Tag Archives: united states

Transfusions add Risk in Some Heart Attacks

By Guest PostDecember 27, 2012Healthaabb, abhishek sharma, analyzed data, anemia, blood transfusions, brown university, concentration, debabrata mukherjee, emergency, heart attack, hematocrit, high quality data, jorn wetterslev, liberal transfusions, maimonides medical center, medical factors, meta analysis, new york, patient, randomized trial, red blood cell, risk of death, saurav chatterjee, spectrum, statistical adjustments, texas tech university, treatment, united states, units of blood

A new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine finds that while blood transfusions for heart attack patients with anemia are commonly performed in emergency rooms, the practice can increase the risk of death when the transfusions are too extensive. The authors, led by Saurav Chatterjee, a cardiology fellow at Brown University, compared evidence from 10 prior studies of more than 203,000 patients.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — When heart attack patients present in the emergency department with some degree of anemia, or anemic patients have a heart attack, physicians have a tendency, but not much guidance, about whether to provide a blood transfusion. The idea is that a transfusion could help more oxygen get to the heart. Recent national guidelines suggested that there simply isn’t good evidence to encourage or discourage the common practice, but a new meta-analysis of 10 studies involving more than 203,000 such patients comes down on the side of it increasing the risk of death. (more…)

Emerging Consensus Shows Climate Change Already Having Major Effects on Ecosystems and Species

By Guest PostDecember 22, 2012Environment, Natureamanda staudt, animal species, arizona state university, atlantic, bark beetles, biodiversity, bird population, bruce stein, carbon, climate change, coastal habitat, diversity of species, ecological systems, ecological tolerance, ecosystems, extinction, food source, gulf of mexico, human caused stressors, marine fish, mary ruckelshaus, michelle staudinger, migrating birds, nancy grimm, natural resource, pacific coast, peter kareiva, plant, pollution, rainfall, risk, shawn carter, stuart chapin, tempe, U.S. Geological Survey, united states, waterborne disease, wildlife

Plant and animal species are shifting their geographic ranges and the timing of their life events – such as flowering, laying eggs or migrating – at faster rates than researchers documented just a few years ago, according to a technical report on biodiversity and ecosystems used as scientific input for the 2013 Third National Climate Assessment.

The report, Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Ecosystem Services, synthesizes the scientific understanding of the way climate change is affecting ecosystems, ecosystem services and the diversity of species, as well as what strategies might be used by natural resource practitioners to decrease current and future risks. More than 60 federal, academic and other scientists, including the lead authors from the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Wildlife Federation and Arizona State University in Tempe, authored the assessment. (more…)

Wildlife Monitoring Cameras Click Jaguar and Ocelot Photos

By Guest PostDecember 21, 2012Natureautomated, baboquivari mountains, big cats, boot heel, cat species, central, computer program, distribution of jaguars, ecology and habits, Environment, huachuca mountains, hunter, jaguar survey, lisa haynes, male jaguar, male ocelot, melanie culver, Mexico, monitoring project, mountain ranges, natural resources, neotropical cats, new mexico, ocelot movement, pictures of jaguar, project, rugged arizona landscape, santa rita mountains, sierra vista, sky island, south america, southern arizona, tail photo, united states, university of arizona, whetstone mountains, wildlife monitoring cameras

Automated trail cameras set up by a UA research team have snapped pictures of a male jaguar and a male ocelot roaming the rugged Southern Arizona landscape.

An adult male jaguar and an adult male ocelot have been photographed in two separate Southern Arizona mountain ranges by automated wildlife monitoring cameras. The images were collected as part of the Jaguar Survey and Monitoring Project led by the University of Arizona. Both animals appear to be in good health.

In late November, the UA project team downloaded photos from wildlife cameras set up as part of the research project and found new pictures of a jaguar in the Santa Rita Mountains. A total of 10 jaguar photos were taken by three UA cameras and one Arizona Game and Fish Department camera. The cat’s unique spot pattern matched that of a male jaguar photographed by a hunter in the Whetstone Mountains in the fall of 2011, providing clear evidence that the big cats travel between Southern Arizona’s “sky island” mountain ranges. (more…)

Commentary: Lyle Goldstein: Sunshine Returns to the Korean Peninsula?

By Guest PostDecember 21, 2012Politicsamerican strategists, axis of evil, Beijing, blue house, China, china maritime studies, cold war, east asian nato, east asian security, inter korean tension, iraq war, Japan, korean peninsula, lee myung bak, lyle goldstein, military contingency, naval war college, new president, north korea, northeast asia, park geun hye, pivot to asia, President Bush, President Obama, pro american, pyongyang, recent missile test, relief, republic of korea, seoul, south korea, strategic reassurance, strategists in washington, sunshine policy, superpower, trilateral alliance, united states, US, us china relations, yalu river

On Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012, Park Geun-hye was elected South Korea’s new president, making her the first woman to hold the title. It’s a victory some say signals the beginning of a new era for the tension-riddled region. Lyle Goldstein, International Relations program visiting faculty and associate professor in the China Maritime Studies Institute of the U.S. Naval War College, comments on what Park’s election means for the future of South Korea and the country’s relationship with the United States and China.

Park Geun-hye’s election will come as a major relief to many strategists in Washington, given her pro-American credentials. Her opponent was inclined to fully reinstate the “sunshine policy” of a decade ago, a disposition that would have no doubt entailed a more discriminating look at the newly invigorated U.S.-Republic of Korea alliance. Irrespective of which candidate came to occupy the Blue House, South Koreans seemed to be looking for more sunshine and less inter-Korean tension. (more…)

Putin: ‘USA’s get-out attitude to Russia unacceptable’

By Guest PostDecember 20, 2012Politicsadoption, american citizens, anarchy, anti russian law, anti soviet law, ban, capital in russia, cia prisons, dmitry anatolievich, echo, Economy, euro area, foreign adoption, foreign journalists, gdp, get out attitude, industrial growth, inflation rate, izvestia, jackson vanik amendment, m 10 highway, magnitsky act, military personnel, moscow, moscow radio station, negative attitude, poor harvest, prime minister, putin, recession, russia, russian, russian children, russian officials, russian president, skolkovo project, st. petersburg, stability in russia, state duma, statistics, united states, vladimir putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin started his large press conference at midday, December 20^th. The conference brought together more than 1,200 Russian and foreign journalists.

The head of state started with statistics. According to him, the growth of GDP in January-October of this year made up 3.7 percent. According to Vladimir Putin, this is a good result. Recession in the world economy (and in particular in the euro area) became an obstacle for reaching better results, as well as a poor harvest in Russia. Last year, more than 90 million tons of grain were collected. This year, the harvest has dropped to 74 million tons. (more…)

Environmental Cost of Agriculture: Soil Determines Fate of Phosphorous

By Guest PostDecember 17, 2012Environment21st century, agricultural nutrient, agriculture, alfisol, algae, algal blooms, amazon basin, Argentina, brazil, brown university, buenos aires, clean water act, environmental challenge, environmental consequence, environmental cost, farmer, fertilizer, goldilocks problem, grosso, industrial agriculture, iowa farmers, mato, modern farming, mollisol, overfertilization, oxisol, phosphorous, polluted waterways, renewable, shelby riskin, single crop, soil demand, soil ph, soil type, soybean, soybean fields, soybean harvest, stephen porder, ultisol, united states

Brazil’s soybean yields have become competitive with those of the United States and Argentina, but the soil demands a lot of phosphorous, which is not renewable. In the United States, meanwhile, historical applications of the fertilizer have polluted waterways. What accounts for these problems? It’s the soils, according to a new study comparing agriculture in the three countries.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Just 20 years ago, the soils of the Amazon basin were thought unsuitable for large-scale agriculture, but then industrial agriculture — and the ability to fertilize on a massive scale — came to the Amazon. What were once the poorest soils in the world now produce crops at a rate that rivals that of global breadbaskets. Soils no longer seem to be the driver — or the limiter — of agricultural productivity. But a new Brown University-led study of three soybean growing regions, including Brazil, finds that soils have taken on a new role: mediating the environmental consequences of modern farming. (more…)

Mercy Cards

By Guest PostDecember 14, 2012Economygeneration of homeless, homeless, homeless families, homeless person, mercy cards, pre paid cards, united states

Alum’s idea could revolutionize how the world helps the homeless

On a single night in January this year 633,782 people were homeless in the United States, according to a press release issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Dec. 10. (more…)

Asteroid that Killed the Dinosaurs also Wiped out the ‘Obamadon’

By Guest PostDecember 11, 2012Nature, Scienceage of dinosaurs, alberta, asteroid collision, asteroid strike, bhart anjan bhullar, boundary, canada, carnivorous lizards, cerberophis, cretaceous, dinosaur species, dinosaurs, diversification, ecosystem, edmontosaurus, evolution, extinct lizard, flood, fossils, gracilis, harvard, jacques a gauthier, kill, lizard, mammals, mass extinction, montana, new mexico, nicholas r longrich, North America, obamadon, obamadon gracilis, odon, palaeosaniwa, paleogene, political significance, polyglyphanodontia, slender, snake, species, survivor, swamps, t rex, taxonomy, tooth, triceratops, united states, us president, yale, yucatan peninsula

The asteroid collision widely thought to have killed the dinosaurs also led to extreme devastation among snake and lizard species, according to new research — including the extinction of a newly identified lizard Yale and Harvard scientists have named Obamadon gracilis.

“The asteroid event is typically thought of as affecting the dinosaurs primarily,” said Nicholas R. Longrich, a postdoctoral associate with Yale’s Department of Geology and Geophysics and lead author of the study. “But it basically cut this broad swath across the entire ecosystem, taking out everything. Snakes and lizards were hit extremely hard.” (more…)