OSLO — The oceans are teeming with 10 to 100 more types of bacteria than previously believed, many of them unknown, according to a study released on Monday that has jolted scientists’ understanding of evolution in the seas. Using a new genetic mapping technique, United States, Dutch and Spanish scientists said they found more than 20 000 different types of microbe in a single litre of water from deep sites in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. ‘These observations blow away all previous estimates of bacterial diversity in the ocean,’ said lead author Mitchell Sogin of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Wood’s Hole, Massachusetts. He said past studies had suggested that one litre of water would contain 1 000 to 3 000 types of microbe – the oldest form of life on the planet. Microbes make up more than 90 percent of the total mass of life in the seas, from bacteria to whales. ‘We’ve found 10 or maybe 100 times more diversity in sea water than anyone imagined was present,’ he said. ‘The study was part of a global Census of Marine Life and was published by the Proceedings of the US National Academy […]
LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) — A Caesarean delivery more than triples a woman’s risk of dying in childbirth compared to a vaginal birth, according to a new study from France. The risk is still quite small, but many developed countries have seen a dramatic rise in the number of Caesareans performed each year as more women elect to avoid a vaginal delivery. Researchers, led by Catherine Deneux-Tharaux of the Maternite Hopital Tenon in Paris, looked at 65 maternal deaths recorded in the French National Perinatal Survey from 1996 to 2000. All of the deaths followed births of a single child and were not due to conditions existing prior to delivery. The women had also not been hospitalized during pregnancy. The researchers found that the risk of death — from blood clots, infection or complications from anesthesia — was 3.6 times higher for women who had Caesareans. The risk of death after childbirth was increased whether or not the Caesarean was performed before the onset of labor or during labor. The study was published in the September issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology. Although rates of maternal death in most developed countries are relatively low […]
BETHESDA, Maryland — Instead of using surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation, researchers from the National Institutes of Health are finding so-far limited but inspiring success in a new approach for fighting cancer, using the immune system to attack the tumors the way it would a cold or flu. The human immune system doesn’t usually fight cancer on its own, so Dr. Steven Rosenberg and his NIH colleagues are trying to genetically engineer it, using a virus they created in the lab that seeks out cancer tumors and attaches to them. Rosenberg’s idea: Mix the cells that seek out the cancer with the immune cells that destroy things and see whether it would create a sort of smart bomb for the cancer. (Rosenberg: ‘Just a start’) In the study, Rosenberg tested the approach in 17 patients with advanced melanoma, a dangerous form of skin cancer. All the conventional treatments for the disease already had failed in all of the patients. In 15 of the patients Rosenberg’s engineered immune-cell treatment didn’t work, but in two of the patients the cancer seems to have completely disappeared. The findings are published in this week’s issue of the journal Science. (Watch how […]
Skype announced on Thursday that it will launch a set of cordless phones that do not require a running computer to work. The phones will be supplied by the VoIP service provider’s hardware partners. The new class of phone will enable Skypers to make and receive both landline andSkype ( News – Alert) calls without a computer. The first series of products to be launched in this class are the Philips VOIP841 cordless phone and NETGEAR’s cordless phone. ‘We are broadening our reach to mass consumers by offering them the opportunity to communicate via Skype without having to be tied to the computer,’ said Stefan Öberg, general manager, desktop and hardware at Skype in a statement. ‘Skype has already introduced WiFi (News – Alert) phones and Skype for PocketPC wireless. Now Skype is taking the next step and working together with Philips and NETGEAR to introduce PC-free cordless phones. The cordless phones for Skype launched today, give Skype users the flexibility to enjoy free Skype to Skype calls and inexpensive calls to ordinary and mobile phones anywhere in the house, at any time without a running computer,’ he added. Both the Philips and NETGEAR cordless […]
The risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease was dramatically reduced for older people who drank fruit or vegetable juices regularly in a 10-year study, researchers report. The incidence of Alzheimer’s was 76 percent lower for those who drank juice three or more times a week than for those who drank juice less than once a week. It was 16 percent lower for those drinking juice once or twice a week, according to the report. It’s not the general kind of antioxidants in fruit juices that produce the benefit, said Dr. Qi Dai, assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and lead author of the report. Rather, he attributed the effect to polyphenols, a particularly strong antioxidant. ‘That is why we chose to look at fruit and vegetable juice,’ Dai said. ‘They [polyphenols] are found in the outer sections of fruits and vegetables, only in the peel or skin. When you process the whole fruit, they go into the juice.’ Studies of the biochemistry of Alzheimer’s disease have focused on deposits of beta-amyloid proteins that form in the brain and the potential for antioxidants in the diet to prevent those deposits, Dai said. But studies […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
