and nutrition and can grow successfully in environments stressed by drought pests diseases or poor soil quality.
since the development of agriculture typically use apparent physical traits to guide strain selection for crossbreeding with the hope that the offspring will manifest a combination and improvement of the desired traits such as drought pest and disease resistance
The latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data showed a significant decline in obesity among children aged 2 to 5 years from 12.1 percent to 8. 4 percent.
#Understanding disease resistance genes in crops to secure future food productiona new understanding as to how plants defend themselves against some pathogens that cause crop diseases is proposed by researchers from the University of Hertfordshire to help scientists
breed new more successful disease-resistant agricultural crops. The new concept is called effector-triggered defense or ETD.
Breeding agricultural crops for resistance against disease pathogens is essential in the quest to secure global food production.
However despite efforts to control them crop diseases still account for fifteen percent of the losses in the world's food production.
Farmers spray their crops with fungicides to control these plant diseases but their effectiveness is limited as disease pathogens mutate to become insensitive to the fungicides.
By exploiting new molecular and genetic insights the research done in collaboration with Pierre de Wit from Wageningen Agricultural University in The netherlands provides a better understanding of the defense system of crop plants against the damaging pathogens that grow in the spaces between plant cells.
This provides new opportunities to improve the effectiveness of breeding crops for resistance against disease.
Dr Henrik Stotz Marie Curie Fellow and lead researcher from the School of Life and Medical sciences at the University of Hertfordshire said:
As traditional methods of controlling crop disease become less effective the need to breed new strains of crops with an inbuilt resistance to the disease pathogens increases.
In the same way that humans have developed immune responses against human disease pathogens crops can be bred for resistance against disease pathogens
and describes a new concept describing how plants protect themselves against the pathogens that grow in the space outside plant cells (the apoplast)--a new concept called effector-triggered defense or ETD.
and inside the plant cells Both sets of receptors sense the invasive pathogen and respond to its intrusion.
The two receptor systems have different classes of plant receptor proteins to detect different types of pathogen molecules.
Pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) is the first line of defense operating soon after the pathogen has landed on the plant surface.
Before the pathogen has entered the plant its presence of specific pathogen molecules or patterns is recognised by the host plant's immune systems.
This then activates immune responses to stop the pathogen and so protect the plant from infection. The second line of defense is referred to as effector-triggered immunity (ETI) this is based on the detection of disease pathogens by the plant's genes--there is a relationship between the gene in the host plant and the gene in the pathogen.
The concept of ETI was developed to describe defense against pathogens that enter into plant cells (e g. wheat rusts
and mildews potato late blight pathogens) and fits their defense mechanisms well. The presence of the pathogen in the cell activates specific proteins that cause death of both the plant cell and the invading pathogen.
Dr Stotz continued: This concept of plant ETI does not really explain the second line of defense in the interaction of plant hosts protecting themselves against extracellular fungal pathogens
--i e. those foliar fungal pathogens that get into the leaf of the plant to exploit the space between its cells known as the apoplast to retrieve nutrients from the plant.
These include the damaging pathogens that cause septoria leaf blotch on wheat barley leaf blotch apple scab and light leaf spot on oilseed rape.
The ETI concept does not hold for defense against those pathogens that go into the leaf but not into the cells.
Through our research we discovered that defense against extracellular pathogens (ETD) involves different plant genes from those involved in the defense against intracellular pathogens.
We identified some specific resistance genes that code for receptor-like proteis (RLPS) and described how they operated against the pathogens.
We feel immunity is too strong a term for this new defense mechanism because these extracellular pathogens can survive
and even sexually reproduce on resistant hosts and so we refer to it as'defense'.'Professor Bruce Fitt professor of plant pathology at the University of Hertfordshire added:
This new understanding of plant defense through ETD suggests different operations of specific resistance genes
which will help us to be more successful in breeding new strains of crops for resistance.
The paper Effector-triggered defense against apoplastic fungal pathogens is published online at Trends in Plant science.
A team of investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) report that skin grafts from pigs lacking the Gal sugar molecule were as effective in covering burn-like injuries on the backs of baboons as skin taken from other
A key component in the treatment of major burns particularly those involving more than 30 percent of the body surface is removing the damaged skin and covering the injury preferably with a graft of a patient's own tissue.
and expensive--disadvantages also applying to artificial skin grafts--must be tested carefully for pathogens and are rejected eventually by a patient's immune system.
When Cetrulo's team used skin from these Gal-free pigs to provide grafts covering burn-like injuries on the backs of baboons--injuries made
But if a pit-to baboon was followed by a graft using baboon skin the second graft adhered to the wound
A high-quality alternative to deceased-donor skin that could be produced from a specially maintained pathogen-free herd of Galt-knockout miniature swine would be an important resource for burn management in both civilian and military settings.
and harm fish and wildlife. This according to a first-of-its-kind study released today by scientists at Syracuse University
We know that these other pollutants contribute to increased risk of premature death and heart attacks as well as increased incidence and severity of asthma and other health effects.
#Scientists map the worst times of day for people allergic to grass pollenatishoo! Help there are flowering grasses around please stay indoors
Traditionally people allergic to grass pollen are advised to be aware of high pollen concentrations during the day
Later in the summer allergy sufferers should avoid being outdoor in the middle of the day. Different species have different patternsconcentrations of grass pollen are influenced by many factors the most important being the weather and the emissions
In the main oilseed rape has been bred to improve oilseed yield and disease resistance without paying much attention to the straw.
Preterm birth is a leading cause of infant disease and death and occurs in approximately one in 10 pregnancies globally.
Piglets from infected sows suffered less from the infection than piglets from non-infected sows.
Overall offspring from immunised mothers had less severe diarrhea or no diarrhea at all. Piglets that became ill recovered faster
An infection with Cystoisospora suis causes serious gastrointestinal disease in piglets. The infection is continues completely asymptomatic in adult pigs explains lead author Schwarz.
Sows produce antibodies for their offspringto stimulate antibody production against Cystoisospora suis in sows researchers exposed pregnant sows to infectious stages (oocysts) of the parasite two weeks before parturition.
This leaves farmers faced with the likelihood of new infections. Sows also ingest the parasite
These maternal antibodies protect the piglets from infections in the first few weeks of life.
These immunoglobulins are not just in the bloodstream they are primarily found on the surface of the mucous membranes including the intestines where they serve as a defence against pathogens.
but we would like to use the piglet's immune response to stop it in its tracks before the infection even gets started lead author Lukas Schwarz concludes.
The importance of Cystoisospora suisneonatal porcine coccidiosis caused by Cystosisospora suis is a severe parasitic disease of the intestinal tract of neonatal piglets caused by the unicellular organism Cystoisospora suis.
Infection with Cystoisospora suis results in heavy diarrhea and may cause fatalities if secondary bacterial infections are present.
For animal welfare considerations as well as for economic reasons there is considerable interest in trying to control the disease.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Veterinã¤rmedizinische Universitã¤t Wien. Note:
#Low-carb vegan diet may reduce heart disease risk, weightresearchers at St michael's Hospital have shown for the first time that
in addition to weight loss a specific low-carbohydrate diet may also reduce the risk of heart disease by 10 per cent over 10 years.
and oils may reduce the risk of heart disease by lowering bad cholesterol. We killed two birds with one stone
Franklin says This syndrome is aggravated by rising CO2. As more carbon becomes available to the trees the limitation of nitrogen generated by mycorrhizae becomes even more important possibly eliminating
Cancer Journal for Clinicians. Obesity rates in the U s. have been going up for decades said University of Illinois kinesiology and community health professor Ruopeng An who led the new analysis with Roland Sturm of the RAND Corp. in Santa monica California.
University of Illinois kinesiology and community health professor Ruopeng An (pictured) and his colleague Roland Sturm of the RAND Corporation say long-term trends can help better understand the obesity epidemic in the U s. Photo by L
A common misbelief is that the obesity epidemic reflects increasing social disparities and that the largest weight gains are concentrated in groups identifiable by race ethnicity income education
So a reversal of the obesity epidemic would need universal intuitions rather than a focus on certain groups.
So we are kind of in a dilemma trying to figure out what really contributes to the obesity epidemic.
#Healthy diet linked with better lung function in COPD patientssure everyone knows a healthy diet provides lots of health benefits for patients with respiratory diseases
but now a new study has shown a direct link between eating fish fruit and dairy products and improved lung function among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
and progression of many diseases and there is evidence that diet plays a role in both the development
and to identify biomarkers associated with the disease. Limited diet records were available for 2167 ECLIPSE participants who provided dietary intake information at eight time points over a three-year period.
or cheese had showed improvement in lung function less emphysema improved six-minute walk scores improved SGRQ scores
oils--canola soybean and corn--to the rising incidence of lung inflammation and possibly asthma.
as a result of their high gamma-tocopherol consumption said senior author Joan Cook-Mills an associate professor of medicine in allergy/immunology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of medicine.
Rates of asthma in the U s. have been climbing in the last 40 years coinciding with a switch in U s. diets from lard
which were thought to be healthier for the heart Looking at other countries'rates of asthma Cook-Mills said those with significantly lower rates of asthma have diets high in olive and sunflower oils.
In the U s. asthma prevalence (the percentage of people who have been diagnosed with asthma and still have asthma) was 8. 4 percent in 2010 as reported by the U s. Department of health and human services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the U s. the average blood plasma level of gamma-tocopherol is four or more times higher than those of European and Scandinavian countries that consume sunflower and olive oil Cook-Mills noted.
and sunflower oil have the lowest rate of asthma and those that consume soybean corn and canola oil have the highest rate of asthma Cook-Mills said.
When people consume alpha-tocopherol which is rich in olive oil and sunflower oil their lung function is better.
Cook-Mills had done previous allergy research in mice showing alpha-tocopherol decreased lung inflammation protecting healthy lung function and gamma-tocopherol increased lung
inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness a characteristic of asthma. She hypothesized that they might have similar effects in humans.
People with asthma already have lower lung function so if they have high gamma-tocopherol levels they would have even more difficulty breathing Cook-Mills said.
The individuals in CARDIA with asthma and high gamma-tocopherol had the lowest lung function.
The success with kidney transplant patients is given particularly noteworthy the number of very ill people who come to the medical center with a high probability of rejecting a donor organ because of high amounts of antibodies in their blood.
From piecing together thousands of years of climate data preserved in ice cores around the world Thompson has learned that periods of extended drought correspond with major world crises--famine disease and war.
which aids public health--a natural goal for hospitals to have said Sites. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Ohio State university.
The research supported by the National Cancer Institute examined the sequence of events around which university students first smoke tobacco from a hookah also known as a water pipe in an effort to determine the driving factors behind the decision.
This suggests that countering positive attitudes may be at least as effective as emphasizing harm in preventing initiation of hookah tobacco smoking.
One idea about the current obesity epidemic is that appetite suppression systems that evolved to work with a paleo diet are off-kilter today.
and drinking water contributes to a number of human illnesses and can affect ecosystems negatively. That could be given a problem the high biodiversity of tropical rain forests and their important role in the global carbon cycle and the Earth's climate.
and lettuce can protect you from hypertension suggests a new study led by King's college London. The findings published in the journal PNAS help to explain why some previous studies have shown that a Mediterranean diet can reduce blood pressure.
Mice genetically engineered to be resistant to this inhibitory process were found to maintain their high blood pressure
or nuts can reduce the incidence of cardiovascular problems like stroke heart failure and heart attacks. Story Source:
Gastrointestinal diseases are the major cause of mortality in wild and captive pandas but little is known about their digestive process.
Additionally China has banned logging to preserve the habitat of the declining species. With gastrointestinal disease causing the greatest natural mortality of red
#Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: Promising drug therapies for fatal lung disease foundresearchers in separate clinical trials found two drugs slow the progression of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis a fatal lung disease
with no effective treatment or cure and for which there is currently no therapy approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
and in 2011 was approved by the European union for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The findings of the ASCEND drug trial are published online by the New england Journal of Medicine
and anti-fibrotic properties of pirfenidone offers help and encouragement to so many patients suffering from this relentless disease that robs them of breath
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis causes the regions of the lungs where oxygen gets to the blood to thicken
Cedars-Sinai will be participating in this program under the direction of Dr. Jeremy Falk and the Advanced Lung Disease Program.
Noble also was a co-author of a second study testing the efficacy and safety of the multi-kinase inhibitor nintedanib on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients.
Nintedanib is also is being studied in lung cancer. In our research we found that nintedanib could also slow the loss of lung function in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis said Noble.
It is a second dose of good news for our patients because nintedanib not only slowed the progression of the disease
but it tended to reduce acute exacerbations of the disease while tending to preserve the quality of life of the study patients receiving the drug.
Noble is paid a consultant of Intermune Inc . and Boehringer-ingelheim for his work on the steering committees of the two clinical trials.
Cedars--Sinai was not among the medical centers participating in this multicenter study of the drug's efficacy in treating idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
and Drug Administration specifically targeted for treating this fatal disease said Shlomo Melmed MD senior vice president and dean at Cedars-Sinai and the Helene A. and Philip E. Hixon Chair in Investigative Medicine.
and effects of cardiovascular disease and may have other health benefits. While omega-6 fatty acids--found in some vegetable oils as well as nuts
This has led to the somewhat controversial hypothesis that the omega-6/omega-3 ratio is an important contributor to the risk of cardiovascular disease cancer and inflammatory disorders.
One type of animal that naturally produces all fatty acids is the c. elegans roundworm and in 2004 Kang's group reported that mice transgenic for a c. elegans gene called fat-1 converted omega-6s into omega-3s in their tissues.
#Wide variation in lung cancer rates globally, study findsthe only recent comprehensive analysis of lung cancer rates for women around the world finds lung cancer rates are dropping in young women in many regions
or expand comprehensive tobacco control programs across the globe to curtail future tobacco-related lung cancer deaths.
The study is published early online in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention. Lung cancer is now the second leading cause of cancer death in women worldwide.
An estimated 491200 women died of lung cancer in 2012 more than half (57%)of whom resided in economically developing countries.
Differences in smoking patterns account for much of the variation in lung cancer rates around the globe.
Smoking in females became common in North america Northern europe Australia and New zealand as early as the 1940s but remained rare throughout the 20th century in the developing world and in places with strong social norms against it such as the Middle east.
Because the tobacco epidemic among women has varied globally researchers led by Lindsey Torre documented and compared contemporary trends in lung cancer mortality to identify opportunities for intervention.
They used the World health organization's Cancer Mortality Database covering populations on 10 six continents to calculate age-standardized lung cancer death rates during 2006 to 2010 and annual percent change in rates for available
years from 1985 to 2011 and for the most recent five years for which data is available by population and age group (30-49 and 50-74 years).
Lung cancer mortality rates among young women (30-49 years) were stable or declining in 47 of the 52 populations examined.
Lung cancer mortality rates (per 100000) during 2006-2010 ranged from 0. 7 in Costa rica to 14.8 in Hungary among young women and from 8. 8 in Georgia to 120.0 in Scotland among older women.
The widespread reduction in lung cancer we found in young women in many parts of the globe is encouraging
The greatest opportunity we have right now for slowing a tobacco-fueled epidemic is in those countries where smoking among women is rare such as Africa and most of Asia.
And while decreasing lung cancer death rates are encouraging many countries have yet to implement the kinds of comprehensive tobacco control measures that have led to drops in other countries.
The above story is provided based on materials by American Cancer Society. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
The research team showed that the microbial combinations present in traditional cheeses were able to to protect them--both in the paste and on the surface--from dangerous pathogens notably Listeria monocytogenes.
and ripen certain raw milk cheeses also appeared to be protected by a complex microbial biofilm limiting contamination by redoubtable pathogens such as Salmonella Listeria monocytogenes Escherichia coli o157/H7 and Staphylococcus aureus.
Nevertheless studies performed on raw milk have demonstrated that its consumption can protect against allergies asthma hay fever and more generally atopic sensitisation.
Concerned hunters and foresters sent the carcasses to the University of Veterinary medicine Vienna for analysis. Extensive investigations have revealed now that the animals died of bacterial pneumonia caused by two strains of bacteria that are highly unusual in chamois.
The results have been published in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases. Chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) share their habitat with a number of other wild animals as well as with farm animals.
Because of the risk of disease transmission between species when dead or sick animals are discovered by hunters
Early identification of the cause of disease or death can be crucial to prevent a wide-scale outbreak.
The Pathological Laboratory at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology specializes in such cases. Severe pneumonia as cause of deathnineteen dead chamois from the region of Amstetten Lilienfeld and Salzburg in north-central Austria were investigated.
The researchers performed autopsies investigating various tissues and testing for the presence of bacteria viruses and parasites.
The analysis revealed that the animals had died of a massive pneumonia. The causes of the pneumonia turned out to be bacteria with the evocative names Mannheimia glucosida (in honour of the German biologist Walter Mannheim nothing to do with the German town) and Bibersteinia trehalosi.
The bacteria had previously been detected only in cattle and sheep. That they can cause deadly and epidemic pneumonia in chamois was unknown.
It is against the law to administer medical treatment to wild animals so we don't really have many possibilities to prevent an epidemic explains Annika Posautz from the pathology team of the Research Institute.
All we can do is try to minimize contact between animals for example by avoiding the use of salt licks.
This puts farm animals as well as wildlife population at risk for interspecies transmission of infections. Close cooperation with hunters and foresters is essential to ensure that any outbreaks are detected as soon as possible.
#Water pipe smoking causes significant exposure to nicotine, cancer-causing agentsyoung adults who smoked water pipes in hookah bars had elevated levels of nicotine cotinine tobacco-related cancer-causing agents
and volatile organic compounds (VOC) in their urine and this may increase their risk for cancer
and other chronic diseases according to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
twofold increase in NNAL a breakdown product of a tobacco-specific nitrosamine NNK which can cause lung and pancreatic cancers;
and acrolein that are known to cause cancer and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. There was also a substantial increase in nicotine levels
The above story is provided based on materials by American Association for Cancer Research (AACR. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length h
Donahue and an international team of researchers with the CLOUD experiment at CERN set out to test that hypothesis. The CLOUD project at CERN is a unique facility that allows scientists to reproduce a typical atmospheric setting inside of an essentially contaminant-free
Growing evidence suggests that smoking during pregnancy may increase the risk of psychopathology such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD.
Research on ADHD has suggested that individuals with the disorder may exhibit poor inhibitory control. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed at age 25 years on young adults who had been followed
since birth to examine the effect of prenatal tobacco smoke exposure on neural activity implicated in externalizing disorders such as ADHD with measures of inhibitory control.
This in turn affected the plant's wounding response and made it more susceptible to pest injury.
if existing smokers switched completely from conventional cigarettes (with no other changes in use patterns) to e-cigarettes there would be a lower disease burden caused by nicotine addiction the evidence available at this time
Chemical compounds containing reactive nitrogen are major drivers of air and water pollution worldwide and hence of diseases like asthma or cancer.
#Citrus greening affects roots before leavesalthough citrus greening enters trees through their leaves University of Florida researchers have discovered that the deadly disease attacks roots long before the leaves show signs of damage--a finding that may help
The role of root infection by insect-carried bacterial pathogens has been underestimated greatly said Evan Johnson a research assistant scientist with UF's Institute of food and agricultural sciences.
The disease starves the tree of nutrients leaving fruits that are green and misshapen unsuitable for sale as fresh fruit or juice.
Based on the work of Dr. Johnson and his colleagues we now know how important roots are in the development of greening disease said Jackie Burns director of the CREC.
We hope further investigations on the role of roots in this disease will lead to future management solutions that help growers remain productive until a permanent solution can be found.
#Link between insecticides and collapse of honey bee colonies strengthenedtwo widely used neonicotinoids--a class of insecticide--appear to significantly harm honey bee colonies over the winter particularly during colder winters according to a new study
and Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in which bees abandon their hives over the winter and eventually die.
or parasites as a result of exposure to pesticides the new study found that bees in the hives exhibiting CCD had almost identical levels of pathogen infestation as a group of control hives most
Experts have considered a number of possible causes including pathogen infestation beekeeping practices and pesticide exposure.
and by type of stroke caused by clot or bleeding). Researchers found no significant difference in the effect on age (younger or older than 55.
In the United states stroke is the No. 4 cause of death and a leading cause of disability.
Novel lung cancer treatment meets with successan old idea of retreating lung tumors with radiation is new again especially with the technological advances seen in radiation oncology over the last decade.
The Comprehensive Cancer Center of Wake Forest Baptist Medical center is one of only a handful of cancer centers that is attempting to give lung cancer patients out of treatment options a chance to keep the cancer at bay.
and Oncology and the Journal of Thoracic Oncology outline the treatment success at Wake Forest Baptist. â#oeone of the toughest challenges of lung cancer is
when the cancer comes back in an area thatâ##s been treated previously with radiation treatmentâ#said James J. Urbanic M d. lead author of the studies
and with a high enough dose to knock the cancer back? â#Urbanic said the overall findings of the study suggest that there are some patients with recurrent lung cancers who can be treated with another definitive course of radiation therapy
and still have a chance at a cure. â#oeat many cancer treatment centers these patients only get chemotherapy
and have no chance at definitive treatment. The goal of treatment is solely to prevent
and the majority of patients (88 percent) were treated for primary lung cancer. Average tumor size at retreatment was 2. 5 cm.
Prior lung resections had been completed in 24 percent of patients. Urbanic said the typical patient is an older man
and radiation or radiation alone for a lung cancer that couldnâ##t be removed surgically. Theyâ##ve returned for a checkup
and feel well but a CT scan shows that the cancer has returned in the area previously treated.
If the cancer is just in one spot the patients get retreated with 10 radiation treatments done with the SBRT technique
which is targeted tightly to just the tumor and minimizes the dose to the surrounding normal tissue. â#oewake Forest Baptist has been developing expertise in doing thisâ#Urbanic said. â#oeweâ##re finding that there are patients who are alive years later.
and control the disease â#upwards of 70 percent of the time. â #But there is a higher risk of injury involved
when someone is radiated a second time which is why other cancer treatment center programs might be reluctant to adopt the practice he said. â#oethis is a fairly niche effort in lung cancer care
and weâ##d like to see a national level clinical trial at some pointâ#he said. â#oethe technology has gotten to the point where
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011