RxPG News : Special Topics

Anna Hazare - the keeper of the earth and human conscience

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:07:36 PST

Pune, April 16 - A name synonymous with multiple crusades, Anna Hazare, who has won the World Bank's 2008 Jit Gill Memorial Award for outstanding public service, has made a journey from despondency to courage, from humble beginnings to glorious heights.

Indian American scientist wins top IMO prize

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:12:05 PST

Washington, April 1 - Jagadish Shukla, an Indian American scientist, has been awarded the 52nd International Meteorological Organization - Prize, for his research on monsoons and establishing a scientific model for climate prediction.

Artificial human sperm could make men redundant: experts

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:35:21 PST

Hamburg -, April 7 - Artificial human sperm could come to the aid of infertile men, according to a team of German scientists who have used lab-grown sperm to inseminate female mice.

Will autopsy on Benazir's body become necessary?

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 17:45:08 PST

Islamabad, Dec 31 - The body of Pakistan's slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto may need to be exhumed for an autopsy if the government allows international experts to institute a probe into her assassination.

Murders in 'fit of passion' don't deserve death: Apex court

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 15:06:09 PST

New Delhi, Aug 12 - In what has alarmed friends of slain Delhi University law student Priyadarshini Mattoo, the Supreme Court has held that even a double murder committed 'in a fit of passion' after an abortive rape bid does not deserve death penalty.

Low literacy equals early death sentence

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 04:00:00 PST

Not being able to read doesn't just make it harder to navigate each day. Low literacy impairs people's ability to obtain critical information about their health and can dramatically shorten their lives.

New Insights Into the Nature of Pride as a Social Function

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 16:00:00 PST

Pride has perplexed philosophers and theologians for centuries, and it is an especially paradoxical emotion in American culture. We applaud rugged individualism, self-reliance and personal excellence, but too much pride can easily tip the balance toward vanity, haughtiness and self-love. Scientists have also been perplexed by this complex emotion, because it is so unlike primary emotions like fear and disgust.

Girls Select Partners Who Resemble Their Dads - Research

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 17:00:00 PST

Women who enjoy good childhood relationships with their fathers are more likely to select partners who resemble their dads research suggests. In contrast, the team of psychologists from Durham University and two Polish institutions revealed that women who have negative or less positive relationships were not attracted to men who looked like their male parents.

Study of protein folds offers insight into metabolic evolution

Sun, 20 May 2007 04:00:00 PST

Researchers at the University of Illinois have constructed the first global family tree of metabolic protein architecture. Their approach offers a new window on the evolutionary history of metabolism.

Regulating stem cell research

Fri, 11 May 2007 12:03:55 PST

Regulations governing human stem cell research must strive to assure strict oversight while simultaneously fostering scientific innovation through collaboration, says a group of scientists from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), one of the world's largest supporters of such research.

Is Sex Necessary for Evolution?

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 07:59:12 PST

If you own a birdbath, chances are you are hosting one of evolutionary biology's most puzzling enigmas: bdelloid rotifers. These microscopic invertebrates - widely distributed in mosses, creeks, ponds, and other freshwater repositories -abandoned sex perhaps 100 million years ago, yet have apparently diverged into nearly 400 species. Bdelloids (the "b" is silent) reproduce through parthenogenesis, which generates offspring with essentially the same genome as their mother from unfertilized eggs. Biologists have yet to find males, hermaphrodites, or any trace of meiosis- the process that creates sex cells - challenging the long-held assumption that evolutionary success requires genetic exchange.

Seven ways to survive life without the Internet

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 08:22:08 PST

Hong Kong, Jan 25 - The devastation caused to Internet lines by the Taiwan earthquake before the dawn of 2007 left millions across Asia cut off from email and websites for days.

Indians make one major human race: US study

Wed, 27 Dec 2006 17:01:32 PST

Washington, Dec 27 - Indians make up one of the major human ancestry groups, with relatively little genetic differentiation among the people from different parts of the country, according to a new US study.

Overcoming Ethical Constraints

Sun, 24 Dec 2006 08:00:37 PST

By repeating the Stanley Milgrams classic experiment from the 1960s on
obedience to authority that found people would administer apparently
lethal electrical shocks to a stranger at the behest of an authority figure
in a virtual environment, the UCL (University College London) led study
demonstrated for the first time that participants reacted as though the
situation was real.

Drug tests on animals may be unreliable: study

Sat, 16 Dec 2006 19:55:26 PST

London, Dec 16 - Tests of drugs on animals may be unreliable and may not be accurate about their effect on humans, says a new study.

India's patent, copyright laws outdated: US official

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 22:02:56 PST

New Delhi, Dec 4 - India needs to update its patent and copyright laws with modern regulatory framework to attract more foreign capital, US Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Franklin L. Lavin said here Monday.

Gendered division of labor gave modern humans advantage over Neanderthals

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 11:38:29 PST

Diversified social roles for men, women, and children may have given Homo sapiens an advantage over Neanderthals, says a new study in the December 2006 issue of Current Anthropology. The study argues that division of economic labor by sex and age emerged relatively recently in human evolutionary history and facilitated the spread of modern humans throughout Eurasia.

Blacks, Whites Divided on End-of-Life Treatment

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 11:01:33 PST

Black patients are more likely than white patients to prefer life-sustaining care when confronted with an incurable illness or serious mental and physical disabilities, according to a study by University of Rochester Medical Center researchers.

Many patients don't understand prescription medicine labels

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 11:01:14 PST

When Michael Wolf paged though dusty, yellowing pharmacists’ logs from the 1890s at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, he found the following entry about a druggist’s encounter with a confused patient: “Shake well,” a patient apparently read out loud to the pharmacist from his prescription bottle label. “Does that mean I shake myself"”. It sounds like the punch line of a bad joke, but it wasn’t. And the confusion experienced by that patient more than a century ago hasn’t changed much. Many people still don’t fully understand the seemingly simple label instructions on their prescription medication, according to a new study of low-income patients by Wolf, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

Genetic variation: We're more different than we thought

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 22:40:37 PST

New research shows that at least 10 percent of genes in the human population can vary in the number of copies of DNA sequences they contain--a finding that alters current thinking that the DNA of any two humans is 99.9 percent similar in content and identity.

18 kg tumour removed from woman

Thu, 23 Nov 2006 18:53:11 PST

A team of doctors in Himachal Pradesh have removed an 18 kg ovarian tumour from a woman in her 20s.

Bibliometrics can improve research into research

Sun, 19 Nov 2006 14:47:17 PST

The methods used to evaluate the quality of research can be far more accurate and far-reaching, according to a new doctoral thesis on bibliometrics from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. "A common pitfall is that bibliometricians assess the average quality of journals instead of the individual scientific articles," says PhD Jonas Lundberg.

New approach will pinpoint genes linked to evolution of human brain

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 17:46:00 PST

Six million years ago, chimpanzees and humans diverged from a common ancestor and evolved into unique species. Now UCLA scientists have identified a new way to pinpoint the genes that separate us from our closest living relative and make us uniquely human.

Accelerating Loss of Ocean Species Threatens Human Well-being

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 04:06:00 PST

In a study published in the November 3rd issue of the journal, Science, an international group of ecologists and economists, including lead author, Boris Worm of Dalhousie University, show that the loss of biodiversity is profoundly reducing the oceans ability to produce seafood, resist diseases, filter pollutants, and rebound from stresses such as over-fishing and climate change. The study reveals that every species lost causes a faster unraveling of the overall ecosystem. Conversely every species recovered adds significantly to overall productivity and stability of the ecosystem and its ability to withstand stresses.

New genetic analysis forces re-draw of insect family tree

Sun, 29 Oct 2006 22:26:00 PST

The family tree covering almost half the animal species on the planet has been re-drawn following a genetic analysis which has revealed new relationships between four major groups of insects. Scientists have found that flies and moths are most closely related to beetles and more distantly related to bees and wasps, contrary to previous theory.

Cell Phone Use Associated with Decline in Fertility

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 18:05:00 PST

In an observational study, researchers from Cleveland, Mumbai, and New Orleans found that the number of hours in a day that a man uses his cell phone can affect all aspects of his sperm profile.

Marijuana-like Chemical Can Restore Sperm Function Lost to Tobacco Abuse

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 18:02:00 PST

A compound chemically similar to those found in marijuana can improve the ability of smokers sperm to bind to eggs. Researchers in Buffalo and Boston have previously shown that two-thirds of tobacco smokers sperm showed a significant decline in the capacity to bind to an egg compared to that of non-smokers. They hypothesized that treating the smokers sperm with a cannabinoid compound would improve sperm binding. Human sperm have chemical receptors that respond to both nicotine and cannabinoids- compounds like those found in marijuana.

Reporters struggle to cover comas in newspaper articles

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 23:56:00 PST

Newspaper articles skew coverage of comas by focusing heavily on patients who are more likely to awaken and recover, thus possibly leading the public to believe that coma patients have better odds than they truly do. These findings of a Mayo Clinic study on how U.S. newspapers cover comas are published in the October issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. This study is the first of its kind and follows a study published earlier this year in Neurology on how comas are represented in film. The lead author of both articles is Eelco F.M. Wijdicks, M.D., a neurointensivist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

Drug Company Research Reports Should Be Read With Caution

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 13:19:00 PST

A study published on bmj.com recently has found that reviews of drugs which are supported by the pharmaceutical industry are less transparent, and are more likely to reach favourable conclusion on drugs, than independent reviews.

Giant insects might reign if only there was more oxygen in the air

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 04:52:00 PST

The delicate lady bug in your garden could be frighteningly large if only there was a greater concentration of oxygen in the air, a new study concludes. The study adds support to the theory that some insects were much larger during the late Paleozoic period because they had a much richer oxygen supply, said the study's lead author Alexander Kaiser.

Infection Status Drives Interspecies Mating Choices in Fruit Fly Females

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 05:25:00 PST

Hybridization is a constant possibility for two closely related species. Geographic isolation prevents interbreeding in some cases, but when the range of the two overlap, other mechanisms must come into play if they are to remain genetically distinct. Behavioral isolation is one such mechanism. If members of each group preferentially mate with their own kind, the two species can remain distinct even while residing together. Over time, such isolating behaviors may become more pronounced, and the genes governing them more widespread, a phenomenon termed reinforcement.

Waiting For Trial Results Sometimes Unethical

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 01:17:00 PST

Waiting for the results of randomised trials of public health interventions can cost hundreds of lives, especially in poor countries. Researchers in this weeks BMJ argue that, if the science is good, we should act before the trials are done.

NHGRI Funds Assessment of Public Attitudes About Population-Based Studies on Genes and Environment

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 19:56:00 PST

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today announced it has awarded $2 million to the Genetics and Public Policy Center of the Berman Bioethics Institute at Johns Hopkins University to conduct a public discussion about future potential large U.S. population-based studies examining the roles of genes and environment in human health.

Mother birds give a nutritional leg up to chicks with unattractive fathers

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 22:38:00 PST

Mother birds deposit variable amounts of antioxidants into egg yolks, and it has long been theorized that females invest more in offspring sired by better quality males. However, a study from the November/December 2006 issue of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology shows that even ugly birds get their day. Providing new insight into the strategic basis behind resource allocation in eggs, the researchers found that female house finches deposit significantly more antioxidants, which protect the embryo during the developmental process, into eggs sired by less attractive fathers.

Mammals Evolve Faster on Islands!

Wed, 13 Sep 2006 03:48:00 PST

The notion of islands as natural testbeds for evolutionary study is nearly as old as the theory of evolution itself. The restricted scale, isolation, and sharp boundaries of islands create unique selective pressures, often to dramatic effect. Following whatâs known as the âisland rule,â small animals evolve into outsize versions of their continental counterparts while large animals shrink. Once restricted to islands, small animals often lacked predators and the competition between species that constrained the growth of their relatives on the mainland. Large mammals, on the other hand, no longer had access to vast grasslands and other abundant food sources and grew smaller to survive. Giant tortoises and iguanas still inhabit the GalÃ¡pagos and a few other remote islands today, but only fossils remain of the dwarf hippopotami, elephants, and deer that once lived on islands in Indonesia, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific Ocean.

A Bacterial Protein Puts a New Twist on DNA Transcription

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 09:16:00 PST

For organisms to adapt, develop, and simply live, they must regulate hundreds to thousands of genes, making fine-tuned, precisely timed adjustments to produce the specific complement of proteins required for the occasion. For bacteria, this task falls largely to proteins called sigma factors. These small proteins associate with RNA polymerase, the enzyme that mediates gene transcription, to form a complex called the holoenzyme. The holoenzyme, guided by the sigma factor, recognizes promoter regions, which are specific DNA sequences that precede protein-coding sequences and mark the transcription start site. Sigma factors also contribute to transcription by facilitating DNA strand separation, which must occur before RNA polymerase can begin copying the DNA code. Once transcription begins, the sigma factor disengages from the RNA polymerase, becoming available for new joint ventures with different RNA polymerases.

Physicians More Likely To Disclose Medical Errors That Would Be Apparent To The Patient

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 13:26:00 PST

While physicians in the United States and Canada generally support disclosing medical errors to patients, they vary widely in when and how they would tell patients an error had occurred, according to two articles in the August 14/28 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Research has revealed that most patients want detailed information following a medical error, including an explicit statement that an error has occurred, an apology, information about why the error happened and an explanation of what will be done to prevent future errors. However, less than half of harmful errors may be disclosed to patients, according to background information in the articles. This may diminish trust in physicians and may also increase the risk that patients will file malpractice lawsuits.

Dissecting Doctor Patient Dialogue

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 15:12:00 PST

The book targets sociologists, communication experts and medical professionals, and ultimately aims to understand the social organization of medical talk while helping to improve doctor-patient relationships, Maynard says. The sociologist co-edited the anthology with John Heritage, a professor of sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Why Does Sex Exist?

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 13:51:00 PST

Why does sex exist? A long-popular view holds that sexual reproduction creates new gene combinations that help the next generation resist rapidly co-evolving parasites. Each species constantly changes to achieve the same resultevolutionary advantageprompting evolutionary biologists to dub this hypothesis the Red Queen (who tells Alice in Through the Looking Glass it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place).

Pseudogenes Research Reinforces Theory of Evolution

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 11:54:00 PST

Scientists led by a Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh geneticist have found new evidence that a category of genes known as pseudogenes serve no function, an important finding that bolsters the theory of evolution.

Non-human primates may be linchpin in evolution of language

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 19:33:00 PST

When contemplating the coos and screams of a fellow member of its species, the rhesus monkey, or macaque, makes use of brain regions that correspond to the two principal language centers in the human brain, according to research conducted by scientists at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), two of the National Institutes of Health. The finding, published July 23 in the advance online issue of Nature Neuroscience, bolsters the hypothesis that a shared ancestor to humans and present-day non-human primates may have possessed the key neural mechanisms upon which language was built.

Primates developed close-up eyesight to avoid a dangerous predator

Sat, 22 Jul 2006 19:15:00 PST

The ability to spot venomous snakes may have played a major role in the evolution of monkeys, apes and humans, according to a new hypothesis by Lynne Isbell, professor of anthropology at UC Davis. Primates have good vision, enlarged brains, and grasping hands and feet, and use their vision to guide reaching and grasping. Scientists have thought that these characteristics evolved together as early primates used their hands and eyes to grab insects and other small prey, or to handle and examine fruit and other foods.

Doctors inadvertently help terminally ill patients to die sooner

Tue, 27 Jun 2006 02:48:00 PST

An Australian psychiatric study has found that doctors may be inadvertently contributing to the desire of many terminally ill patients to die sooner rather than later.

Parsing the Functional Fields of the Auditory Cortex

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 00:43:00 PST

No self-respecting concertgoer of a certain era would consider wearing earplugs at a show, but that was long before Pete Townsend and other rock icons spoke out about the risk of deafness. Today, most people recognize that high-intensity noise causes hearing lossexcept maybe for those iPod users who routinely blast earsplitting music straight into their brains.

Declining Human Fertility is Evolutionary Adaptation

Wed, 21 Jun 2006 14:52:00 PST

Before society criticises teenage girls for having sex behind the bike sheds and becoming pregnant, or women in their 60s for seeking IVF treatment, it is important to consider fertility not just in terms of the 21st century but in the context of the past 150,000 years.

Study shows that threat displays may prevent serious physical harm

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 23:17:00 PST

In a paper from the July issue of The American Naturalist, Kristopher Lappin (Northern Arizona University), Yoni Brandt (University of Toronto), Jerry Husak (Oklahoma State University), Joe Macedonia (Arizona State University), and Darrell Kemp (James Cook University), demonstrate that a threat display can provide accurate information about the performance of a weapon.

How animals learn from each other

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 00:33:00 PST

In an exciting study that provides new understanding of how animals learn--and learn from each other--researchers have demonstrated that bats that use frog acoustic cues to find quality prey can rapidly learn these cues by observing other bats. While numerous examples are known of instances where predators can use so-called "social learning" to learn new visual and olfactory cues associated with prey, this kind of learning of an acoustic cue had not been previously described.

Thermal Adaptation in Bacterial Viruses

Sat, 10 Jun 2006 13:16:00 PST

Assuming the absence of a massive asteroid strike, gamma ray burst, or other globally devastating event, the survival of a species depends on its ability to adapt to environmental changes. To understand how such adaptations occur in nature, scientists study much simpler systems in the lab. A classic lab evolution experiment uses evolutionary responses to temperature as a model for studying how an environmental variable affects the physical expression (phenotype) of an organism's genes. Biologists have typically focused either on the range of physiological responses to temperature or on the genetic changes underlying variations in temperature.

Genetic quality of sperm worsens as men get older

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 16:46:00 PST

New research indicates that the genetic quality of sperm worsens as men get older, increasing a man's risk of being infertile, fathering unsuccessful pregnancies and passing along dwarfism and possibly other genetic diseases to his children. A study led by scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the University of California, Berkeley, found a steady increase in sperm DNA fragmentation with increasing age of the study participants, along with increases in a gene mutation that causes achondroplasia, or dwarfism. The first changes were observed in men in their early reproductive years. Earlier research by the same team indicated that male reproductive ability gradually worsens with age, as sperm counts decline and the sperm lose motility and their ability to swim in a straight line. In the current study, the researchers analyzed DNA damage, chromosomal abnormalities and gene mutations in semen samples from the same subjects 97 healthy, non-smoking LLNL employees and retirees between 22 and 80 years old and found that sperm motility showed a high correlation with DNA fragmentation, which is associated with increased risk of infertility and a reduced probability of fathering a successful pregnancy.

Songbirds boost size of eggs when hearing sexy song

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 06:04:00 PST

When the females started egg-laying they varied the size of their eggs in the nest according to the attractiveness of the male's song. That is, the more attractive the song, the larger the eggs.

Small naps a big help for young docs on long shifts

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 02:39:00 PST

The first study to assess the benefits of naps for medical residents during extended shifts found that creating protected times when interns could sleep during a night on-call significantly reduced fatigue.

Why women live longer than men

Wed, 10 May 2006 12:49:00 PST

Despite research efforts to find modern factors that would explain the different life expectancies of men and women, the gap is actually ancient and universal, according to University of Michigan researchers. This skewed mortality isn't even unique to our species; the men come up short in common chimps and many other species, Kruger added. Kruger and co-author Randolph Nesse, a professor of psychology and psychiatry and director of the Evolution and Human Adaptation Program, argue that the difference in life expectancy stems from the biological imperative of attracting mates.

Indian medical students protest quota policy across the country

Tue, 02 May 2006 22:45:00 PST

Medical college students across the country took to the streets Tuesday to protest the government's proposal to increase quotas to 49.5 percent in higher educational institutions.

VitaCig - Cigarettes with Vitamin C that don't stain teeth

Sun, 30 Apr 2006 19:08:00 PST

Cigarettes injected with Vitamin C that don't stain your teeth have been developed by a Canadian researcher. The new cigarettes, named VitaCig, have been developed by non-smoker Roger Ouellette, reported the online edition of Daily Mail. Canadian company Vita-C Tobacco is distributing the cigarettes.

Indian scribe pleads for mercy killing

Fri, 28 Apr 2006 01:03:00 PST

A 79-year-old freelance journalist here has petitioned the Rajasthan High Court seeking permission for euthanasia, saying he wants to die with dignity.

A sneeze could give away your personality traits

Wed, 26 Apr 2006 14:51:00 PST

"A-choo!" the sound that comes when you sneeze could reveal details about your personality, said a US body language expert.

Two-week-old embedded arrow surgically removed

Tue, 25 Apr 2006 20:44:00 PST

A Madhya Pradesh tribal who was walking around normally with an arrowhead embedded deep in his chest for two weeks, had the weapon piece removed surgically by doctors at Indore.

Fruitfly study shows how evolution wings it

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 15:56:00 PST

In the frantic world of fruitfly courtship, the difference between attracting a mate and going home alone may depend on having the right wing spots. Now, Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have learned which elements of fly DNA make these spots come and go in different species. Their studies have also uncovered surprising new evidence supporting the idea that evolution is an incessant tinkerer when it comes to complex traits.

Woman delivers baby on road in West Bengal

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 17:29:00 PST

The plight of a poor woman in West Bengal, who gave birth to a baby in a public street after a government hospital doctor released her, raised public outcry and a call for probes here Tuesday.

Tantalizing clue to the evolutionary origins of light-sensing cells

Sat, 15 Apr 2006 18:04:00 PST

Lizards have given Johns Hopkins researchers a tantalizing clue to the evolutionary origins of light-sensing cells in people and other species. Published in the March 17 issue of Science, their lizard study describes how the side-blotched lizards so-called third, or parietal, eye, distinguishes two different colors, blue and green, possibly to tell the time of day. Specialized nerve cells in that eye, which looks more like a spot on the lizards forehead, use two types of molecular signals to sense light: those found only in simpler animals, like scallops, and those found only in more complex animals like humans.

Relationship of brain and skull more than just packaging

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 23:17:00 PST

People usually think of the skull as packaging for the brain and researchers usually investigate them separately, but a team of researchers now thinks that developmentally and evolutionarily that the two are incontrovertibly linked. The researchers, including biological anthropologists, physicians and a computer scientist, looked at the CT scans and MRIs of infants with particular types of craniosynostosis a condition where one or more of the sutures -- fibrous bands that connect the bones -- of the baby's skull close too early and deform the skull and brain.

Restoring virtue for Rs.20,000!

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 21:13:00 PST

A scientific triumph or a regressive procedure that further compromises the position of women in conservative India? Either way, surgeons in Gujarat, India are set to cash in on the demand for hymenoplasty, the term for medical restoration of a woman's technical virginity.

Responsibility in gambling?

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 16:12:00 PST

The Grand National spurs over a third of the adult population of the United Kingdom into having a flutter making it the country's single biggest gambling event. However, even with the recent boom in internet gambling, problems with gambling are often overlooked.

Living with boyfriend? You could become obese

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 17:05:00 PST

Living with your boyfriend could make you obese unless you control your diet, says a study which, however, adds that the opposite holds true for men.

Children's Viewing Time May Increase Requests For Advertised Products

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 19:34:00 PST

Children who spend more time watching television and movies and playing video games may be more likely to ask their parents for toys, food and drinks they saw in advertisements, according to a study in the April issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, a theme issue on children and the media.

Researchers And Parents Should View Media As A Public Health Issue

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 19:31:00 PST

As technology becomes more advanced and communications tools more widely available, parents and researchers must examine the effects of media use that has pervaded children's lives, according to an editorial in the April issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Zugunruhe! Resident Birds Display Migratory Restlessness

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 19:12:00 PST

In a remarkable display of endurance and fitness, arctic terns fly up to 20,000 miles between their Arctic breeding grounds to the Antarctic seas each year. But most long-distance fliers rack up considerably less mileage, and rely on extra fat storage rather than snacking along the way, as terns do. Still other migrating birds travel just a few miles between alpine meadows and lowlands to find optimal food and shelter. Some fly at night, others during the day; some over land, others over water. No one can say for sure how migration came about, but climate, competition for resources, and the availability of food all likely played some role in this ancient behavior.

What Does Evolution Do with a Spare Set of Genes?

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 18:44:00 PST

A hundred million years ago, a molecular twist of fate endowed an ancestor of today's baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) with an extra copy of every gene it ownedthe equivalent of a factory one day finding double the number of workers reporting for duty. What did the yeast and the forces of evolution do with this treasure trove of potential? Did the extra gene-workers simply double the output? Did the original crew and the duplicates divvy up the ancestral functions? Or did they take on new tasks? That's what Gavin Conant and Kenneth Wolfe sought to find out in their study of the networks of interactions among genes and other cellular components that emerged in the wake of that landmark event.

Value of services provided by insects is $57 billion in U.S.

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 07:10:00 PST

Although the economic importance of insects in providing honey and silk is well known, many other valuable services provided by insects are commonly overlooked. In the April 2006 issue of BioScience, the monthly journal of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, John E. Losey of Cornell University and Mace Vaughan of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation estimate the value (as indicated by documented financial transactions) of some less well-known services provided by insects. Understanding such services is important because evidence points to a steady decline in beneficial insect populations.

British student to investigate dogs' barks

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 12:32:00 PST

A British postgraduate student of psychology is planning to record the barks and growls of hundreds of dogs as part of a project into how canines communicate.

Two foetuses removed from 45-day-old baby

Tue, 28 Mar 2006 21:14:00 PST

In a rare operation, Pakistani doctors Tuesday removed two foetuses, one of them fully grown, from the abdomen of a 45-day-old baby.

Evolutionary biology research techniques predict cancer

Mon, 27 Mar 2006 01:26:00 PST

In diverse ecosystems, packed with wildly different species, evolution whizzes along. As different species accumulate mutations, some adapt particularly well to their environment and prosper. It happens in marine sediments, mountain forests and, as a new study illustrates, in precancerous tumors, too.

Papua New Guinea MP accused of spreading HIV

Thu, 23 Mar 2006 17:44:00 PST

A member of the Papua New Guinea parliament could become the first person in the South Pacific's biggest country to face court for knowingly infecting others with HIV virus, a report said Thursday.

Croatian doctors remove 10-kilo tumour from patient

Thu, 23 Mar 2006 17:41:00 PST

Surgeons in the western Croatian town of Gospic removed a massive, 10-kilo abdominal tumour from a female patient, the Zagreb daily 24sata reported Wednesday.

421 kidney stones removed from 60-year-old!

Fri, 10 Mar 2006 21:21:00 PST

Thai doctors removed 421 kidney stones, believed to be a medical record, from a 60-year-old woman who had been complaining of stomach cramps for years, media reports said Friday.

Patients agree on ideal physician behaviors

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 21:54:00 PST

A study of Mayo Clinic patients has found seven behaviors define the 'ideal' physician and supports an Institute of Medicine recommendation that quality medical care should include a patient-centered approach.

Fighting AIDS for 13 years - and winning

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 13:38:00 PST

Newly married Celina was busy knitting dreams of life and love when destiny dealt a cruel blow - she was infected with AIDS through her husband at the age of 21. Now, 13 years later, she has not only put up a tough fight against the disease and society but has also been advocating economic independence for women like her.

Factors influencing death at home in terminally ill patients with cancer

Sat, 04 Mar 2006 15:10:00 PST

Family support and better home-based care are two of the key priorities needed to enable terminally ill cancer patients to die at home, say researchers in this weeks BMJ.

Hens' teeth not so rare after all

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 11:32:00 PST

Scientists have discovered that rarest of things: a chicken with teeth crocodile teeth to be precise.

Intellectual property law and the protection of traditional knowledge

Sun, 19 Feb 2006 17:25:00 PST

Growing biopiracy concerns have fueled urgent calls for a new system of legal protection for traditional knowledge. Detractors of the current patent systems say that the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples and local communities does not readily fit into the existing rules of the industrialized world and that these rules basically promote the interests of the industrialized world. However, Charles McManis, J.D., IP and technology law expert and the Thomas and Karole Green Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis, argues that "at least in the short run, existing intellectual property regimes offer the most realistic avenue for securing effective legal protection for traditional knowledge holders."

Something fishy about human brain evolution?

Sun, 19 Feb 2006 17:17:00 PST

Forget the textbook story about tool use and language sparking the dramatic evolutionary growth of the human brain. Instead, imagine ancient hominid children chasing frogs. Not for fun, but for food. According to Dr. Stephen Cunnane it was a rich and secure shore-based diet that fuelled and provided the essential nutrients to make our brains what they are today. Controversially, according to Dr. Cunnane our initial brain boost didn't happen by adaptation, but by exaptation, or chance.

Conscientious objection in medicine should not be tolerated

Sun, 05 Feb 2006 00:39:00 PST

A doctor's conscience should not be allowed to interfere with medical care, argues an ethics expert in this week's BMJ. A doctors' conscience has little place in the delivery of modern medical care, writes Julian Savulescu at the University of Oxford. If people are not prepared to offer legally permitted, efficient, and beneficial care to a patient because it conflicts with their values, they should not be doctors.

Patient-doctor nonverbal communication says a lot

Tue, 31 Jan 2006 19:14:00 PST

A shoulder shrug. Lack of eye contact. A hand gesture. What patients don't say can be just as important as what they do, according to a study of nonverbal behavior published in a January issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine. According to the study by Richard Frankel, Ph.D., professor of medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine and a research scientist at the Regenstrief Institute and the Center for Implementing Evidence Based Practice at the Indianapolis VA Medical Center, and colleagues from Johns Hopkins and Northeastern universities and the Fetzer Institute, nonverbal behavior can be an important diagnostic tool increasing the physician's comprehension of words spoken or thoughts left unsaid.

Yale guidelines for physician interactions with pharmaceutical industry

Sat, 28 Jan 2006 12:54:00 PST

To highlight the importance of impeccable financial relationships between the pharmaceutical industry and physicians, the faculty of Yale University School of Medicine has developed and approved some of the most stringent guidelines for the interactions of their faculty with the pharmaceutical industry.

Interesting Findings from fMRI Scans of Political Brains

Wed, 25 Jan 2006 17:07:00 PST

When it comes to forming opinions and making judgments on hot political issues, partisans of both parties don't let facts get in the way of their decision-making, according to a new Emory University study. The research sheds light on why staunch Democrats and Republicans can hear the same information, but walk away with opposite conclusions.

British grandma recovers sight after heart attack

Sat, 21 Jan 2006 15:30:00 PST

Can a blind person recover sight after suffering a serious heart attack? Yes, that is exactly what happened to 74-year-old Joyce Urch, who was blind for over 25 years but miraculously emerged from the life of darkness when she woke up after the heart operation, baffling medical experts here.

No incidences of physician-assisted suicide in the UK

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 16:21:00 PST

The results of the first UK-wide study into euthanasia are revealed in the recent edition of medical journal Palliative Medicine. The survey, carried out by a Brunel University academic, shows the proportion of UK deaths in which doctors report having assisted patients suicide, carried out euthanasia, or taken other medical decisions relating to the ending of life. This is the first time such a comprehensive survey of UK medical practice has been reported. Because the same survey has been done in other countries, rates in the UK can be compared with rates elsewhere.

Current interpretation of the data protection law is hampering epidemiological research

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 15:22:00 PST

Overly strict interpretation of the data protection law is hampering epidemiological research (the study of the causes, distribution, and control of disease in populations), argue researchers in this week's BMJ.

A 'ghost' fights for life

Thu, 19 Jan 2006 17:52:00 PST

He seems to be a case of dead man walking. Villagers consider him a 'ghost' as his last rites have been performed. But Raju Raghuvanshi is very much alive and wants to prove it.

Life beyond cancer - R. Anuradha tells how

Thu, 19 Jan 2006 17:30:00 PST

She is not just another woman who has overcome breast cancer. The 38-year-old's trauma has led to a moving autobiography and a short film, and R. Anuradha is now a guru of sorts for patients of the killer disease.

Massachusetts state can pull plug on comatose 11-year-old girl

Thu, 19 Jan 2006 15:23:00 PST

Not much remains of Haleigh Poutre's life: Once a chestnut-haired girl who took dancing classes, the 11-year-old has been in a coma since her adoptive mother and stepfather allegedly kicked and beat her nearly to death with a baseball bat.

Fish have menopause, study determines

Thu, 29 Dec 2005 16:19:00 PST

A UC Riverside-led research team has found that as some populations of an organism evolve a longer lifespan, they do so by increasing only that segment of the lifespan that contributes to "fitness" the relative ability of an individual to contribute offspring to the next generation. Focusing on guppies, small fresh-water fish biologists have studied for long, the researchers found that guppies living in environments with a large number of predators have adapted to reproduce earlier in life than guppies from low-predation localities. Moreover, when reproduction ceases, guppies from high-predation localities are far older, on average, than guppies from low-predation localities, indicating that high-predation guppies enjoy a long "reproductive period" the time between first and last reproduction.

Modeling the Origin and Spread of Early Agriculture

Thu, 29 Dec 2005 16:02:00 PST

After the last major ice age some 10,000 years ago, things began to look up for early humans. Forbidding climes yielded to more hospitable weather patterns, and people began to settle down and domesticate plants and animals. Archeologist Gordon Childe, who in 1942 called the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture the Neolithic Revolution, proposed that unchecked population growth triggered economic and social problems among Near Eastern populations and forced farmers and shepherds to search for new lands. In this demic diffusion model, dispersing populations introduced Europeans to the Neolithic lifestyle. Alternately, Europeans may have learned to farm by imitating Neolithic practitioners they encountered through trade or other interactions (the cultural diffusion model).

Harry Potter books seem to protect children from traumatic injuries

Tue, 27 Dec 2005 05:38:00 PST

Harry Potter books seem to protect children from traumatic injuries, according to a study in this weeks BMJ. Injuries caused by craze activities such as inline skating and microscooters have previously been reported. One modern craze is the Harry Potter series of books and films. Given the lack of horizontal velocity, height, wheels, or sharp edges associated with this particular craze, researchers at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford investigated the impact of these books on childrens traumatic injuries during the peak of their use.

Dancing ability determines mate quality

Thu, 22 Dec 2005 05:11:00 PST

Dance has long been recognized as a signal of courtship in many animal species, including humans. Better dancers presumably attract more mates, or a more desirable mate. What's seemingly obvious in everyday life, however, has not always been rigorously verified by science. Now, a study by scientists at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, for the first time links dancing ability to established measures of mate quality in humans. Reporting in Thursday's edition of the British science journal Nature, Rutgers anthropologists collaborating with University of Washington computer scientists describe how they created computer-animated figures that duplicated the movements of 183 Jamaican teenagers dancing to popular music. The researchers then asked peers of the dancers to evaluate the dancing ability of these animated figures. The figures were gender-neutral, faceless and the same size all to keep evaluators from boosting or dropping dancers' scores based on considerations other than dance moves.

How sense of smell affects mating and aggression

Thu, 22 Dec 2005 03:42:00 PST

New research by scientists at UCSF sheds light on how the odor detecting system in mice sends signals that affect their social behavior.

Facial Transplants - Are they justified?

Mon, 12 Dec 2005 16:08:00 PST

With news of the worlds first facial transplant hitting the headlines, experts in this weeks BMJ debate whether the benefit of this procedure to someone with severe facial deformity outweighs the risk of long term suppression of the immune system. One of the main areas of concern has been the risk to patients from the side effects of long term immunosuppression, say the authors. However, a patient having a facial transplant would probably require a similar level of immunosuppression to patient having a kidney transplant. Given that one of the main justifications for kidney transplantation is improvement in quality of life, the same argument should apply to facial transplant, they write.

Dog Genome Sheds Light on Human Evolution

Thu, 08 Dec 2005 18:38:00 PST

An international research team led by scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard announced today the completion of a high-quality genome sequence of the domestic dog, together with a catalogue of 2.5 million specific genetic differences across several dog breeds. Published in the December 8 issue of Nature, the dog research sheds light on both the genetic similarities between dogs and humans and the genetic differences between dog breeds. Comparison of the dog and human DNA reveals key secrets about the regulation of the master genes that control embryonic development. Comparison among dogs also reveals the structure of genetic variation among breeds, which can now be used to unlock the basis of physical and behavioural differences, as well the genetic underpinnings of diseases common to domestic dogs and their human companions.

Doctor-assisted suicide wouldn't undermine patient trust - Research

Mon, 05 Dec 2005 04:08:00 PST

There is little evidence to support the argument that legalizing physician-assisted death would reduce patients' trust in their doctors, according to a researcher from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and colleagues.

Gene regulation changes had major impacts on human evolution

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 19:50:00 PST

With humans and chimpanzees differing by just 1.2% at the DNA level, it's clear that our differences do not arise from gene variation alone. Thirty years ago, Mary-Claire King and Alan Wilson pointed to our extensive protein similarities as evidence that those investigating the genetic basis of human origins should focus on the regulators of gene expression rather than on the genes themselves.