- March 18, 2010
- 11:30 AM
- 1 view
Tasmanian devil colony shows immunity against cancer
by Katie Kline in EcoTone
In the tragic battle against devil facial tumor disease (DFTD), scientists may have found the first “glimmer of hope” near Cradle Mountain in northwestern Tasmania. At least that is what Katherine Belov of the University of Sydney and colleagues are saying about this unique colony that has resisted the disease. The results are paradoxical.... Read more »
Siddle, H., Marzec, J., Cheng, Y., Jones, M., & Belov, K. (2010) MHC gene copy number variation in Tasmanian devils: implications for the spread of a contagious cancer. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2009.2362
- March 18, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 12 views
Quality vs. quantity in protecting habitat for birds
by Rob Goldstein in Conservation Maven
A new study from South Africa touches on an interesting conservation question about whether we should place greater importance on quality or quantity when it comes to protecting habitat to conserve biodiversity...... Read more »
Dures, S., & Cumming, G. (2010) The confounding influence of homogenising invasive species in a globally endangered and largely urban biome: Does habitat quality dominate avian biodiversity?. Biological Conservation, 143(3), 768-777. DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2009.12.019
- March 18, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 6 views
Are big brains better for long trips?
by Zen Faulkes in NeuroDojo
For many birds, migration is a major component of life. You'd expect think that migration would have a whole cascade of effects on those birds, including the nervous system. But which way?
On the one hand, migration might be correlated with large brains to handle the the complex navigation tasks. On the other hand, migration might be correlated with small brains that are energetically efficient.
Sol and colleagues compared over six hundred species of birds (measuring over 4,000 skulls). Speci........ Read more »
Sol, D., Garcia, N., Iwaniuk, A., Davis, K., Meade, A., Boyle, W., & Székely, T. (2010) Evolutionary Divergence in Brain Size between Migratory and Resident Birds. PLoS ONE, 5(3). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0009617
- March 18, 2010
- 06:14 AM
- 12 views
Measles week, part IV: Some of the answers
by iayork in Mystery Rays from Outer Space
Various workers affected by measles punish a god of measles, while a doctor and drugstore keeper try to protect the god from them. (1862
Well, here we are already at Part IV of Measles Week. Doesn’t time fly? Remember how young we all were, back at Part I, when I raised the question I’m trying [...]... Read more »
Aaby, P. (1985) Severe measles: A reappraisal of the role of nutrition, overcrowding and virus dose. Medical Hypotheses, 18(2), 93-112. DOI: 10.1016/0306-9877(85)90042-8
- March 18, 2010
- 03:43 AM
- 20 views
rethinking quantum states and computers
by Greg Fish in weird things
By now, it’s well known that atoms and molecules can be in more than one state at the same time and do very odd things depending on their quantum states. However, somewhere along the line, this odd behavior has to stop, otherwise our world would be a very strange one. Objects would change temperatures and [...]... Read more »
O’Connell, A., Hofheinz, M., Ansmann, M., Bialczak, R., Lenander, M., Lucero, E., Neeley, M., Sank, D., Wang, H., Weides, M.... (2010) Quantum ground state and single-phonon control of a mechanical resonator. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature08967
- March 18, 2010
- 12:19 AM
- 12 views
Palliative Care in Cancer Centers - Horses of many different colors
by Christian Sinclair, MD in Pallimed: a Hospice & Palliative Medicine Blog
The third Palliative Care related article released for St. Patrick's (Palladius) day is a article that speaks to what many of us in the field know already:
Palliative Care is a chameleon: it looks different depending on the background of the institution.
But as the editor-in-chief of the Lancet has said: "It is not true, until it is published." Well JAMA has published a little bit of truth with the article: "Availability and Integration of Palliative Care at US Cancer Centers." We have a........ Read more »
David Hui, MD, MSc, Ahmed Elsayem, MD, Maxine De La Cruz, MD, Ann Berger, MD, Donna S. Zhukovsky, MD, Shana Palla, MS, Avery Evans, Nada Fadul, MD, & J. Lynn Palmer, PhD; Eduardo Bruera, MD. (2010) Availability and Integration of Palliative Care at US Cancer Centers. JAMA, 303(11), 1054-1061. info:/
- March 17, 2010
- 11:52 PM
- 16 views
Cancer Reporting in the Media - Guess what they report on?
by Christian Sinclair, MD in Pallimed: a Hospice & Palliative Medicine Blog
Image via WikipediaSt. Patrick's day is good for celebrating your Irish heritage or fondness for food coloring, but it may have a new tradition, the release of major Palliative Care articles. Three major articles came out this week. Today JAMA published "Availability and Integration of Palliative Care at US Cancer Centers", yesterday the Archives of Internal Medicine released "Cancer and the Media: How Does the News Report on Treatment and Outcomes?" and on the 15th CMAJ released "Why do patie........ Read more »
Fishman, J., Ten Have, T., & Casarett, D. (2010) Cancer and the Media: How Does the News Report on Treatment and Outcomes?. Archives of Internal Medicine, 170(6), 515-518. DOI: 10.1001/archinternmed.2010.11
- March 17, 2010
- 09:42 PM
- 23 views
Genetics of Alcoholism
by Allison in Dormivigilia
A recent paper in PNAS identified many single-nucleotide polymorphisms and environmental factors, such multiple drug abuse, tied to alcoholism... Read more »
Bierut LJ, Agrawal A, Bucholz KK, Doheny KF, Laurie C, Pugh E, Fisher S, Fox L, Howells W, Bertelsen S.... (2010) A genome-wide association study of alcohol dependence. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. PMID: 20202923
- March 17, 2010
- 09:40 PM
- 17 views
Epidemiology of Human Prion Diseases in the U.S.
by Brian Appleby in CJD Blogger
In January 2010, members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published an article in PLoS One regarding epidemiological data of human prion diseases in the United States. To those who have attended prion meetings in past couple of years, this is not new data as it has been presented before. The study examines the incidence of classical CJD and variant CJD (vCJD) within the U.S. between 1979-2008 and examines some basic demographic features of this population. The data ........ Read more »
Holman, R., Belay, E., Christensen, K., Maddox, R., Minino, A., Folkema, A., Haberling, D., Hammett, T., Kochanek, K., Sejvar, J.... (2010) Human Prion Diseases in the United States. PLoS ONE, 5(1). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008521
- March 17, 2010
- 05:52 PM
- 72 views
On the Origin of Animals
by Lucas in thoughtomics
Think of an animal – any animal you’d like. Unless you’re a big fan of sponges or jellyfish, you likely thought of an animal that belongs to the Bilateria. This group includes all animals that show bilateral symmetry, so every single insect, vertebrate and mollusk belongs to this group. Like in any large family, some [...]... Read more »
Christodoulou, F., Raible, F., Tomer, R., Simakov, O., Trachana, K., Klaus, S., Snyman, H., Hannon, G., Bork, P., & Arendt, D. (2010) Ancient animal microRNAs and the evolution of tissue identity. Nature, 463(7284), 1084-1088. DOI: 10.1038/nature08744
- March 17, 2010
- 05:13 PM
- 26 views
Quartz, Cretan handaxes and Paleolithic seafaring
by Julien Riel-Salvatore in A Very Remote Period Indeed
A couple of months ago, I posted on the recent discovery of quartz hand axes on Crete by Strasser and Runnels. That post spurred quite a bit of discussion, and I also provided some additional thoughts shortly thereafter, based on the colonization of Cyprus. Since then, we've learned that these implements will be described in detail in the June issues of the journal Hesperia, and some decent photographs of some of the implements in question were published, which provides some more convincing data........ Read more »
Broodbank, C. (2006) The Origins and Early Development of Mediterranean Maritime Activity. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, 19(2). DOI: 10.1558//jmea.2006.v19i2.199
- March 17, 2010
- 02:28 PM
- 31 views
The Irish Diaspora: Why Even Trinidadians Are a Little Irish
by Krystal D'Costa in Anthropology in Practice
Happy St. Paddy's Day! This Irish national holiday celebrates Patrick who is—arguably—the most recognizable of Irish saints, known for championing Irish Christianity (while using a shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity). The observance has also been viewed as a one day break from the abstinence of the Lenten season. While it still has religious undertones, for a vast majority of people, St.
... Read more »
Rodgers, Nini. (2007) The Irish in the Caribbean 1641-1837: An Overview. Irish Migration Studies in Latin America, 5(3), 145-156. info:/
- March 17, 2010
- 01:53 PM
- 23 views
Leptin Resurrected: Leptin Therapy in Type I Diabetes
by Kari Kenefick in Promega Connections
An online science news item jumped out at me the other day, news about leptin and it’s potential use in type I diabetes. While leptin was certainly familiar, it’s recollection brought vague feelings of disappointment. Wasn’t leptin the naturally occurring fat burning compound that was going to make us all thin?
In case you too are [...]... Read more »
Wang MY, Chen L, Clark GO, Lee Y, Stevens RD, Ilkayeva OR, Wenner BR, Bain JR, Charron MJ, Newgard CB.... (2010) Feature Article: Leptin therapy in insulin-deficient type I diabetes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. PMID: 20194735
- March 17, 2010
- 12:05 PM
- 41 views
Painting lines on the playground - easiest physical activity intervention. EVER.
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
In most developed nations, kids get far less physical activity than they did just a few generations ago. Given the strong links between physical inactivity and health risk (and given that we're now seeing "adult" diseases like heart disease and type 2 diabetes in children and teenagers), this has become a very real public health concern. Unfortunately, when it comes to increasing childhood physical activity levels, people often want to reinvent the wheel. For example, many peop........ Read more »
STRATTON, G., & MULLAN, E. (2005) The effect of multicolor playground markings on children's physical activity level during recess. Preventive Medicine, 41(5-6), 828-833. DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2005.07.009
- March 17, 2010
- 11:00 AM
- 29 views
Indigenous people have smaller ecological footprint on Amazon than colonists
by Rob Goldstein in Conservation Maven
A new study in the journal Conservation Biology shows that indigenous people in the northern Ecuadorian Amazon have a lower impact on the rainforest than the colonists who have moved into the area.
This bodes ill for conservation of the Amazon rainforest given the increasing settlement of the region by outsiders, the expansion of the agricultural frontier, and cultural changes in indigenous communities.... Read more »
LU, F., GRAY, C., BILSBORROW, R., MENA, C., ERLIEN, C., BREMNER, J., BARBIERI, A., & WALSH, S. (2010) Contrasting Colonist and Indigenous Impacts on Amazonian Forests. Conservation Biology. DOI: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01463.x
- March 17, 2010
- 10:52 AM
- 27 views
Same-Sex Attraction Does Not Increase Suicide Risk...
by Ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
A slightly convoluted but ultimately worthwhile study by Zhao et al. (2010), in which they both challenge the proposition that same-sex attraction leads to greater suicide risk, as well as plead with us all to stop thinking of GLB (their term) and its numerous alternatives, as one enormous homogenised blob. Their word of choice is 'oversimplify' (p.105).
... Read more »
Zhao, Y., Montoro, R., Igartua, K., & Thombs, B. (2010) Suicidal Ideation and Attempt Among Adolescents Reporting “Unsure” Sexual Identity or Heterosexual Identity Plus Same-Sex Attraction or Behavior: Forgotten Groups?. Journal of the American Academy of Child , 49(2), 104-113. DOI: 10.1097/00004583-201002000-00004
- March 17, 2010
- 10:36 AM
- 38 views
Nature Takes One Back from Nurture
by Rob Mitchum in ScienceLife
Ah, nature and nurture, those eternal enemies. What once used to be the domain of philosophy and English classes has migrated over the past century to the sphere of science, culminating in the completion of The Human Genome Project in 2003. But far from settling this age-old battle, the HGP may have reinvigorated it. Now [...]... Read more »
Zhang, D., Cheng, L., Badner, J., Chen, C., Chen, Q., Luo, W., Craig, D., Redman, M., Gershon, E., & Liu, C. (2010) Genetic Control of Individual Differences in Gene-Specific Methylation in Human Brain. The American Journal of Human Genetics, 86(3), 411-419. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2010.02.005
- March 17, 2010
- 10:01 AM
- 41 views
Dopamine and theory of mind: another autism/schizophrenia dichotomy
by sandygautam in The Mouse Trap
Image via Wikipedia
There is an article in press in Neuropsyhcologia by Lackner et al that related Dopamine (DA) levels as measured by Eye Blink Rate (EBR) to preschoolers (3-5 yrs old) Representational theory of Mind (RTM).
The authors hypothesized that as one of the neural correlates of RTM is dMPFC, and as dMPFC has dopamine receptors More >Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
Related posts:The Mind – Brain dichotomy: What it means to have a mind Researchers at Harvard, Gray et a........ Read more »
Lackner, C., Bowman, L., & Sabbagh, M. (2010) Dopaminergic functioning and preschoolers’ theory of mind. Neuropsychologia. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.02.027
- March 17, 2010
- 09:55 AM
- 29 views
Nest making, oxytocin, and social bonding
by The Dog Zombie in The Dog Zombie
I encountered Nest making and oxytocin comparably promote wound healing in isolation reared rats [1] while reading about how stress affects wound healing, and it drew me in with its lure of drawing connections between nest making and oxytocin. Oxytocin does a lot of things in the body, but what this paper was interested in was its participation in social bonding. You all must already know the coolest story about oxytocin, the story about the two species of voles. The species are almost identic........ Read more »
Vitalo A, Fricchione J, Casali M, Berdichevsky Y, Hoge EA, Rauch SL, Berthiaume F, Yarmush ML, Benson H, Fricchione GL.... (2009) Nest making and oxytocin comparably promote wound healing in isolation reared rats. PloS one, 4(5). PMID: 19436750
Young, L. (1998) Neuroendocrine bases of monogamy. Trends in Neurosciences, 21(2), 71-75. DOI: 10.1016/S0166-2236(97)01167-3
- March 17, 2010
- 09:15 AM
- 48 views
'Wasabi receptor' is snake's infrared sensor
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
SNAKES have a unique sensory system for detecting infrared radiation, with which they can visualize temperature changes within their immediate environment. Using this special sense, they can image the body heat radiating from warm-blooded animals nearby. This enables them to track their prey quickly and with great accuracy, even in the dark, and to target the most vulnerable parts of the prey's body when they strike. It warns them of the presence of predators, and may also be used to find approp........ Read more »
Gracheva, E., Ingolia, N., Kelly, Y., Cordero-Morales, J., Hollopeter, G., Chesler, A., Sánchez, E., Perez, J., Weissman, J., & Julius, D. (2010) Molecular basis of infrared detection by snakes. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature08943
topics
join us!
Do you write about peer-reviewed research in your blog? Use ResearchBlogging.org to make it easy for your readers — and others from around the world — to find your serious posts about academic research.
If you don't have a blog, you can still use our site to learn about fascinating developments in cutting-edge research from around the world.
News
Editor's Selections: How NOT to quit smoking, publish a journal, hand-off patients, and help your child learn
Editor's selections: corporate water abuse, vanishing audiophiles, artificial coffee smelling and 60k-year-old canteens
Editor's Selections: An asteroid killed the dinosaurs, innate immunity and obesity, and vaccinia virus in Brazil
