Science picks -- leads, feeds and story seeds (February 2003)
...ds While bats in urban areas do great service by consuming flying insects, there is also a public health concern about their possible role in the spread of rabies. Research involves a 5-year case study of the dynamics of rabies transmission in an urban population of big brown bats in Colorado, with an ultima...Study finds more than 1 in 10 pregnant women drink alcohol
...percent of the women fell into the low-risk group, consuming one drink or less per week. Only 7 percent of the women reported one or more binge drinking episodes during their pregnancy. There were no significant differences in drinking behavior associated with the women's martial status, race or education. Wom...Tips from the Journals of the American Society for Microbiology
...F) that discourages scavengers, such as ants, from consuming the dead insects before the nematodes inside mature. "Scavengers, such as ants, can adversely affect the persistence of entomopathogenic nematodes being used as biological control agents," say the researchers. "Future research is needed to elucidat...Moderate alcohol consumption during pregnancy is risky too
...120-pound woman could achieve a 30 mg/dL BAC after consuming two drinks during an hour and a half. "Most of the effects of fetal alcohol exposure reported in the literature occur primarily at BACs ranging from about 120 to 350 mg/dL," he said. "Our study's finding should have a major impact on this field of ...Insect infestation models may shed light on insect and disease outbreaks
... feeds on larch trees, a common evergreen variety, consuming the needles and defoliating the branches. In the European Alps, the infestation moves as predictable waves from west to east completely defoliating forests beginning in the French and Italian Alps and moving across the continent through Switzerland ...Diet rich in soy protein lowers estrogens associated with breast cancer
...specific dietary recommendations can be made about consuming soy proteins to protect against breast cancer." B...s not only showed lower estrone levels among those consuming the highest quantities of soy protein, they also showed similar patterns when correlated to consumpt...Tiny, magnetic spheres may help overcome gene therapy hurdle
...associated with any disease, is expensive and time consuming to manufacture in quantity. As a result, if it is ever to be widely used in treating disease, clinicians must have the ability to bind it specifically to the organ, tissue or cells they hope to treat, instead of having it dispersed through the body t...Homeland security highlights from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
...sensitive information to remove. The task is time consuming and potentially expensive. But thanks to an Internet assessment tool under development at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory called Mozart, a thorough analysis soon will be just mouse clicks away. Mozart quickly archives and analyzes entire Web s...Without blue crabs, southern salt marshes wash away, study finds
...ccelerate marsh die-offs that are driven by snails consuming the cordgrass," Bertness said. The study may cause increased discussion among ecologists. For decades, the prevailing model of marsh ecology was that bottom-up forces, such as currents and nutrient flow, primarily determined plant productivity. This ...Biomarkers of aging news advisory
...s. One group was allowed to feed freely, typically consuming between 500 to 1,000 calories daily. A second grou... Roth said. However, none of the men, who reported consuming an average of 2,300 calories daily, is believed to have been on a calorically restricted diet. "The ...Cranberry may offer protection against antibiotic-resistant bacteria that cause UTIs
...r up to 10 hours in the urine, which suggests that consuming a serving in the morning and one in the evening ma...ovide more effective anti-adhesion protection than consuming one serving a day." A common misconception is that cranberries help maintain urinary tract health by...Common bacteria kills elkhorn coral off Florida keys, says UGA research team
...d white lesions which eventually kill the coral by consuming the thin layer of living tissue that covers a coral's limestone skeleton. This study has shown lesions growing as fast as 10.5 cm2 per day with an average rate of tissue loss of 2.5 cm2 per day, making it one of the most destructive coral diseases kn......ly available in the cages. Twenty-two rats used to consuming appropriate portions of protein were reassigned to three groups: one group had a balanced selection of nutrients, another had additional carbohydrates, and the third group was provided additional fat. After 20 days, the researchers found that the t...Study: Higher energy intake, obesity affects all age groups, not just youths
...e that even though the two younger age groups were consuming more of these high-energy foods like french fries and burgers, they were still eating them in the same proportion to other age groups as they were 25 years ago. That means this obesity epidemic is definitely environmental not just specific to certain...Genistein-containing supplements may stop tamoxifen
...ere similar to those levels that people can get by consuming isoflavone-rich dietary supplements, Helferich sai...Helferich said. These results raise concern about consuming dietary isoflavone supplements in conjunction with tamoxifen in postmenopausal women who have estrog...Virginia Tech study documents hypertension association with obesity and heavy alcohol consumption
...ertension for both men and women. Men who reported consuming more than four drinks were twice as likely to have hypertension than men who did not consume alcohol the previous day. Women who consumed more than three drinks the previous day were 2.3 times more likely to have hypertension than women who did not d...Even moderate caloric restriction lowers cancer risk in mice
...d mice on the standard laboratory mouse diet. Mice consuming a diet high on fruits and vegetables had 33 percent fewer polyps than the control mice, whereas the mice on the high fat diet had slightly elevated polyp numbers. The researchers also looked at exercise. A moderate amount of exercise did lower the n...High protein diets cause dehydration, even in trained atheletes
...nt down. During the period in which athletes were consuming the highest amounts of protein, their blood urea n...s clear for athletes and non-athletes alike: when consuming high protein diets, increase your fluid intake, whether you feel as if you need to or not. The athle...Tufts University reports high protein intake and calcium supplementation helps healthy bones
...s 1200 milligrams, which can easily be achieved by consuming one calcium supplement (500 mg), one cup of fat-free milk, one 8-oz. serving of yogurt, and a 1-oz. slice of cheese. The average protein intake by the volunteers in the study was 79 grams per day (g/d), and the adults who ate the most protein averag...New sensor being designed to detect, identify invisible agents faster
...here is enough to test. The use of the PCR is time consuming and expensive and is currently done only in a lab setting. Carilion Biomedical Institute has been sponsoring about $1 million worth of projects in the Optical Sciences and Engineering Research Center (OSER) at Virginia Tech for the past three years,...