Body

During the hot summer months, there's nothing quite like a nice refreshing and cooling dip in a pool, and it would seem that elephants agree. In fact, in some game parks, elephants will rarely stray far from water, and have even been, albeit controversially, called a water-dependent species. But are they really water dependent and if so what drives this dependence? Is it caused by a necessity to cool down?

This phenomenon, termed cell competition, occurs in a defined time window, between days 3 and 7 of mouse development. During this period all embryonic cells compete with each other, as explained by Dr. Cristina Claveria, first author of the study, and Dr. Miguel Torres, director of this work and Head of the Department of Cardiovascular Development and Repair at CNIC.

If the heart following a heart attack is not sufficiently supplied with blood, heart tissue dies. In adult humans, the ability to heal itself is hardly developed. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim, together with U.S. colleagues, have now observed in the embryo of the zebrafish that muscle cells migrate from the undamaged atrium into the ventricle and thus significantly contribute to regeneration. This could serve as the basis for novel therapeutic approaches.

This news release is available in German.

Jerusalem is characterized by a continued level of territorial conflict. Rarely does a day go by without media reports of violent clashes between Orthodox Jews, secular Israelis, Palestinians and the Israeli police and security forces. Ethnic, religious and ideological tensions determine the social life of the city, and efforts to find a political solution to the city's future status have thus far failed.

Spanish researchers at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC) have found that during the early stages of mammalian development, embryonic cells embark on a battle for survival. Through this battle, the less active of these cells are eliminated by their stronger sisters. The work is published today in the prestigious journal Nature.

Human migrations – from the prehistoric epoch to the present day – have extended cultures across the globe. With these travelers have come unwanted stowaways: mosquito-borne parasites belonging to the Plasmodium species – a group responsible for malaria, worldwide.

Medical diagnostic and security scanners with higher sensitivity could result from University of Adelaide research into detecting T-rays (terahertz waves).

Published in the journal Advanced Optical Materials, the researchers describe a novel structure which traps terahertz waves in tiny (micro-scale) holes to produce much higher contrast imaging than currently possible.

[EMBARGOED FOR July 11, 2013, ARLINGTON, Va.] – A new guide developed by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) will help physicians appropriately and accurately use laboratory tests for the diagnosis of infectious diseases. Laboratory test results drive approximately two-thirds of physicians' medical decisions.

Chancellor George Osborne has announced an increase in health spending of 1.9% for 2015/16, but taking inflation into account the true figure will be just 0.1%. And although politicians are promising to protect and increase the health budget every year, the latest Comprehensive Spending Review shows that the reality to be quite different.

Some CCGs have tightened the thresholds for access to "low priority" surgery such as hernia and joint problems, while others have introduced new systems to restrict the flow of patients being sent to hospital.

The BMJ's investigation also found that only four of England's 211 new GP led organisations, which assumed statutory responsibility for commissioning around £60bn of NHS care on 1 April 2013, have adopted new guidelines to help widen access to IVF treatment. This has led to disparities in availability across England.

STANFORD, Calif. — A new study led by a researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine shows that mammalian species can "choose" the sex of their offspring in order to beat the odds and produce extra grandchildren.

In analyzing 90 years of breeding records from the San Diego Zoo, the researchers were able to prove for the first time what has been a fundamental theory of evolutionary biology: that mammals rely on some unknown physiologic mechanism to manipulate the sex ratios of their offspring as part of a highly adaptive evolutionary strategy.

Researchers at the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and colleagues have identified a new virus associated with the death of a short-beaked dolphin found stranded on a beach in San Diego. It is the first time that a virus belonging to the polyomavirus family has been found in a dolphin. Results appear online in the journal PLOS ONE.

OTTAWA, July 10, 2013—A new study by a Canadian Museum of Nature scientist helps answer a long-standing question in palaeontology—how numerous species of large, plant-eating dinosaurs could co-exist successfully over geological time.

Children who receive a vaccine to prevent blood and ear infections, appear to be reducing the spread of pneumonia to the rest of the population, especially their grandparents and other older adults.

Thresher sharks hunt schooling sardines in the waters off a small coral island in the Philippines by rapidly slapping their tails hard enough to stun or kill several of the smaller fish at once, according to research published July 10 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Simon Oliver of the Thresher Shark Research and Conservation Project, and colleagues from other institutions.