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Lifestyle, age linked to diabetes-related protein

By Guest PostSeptember 25, 2013Healthage, asian, atsushi goto, binding globulin, black, bmi, body mass index, brian chen, demographic factors, diabetes related protein, early biomarker, hispanic, jane cauley, lifestyle, metabolic syndrome, nongenetic factors, pacific islander, postmenopausal women, risk, sex hormone, shbg, simin liu, type 2 diabetes, yiqing song

A large, newly published study that includes more than 13,500 postmenopausal women has yielded the most definitive associations yet between certain lifestyle and demographic factors and levels of a promising early biomarker of type 2 diabetes risk.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Over the last decade researchers have amassed increasing evidence that relatively low levels of a protein called sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) can indicate an elevated risk of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome years in advance. (more…)

Dolphins keep lifelong social memories, longest in a non-human species

By Guest PostAugust 10, 2013Nature, Scienceage, bailey, bermuda, brookfield zoo, Chicago, chimpanzees, cognitive sophistication, dolphin connection, dolphin named allie, dolphin named kai, dolphin quest, dolphins, elephants, florida keys, human social memory, humans, jason bruck, non human species, scotland, sex, signature whistle, social memories, spectrograms, st andrews, stephanie l king, texas state aquarium, university, vincent m janik

Dolphins can recognize their old tank mates’ whistles after being separated for more than 20 years—the longest social memory ever recorded for a non-human species.

The remarkable memory feat is another indication that dolphins have a level of cognitive sophistication comparable to only a few other species, including humans, chimpanzees and elephants. Dolphins’ talent for social recognition may be even more long-lasting than facial recognition among humans, since human faces change over time, but the signature whistle that identifies a dolphin remains stable over many decades. (more…)

Harmful Protein-Coding Mutations in People arose Largely in the Past 5,000 to 10,000 Years

By Guest PostDecember 2, 2012Sciencea, africa migration, african, age, alzheimer, c, dating, discovery, dna code, dna sequence, Europe, european ancestry, evolutionary geneticist, future generation, g, gene, genetic variants, hardening, harmful, heart arteries, human, human diaspora, joshua akey, mesopotamia, metabolic pathways, middle east, model, mutation, nucleotide, out of africa, paralysis, premature ovarian failure, protein coding gene, protein coding mutation, seattle, single nucleotide, t, tap energy, university, variation, Washington, wenqing fu

A study dating the age of more than 1 million single-letter variations in the human DNA code reveals that most of these mutations are of recent origin, evolutionarily speaking. These kinds of mutations change one nucleotide – an A, C, T or G – in the DNA sequence. Over 86 percent of the harmful protein-coding mutations of this type arose in humans just during the past 5,000 to 10,000 years.

Some of the remaining mutations of this nature may have no effect on people, and a few might be beneficial, according to the project researchers. While each specific mutation is rare, the findings suggest that the human population acquired an abundance of these single-nucleotide genetic variants in a relatively short time. (more…)

Moral Evaluations of Harm are Instant and Emotional, Brain Study Shows

By Guest PostDecember 2, 2012Scienceaccidental, age, amygdala, brain, brain activity, callous unemotional traits, Chicago, data, emotion, empathy, evolutionary heritage, humans, hurtful action, intentional, jean decety, milliseconds, moral computations, moral response, morality, mri scans, posterior, psychopaths, split second, step, stephanie cacioppo, sulcus, superior, temporal, tpj area, university, ventromedial prefrontal cortex

People are able to detect, within a split second, if a hurtful action they are witnessing is intentional or accidental, new research on the brain at the University of Chicago shows.

The study is the first to explain how the brain is hard-wired to recognize when another person is being intentionally harmed. It also provides new insights into how such recognition is connected with emotion and morality, said lead author Jean Decety, the Irving B. Harris Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at UChicago. (more…)

How Galaxies Grow Up

By Guest PostOctober 20, 2012Scienceadam block, age, andromeda galaxy, astronomer, benjamin weiner, blue galaxies, california, computer program, computer simulation, deep2, emission line, galaxies, Galaxy, galaxy evolution, galaxy population, galaxy type, gas, grow up, hawaii, internal motion, keck telescopes, lick observatory, light years, m88 galaxy, massive system, Milky Way, mount lemmon, NASA, observational data, random motion, redshift survey, rotation speed, santa cruz, skycenter, spiral disk shape, star forming galaxies, susan kassin, ua, universe, university, velocity

A study of 544 star-forming galaxies shows that disk galaxies like our own Milky Way reached their current state as orderly rotating pinwheels much later than previously thought, long after much of the universe’s star formation had ceased.

Galaxies are in no hurry to grow up, a team of astronomers has discovered. A comprehensive study of hundreds of galaxies observed by the Keck telescopes in Hawaii and NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has revealed an unexpected pattern of change that extends back 8 billion years, or more than half the age of the universe.

Researchers say the distant blue galaxies they studied are gradually transforming into rotating disk galaxies like our own Milky Way. Until now, it had not been clear how a galaxy’s organization and internal motion change over time, said Benjamin Weiner, assistant astronomer at the UA Steward Observatory and co-author of the paper describing the findings, which are published in The Astrophysical Journal. (more…)

Taking Race Out of the Equation in Measuring Women’s Risk of Osteoporosis and Fractures

By Guest PostOctober 20, 2012Healthafrican american, age, arun karlamangla, background, bone fracture, bone health, bone size, carolyn crandall, caucasian, chinese heritage, data, ethnic, ethnicity, ethnicity information, gail greendale, hip fracture, jane cauley, japanese, mei hua huang, michelle danielson, mixed, national database, new method, osteoporosis, pittsburgh, race, racial, racial line, racial mixture, risk, shinya ishii, ucla, university, women

For women of mixed racial or ethnic backgrounds, a new method for measuring bone health may improve the odds of correctly diagnosing their risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures, according to a UCLA-led study.

Currently, assessing osteoporosis and the risk of fractures from small accidents like falls requires a bone density scan. But because these scans don’t provide other relevant fracture-related information, such as bone size and the amount of force a bone is subjected to during a fall, each patient’s bone density is examined against a national database of people with the same age and race or ethnicity. (more…)

Microbes Help Hyenas Communicate via Scent

By Guest PostSeptember 2, 2012Natureage, animal, animal behavior, bacteria, beneficial relationship, chemical signature, communication, communication system, diversity, DNA, hyena, hyena clan, kay holekamp, kenyan plains, kevin theis, key controller, mammal, michigan state university, microbial community, reproductive status, scent gland, sex, symbiotic bacteria, trait

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Bacteria in hyenas’ scent glands may be the key controllers of communication.

The results, featured in the current issue of Scientific Reports, show a clear relationship between the diversity of hyena clans and the distinct microbial communities that reside in their scent glands, said Kevin Theis, the paper’s lead author and Michigan State University postdoctoral researcher.

“A critical component of every animal’s behavioral repertoire is an effective communication system,” said Theis, who co-authored the study with Kay Holekamp, MSU zoologist. “It is possible that without their bacteria, many animals couldn’t ‘say’ much at all.” (more…)

Many Young People Would Rather Surf the Web than Drive a Car

By Guest PostApril 5, 2012General, Technologyage, bernie degroat, brandon schoettle, canada, driver, environmental consequences, finland, function, Germany, great britain, information highway, internet users, Israel, Japan, latvia, license, michael sivak, norway, people, poland, societal wealth, south korea, spain, Sweden, switzerland, teenager, the netherlands, traffic injury, travel, united states, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— More young adults today would rather hit the information highway than the open highway, say University of Michigan researchers.

In a new study in the journal Traffic Injury Prevention, Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle of the U-M Transportation Research Institute found that having a higher proportion of Internet users was associated with lower licensure rates among young persons.

And this is just not in the United States; it’s happening in other countries, too. (more…)

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