Body

Irvine, Calif. — Abundant supplies of natural gas will do little to reduce harmful U.S. emissions causing climate change, according to researchers at UC Irvine, Stanford University, and the nonprofit organization Near Zero. They found that inexpensive gas boosts electricity consumption and hinders expansion of cleaner energy sources, such as wind and solar.

Female populations have been larger than male populations throughout human history, according to research published today in the open access journal Investigative Genetics. The research used a new technique to obtain higher quality paternal genetic information to analyse the demographic history of males and females in worldwide populations.

The mechanism by which statins increase the risk of type 2 diabetes has been investigated in a large-scale analysis from an international team led by researchers from UCL and the University of Glasgow, using information from genetic studies and clinical trials.

Published in The Lancet, the work received support from a number of funders including the Medical Research Council, British Heart Foundation, Rosetrees Trust and National Institute for Health Research University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre.

Skin colour displayed amongst one species of monkey provides a key indicator of how successfully they will breed, a new study has shown.

The collaborative international research also shows that skin colouration in male and female rhesus macaques is an inherited quality – the first example of heritability for a sexually-selected trait to be described in any mammal.

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Researchers at The Ohio State University have gained new insight into how the body moves when we're walking.

They learned everything they needed to know by watching people walk naturally on a treadmill.

For thousands of years, man has domesticated animals, selecting the best traits possible for survival. Now, livestock such as sheep offer an intriguing animal to examine adaptation to climate change, with a genetic legacy of centuries of selected breeding and a wealth of livestock genome-wide data available.

The successful rise and fall of an athlete's moving body relies on an orchestrated response of bones, joints, ligaments and tendons, putting the many angles and intersecting planes – literally the geometry – of a critical part like a knee joint to the test. But it's more than just a footfall error at the root of one of the most devastating of sports injuries: the ACL or anterior cruciate ligament tear. In fact, size – of the femoral notch that sits at the center of the knee joint – and volume of the ACL combine to influence the risk of suffering a noncontact ACL injury.

• Alcohol use that begins during adolescence affects the development of alcohol use disorders during adulthood.
• A new study looks at the effects of interplay between peer drinking and the functional variant rs1229984 in the alcohol dehydrogenase 1B gene (ADH1B) among adolescents.
• Peer drinking reduces the protective effects of this ADH1B variant.

• Increasing cigarette taxes and smoke-free policies are known to reduce smoking prevalence.
• New findings show that these measures may also lead to a decrease in alcohol consumption.
• These findings apply to beer and spirits, but not wine.

Taste strongly influences food and beverage intake, including alcohol. Furthermore, genetic variation in chemosensory genes can explain variability in individual perception of and preference for alcoholic drinks. A new study has examined the relationship between variation in alcohol-related sensations and polymorphisms in bitter taste receptors genes previously linked to alcohol intake, and for the first time, polymorphisms in a burn receptor gene. The findings indicate that genetic variations in taste receptors influence intensity perceptions.

Following a doubling of the incidence and prevalence of diabetes in the U.S. from 1990-2008, new data suggest a plateauing of the rate between 2008 and 2012 for adults, however the incidence continued to increase in Hispanic and non-Hispanic black adults, according to a study in the September 24 issue of JAMA.

Although there has been an increase in the prevalence and incidence of diabetes in the United States in recent decades, no studies have systematically examined long-term, national trends of this disease, according to background information in the article.

An intervention for pregnant women that included a computerized, interactive decision-support guide regarding prenatal genetic testing, and no cost for testing, resulted in less prenatal test use and more informed choices, according to a study in the September 24 issue of JAMA.

An analysis of 70 studies finds that use of the diagnostic imaging procedure of fludeoxyglucose F18 (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET) combined with computed tomography (CT) may not reliably distinguish benign disease from lung cancer in populations with endemic (high prevalence) infectious lung disease compared with nonendemic regions, according to a study in the September 24 issue of JAMA.

A new analysis of published studies found that FDG-PET technology is less accurate in diagnosing lung cancer versus benign disease in regions where infections like histoplasmosis or tuberculosis are common. Misdiagnosis of lung lesions suspicious for cancer could lead to unnecessary tests and surgeries for patients, with additional potential complications and mortality.

Histoplasmosis and other fungal diseases are linked to fungi that are often concentrated in bird droppings and are found in soils.

(PHILADELPHIA) – Researchers have encountered variants or isoforms in microRNAs (miRNAs) before, but assumed that these variants were accidental byproducts. A recent study, published in the journal Oncotarget this month, shows that certain so called isomiRs have abundances that depend on geographic subpopulations and gender and that the most prevalent variant of a given miRNA may not be the one typically listed in the public databases.