science newsletter: Science News SciGuru.com

Σάββατο 26 Απριλίου 2014

Science News SciGuru.com

Immigrant women from certain regions at increased risk of pregnancy complications
Researchers link aging to cellular interactions that occur across generations
Personalised medicine in space? Animal studies suggest some astronauts at risk for cognitive impairment
Researchers have launched a detailed atlas with environment and health maps at a fine scale across England and Wales

Immigrant women from certain regions at increased risk of pregnancy complications

Posted: 25 Apr 2014 09:43 AM PDT

Immigrant women from Sub-Saharan Africa and from some Latin American or Caribbean groups are at a higher risk of pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia than immigrants from Western Europe. Immigrants from Europe and East Asia, however, are at lower risk than native-born women. Disparity in risk between Western European immigrants and higher risk immigrants varies between receiving countries.

Researchers link aging to cellular interactions that occur across generations

Posted: 25 Apr 2014 09:33 AM PDT

The evidence for what causes aging has typically been limited to the study of a single organism’s lifespan; our cells divide many times throughout our lives and eventually cause organs and our bodies to age and break down. But new research from the UNC School of Medicine suggests that how we age might depend on cellular interactions that we inherit from ancestors throughout many generations.

Personalised medicine in space? Animal studies suggest some astronauts at risk for cognitive impairment

Posted: 25 Apr 2014 08:48 AM PDT

A study on rats exposed to proton irradiation, simulating that experienced by astronauts on two-year planetary missions, indicates that some astronauts may be at risk of cognitive impairment. A substantial sub-group of the radiation-exposed rats displayed decreased accuracy, increased premature responding, increased attention lapses and slower reaction times in a rodent version of the human psychomotor vigilance test (PVT). This appears to be due to changes in the dopamine transporter system.

Researchers have launched a detailed atlas with environment and health maps at a fine scale across England and Wales

Posted: 25 Apr 2014 08:40 AM PDT

Produced by the UK Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU), part of the MRC-PHE Centre for Environment & Health based at Imperial College London, the open-access atlas allows researchers, policy makers and members of the public to study the geographical pattern of 14 diseases and conditions such as lung cancer, breast cancer, heart disease, leukaemia and low birth weight. Alongside this it provides maps of geographical variations of selected environmental agents such as air pollution, sunshine and pesticides.