risk to humansin the summer of 1968 a new strain of influenza appeared in Hong kong.
This strain known as H3n2 spread around the globe and eventually killed an estimated 1 million people.
A new study from MIT reveals that there are many strains of H3n2 circulating in birds
and have the potential to generate a pandemic if they leap to humans. The researchers led by Ram Sasisekharan the Alfred H. Caspary Professor of Biological Engineering at MIT also found that current flu vaccines might not offer protection against these strains.
There are indeed examples of H3n2 that we need to be concerned about says Sasisekharan who is also a member of MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.
From a pandemic-preparedness point of view we should potentially start including some of these H3 strains as part of influenza vaccines.
The study which appears in the May 10 issue of the journal Scientific Reports also offers the World health organization
Influenza evolutionin the past 100 years influenza viruses that emerged from pigs or birds have caused several notable flu pandemics.
When one of these avian or swine viruses gains the ability to infect humans it can often evade the immune system which is primed to recognize only strains that commonly infect humans.
since the 1968 pandemic but they have evolved to a less dangerous form that produces a nasty seasonal flu.
In 2009 a strain of H1n1 emerged that was very similar to the virus that caused a 1918 pandemic that killed 50 million to 100 million people.
This value indicates the percentage of these genetic regions identical to those of the 1968 pandemic strain
and helps determine how well an influenza virus can evade a host's immune response. The researchers also took into account the patterns of attachment of the HA protein to sugar molecules called glycans.
since 2000 that could potentially cause a pandemic. Of these 549 came from birds and 32 from pigs.
The researchers then exposed some of these strains to antibodies provoked by the current H3 seasonal-flu vaccines.
One of the amazing things about the influenza virus is its ability to grab genes from different pools he says.
Sasisekharan and colleagues are now doing a similar genetic study of H5 influenza strains. The H3 study was funded by the National institutes of health and the National Science Foundation Story Source:
and air quality and ameliorate infectious diseases. Lead author of the study Dr Leydimere Oliveira said:
On surveillance in the war against cancerpredicting outcomes for cancer patients based on tumor-immune system interactions is an emerging clinical approach
when it comes to the most deadly types of breast cancer. We know that one function of our immune system is to detect
and destroy pre-malignant cells before they can become cancer said lead author Lance D. Miller Ph d. associate professor of cancer biology at Wake Forest Baptist.
and a tumor develops. This unresponsiveness can be temporary and the immune system can remain alerted to the fact that there's a problem.
Immune cells can stand post along the borders of the tumor and even infiltrate the tumor core where they may gain a better position for eventual attack.
We now have technologies that allow us to quantify aspects of this interaction and from that information we can make predictions about cancer outcomes Miller said.
The study published online ahead of print last month in the journal Genome Biology. This approach is known as gene expression profiling
and by studying the expression profiles of 2000 human breast tumors Miller and his team identified several immune gene signatures that reflect the abundance
and anti-tumor properties of different types of tumor-infiltrating immune cells. They found that in certain aggressive types of breast cancer such as basal-like
or triple negative disease these immune signatures were highly predictive of cancer recurrence years after initial treatment.
Strikingly the patients who seemed to benefit the most were those with highly proliferative and clinically aggressive disease Miller said.
In these cases high expression levels of the immune genes predicted for recurrence-free survival
while low immune gene expression predicted for a high likelihood of cancer recurrence. An important next step Miller said will be translating this into a diagnostic test that may help doctors make more informed treatment decisions.
Knowing a tumor's immunogenic disposition could help oncologists know whether to prescribe more or less aggressive treatment regimens
For doctors like Bayard Powell M d. chief of hematology and oncology at Wake Forest Baptist's Comprehensive Cancer Center new drugs designed to enhance anti-tumor immune responses are beginning to play a major
role in the treatment of certain forms of cancer. At Wake Forest Baptist we are now fighting cancer with state-of-the-art therapies including immunotherapeutics Powell said.
How a tumor's immunogenic disposition influences the effectiveness of immunotherapeutic drugs is an important question that could lead to valuable new strategies in personalized medicine.
Co-authors include: Jeff W. Chou Ph d. Mark C. Willingham M d. Jimmy Ruiz M d. James P. Vaughn Ph d. Purnima Dubey Ph d. and Timothy L
Stephen J. Hamilton-Dutoit M d. Aarhus University Hospital Institute of Pathology Denmark; Jonas Bergh M d. Ph d. Karolinska Institute Sweden;
Dietary nicotine may hold protective keynew research reveals that Solanaceae--a flowering plant family with some species producing foods that are edible sources of nicotine--may provide a protective effect against Parkinson's disease.
and tomatoes may reduce risk of developing Parkinson's. Parkinson's disease is a movement disorder caused by a loss of brain cells that produce dopamine.
Symptoms include facial hand arm and leg tremors stiffness in the limbs loss of balance and slower overall movement.
Nearly one million Americans have Parkinson's with 60000 new cases diagnosed in the U s. each year and up to ten million individuals worldwide live with this disease according to the Parkinson's disease Foundation.
Currently there is no cure for Parkinson's but symptoms are treated with medications and procedures such as deep brain stimulation.
Previous studies have found that cigarette smoking and other forms of tobacco also a Solanaceae plant reduced relative risk of Parkinson's disease.
or if people who develop Parkinson's disease are simply less apt to use tobacco because of differences in the brain that occur early in the disease process long before diagnosis. For the present population-based study Dr. Susan Searles Nielsen
and colleagues from the University of Washington in Seattle recruited 490 patients newly diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at the university's Neurology Clinic or a regional health maintenance organization Group Health Cooperative.
Vegetable consumption in general did not affect Parkinson's disease risk but as consumption of edible Solanaceae increased Parkinson's disease risk decreased with peppers displaying the strongest association.
Researchers noted that the apparent protection from Parkinson's occurred mainly in men and women with little or no prior use of tobacco
which contains much more nicotine than the foods studied. Our study is the first to investigate dietary nicotine
and risk of developing Parkinson's disease said Dr. Searles Nielsen. Similar to the many studies that indicate tobacco use might reduce risk of Parkinson's our findings also suggest a protective effect from nicotine or perhaps a similar but less toxic chemical in peppers and tobacco.
The authors recommend further studies to confirm and extend their findings which could lead to possible interventions that prevent Parkinson's disease.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Wiley. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
and soy foods may be more effective in preventing prostate cancer when they are eaten together than
In our study we used mice that were engineered genetically to develop an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
and soy had no cancerous lesions in the prostate at study's End all mice in the control group--no soy no tomato--developed the disease said John Erdman a U of I professor of food science and nutrition.
Eating tomato soy and the combination all significantly reduced prostate cancer incidence. But the combination gave us the best results.
Only 45 percent of mice fed both foods developed the disease compared to 61 percent in the tomato group and 66 percent in the soy group he said.
Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in men but the disease has nearly a 100 percent survival rate
if it's caught early. In older men it is often a slow-growing cancer
and these men often choose watchful waiting over radiation and surgical treatments that have said unwelcome side effects Krystle Zuniga co-author of the paper.
In countries where soy is eaten regularly prostate cancer occurs at significantly lower levels Erdman noted.
and one to two servings of soy foods daily could protect against prostate cancer Zuniga said.
When you eat whole foods you expose yourself to the entire array of cancer-fighting bioactive components in these foods Erdman said.
although low in genistein was still very effective at reducing cancer incidence. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of Illinois College of Agricultural Consumer and Environmental sciences (ACES.
These findings published May 8 in The Journal of Clinical Investigation suggest micrornas could be targeted for the development of new medical interventions aimed at improving muscle fitness in people with chronic illness or injury.
This information is relevant to our efforts to improve muscle fitness in many health conditions such as aging cancer and heart failure.
These findings may also prove useful for our active members of the military who become'detrained'during injury
and recovery time said Daniel P. Kelly M d. director of Sanford-Burnham's Diabetes and Obesity Research center and senior author of the study.
and his team worked with Steven R. Smith M d. director of the Florida Hospital--Sanford-Burnham Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes.
We're now conducting additional human studies to further investigate the ERRÎ-microrna circuit as a potential avenue for improving fitness in people with chronic illness
or injury Kelly said. For example next we want to know what happens to this circuit during exercise and
Some studies have shown that trained dogs can detect cancerous tumours such as lung cancer by smelling a person's breath.
and an electronic nose can detect which substances the animals recognise then we could diagnose the disease earlier
#Biomechanical performances of old-fashioned leather and modern football helmets comparedresearchers at the Center for Injury Biomechanics at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg Virginia compared the relative safety afforded by two 1930-vintage leather football helmets
and head injury risks at the severity level of subconcussive injury. Rowson and his coauthors state that they offer biomechanical analysis based on helmet testing methodologies that compare relative helmet performance.
#Scientists alarmed by rapid spread of brown streak disease in cassavacassava experts are reporting new outbreaks
and the increased spread of Cassava Brown Streak Disease or CBSD warning that the rapidly proliferating plant virus could cause a 50 percent drop in production of a crop that provides a significant source of food and income for 300 million Africans.
The pandemic of CBSD now underway is particularly worrisome because agriculture experts have been looking to the otherwise resilient cassava plant
and eliminate this plague said Claude Fauquet a scientist at the International Center for Tropical agriculture (known by its Spanish acronym CIAT) who heads the Global Cassava Partnership for the 21st Century (GCP21).
We are concerned particularly that the disease could spread to West Africa and particularly Nigeria--the world's largest producer and consumer of cassava--because Nigeria would provide a gateway for an invasion of West Africa where about 150 million people depend on the crop.
Infections can claim 100 percent of a farmer's harvest without the farmer's knowledge.
The telltale signs of the disease are brown streaks in the root's flesh that
The spread of the disease to West Africa and particularly Nigeria is a major cause for concern experts say
and numerous small-scale processors CMD--a Scourge for Cassava on the African Continentscientists at the conference will also consider options for dealing with another devastating virus--the Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD).
The disease is caused by several viruses and the African continent witnessed several major CMD epidemics over the past decades the most recent and devastating
of which occurred in the 1990s in East and Central africa. Great success was achieved in combating the CMD pandemic through developing and disseminating varieties that were resistant to CMD.
In fact by the mid-2000s half of all cassava farmers were benefiting from these varieties in large parts of East and Central africa.
But by a cruel twist of nature both improved and local varieties all succumbed to the'new'pandemic of CBSD.
Farmers also help spread the disease by planting new fields with infected stem cuttings. Scientists note that
while it would take several years for the disease to spread across the continent via whiteflies alone infected stem cuttings could spark outbreaks in new areas overnight.
Experts to Develop Plan to Stop Viruses in their Tracksat the Italy meeting experts will discuss a variety of tactics for combating virus diseases such as developing more disease-resistant varieties like those recently released in Tanzania.
Efforts to breed high-yielding disease-resistant plants suitable for Africa's various growing regions will involve going to South america where cassava originated
and stop the disease from spreading. Scientists will also discuss new research into the potential threat African cassava producers face from the introduction of new diseases currently found outside the continent.
It's time for the world to recalibrate its scientific priorities Fauquet said. More than any other crop cassava has the greatest potential to reduce hunger
and other destructive viruses like the smallpox of cassava--formidable diseases but threats we can eradicate
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