The penguin population of Antarctica is under pressure from global warming. Four populations of penguins that breed on the Antarctic continent -- Adélie, Emperor, Chinstrap and Gentoo --are under escalating pressure. For some, global warming is taking away precious ground on which penguins raise their young. For others, food has become increasingly scarce because of warming in conjunction with overfishing.
Another FDA-approved targeted cancer drug, sunitinib, may be associated with cardiac toxicity, report researchers at Children's Hospital Boston, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Thomas Jefferson University. Sunitinib is one of several new "smart"cancer drugs called tyrosine kinase inhibitors that targets specific signaling molecules inside cancer cells that aid cancer spread, and was originally thought to be relatively free of cardiac side effects.
Scientists exploring one of the largest remaining blocks of tropical forest in Western Africa discovered significant populations of new, rare and threatened species underscoring the area's high biological diversity and value. The discoveries include a critically endangered frog species, an unusually high 22 species of large mammals and six species of primates including two species of global conservation concern.
Overexpression of the protein EphA2 in aggressive breast cancer is common, and generally leads to poor outcome for the patient. However, the function of Eph2A in cancer progression is controversial, with conflicting evidence suggesting both pro- and anti-cancer roles for the protein. Scientists have now presented evidence that the role Eph2A in breast cancer is highly context dependent.
A new data analysis shows conclusively that large amounts of carbon dioxide are released from peatland in Southeast Asia when it is converted from natural swamp forest to plantations of oil palm or pulpwood trees. This supports the findings of a recent Greenpeace report on the impact of growing oil palm on tropical peatlands.
Canada's peacekeepers suffer similar rates of post-traumatic stress disorders as combat, war-zone soldiers, according to new research. Researchers also found that PTSD rates and severity were associated with younger age, single marital status and deployment frequency.
Researchers have developed a shape-memory rubber that may enable applications as diverse as biomedical implants, conformal face-masks, self-sealing sutures, and "smart"labels. The material forms a new class of shape-memory polymers, which are materials that can be stretched to a new shape and will stay in that form until heated, at which time they revert to their initial shape.
Engineers have designed the first simple process for manufacturing materials that strongly repel oils. The material, which can be applied as a flexible surface coating, could have applications in aviation, space travel and hazardous waste cleanup.
Schizophrenia is one of the most debilitating of the major psychiatric disorders, and is also one of the most difficult to treat. Although numerous antipsychotic treatments are available, they can cause significant side effects and many patients experience only a partial relief of their symptoms and up to 30 percent no relief at all.
The skin is the largest human sensory organ. What is not fully understood is how the skin responds to stimuli, especially to pain. Research has now demonstrated that Stem Cell Factor and its receptor, c-Kit, play a central role in tuning the responsiveness of sensory neurons to heat stimuli. "As yet, c-Kit is the first example of a single gene being required for normal noxious heat sensitivity of C-fibers,"according to the neurobiologists.
Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease of the arterial blood vessels enhanced by the presence of immune cells known as macrophages. Macrophages migrate to the cholesterol-rich atherosclerotic plaques that form in the blood vessels and are the central component of atherosclerotic disease. Phospholipase C (PLC) is a protein that has known importance in immune cell signaling, although no specific known function in atherosclerosis. But now, researchers have discovered that the beta-3 form of PLC plays an important role in encouraging macrophage survival within atherosclerotic plaques.
Artificial jellyfish, explosives sensors and seabed batteries are among the diverse research projects under way just nine months after the creation of a Center of Excellence in Undersea Technology. When researchers began to investigate how to create a covert network of widely-distributed underwater sensors, they imagined attaching the sensors to artificial jellyfish that could maintain their place in the water while passing information from one sensor to the next.
A new study has an important message for the elderly: It's not too late to improve your health through diet and exercise, even if you've had an unhealthy lifestyle in the past! The report surveyed scientific literature and found that adults, 65 and older, can have significant health improvements with simple and realistic lifestyle changes. It found that risk can be reduced for many diseases--including obesity, cancer, cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis.
While it is well understood that the evolution of new genes leads to adaptations that help species survive, gene loss may also afford a selective advantage. Scientists identified 26 losses of long-established genes, including 16 that were not previously known. Next they compared the identified genes in the complete genomes of the human, chimpanzee, rhesus monkey, mouse, rat, dog, and opossum to estimate the amount of time the gene was functional before it was lost. This refined the timing of the gene loss and also served as a benchmark for whether the gene in question was long-established, and therefore probably functional, or merely a loss of a redundant gene copy. Through this process, they found 6 genes that were lost only in the human.
