Asian elephant sex pheromone transporter revealed
In this issue of Chemistry & Biology, Lazar and colleagues report an unexpected finding about pheromone transport in the Asian elephant, an endangered species of which only a few thousand individuals remain.... ...Female elephants communicate their readiness to mate by excreting a sex pheromone in their urine. Male elephants exhibit a range of responses to this pheromone, beginning with sniffing...Songbirds escaped from Australasia, conquered rest of world
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL—That cardinal singing his heart out in your backyard has ancestors that left the neighborhood of Australia 45 million years ago. A comprehensive study of DNA from songbirds and their relatives shows that these birds, which account for almost half of all bird species, did not originate in Eurasia, as previously thought. Instead, their ancestors escaped from a relatively...Skin condition linked to genetics in Caucasian and Chinese populations
A study at the University of Sheffield in the UK was conducted on the skin condition called psoriasis, revealing a link between susceptibility to psoriasis and regions on chromosomes 6p21 and 4q28-q31. According to the study, psoriasis, a chronic inflammatory dermatosis, is believed to be inherited and triggered by environmental, as well as genetic, factors. It affects "2%-5% of the Caucasian p...Asian bird flu became highly pathogenic through continued circulation and gene swapping
(MEMPHIS, TENN.--July 8, 2004) An avian influenza virus that has caused three major outbreaks among poultry and killed several people in East Asia over the past seven years arose through a series of genetic reassortment events with other viruses. This study finding, by scientists from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the People's Republic of China, China's Special Administrative Region of H...East Asian governments urged to harness market forces to improve environment, save money
Many East Asian countries could save tens of millions of dollars and improve environmental compliance of industries by blending more market incentives into their traditional "command-and-control" legal and regulatory approach to environmental protection, according to a book launched today by the United Nations University....... The authors says East Asian countries rely primarily on a command-and...Study points to a promising new test for myelodysplasia, a blood disorder often leading to leukemia
A report to be published in the April 6th edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and appearing online the week of March 29th describes a promising new test for the early diagnosis of a serious blood disorder that can lead to bone marrow failure and acute myelogenous leukemia. Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), diagnosed in about 15,000 to 20,000 people a year, occurs mainly...Asia's bear-sized catfish are disappearing
One of the world's largest freshwater fish, an Asian catfish as big as a bear, may disappear in the near future, warns a UC Davis conservation biologist from his research base in Cambodia....... The giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas), which grows to 10 feet long and 650 pounds, is a migratory species in the rivers of Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. It has been a mainstay for local fishers for centu...Dirty air from Asia can push U.S. air pollution to unhealthy levels
Increasing evidence clearly documents that air pollution from Asia can get caught up in an express transport system and cross the Pacific Ocean to the West Coast of North America in a matter of days.... ... Though such events happen infrequently, when large pockets of Asian pollution do make it across, the effects on air quality this side of the Pacific can be dramatic, said Daniel Jaffe, an envi...Asia's biodiversity vanishing into the marketplace
Unless the wildlife trade can be controlled, Asia will lose much of its unique biodiversity, experts of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said today in Kuala Lumpur at the 7th Conference of the Parties for the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-7), convened to address the world's priority conservation issues. ... ..."Asia's wildlife is being sold on a massive scale throughout the regio...'Homegrown' relief for victims of arsenic poisoning in South Asia
The World Health Organization calls it the "largest mass poisoning of a population in history."...... Halfway around the globe, in a region that is no stranger to misery, 100 million people in eastern India and Bangladesh suffer from skin ulcers, tumors and other debilitating and even fatal consequences of arsenic poisoning....... The crisis, says Arup SenGupta, who grew up in the Indian state of...DuPont to locate Asia Pacific R&D center in Shanghai
SHANGHAI, CHINA, Nov. 4, 2003 DuPont today announced it will construct a $15 million corporate research and development (R&D) facility near Shanghai to support growth in the Asia Pacific region. ...Globally, DuPont has more than 75 R&D facilities with over 40 in the United States and more than 35 in 11 other nations. The Shanghai research and development (R&D) center will be the third major re...Intraepithelial neoplasia may be a leading risk factor for prostate and ovarian cancers
PHOENIX Intraepithelial neoplasia is a precancerous, noninvasive lesion that may signal the onset of tumor development in both the prostate and ovary, according to research presented today at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Second Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research. Both prostate and ovarian cancers are common and deadly, and novel pre...Lion's share of the best of Asia's progressive minds in science and medicine convene
The "Lion City," as the name Singapore literally means, was host to the Second Asia-Pacific Conference on Anti-Aging Medicine. Blessed by the presence of Singapore's iconic landmark, the Merlion, this intensive 3.5-day education and training program for physicians, allied health personnel, and scientists took place 8-11 September 2003, in which over three dozen of the world's most respected lect...Mongolian road threatens last great over-land migration of Asian wildlife
An immense grassland in Mongolia an area likened to the long-gone prairies of the American West, complete with staggering migrations of hundreds of thousands of animals is threatened by a proposal to build a road through its center, according to scientists with the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society. ...The road proposal is part of the "Millennium Highway," which plans to connect Mong...Rare Asian dolphin threatened by human activities
A rare dolphin species known for assisting fishermen by driving fish into their nets may soon disappear from the great Asian river for which the animals are named. According to a recent scientific survey by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and its partners, the Irrawaddy dolphin may vanish from the Ayeyarwady River (formerly Irrawaddy) without efforts to protect these aquatic mammals from...DuPont Chief Science and Technology Officer to address summit during Asia Pacific trip
TOKYO, Japan, Nov. 18, 2002 DuPont Chief Science and Technology Officer Dr. Thomas M. Connelly today will address more than 1,200 leaders at the Japanese government-sponsored "Business-Academia-Government Summit" in Tokyo as part of a three-nation visit to the Asia Pacific region. ..."As a global science company, DuPont touches virtually every nation on earth," Connelly said. "Entering our thi...Asian dust storm causes plankton to bloom in the North Pacific
In the spring of 2001, two robotic Carbon Explorer floats recorded the rapid growth of phytoplankton in the upper layers of the North Pacific Ocean after a passing storm had deposited iron-rich dust from the Gobi Desert. The carbon measurements, reported in the October 25 issue of Science, are the first direct observation of wind-blown terrestrial dust fertilizing the growth of aquatic plant life...Sea Grant research shows electric barrier may stop Asian carp
The electric barrier in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal may ...effectively prevent Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan, according to ...preliminary research results. In the early stages of an Illinois-Indiana ...Sea Grant-funded study, researchers found that more than 99 percent of ...bighead carp were deterred by a simulated electric barrier modeled after ...the actual one....... Using f...Large brains not required? Third and smallest skull of 'first Eurasians' reported in Science
.......... , published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science....... The scientists found a petite new individual, with...New program helps protect Asian elephants through crop-raiding prevention
A team of scientists from the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and members of local groups and communities have launched a unique initiative designed to reduce crop raiding by the world's largest garden pest - the endangered Asian elephant. Using a variety of methods including natural guard towers, tripwires, and a harmless-but-fiery chili juice, the team is looking to reduce e...Greatest threat to Asia's wildlife is hunting, scientists say
KHAO YAI NATIONAL PARK, THAILAND -- Citing such examples as Vietnam, where a dozen large mammals and birds have gone locally extinct since the end of the Indochina War, a group of experts from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have declared uncontrolled hunting and trade the greatest threat to wildlife and wild lands in Asia. The group, which held a workshop in Thailand's Khao Yai National...Indian caste groups have differing genetic relationships to Europeans and Asians
.A new study of genetic data shows that the ancestors of Indian men came from different parts of the world than those of Indian women and produced modern upper caste Indian populations that are genetically more similar to Europeans and lower caste populations that are more similar to Asians. These findings support historical data suggesting that West Eurasians migrating into India during the l...Study supports out-of-Africa origin for East Asians
.University Park, Pa. An international study of Y chromosomal DNA shows that East Asian populations migrated out of Africa and suggests that little or no interbreeding of Homo erectus and Homo sapiens occurred after the migration. . "Our goal was to test the hypothesis that the common origin of human populations is in Africa," says co-author Dr. Mark D. Shriver, assistant professor of anthropol...Major fossil find reveals Asian origins of salamanders
. . . A 150 million-year-old Chinese fossil site provides an extraordinary new window on the origin of one of the major groups of living amphibians. More than 500 fossils, many of which preserve the entire skeleton and impressions of soft tissues provide compelling evidence that the salamander originated in Asia according to a report in the March 29, 2001 issue of Nature.. . "All the major prim...Scientists, ships, aircraft to profile Asian pollution and dust
. . NCAR to Guide Aircraft, Enhance Climate Models,.Untangle Mysteries of Atmospheric Mercury . .BOULDER--The densest yellow dust storms in recent times blew into.Beijing and elsewhere from over the high deserts of China and.Mongolia last spring. This year's plumes have again begun their.eastward journey toward heavily populated Asian cities and the.northwest Pacific Ocean. Awaiting their arriva....The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences will sponsor a workshop from noon to 1:30 p.m. March 29 at the annual Society of Toxicology meeting providing an orientation on environmental justice and health disparities issues, an overview of existing research, communication and research efforts, and an opportunity for in-depth discussion of issues. The session will be in room 135 of...ORNL instrument could spell doom for Asian beetles
.OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Oct. 27, 2000 An invasion of tree-destroying Asian Longhorned Beetles could be slowed or perhaps stopped with a larvae detection system being developed by researchers at the Department of Energys Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).. .Larvae from the beetles, which are native to China and Korea, are inadvertently imported into the United States nestled inside the wood of shi...Ringling Bros. announces four Asian elephant pregnancies at Center for Elephant Conservation
.Vienna, VA The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Center for Elephant Conservation (CEC) is thrilled to report that four of its female Asian elephants are pregnant. . .We are extremely proud to have four simultaneous pregnancies at the CEC. It speaks volumes about our outstanding breeding and conservation program, as well as the knowledge gained through 130 years of living and working with e...Researchers develop new method for preventing hip dysplasia in dogs
. Every year thousands of dogs are hobbled by a painful condition called hip dysplasia, a degenerative disease of the hip in which the ball and socket joints no longer fit tightly. This disabling ailment usually strikes large breeds, like Labrador retrievers, German shepherds and Saint Bernards. . . Dr. Kyle Mathews, assistant professor of small animal surgery at North Carolina State University...USGS scientists find new population of Asian swamp eels in south Florida
. . . . . . . A new population of non-native Asian swamp eels, a highly adaptable predatory fish, has been found near the eastern border of Everglades National Park in the area of Homestead, Fla. According to the USGS biologists who discovered this new population in December, the eels appear to represent a separate introduction from previously discovered swamp eel populations in Georgia, north...Air pollution from Asia could violate new federal ozone standard
. A plume of pollution that crossed the Pacific Ocean from Asia earlier this year contained ozone at.levels high enough to violate a new federal ozone standard.. . "This is air that has health implications," said Daniel Jaffe, an atmospheric scientist at the.University of Washington, Bothell, whose team of researchers discovered evidence of the high pollution.content in data collected during a r...Gene mutation tied to deafness found in African-Americans and Caucasians
. Chapel Hill - A new study at the University of North.Carolina at Chapel Hill is the first to establish that a mutation in a gene.associated with about 20 percent of all cases of hereditary deafness found in.Whites is also found in blacks.. . "There have been some reports in the scientific literature on Caucasians.but only a small study on African-Americans, and they didn't find...Primitive primate makes the case for Asian anthropoid origins
... ...French ...Forty million year old fossil teeth and jaw fragments from a new species of...early primate found in Myanmar lend support to the idea that the ancestor of all...monkeys and apes lived in Asia instead of Africa. The new species, dubbed... , may also...shed light on what kind of primate was the likely predecessor to this monkey/ape...group.... ...Researchers from the Myanma...Bizarre striped rabbit discovered in Asia
. What's black and brown and striped all over? A new species of rabbit.hopping around the forests of Southeast Asia, according to the Aug. 19th issue.of the journal Nature. Discovered by biologists from the Bronx Zoo-based.Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the rabbit lives in the rugged Annamite.Mountains of Laos, an extremely isolated region that has yielded several new.species of m...Dietary Vitamin A Supplements Improve Maternal Survival In South Asia
. In a field trial in 270 villages in rural Nepal, researchers from the.Johns Hopkins School of Public Health showed that women had their risk of death.from pregnancy lowered by about 40 percent after taking dietary supplements of.vitamin A or beta-carotene, compared to women who did not take the supplements. .The vitamin A study appeared in the February 28, 1999 issue of British Medical....A Fifth Of Asian Children Deficient In 'Sunshine'
Vitamin D
West Coast Measurements Confirm Asian Air Pollution Can Travel To U.S.
.SAN FRANCISCO -- Atmospheric pollution from eastern Asia is beginning to have.measurable, though still small, effects on air quality in western North America,.a researcher from the University of Washington, Bothell, said today..Pollutants traceable to Asia include carbon monoxide, a direct byproduct of.combustion; peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN), indirectly caused by combustion; and.particulates, sa...Scientists Find New Clues About Fatal Childhood Disease, Ataxia Telangiectasia
... ... ............For the first time, scientists have shown conclusively how the protein that is...missing or altered in the fatal childhood disease ataxia telangiectasia* (A-T)...acts as a key regulator of cell division after DNA damage. The finding helps...researchers understand how cells in A-T patients form tumors and may lead to new...understanding of other neurological and immune disord....New York, N.Y., September 1, 1998 -- In a study of the protein p27, researchers.at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have confirmed the existence of at.least two different types of prostate cancer. One is a more aggressive form of.the disease with a higher rate of recurrence and poorer long term survival. .Researchers believe that this information can help in determining the patient's.prog...Asian Beetle, New In This Country, Threatens Brooklyn's Shade Trees
.Cornell University scientists have confirmed what they believe is the first known infestation of an Asian longhorned beetle, Anoplophora glabripennis, a large beetle that is attacking Brooklyn's horsechestnut and Norway maple tree population. .The Norway maple is the most planted shade tree throughout New York state. .This beady-eyed beetle, about 1-inch long, has coal-black wing covers sprinkl...