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An increased proportion of male African buffalo are born during the rainy season. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology collected data from over 200 calves and 3000 foetuses, finding that rain likely exerts this effect by interaction with so-called sex ratio (SR) genes, which cause differences in number, quality or function of X- and Y-bearing sperm.

To evolve or not to evolve? That is the question scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) are closer to answering following a groundbreaking new study into the colourful hamlet fish.

Little is known about the way species evolve in the vast marine environment. The new findings, published online today by the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography, significantly improve our understanding of speciation – the evolutionary process by which new species arise.

Men living in deprived areas are far less likely to be treated with the most common types of radical treatment for prostate cancer than those in more affluent places, says a study published on bmj.com today.

A large scale study carried out by researchers from Cambridge found that patients from the most deprived areas are 26% less likely to have radiotherapy than men from the most affluent areas and 52% less likely to have radical surgery.

As the U.S. population keeps aging and gaining weight, diabetes is becoming increasingly common. Some research has associated diabetes with the most common kind of chronically irregular heartbeat, called atrial fibrillation, which can raise the risk for stroke and death. But results of past studies of diabetes and atrial fibrillation have conflicted. Now in the Journal of General Internal Medicine Dr.

DURHAM, N.C. – A newly discovered strain of an airborne fungus has caused several deaths in Oregon and seems poised to move into California and other adjacent areas, according to scientists at Duke University Medical Center.

Attenuated live vaccines that protect poultry against Newcastle Disease may be altering the genetic makeup of the wild virus strains, which could make future outbreaks unpredictable and difficult to tackle, according to biologists.

Newcastle Disease is an economically devastating poultry disease that costs the industry millions of dollars.

A normal healthy heart beats at a variable rate with extraordinarily complex fluctuations across a wide range of time scales. Reduced complexity of heart rate has both clinical and dynamical significance – it may provide warning of impending illness, or clues about the dynamics of the heart's pacemaking system.

University of Missouri School of Medicine scientists explain a potentially new early cancer detection and treatment method using nanoparticles created at MU in an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The article illustrates how engineered gold nanoparticles tied to a cancer-specific receptor could be targeted to tumor cells to treat prostate, breast or lung cancers in humans.

Many cancers detected by screening tests are not destined to cause symptoms or death and therefore represent a phenomenon known as overdiagnosis. And because overdiagnosis leads to unnecessary treatment and other harms, it is important to develop clinical and research strategies to quantify, recognize, and manage it, according to a review published online April 22 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

An investigation into unpublished stroke research data has revealed that 19.6% of completed clinical trials, which could potentially influence patient care, are not published in full. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Trials describe how these unpublished studies included more than 16,000 participants and tested 89 different interventions.

PITTSBURGH, April 22 – How much weight obese women should safely gain during pregnancy is often controversial, with current guidelines suggesting a single range of 11 to 20 pounds. A new study, published online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and the University of California, Berkeley, suggests instead that optimal weight gain for obese mothers-to-be depends on level of obesity. Also, weight loss or very minimal weight gain may be detrimental to newborn health, except in the case of extremely obese women.

An international team of scientists from Brazil and the United States have completed the draft genome sequences of two strains of the Xanthomonas bacteria that cause citrus canker. Citrus canker, a belligerent disease that has plagued plant growers in parts of the United States, South America, and Asia, causes millions of dollars in lost revenue every year for farmers of citrus crops such as oranges, limes, and grapefruit.

Researchers at King's College London's Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, based at St Thomas' Hospital have discovered new ways of measuring biological markers in the blood which could be used to diagnose osteoarthritis earlier.

Osteoarthritis is a condition that affects the joints and is the most common type of arthritis in the UK. It mostly occurs in the knees, hips and small joints of the hands, but almost any joint can be affected.

WASHINGTON -- The changing chemistry of the world's oceans is a growing global problem, says the summary of a congressionally requested study by the National Research Council, which adds that unless man-made carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are substantially curbed, or atmospheric CO2 is controlled by some other means, the ocean will continue to become more acidic. The long-term consequences of ocean acidification on marine life are unknown, but many ecosystem changes are expected to result.

Ecological scientists in Ireland recently used DNA barcoding to identify species of fish labeled as either "cod" or "haddock" in fish and chip shops, fresh fish counters and supermarkets in 10 postal districts in Dublin. They found that 39 out of 156 (25%) randomly sampled "cod" and "haddock" were genetically entirely different species and, therefore, mislabeled under European Union (EU) regulations.