EurekAlert! Public News List

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

Ecological Applications
Oysters could rebound more quickly with limited fishing and improved habitat
A new study shows that combining improved oyster restoration methods with limits on fishing in the upper Chesapeake could bring the oyster population back to the Bay in a much shorter period of time. The study led by Michael Wilberg of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Chesapeake Biological Laboratory assessed a range of management and restoration options to see which ones would have the most likelihood of success.

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

Journal of the American Chemical Society
'Self-cleaning' pollution-control technology could do more harm than good, study suggests
Research by Indiana University environmental scientists shows that air-pollution-removal technology used in "self-cleaning" paints and building surfaces may actually cause more problems than they solve. The study finds that titanium dioxide coatings, seen as promising for their role in breaking down airborne pollutants on contact, are likely in real-world conditions to convert abundant ammonia to nitrogen oxide, the key precursor of harmful ozone pollution.

National Science Foundation, Israel Science Foundation

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

Science
Study: Context crucial when it comes to mutations in genetic evolution
New research led by evolutionary biologist Jay Storz of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has found that whether a given mutation is good or bad is often determined by other mutations associated with it. In other words, genetic evolution is context-dependent.

National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

Cancer Discovery
Gene variants may predict who will benefit from breast cancer prevention drugs
In women at high risk for breast cancer, a long-term drug treatment can cut disease risk in half. Researchers have now identified two gene variants that may predict which women are most likely to benefit -- and which should avoid this therapy. There is nearly a six-fold difference in disease risk depending on which gene variants a woman carries. The work represents a major step toward truly individualized breast cancer prevention in high-risk women.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

Science
Warm ocean drives most Antarctic ice shelf loss, UC Irvine and others show
Ocean waters melting the undersides of Antarctic ice shelves, not icebergs calving into the sea, are responsible for most of the continent's ice loss, a study by UC Irvine and others has found.

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

American Journal of Public Health
Universal paid sick leave reduces spread of flu, according to Pitt simulation
Allowing all employees access to paid sick days would reduce influenza infections in the workplace by nearly 6 percent, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis by University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health modeling experts. The researchers simulated an influenza epidemic in Pittsburgh and surrounding Allegheny County and estimated it to be more effective for small, compared to large, workplaces. The results are reported in the American Journal of Public Health.

NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

Science
Putting flesh on the bones of ancient fish
Scientists present for the first time miraculously preserved musculature of 380 million year old armored fish discovered in north-west Australia. This research will help scientists to better understand how neck and abdominal muscles evolved during the transition from jawless to jawed vertebrates. The findings are published in SCIENCE.

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

Psychology and Aging
Volunteering reduces risk of hypertension in older adults, Carnegie Mellon research shows
It turns out that helping others can also help you protect yourself from high blood pressure. New shows that older adults who volunteer for at least 200 hours per year decrease their risk of hypertension, or high blood pressure, by 40 percent. The study suggests that volunteer work may be an effective non-pharmaceutical option to help prevent the condition. Hypertension affects an estimated 65 million Americans and is a major contributor to cardiovascular disease.

NIH/National Institute on Aging, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

BMJ
Austerity cuts to Spanish healthcare system are 'putting lives at risk'
A series of austerity reforms made by the Spanish government could lead to the effective dismantling of large parts of the country's healthcare system, with potentially detrimental effects on the health of the Spanish people, according to new research from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

BMJ
Severe maternal complications less common during home births
Women with low risk pregnancies who choose to give birth at home have a lower risk of severe complications than women who plan a hospital birth, finds a study published on bmj.com today.

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

BMJ
Experts propose restoring invisible and abandoned trials 'to correct the scientific record'
Experts are today calling for all unpublished and misreported trials to be published or formally corrected within the next year to ensure doctors and patients rely on complete and accurate information to make decisions about treatments.

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research
GW researcher finds association between finasteride and decreased levels of alcohol consumption
GW Researcher Michael Irwig published the first human study that shows an association between finasteride (Propecia) and decreased levels of alcohol consumption.

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

Science
Satellite data will be essential to future of groundwater, flood and drought management
New satellite imagery reveals that several areas across the US are all but certain to suffer water-related catastrophes, including extreme flooding, drought and groundwater depletion. The report underscores the urgent need to address these current and rapidly emerging water issues at the national scale.

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

Cancer Cell
Protein protects against breast cancer recurrence in animal model
Precisely what causes breast cancer recurrence has been poorly understood. But now a piece of the puzzle has fallen into place: Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania have identified a key molecular player in recurrent breast cancer -- a finding that suggests potential new therapeutic strategies.

NIH/National Cancer Institute, Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program, Breast Cancer Research Foundation

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
New report identifies 'regret-free' approaches for adapting agriculture to climate change
Whether it’s swapping coffee for cocoa in Central America or bracing for drought in Sri Lanka with a return to ancient water storage systems, findings from a new report from the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security chart a path for farmers to adapt to climate shifts despite uncertainties about what growing conditions will look like decades from now.

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

Frontiers
Frontiers news briefs: June 13
In this week's news briefs: insights into harmful fungal communities in composts; why extroverts consistently seek out rewarding environments; the role of microRNAs in the tumorigenesis of ovarian cancer; and the epidemiology of criniviruses.

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

Science
Putting flesh on the bones of ancient fish
This week in the journal Science, Swedish and Australian researchers present the miraculously preserved musculature of 380 million year old fossil fishes, revealed by unique fossils from a locality in north-west Australia. The finds will help scientists to understand how neck muscles and abdominal muscles -- "abs" -- evolved.

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

Cell
New fluorescent protein from eel revolutionizes key clinical assay
Unagi, the sea-going Japanese freshwater eel, harbors a fluorescent protein that could serve as the basis for a revolutionary new clinical test for bilirubin, a critical indicator of human liver function, hemolysis, and jaundice, according to researchers from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute. The discovery also sheds light on the mysterious and endangered Unagi that could contribute to its conservation.

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Stacking up a clearer picture of the universe
Researchers from the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research have proven a new technique that will provide a clearer picture of the Universe's history and be used with the next generation of radio telescopes such as the Square Kilometre Array.

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

Science
Unraveling the genetic mystery of medieval leprosy
Why was there a sudden drop in the incidence of leprosy at the end of the Middle Ages? Biologists and archeologists reconstruct the genomes of medieval strains of the pathogen responsible by exhuming human remains from centuries old graves. Their results are published in the journal Science and bring new hope for understanding epidemics.

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research
Could novel drug target autism and fetal alcohol disorder?
A surprising new study reveals a common molecular vulnerability in autism and fetal alcohol disorder. Both have social impairment symptoms and originate during brain development. The study found male offspring of rat mothers given alcohol during pregnancy have social impairment and altered levels of autism-related genes found in humans. But the damage was reversed with a thyroid hormone given to the mothers during pregnancy.

NIH/National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

BMJ
Be gone, bacteria
A team of researchers led by the University of Iowa is recommending clinical guidelines that will cut the post-surgical infection rate for staph bacteria (including MRSA) by 71 percent and 59 percent for a broader class of infectious agents known as gram-positive bacteria. The recommendations come after an extensive review of hospital practices in the US and are published in the British Medical Journal.

US Department of Health and Human Services

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

Science
Gustatory tug-of-war key to whether salty foods taste good
As anyone who's ever mixed up the sugar and salt while baking knows, too much of a good thing can be inedible. What hasn't been clear, though, is how our tongues and brains can tell when the saltiness of our food has crossed the line from yummy to yucky -- or, worse, something dangerous. Now researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the University of California, Santa Barbara report that in fruit flies, at least, that process is controlled by competing input from two different types of taste-sensing cells: one that attracts flies to salty foods, and one that repels them.

NIH/National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

Cancer Discovery
Genetic variations may help identify best candidates for preventive breast cancer drugs
Newly discovered genetic variations may help predict breast cancer risk in women who receive preventive breast cancer therapy with the selective estrogen receptor modulator drugs tamoxifen and raloxifene, a Mayo Clinic-led study has found. The study is published in the journal Cancer Discovery.

NIH/National Institute of General Medical Science

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

Cell Stem Cell
Mount Sinai researchers succeed in programming blood forming stem cells
By transferring four genes into mouse fibroblast cells, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have produced cells that resemble hematopoietic stem cells, which produce millions of new blood cells in the human body every day. These findings provide a platform for future development of patient-specific stem/progenitor cells, and more differentiated blood products, for cell-replacement therapy.


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