Body

August 28, 2012, Shenzhen, China – The international research team led by Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and BGI have completed the genome sequence and analysis of a diploid cotton-- Gossypium raimondii. The cotton genome provides an invaluable resource for the study and genetic improvement of cotton quality and output, and sheds new lights on understanding the genetic characteristics and evolutionary mechanism underlying cotton and its close relatives. The study was published online in Nature Genetics.

Disruptions to the circadian rhythm can affect the growth of blood vessels in the body, thus causing illnesses such as diabetes, obesity, and cancer, according to a new study from Linköping University and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.

The circadian rhythm is regulated by a "clock" that reacts to both incoming light and genetic factors.

In an article now being published in the scientific journal Cell Reports, it is demonstrated for the first time that disruption of the circadian rhythm immediately inhibit blood vessel growth in zebra fish embryos.

Chronic inflammation is frequently at the route of multiple cancers, particularly in colorectal cancers where ulcerative colitis increases the risk of developing colon cancer 20-fold.

Patients with ulcerative colitis are often treated with NSAIDs to reduce inflammation, which can reduce their cancer risk by 50%. Molecules that drive inflammation may be attractive therapeutic targets to prevent and treat inflammation-driven cancers.

Antibiotic residues in uncured pepperoni or salami meat are potent enough to weaken helpful bacteria that processors add to acidify the sausage to make it safe for consumption, according to a study to be published in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, on August 28.

VIENTIANE, LAO PDR (28 August 2012)—During a riveting keynote speech given at a international land and forestry conference in Vientiane today, Dr. Souvanhpheng Bouphanouvong, President of the National Assembly of Lao's Committee on Economic Planning and Finance, announced the government's intention to undergo a nationwide formal process of large scale land reform, and prioritize the need for increased local land management, given that access to land for rural households is fundamental to sustained poverty alleviation.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects 11 percent of the U.S. population. CKD is associated with advanced age, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease and most people with CKD have no symptoms. Screening and monitoring patients before they have symptoms could lead to earlier interventions that improve health outcomes.

Researchers at the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) reviewed published randomized, controlled trials to assess the benefits and harms of screening, monitoring, and treatment of early-stage CKD in asymptomatic adults.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is one of the viruses that most infected people carry without ill effects. Once infected you are infected for life and, although it normally is dormant, it can become active again at any point in time. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Immunity and Ageing shows that CMV infection is a significant risk factor for the type 2 diabetes in the elderly.

New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine reassessing clinical data from trials, which investigate ways of treating side effects of therapy for prostate cancer, finds that tamoxifen, an anti-estrogen used to treat breast cancer, is also able to suppress gynecomastia and breast pain in men.

Marsupial mothers regulate the composition of their milk so that it is optimal for the development stage of their young. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Epigenetics & Chromatin shows that, similar to the human placenta, which regulates embryonic growth and development, insulin appears to be imprinted in the marsupial mammary gland.

Be wary about estimates, when it comes to...everything. If it isn't science, and is instead an estimate, a projection or a numerical model, you might as well lump it in as humanities rather than sciece.

Previous estimates about the total mass of all life on our planet have to be reduced by about one third, says a study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS).

An international team of scientists has discovered the oldest record of arthropods—invertebrate animals that include insects, arachnids, and crustaceans—preserved in amber. The specimens, one fly and two mites found in millimeter-scale droplets of amber from northeastern Italy, are about 100 million years older than any other amber arthropod ever collected. The group's findings, which are published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, pave the way for a better evolutionary understanding of the most diverse group of organisms in the world.

DURHAM, NC – Over-eager eco-tourists intent on seeing spinner dolphins up close may inadvertently be disturbing the charismatic animals' daytime rest periods and driving them out of safe habitats in bays along Hawaii's coast.

Scientists at Duke and Stony Brook universities have developed a promising new tool that may help to limit repeated human disturbances and help reduce their negative impacts on the dolphins.

LOS ANGELES — Aug. 27, 2012 –Cedars-Sinai researchers have found that a common vitamin may have the potential to provide a powerful weapon to fight certain "superbugs," antibiotic-resistant staph infections that health experts see as a threat to public health.

MAYWOOD, Ill. - A new study raises a cautionary note about the increasing use of a minimally invasive procedure to repair ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms, according to vascular surgeon Dr. Jae Sung Cho of Loyola University Medical Center.

A ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) causes massive internal bleeding that requires immediate emergency surgery to save the patient.

The rupture can be repaired either with an open surgery or with a newer, less-invasive endovascular technique that involves the use of a catheter.

DALLAS – Aug. 27, 2012 – Being physically fit during your 30s, 40s, and 50s not only helps extend lifespan, but it also increases the chances of aging healthily, free from chronic illness, investigators at UT Southwestern Medical Center and The Cooper Institute have found.

For decades, research has shown that higher cardiorespiratory fitness levels lessen the risk of death, but it previously had been unknown just how much fitness might affect the burden of chronic disease in the most senior years – a concept known as morbidity compression.