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Computer models figure out sickle cell crisis

By Guest PostJuly 23, 2013Scienceafrican, blood blockages, brown university, computer models, figure out, george karniadakis, hispanic descent, huan lei, karniadakis lab, red blood cells, sickle cell crisis, ss2 cells, united states

A sickle cell crisis isn’t just about sickle-shaped red blood cells that block capillaries. A second, stickier kind of red blood cell starts the obstruction, making it difficult for sickle cells to flow past.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Using powerful computer models, researchers from Brown University have shown for the first time how different types of red blood cells interact to cause sickle cell crisis, a dangerous blockage of blood flow in capillaries that causes searing pain and tissue damage in people with sickle cell disease.

The models showed that the rigid, crescent-shaped red blood cells that are the hallmark of sickle cell disease don’t cause these blockages on their own. Instead, softer, deformable red blood cells known as SS2 cells start the process by sticking to capillary walls. The rigid sickle-shaped cells then stack up behind the SS2s, like traffic behind a car wreck. (more…)

Navigate America’s Major Rivers Without Getting Wet

By Guest PostJuly 23, 2013Environmentdigital hydrographic data, mississippi river, navigate rivers, navigate upstream, streamer, united states, water bodies

Have you ever dropped a stick into a river and wondered where it might go if it floated all the way downstream? Now you can trace its journey using Streamer – a new on-line service from the National Atlas of the United States^®. (more…)

From flounders to seahorses: Evolutionary success of spiny-rayed fishes detailed

By Guest PostJuly 17, 2013Scienceacanthomorphs, ancestor, anchovies, catfish, dinosaurs, evolutionary history, evolutionary success, flounders, fossil record, genetic tools, herrings, information, life, salmon, seahorses, spiny rayed fishes, thomas near, trout, united states, university of california, university of oxford, vertebrate tree, yale university

Even as the dinosaurs were becoming extinct 66 million years ago, the ancient ancestor of spiny-rayed fishes flourished, eventually giving rise to tens of thousands of species that can now be found in home aquariums or on dinner plates. Using modern genetic tools and information from the fossil record, a team led by researchers at Yale University, University of Oxford, and University of California-Davis have constructed a detailed evolutionary history of the 18,000 species of spiny-rayed fishes existing today, a diverse group that includes basses, pufferfishes, and cichlids, and that comprises a large portion of the vertebrate tree of life.

The findings published the week of July 15 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences show surprisingly close evolutionary relationships between lineages of fish species such as tunas and seahorses, and suggest some fish lineages — like cichlids, the tiny gobies, and little-studied snailfishes — are experiencing high rates of new species origination. (more…)

Outlook is Grim for Mammals and Birds as Human Population Grows

By Guest PostJuly 16, 2013Environment, Naturebirds, birth rate, climate change, congo, data, death rate, democratic republic, ecosystem, erica chambers, extinction, grim, human population, human population footprint, jeffrey mckee, julia guseman, mammals, outlook, population density, prediction, projection, united states

Average Growing Nation Can Expect 10.8 Percent More Threatened Species by 2050

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The ongoing global growth in the human population will inevitably crowd out mammals and birds and has the potential to threaten hundreds of species with extinction within 40 years, new research shows.

Scientists at The Ohio State University have determined that the average growing nation should expect at least 3.3 percent more threatened species in the next decade and an increase of 10.8 percent species threatened with extinction by 2050.

The United States ranks sixth in the world in the number of new species expected to be threatened by 2050, the research showed. (more…)

Women and HIV: A story of racial and ethnic health disparities

By Guest PostJuly 7, 2013Culture, Healthafrican american, aids, american women, behavioral, causes of death, cira, cultural factor, culture, discrimination, ethnic health disparities, hiv, hiv acquisition, hiv epidemic, hiv infection, hiv risk, intimate partner violence, ipv, known risk factors, latina women, lisa rosenthal, negative, non caucasian women, prep access, racial, sarah k calabrese, sexual experience, sexual partnership, sexual risk taking, sexual self concept, sexual stereotypes, sexually transmitted infections, society, stigma, stis, story, theory, united states, women

The history of women with HIV/AIDS in the United States is really a story of racial and ethnic health disparities.

Overall, the rate of American women contracting the disease relative to men has climbed from 8 percent in the 1980s to 25 percent today. But most of this burden is in underserved communities: one in 32 African-American women will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime, as will one in 106 Latina women. Meanwhile, one in 526 Caucasian and Asian women will contract the virus. Death rates are also higher for African-American and Latina women, making it one of the leading causes of death for those groups. (more…)

Big feet preference in rural Indonesia defies one-size-fits-all theory of attractiveness

By Guest PostJuly 2, 2013Scienceanthropologist, big feet preference, brazil, cambodia, cultural transmission, culture, genetics, geoff kushnick, human evolution, India, indonesian island, iran, journal human nature, karo batak, lithuania, mate attractive, northern part, papua new guinea, recent evolution, rural indonesia, sexual selection, sumatra, Tanzania, theory of attractiveness, united states, university of washington, urban ecology, villages, western media

People in most cultures view women with small feet as attractive. Like smooth skin or an hourglass figure, petite feet signal a potential mate’s youth and fertility.

Because they signal reproductive potential, a preference for mates with these qualities may have evolved in the brains of our Pleistocene ancestors and are viewed by evolutionary psychologists as evidence that the preference is hard-wired into our genetic makeup. (more…)

Breaking Dengue Fever

By Guest PostJune 30, 2013Healthasia-pacific, China, dengue fever, florida, guangzhou, hawaii, infectious disease, malaria, michigan state university, mosquito species, mosquitoes, sun yat sen, united states, university, vaccine, wolbachia bacteria, zhiyong xi

Like malaria, dengue fever is an infectious disease transmitted by mosquitoes. Unlike malaria, there is no vaccine for it. As many as 100 million people contract dengue each year, but MSU researcher Zhiyong Xi is working to change that.

Among the estimated 2.5 billion people at risk for dengue, more than 70 percent live in Asia Pacific countries, which spurred Xi to establish a collaborative research institute at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China. (more…)

Going wild could improve winged workforce

By Guest PostJune 25, 2013Environment, Naturealmonds, apples, bee, blueberries, bumble bee, bumble bee gyrations, canada, cherries, crops, flower bee interactions, flowers, going wild, jason gibbs, michigan state university, michigan team, North America, pollination, raspberries, rufus isaacs, spring, strawberries, united states, wild populations, winged workforce

Every spring in the United States, bees pollinate crops valued at about $14 billion.

A Michigan State University professor and a team of scientists are using a five-year, $8.6 million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture to keep this winged workforce operating efficiently.

Almonds, strawberries, apples, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, watermelon, cucumbers and more depend on bees to help maximize yields. But with wild honey bee populations decimated by varroa mites and other threats, farmers are dependent on beekeepers to deliver managed colonies of honey bees during peak pollination to ensure their flowers are pollinated. (more…)

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