Body

One of the most devastating side effects of diabetes is kidney failure, and one of the earliest signs of kidney damage is a disruption of the organ's filtering capacity. Diabetes patients who develop kidney failure must go on dialysis, seriously limiting their quality of life and placing them at significantly increased risk of death. The incidence of kidney disease is increasing with rising rates of obesity-associated type 2 diabetes, but very little progress has been made towards protecting the kidney's filter barrier during the past 50 years.

Skin provides a first line of defense against viruses, bacteria and parasites that might otherwise make people ill. When an injury breaks that barrier, a systematic chain of molecular signaling launches to close the wound and re-establish the skin's layer of protection.

An automated system developed by researchers from the Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University to help pediatricians focus on the specific health needs of each patient in the short time allotted for preventive care improves autism screening rates by identifying at-risk children at the 24-month visit. Nationwide children typically are not diagnosed with autism until age 4½ or 5 years.

"Computer Decision Support to Improve Autism Screening and Care in Community Pediatric Clinics" appears in the October-December issue of the journal Infants & Young Children.

University of Alberta researchers are closing in on finding an effective bait to get ahead of the destructive spread of mountain pine beetle, which is now killing not only lodgepole pine forests, but jack pine.

Nadir Erbilgin, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Forest Entomology in the University of Alberta Department of Renewable Resources, has been investigating pheromones emitted by the pest in North America's lodgepole and jack pine forests.

ADDIS ABABA (15 November 2013) – This week, the Population Council presented findings from more than 40 research studies at the International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Council experts showcased new research during panel sessions, oral presentations, roundtable discussions, a press conference, and poster presentations.

There are many people in this position and the number is increasing; cancer patients who not only have to fight against cancer, but also suffer from other diseases. So-called comorbidity is a large and growing problem, not least because we are becoming older and age increases the risk of contracting cancer as well as other diseases.

NEW ORLEANS – Nov. 15, 2013 – Cataract surgeries performed over one year eventually save $123.4 billion over 13 years and delivers a 4,567 percent financial return on investment to society according to the results of a cost-utility study, published online today in the Academy's official journal, Ophthalmology, and will be presented on Nov. 17 at the world's largest ophthalmic conference, the American Academy of Ophthalmology's 117th Annual Meeting, in New Orleans. Researchers say that the results prove that healthcare interventions create substantial economic wealth.

Researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have developed a new technique for fighting deadly and hard-to-treat pancreatic cancer that uses two different types of nanoparticles, the first type clearing a path into tumor cells for the second, which delivers chemotherapy drugs.

Uncontrolled high blood pressure rates continue to grow despite the availability of proven treatments, but collaborative approaches can be effective in fighting this deadly disease, according to a science advisory from the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

DENVER (Nov. 15, 2013) - More than 600,000 bats were killed by wind energy turbines in 2012, a serious blow to creatures who pollinate crops and help control flying insects, according to a new study from the University of Colorado Denver.

"The development and expansion of wind energy facilities is a key threat to bat populations in North America," said study author Mark Hayes, PhD, research associate in integrated biology at CU Denver. "Dead bats are being found underneath wind turbines across North America. The estimate of bat fatalities is probably conservative."

Gorgonians are a type of soft corals easily distinguishable by the complex branching shape, which has also probably inspired their name, coming from the Gorgon Medusa- a creature from the Greek mythology that had hair made of venomous snakes. The existence of Medusa outside myth might be debatable, but gorgonian corals do exist and decorate our ocean with complex patterns and vibrant colors.

Researchers from the University of New England (Australia) and the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Sydney (Australia), have discovered a high-altitude species of sedge from south-western Tasmania. A small clumping plant, Lepidosperma monticola grows on mountains including Mount Field and Mount Sprent. It is unique in the genus in being the only species essentially restricted to alpine vegetation. At less than seven centimetres tall, this Tasmanian endemic is also the smallest known species of Lepidosperma.

Arnhem, The Netherlands - New study suggests that selective blockade of CRM1-dependent nuclear export represents a completely novel, tumour metastasis-selective approach for the treatment of advanced metastatic prostate cancers.

15.11.2013/Göteborg, Kiel, Bremerhaven. Ocean acidification impairs digestion in marine organisms, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change. Researchers from Sweden and Germany have studied the larval stage of green sea urchins Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis. The results show that the animals have problems digesting food in acidified water.

New research has found that the number of pests and disease outbreaks in trees and forests across the world has been increasing.

The review "The consequences of Tree Pests and Diseases for Ecosystem Services" by scientists from the universities of Southampton, Cambridge, Oxford and St Andrews is published today (15 November) in the journal Science.