science newsletter: Science News SciGuru.com

Τρίτη 29 Απριλίου 2014

Science News SciGuru.com

Study of stem cell trials links discrepancies in data with reported success of treatment
‘Celtic Tiger’ sun holidays and increased skin cancer in Ireland
A fattening gene
Crabs are killing New England saltmarshes

Study of stem cell trials links discrepancies in data with reported success of treatment

Posted: 29 Apr 2014 07:06 AM PDT

New research looking at the success of clinical trials of stem cell therapy shows that trials appear to be more successful in studies where there are more discrepancies in the trial data.

Researchers from Imperial College London conducted a meta-analysis of 49 randomised controlled trials of bone marrow stem cell therapy for heart disease. The study, published today in the British Medical Journal, identified and listed over 600 discrepancies within the trial reports.

‘Celtic Tiger’ sun holidays and increased skin cancer in Ireland

Posted: 29 Apr 2014 06:57 AM PDT

The economic boom period in Ireland popularly referred to as the ‘Celtic Tiger’ saw an increase in the number of sun holidays that people could afford to take. This has resulted in a major increase in the number of cases of non-melanoma skin cancer- both cutaneous basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma - between 2002 and 2011. This is the main finding of a study from the Irish National Cancer Registry published online ahead of print by the British Journal of Dermatology.

A fattening gene

Posted: 28 Apr 2014 09:31 AM PDT

The long-term consumption of too much high-energy and high-fat food leads to overweight. Behind this trivial statement lies the extremely complex regulation of lipid metabolism. Together with colleagues from Japan, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim have now discovered that the Sirt7 gene plays a central role in energy metabolism. Despite consuming high-fat food, genetically modified mice that lack the gene maintain their normal weight.

Crabs are killing New England saltmarshes

Posted: 28 Apr 2014 09:20 AM PDT

Two newly published studies by a team of Brown University researchers provide ample new evidence that the reason coastal saltmarshes are dying from Long Island to Cape Cod is that hungry crabs, left unchecked by a lack of predators, are eating the cordgrass.