Body

Over the past 5 years, IIASA researchers on the Geo-Wiki project have been leading a team of citizen scientists who examine satellite data to categorize land cover or identify places where people live and farm. These data have led to several publications published in peer-reviewed journals.

"One question we always get is whether the analysis from laypeople is as good as that from experts. Can we rely on non-experts to provide accurate data analysis?" says IIASA researcher Linda See, who led the study published in the journal PLOS ONE.

WA, Seattle (July 26, 2013) – In an article reporting the 18-month results of the ITN's RAVE clinical trial, published August 1st in the New England Journal of Medicine, the ITN is providing unfettered access to the underlying clinical data and analysis code via the new clinical trials research portal, ITN TrialShare. TrialShare is a significant advance in data sharing and transparency, allowing for collaborative hypothesis generation and specimen sharing between the ITN and the broader scientific community.

Administering the drug rituximab once weekly for one month provides the same benefits as 18 months of daily immunosuppressive therapy in people with severe forms of vasculitis, or inflammation of the blood vessels, a study has found.

Women who gave birth following fertility treatment had no long-term increased risk of death or major cardiovascular events compared to women who gave birth without fertility therapy, according to new research by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) and Women's College Hospital.

The findings, published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, are the first to show fertility medications, which can cause short-term pregnancy complications, are not associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease later in life.

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– Chanel, UC Santa Barbara's corpse flower, has finally spread her odiferous wings, broadcasting a stench that smells like a cross between rotting flesh and Limburger cheese. "It's disgusting," said UCSB junior Connor Way, who visited Wednesday morning. "It's pretty nasty."

JULY 31, 2013, Cleveland: Of the three most common treatment approaches for patients with severe carotid and coronary artery disease, patients who underwent stenting of the carotid artery followed by open heart surgery had the best outcomes, according to a retrospective study from Cleveland Clinic published online today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The study compared carotid stenting followed by open heart surgery to both staged and combined carotid endarterectomy and open heart surgery.

This news release is available in French.

New research shows that rubber slat mats could improve swine health. In a new study in the Journal of Animal Science, researchers in Europe studied how different types of flooring affects claw and limb lesions, locomotion and flooring cleanliness.

According to the researchers, flooring is one of the main factors in production systems that cause locomotory problems in swine. Locomotory problems can be caused by joint injuries or by circulatory problems in the legs and feet.

Cambridge-- MIT researchers have developed a new endoscopy technology that could make it easier for doctors to detect precancerous lesions in the colon. Early detection of such lesions has been shown to reduce death rates from colorectal cancer, which kills about 50,000 people per year in the United States.

ANN ARBOR—Treating a cancerous tumor is like watering a houseplant with a fire hose—too much water kills the plant, just as too much chemotherapy and radiation kills the patient before it kills the tumor.

Prion proteins are the infectious pathogens that cause Mad Cow Disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. They occur when a normal prion protein becomes deformed and clumped. The naturally occurring prion protein is harmless and can be found in most organisms. In humans, it is found in our brain cell membrane. By contrast, the abnormally deformed prion protein is poisonous for the brain cells. Adriano Aguzzi, Professor of Neuropathology at the University of Zurich and University Hospital Zurich, has spent many years exploring why this deformation is poisonous.

The work of University of Alberta researchers and their teams has contributed to an important next step in finding a cure for deadly prion-folding diseases in humans and animals.

Professor Michael James of the University of Alberta Department of Biochemistry, Professor Nat Kav of the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science and their labs collaborated to produce mini-antibodies and antibody fragments used by the Institute of Neuropathology in Zurich to study interactions between the antibodies and the prion protein and how it results in cell death.

CHICAGO --- New Northwestern Medicine® research on the genetics of diabetes could one day help women know their risk for developing gestational diabetes before they become pregnant -- and lead to preventive measures to protect the health of offspring.

The Food and Drug Administration's approval last year of the drug Truvada for prevention of HIV infection was a milestone in the fight against HIV/AIDS, but experts are cautioning that it is only the beginning of new ethical concerns for health care professionals, policy makers, researchers and those taking Truvada to prevent HIV infection.

A new study led by University of Pennsylvania researchers involves a classic case of evolution's fickle nature: a genetic mutation that protects against a potentially fatal infectious disease also appears to increase the risk of developing a chronic, debilitating condition.