News by Subject Medicine & Health

Exposure to arsenic in drinking water was significantly reduced among Americans using public water systems following the Environmental Protection Agency regulation on maximum levels of arsenic. Compliance led to a decline of 17 percent in levels of urinary arsenic, equivalent to an estimated reduction of over 200 cases of lung and bladder disease every year. However, there were no improvements in arsenic exposure rates among users of private wells, which are not federally regulated.

Oregon shore crabs exhibit risky behavior when they're exposed to the antidepressant Prozac, making it easier for predators to catch them, according to a new study from Portland State University (PSU).

Brazilian scientists found that addicts who began using cocaine before and after the age of 18 showed differences in sustained attention and working memory, among other brain functions. The research, made under controlled drug abstinence condition, measured cocaine's impact on more than a hundred drug users' cognition, and recommended multidisciplinary treatment for patients with an accentuated cognitive deficit.

Every year, millions of tonnes of plastic debris ends up in the sea. The path taken by plastic to reach the sea must be elucidated before it will be possible to reduce the volume of plastic input. To date, there was only little information available on this. It has now been followed up by an interdisciplinary research team who were able to show that plastic debris is primarily carried into the sea by large rivers.

Hatching eggs in large-scale hatcheries are currently treated with formaldehyde to eliminate germs. Austrian researchers from TU Graz, acib and Roombiotic have now developed a natural alternative.

In the first study of its kind, James Cook University scientists have shown scorpions can fine-tune their venom to suit different predators and prey.