One of astronomy's big questions is why galaxies forming as recently as 1 billion years after the Big Bang contain so much dust. The leading hypothesis is that supernovae, stars that explode at the end of their lives, contain large amounts of metal-enriched material that, in turn, harbors key ingredients of dust, like silicon, iron and carbon.
As sea levels rise in the wake of climate change and semi-arid regions turn to desert, people living in those parts of the world are likely to be displaced. A mathematical approach to planned relocation reported in the International Journal of Mathematics and Operational Research.
Decision scientist Sajjad Zahir at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, and colleagues Ruhul Sarker of the University of New South Wales, Canberra, Australia and Ziaul Al-Mahmud of Lethbridge Community Network, have devised a mathematical algorithm to address the problem of population relocation.
VANCOUVER, APRIL 1, 2009 — New research funded by the Canadian Cancer Society has discovered poor educational achievement and learning difficulties for some childhood cancer survivors, especially those diagnosed with brain tumours. This first-of-its-kind study, published in the journal Cancer, raises critical questions about the long term outlook for children with cancer.
"These are very significant findings," says Barbara Kaminsky, CEO Canadian Cancer Society BC and Yukon. "It is not good enough to just improve survival rates for these children. We need to ensure that as many childhood cancer patients as possible become more than survivors—rather we hope to have post-cancer thrivers."
New Haven, Conn. — Butterflies seem able to both attract mates and ward off predators using different sides of their wings, according to new research by Yale University biologists.
Trying to find the balance between these two crucial behaviors is one of nature's oldest dilemmas, according to Jeffrey Oliver, a postdoctoral associate in Yale's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and lead author on the study, which appears online today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
Efforts over the past decade to boost minority participation in the sciences and engineering have been successful, a new report released by AAAS has found. Analysis of Ph.D. recipients from universities participating in a program to increase underrepresented minorities in science-related studies revealed that from 2001 through 2008 the annual number of Ph.D.s awarded to underrepresented minorities in science and technical fields increased by 33.9%, from 623 to 834. When looking at the natural sciences and engineering fields alone, the increase was even greater: 382 to 573, a 50% increase.
Boston, MA and Washington, D.C.—April 1, 2009—For the past several decades, evidence has shown that greater dietary intake of the B-vitamin, folate, offers protection against the development of certain common cancers and reduces neural tube defects in newborns, opening new avenues for public health interventions that have a great impact on health. However, folate's central role as an essential factor in DNA synthesis also means that abundant availability of the vitamin can enhance the development of pre-cancerous and cancerous tumors.
Two new studies in the April issue of Hepatology explore the ways that hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) can be cleared from patients' bodies. Hepatology is a journal published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). The articles are also available online at Wiley Interscience (www.interscience.wiley.com).
Both HBV and HCV are global health problems. They can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer and they cause millions of deaths each year. Treatments to contain or cure these infections have been difficult to find. Researchers continue to explore potential therapies and the immune system response to the diseases.
In a new study, a therapeutic agent called sorafenib dramatically improved the condition of rats with portal hypertension. The drug is already approved in several countries for treatment of kidney and liver cancer, and it may be time to consider it for patients suffering from advanced portal hypertension, the authors suggest. Their findings are in the April issue of Hepatology, a journal published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). The article is also available online at Wiley Interscience (www.interscience.wiley.com).
A new study pinpoints certain aspects of the immune system that may play a role in the recurrence and progression of hepatitis C virus (HCV) after liver transplantation. The study is in the April issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal published by John Wiley & Sons. The article is also available online at Wiley Interscience (www.interscience.wiley.com).
Hepatitis C virus (HCV), which can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer, is the leading indication for liver transplantation in the U.S. Unfortunately, the infection almost always recurs, and in about 30 percent of cases, it causes cirrhosis in the transplanted liver within five years.
This release is also available in Spanish.
6 out of every 10 university students, regardless their field of study, present any symptom of anxiety when it comes to deal with Mathematics, according to a research work carried out at the University of Granada. In addition, there are significant differences between men and women in this sense, as men suffer less anxiety when it comes to deal with mathematical tasks (47% of men against 62% of women).
INDIANAPOLIS – Compassion fatigue in nurses, doctors and other front line cancer-care providers significantly impacts how they interact with patients, with patient families, with other healthcare workers, and with their own family, according to analysis by Indiana University School of Medicine and Regenstrief Institute researchers published in the March issue of the Journal of Health Psychology.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Head and neck cancer patients who smoked, drank, didn't exercise or didn't eat enough fruit when they were diagnosed had worse survival outcomes than those with better health habits, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
"While there has been a recent emphasis on biomarkers and genes that might be linked to cancer survival, the health habits a person has at diagnosis play a major role in his or her survival," says study author Sonia Duffy, Ph.D., R.N., associate professor of nursing at the U-M School of Nursing, research assistant professor of otolaryngology at the U-M Medical School, and research scientist at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System.
Recent research has predicted that climate change may expand the scope of human infectious diseases. A new review, however, argues that climate change may have a negligible effect on pathogens or even reduce their ranges. The paper has sparked debate in the ecological community.
In a forum in the April issue of Ecology, Kevin Lafferty of the U.S. Geological Survey's Western Ecological Research Center suggests that instead of a net expansion in the global range of diseases, climate change may cause poleward range shifts in the areas suitable for diseases as higher latitudes become warmer and regions near the equator become too hot.
