Global warming strikes again. A University of Illinois researcher reports that a red-winged black bird population in Ontario, Canada has decreased by 50 percent since 1972. The decrease is related to a positive shift in the North Atlantic Oscillation which has resulted in warmer, wetter winters in the southeastern United States.
An article in Nature on Thursday 9/11 reports the discovery of gorillas living in the wild in Central Africa infected with an HIV-1 related virus, called SIVgor, genetically close to an HIV-1 variant called group O. This discovery ask the crucial question on the source and route for infection of the gorillas. It broadens substantially the scope of research on the ability of these viruses to cross over from one species to another.
Researchers today presented data showing that ACTOS (pioglitazone HCl) halted the progression of atherosclerosis as measured by carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) in patients with type 2 diabetes. Results from the clinical trial, CHICAGO (Carotid intima-media thickness in Atherosclerosis using pioglitazone), are part of a late-breaker presentation at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2006, coincidentally being held in Chicago, and coincide with an early online issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Infants and adults who are blind due to a cloudy or damaged cornea are seeing some remarkable results thanks to a new version of an artificial implant that takes the place of the cornea, the clear covering of the eye that serves as our window on the world.
Teenagers do not think they are immortal. But they take risks anyway. Here is why and what we can do about it.
Almost half of Canadians and even more Americans say they find new laws aimed at protecting national security post 9/11 intrusive. That’s just one of the wide-ranging findings of a survey on the surveillance and privacy attitudes and experiences of 9,000 people in eight countries initiated by the Queen’s University-based Surveillance Project.
The National Institute of Mental Health, part of the National Institutes of Health, is funding five new research projects that will shed light on antidepressant medications, notably selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), and their association with suicidal thoughts and actions (suicidality).
Six percent of obese kidney transplant patients die in the first year and 14 percent suffer transplant failures. The figures for non obese patients are three percent and eight percent. Experts from seven university hospitals in the Netherlands studied 2067 patients. Their finding appear in the November issue of Transplant International.
Researchers have long sought to find a reliable way to see inside the human heart without having to insert tubes, inject dyes or expose patients to potentially dangerous radiation. One possible solution is the whole-heart MRI, which provides 3-D images of the heart and its blood vessels without the risk of an invasive procedure.
An increasing number of countries and regions are transitioning from deforestation to afforestation, raising hopes for a turning point for the world as a whole, according to researchers advancing a more sophisticated approach to measuring forest cover. The novel approach looks beyond simply how much of a nation’s area is covered by trees and considers the volume of timber, biomass and captured carbon within the area.