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Recovery from stroke more likely with rtPA
Sea urchin populations in the Mediterranean: Twenty years of research in the Medes Islands
Bark beetle may impact air quality, climate
Researchers Find Genetic Evidence That Turtles Are More Closely Related To Birds Than Lizards And Snakes
The Goldilocks Effect: Babies Learn from Experiences That Are Not Too Simple, Not Too Complex, but 'Just Right'
IUDs, implants are most effective birth control
Study shows that fever during pregnancy more than doubles the risk of autism or developmental delay
Stem-cell-growing surface enables bone repair
Prevalence of kidney stones doubles in wake of obesity epidemic
Study Highlights How Twitter Is Used To Share Information After A Disaster
Wearing two different hats: moral decisions may depend on the situation
Heart damage after chemo linked to stress in cardiac cells
Lemur Lessons: Factors Driving Lemur Species Extinctions for Past 2,000 Years Have Also Sparked Ongoing ''Ecological Retreat" by Surviving Species
Researchers develop new genetic method to pinpoint individuals' geographic origin
Rapid coral death by a deadly chain reaction

Recovery from stroke more likely with rtPA

Posted: 24 May 2012 06:01 AM PDT

Patients who receive pharmacological thrombolysis within six hours of a stroke are more likely to make a better recovery than those who don't get the same treatment. This according to the world's largest ever trial of the clot-busting drug rtPA, where researchers from Karolinska Institutet participated.

Sea urchin populations in the Mediterranean: Twenty years of research in the Medes Islands

Posted: 24 May 2012 05:55 AM PDT

A paper published in the journal PLoS ONE, whose first author is lecturer Bernat Hereu, from the Department of Ecology of the UB, shows the main results of twenty years of scientific studies monitoring sea urchins (Paracentrotus lividus and Arbacia lixula) in the Medes Islands. These two species are the most common sea urchins in the Mediterranean area.

Bark beetle may impact air quality, climate

Posted: 23 May 2012 07:52 PM PDT

If you’ve traveled to a forested national park out West in recent years, you may have noticed two things. First, a growing number of lodgepole pine trees are dying, victims of the bark beetle. And secondly, atmospheric haze, caused in part by tiny solid particles suspended in the air, is becoming a problem.

A study by a researcher at Southern Illinois University Carbondale shows these two phenomena may be related, tied together by chemistry and climate change factors.

Researchers Find Genetic Evidence That Turtles Are More Closely Related To Birds Than Lizards And Snakes

Posted: 23 May 2012 05:58 PM PDT

The evolutionary origin of turtles is one of the last unanswered questions in vertebrate evolution. Paleontological and morphological studies place turtles as either evolving from the ancestor of all reptiles or as evolving from the ancestor of snakes, lizards, and tuataras. Conflictingly, genetic studies place turtles as evolving from the ancestor of crocodilians and birds.

The Goldilocks Effect: Babies Learn from Experiences That Are Not Too Simple, Not Too Complex, but 'Just Right'

Posted: 23 May 2012 05:40 PM PDT

Long before babies understand the story of Goldilocks, they have more than mastered the fairy tale heroine's method of decision-making. Infants ignore information that is too simple or too complex, focusing instead on situations that are "just right," according to a new study to be published in the journal PLoS ONE on May 23.

IUDs, implants are most effective birth control

Posted: 23 May 2012 05:26 PM PDT

A study to evaluate birth-control methods has found dramatic differences in their effectiveness. Women who used birth-control pills, the patch or vaginal ring were 20 times more likely to have an unintended pregnancy than those who used longer-acting forms such as an intrauterine device (IUD) or implant.

Results of the study, by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, are reported May 24 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Study shows that fever during pregnancy more than doubles the risk of autism or developmental delay

Posted: 23 May 2012 04:00 PM PDT

A team of UC Davis researchers has found that mothers who had fevers during their pregnancies were more than twice as likely to have a child with autism or developmental delay than were mothers of typically developing children, and that taking medication to treat fever countered its effect.

Stem-cell-growing surface enables bone repair

Posted: 23 May 2012 03:55 PM PDT

University of Michigan researchers have proven that a special surface, free of biological contaminants, allows adult-derived stem cells to thrive and transform into multiple cell types. Their success brings stem cell therapies another step closer.

To prove the cells' regenerative powers, bone cells grown on this surface were then transplanted into holes in the skulls of mice, producing four times as much new bone growth as in the mice without the extra bone cells.

Prevalence of kidney stones doubles in wake of obesity epidemic

Posted: 23 May 2012 02:43 PM PDT

The number of Americans suffering from kidney stones between 2007 and 2010 nearly doubled from 1994, according to a new study by researchers at UCLA and the RAND Corp.

Study Highlights How Twitter Is Used To Share Information After A Disaster

Posted: 23 May 2012 02:21 PM PDT

A study from North Carolina State University shows how people used Twitter following the 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan, highlighting challenges for using the social media tool to share information. The study also indicates that social media haven’t changed what we communicate so much as how quickly we can disseminate it.

Binder's study examined whether Twitter is an effective tool for sharing meaningful information after a disaster.

Wearing two different hats: moral decisions may depend on the situation

Posted: 23 May 2012 02:18 PM PDT

An individual’s sense of right or wrong may change depending on their activities at the time – and they may not be aware of their own shifting moral integrity — according to a new study looking at why people make ethical or unethical decisions.

Heart damage after chemo linked to stress in cardiac cells

Posted: 23 May 2012 02:14 PM PDT

Blocking a protein in the heart that is produced under stressful conditions could be a strategy to prevent cardiac damage that results from chemotherapy, a new study suggests.

Previous research has suggested that up to a quarter of patients who receive the common chemotherapy drug doxorubicin are at risk of developing heart failure later in life. Exactly how that heart damage is done remains unclear.

Lemur Lessons: Factors Driving Lemur Species Extinctions for Past 2,000 Years Have Also Sparked Ongoing ''Ecological Retreat" by Surviving Species

Posted: 23 May 2012 11:37 AM PDT

New research out today on the long-term impact of species extinctions suggests that the disappearance of one species does not necessarily allow remaining competitor species to thrive by filling now-empty niches.

Researchers develop new genetic method to pinpoint individuals' geographic origin

Posted: 23 May 2012 11:27 AM PDT

Understanding the genetic diversity within and between populations has important implications for studies of human disease and evolution. This includes identifying associations between genetic variants and disease, detecting genomic regions that have undergone positive selection and highlighting interesting aspects of human population history.

Rapid coral death by a deadly chain reaction

Posted: 23 May 2012 10:40 AM PDT

Most people are fascinated by the colourful and exotic coral reefs, which form habitats with probably the largest biodiversity. But human civilisation is the top danger to these fragile ecosystems through climate change, oxygen depletion and ocean acidification. Industrialisation, deforestation and intensive farming in coastal areas are changing dramatically the conditions for life in the oceans.